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26 July 2007 : Column 1447W—continued
Departments: Travel
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department on first class train tickets in the last 12 months. [153063]
Paul Goggins: £18,919 was spent on first class rail tickets in 2006-07 (this is the last 12 months for which audited expenditure figures are available).
Monuments: County Armagh
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the case for the creation of a permanent memorial in the village of Bessbrook, County Armagh to recognise the service and sacrifice of the military in the South Armagh area following the closure of the Bessbrook Mill base. [149073]
Paul Goggins: The Government recognise the service and sacrifices made by the military in South Armagh which has made a substantial contribution to the progress that has taken place in NI. Ministers have agreed to consider how best this should be recognised and I will write to the hon. