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25 Jun 2007 : Column 5W—continued
Departments: Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Solicitor-General how much has been spent by the Law Officers’ Departments on public relations in each of the last five years. [139450]
The Solicitor-General: The Law Officers’ Departments’ publicity and press work is conducted by its in-house Press and Communications Teams. It is not possible to distinguish the costs of their proactive public relations work from that of reactive media handling.
No external PR agencies have been used by the Law Officers’ Departments during this period.
Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland: Annual Reports
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the annual report of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland for 2006-07 will include statistics on (a) reported race crimes, (b) cases prosecuted, (c) cases securing convictions and (d) cases not prosecuted; and if he will make a statement. [127180]
The Solicitor-General: The Public Prosecution Service published its first annual report last year and the report for 2006-07 will be published in July. The PPS does compile figures on race crimes and those figures can be made available on request. However, last year’s and this year’s report, although providing full statistics on case numbers and outcomes, does not break the figures down by individual offence. Whilst to publish race crime statistics alone in the report would be anomalous, a more detailed breakdown will be provided for the 2007-08 report.
Church Commissioners
Cathedral Buildings
27. Mark Pritchard: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what the Commissioners’ policy is on the use of cathedral buildings by the creative media industry. [144687]
Sir Stuart Bell: As ‘Building Faith in Our Future’ shows, the Church is not precious about the uses to which cathedral buildings are put in serving the wider community so long as we always remember their role as centres of worship and mission and as iconic parts of the nation’s heritage.
Church Properties
28. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners how much the Church Commissioners received from commercial organisations from (a) advertising on church buildings and (b) using church properties for telecommunication purposes in the last 12 months. [144688]
Sir Stuart Bell: Records are not kept centrally. In each case, agreements are formed between the individual cathedral and the church authorities and the commercial organisations in question.
House of Commons Commission
House of Commons
Mr. Doran: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether a report has been received from Sir Kevin Tebbit’s review of the management and services of the House. [144770]
Nick Harvey: Yes. It is published today as House of Commons paper HC 685 and is available on the internet at:
The Commission is very grateful to Sir Kevin Tebbit and his team for their thorough analysis and recommendations. The report will be considered by the Administration, Finance and Services and Audit Committees and be debated after the summer recess. The Commission has invited the Board of Management
to consider the report and prepare a programme for taking forward its proposals, subject to points made by Members in the debate. The Commission will consider the report again and decide upon its recommendations in the autumn after views from Members of the House and the House administration have been made known.
Wales
Departments: Credit Cards
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was spent by staff in his Department via departmental (a) credit, (b) procurement and (c) fuel cards in each of the last three years. [145303]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office does not have fuel cards.
Corporate credit cards were introduced in the Wales Office in April 2004.
The amount spent on corporate credit cards is as follows:
| £ | |
Information on the Government procurement card is not kept in this format and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Increased spending on credit cards is the result of an active programme within the Wales Office to encourage their use. This has produced significant savings on processing and transaction costs. As such, the increase reflects greater usage of cards, rather than increased overall spend.
Departments: Older Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of staff in his Department were over 60 years of age in each of the last three years. [145691]
Mr. Hain: This information is not systematically recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people aged (a) over 55 years of age and (b) over 60 years of age have been recruited by his Department in each of the last three years; and what percentage in each case this is of the number of new recruits in each year. [145696]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has only recruited existing civil servants. In accordance with good practice and anti-age discrimination, candidates for Wales Office jobs are not asked to provide their dates of birth on applications.
As such, this information is not systematically recorded, and collating it could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Public Participation
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many public consultations his Department undertook in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of each consultation. [145284]
Departments: Remploy
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what (a) services and (b) products his Department has procured from Remploy in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [143785]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office uses the Ministry of Justice procurement systems and the Office of Government Commerce on line procurement services.
To date Remploy have not featured in either of those sources. We are aware of the services they offer and subject to our value for money and sustainable development criteria being met would consider a Remploy tender via those procurement channels.
Departments: Surveys
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff surveys his Department undertook in the last 12 months; and at what total cost. [145268]
Mr. Hain: In the last 12 months the Wales Office participated in one staff opinion survey conducted by the Ministry of Justice. There was no cost to the Wales Office.
Public Accounts Commission
National Audit Office Reports
26. Norman Baker: To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission what recent reports the Commission has considered from the appointed auditor of the National Audit Office; and if he will make a statement. [144686]
Mr. Alan Williams: The Public Accounts Commission considers each year, usually in July, the auditors’ report on the National Audit Office’s annual resource account and on the NAO’s statement on the financial impact of its work. It also considers at the same time the auditors’ annual value for money examination of an aspect of the Office’s operations. This was last done in July 2006. The Commission expects to receive the next set of reports from the auditors in July this year.
Leader of the House
Departments: Credit Cards
David Simpson: To ask the Leader of the House how much was spent by staff in his Office via departmental (a) credit, (b) procurement and (c) fuel cards in each of the last three years. [145297]
Mr. Straw: This information is not currently available in the format requested following the Machinery of Government transfer of my office from the Privy Council Office to the Cabinet Office. However, on occasion my Office has used corporate credit and procurement cards, mainly with regard to the booking of travel. Fuel cards are not used by my Office.
Departments: Pensions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Leader of the House what the rate of employer contributions to the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Scheme is for 2007-08; what savings he estimates would result from capping the rate to 14 per cent. for each year from 2007-08 to 2020-22; and if he will make a statement. [144272]
Mr. Straw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 30 October 2006, Official Report, columns 20-21W.
Limiting the Exchequer contribution to 14 per cent. would, if the actuarial valuation assumptions are borne out in practice, reduce the contribution by 12.8 per cent. of pensionable pay for the period up to 2020-21. Based on an estimated total pensionable pay for 2007-08 of £44.5 million, reducing the Exchequer contribution to 14 per cent. would represent a £5.7 million per annum saving.
The PCPF is a “balance of cost” scheme whereby the Exchequer makes up the balance of cost after taking account of pension benefits and payments, Member contributions and investment returns. Reducing the Exchequer contributions until 2020-21 would increase the level of deficit, which would eventually need to be paid by the Exchequer or by increasing Member contributions, reducing the level of pension benefits or a combination of these.
Members: Cycling
Martin Horwood: To ask the Leader of the House if he will take steps to enable hon. Members to register with the Government’s cycle to work scheme; and if he will make a statement. [144810]
Mr. Straw: The cycle to work scheme is designed for the employees of participating organisations. Members of Parliament are not employees of the House of Commons but office-holders and as such are not eligible. However, Members of Parliament are entitled to claim a bicycle allowance of 20p per mile for official travel, a rate which provides an incentive to use an environmentally-friendly means of travel and is approved by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Written Questions
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to the answer of 8 March 2007, Official Report, column 2147W, on written questions, when he expects to complete his assessment of whether to publish in the Official Report letters written to hon. Members in lieu of written parliamentary answers. [145809]
Mr. Straw:
Letters sent to hon. Members from Ministers or from the heads of Executive Agencies in
response to a parliamentary question are already published in the Official Report, except where there are issues of confidentiality or undue length. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 21 July 2004 Official Report, column 35WS, and the written answer of 26 January 2005, Official Report, column 345W. In respect of letters from non-departmental public bodies, following the hon. Member’s earlier question I wrote to the chairman of the Procedure Committee asking that the Committee examine the issues involved.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Coordination
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what shared service initiatives have been completed within Government; and what assessment she has made of their effectiveness. [145068]
Mr. McFadden: Shared Services is a key part of Transformational Government and there has been significant progress across central Government. MOD, DWP, HMRC, Prison Service, DfT and DEFRA have all established shared HR and Finance Services.
The NHS Shared Business Service has saved over 100 trusts an average of 34 per cent. of the cost of processing finance transactions through shared finance services. It is on track to deliver savings of more than £220 million over 10 years. The Ministry of Defence’s People, Pay and Pensions Agency is reducing costs at the same time as improving quality. Through sharing and related reforms, the Department is expecting a net benefit of over £300 million during the next 10 years. Transport for London saved approximately 30 per cent. on its human resources spend in the first year of operating its shared service centre.
Government are looking to share a variety of additional services across Government. For example, the new Cabinet Office IT contract is available to other Departments and public sector organisations.
Dietary Supplements: EC Law
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps have recently been taken by officials (a) of her Department and (b) of the Better Regulation Executive to ensure that the Government's objectives for the interpretation and implementation of the Food Supplements Directive are met. [145632]
Mr. McFadden: Cabinet Office officials, including from the Better Regulation Executive, have worked closely with the Food Standards Agency to help deliver the Government’s objectives on the Food Supplements Directive, in particular on the issue of maximum permitted levels for minerals and vitamins under Article 5 of the Directive. Cabinet Office officials have also worked with the Food Standards Agency on preparing a stakeholder consultation on an initial Regulatory Impact Assessment with respect to food supplements.
Pensions: Civil Service
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the present rates of employer contributions to Civil Service Scheme pension scheme are; what estimate she has made of the cost savings for each year from 2008 to 2050 of capping the employer contribution at 14 per cent.; and if she will make a statement. [144263]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27 November 2006, Official Report, columns 345-46W. The rates of employer contributions have not changed, but the salary bands referred to in the answer were revalorised from 1 April 2007 by the Scheme Actuary.
I have not made any estimates of the cost savings arising from capping the employer contribution at 14 per cent.
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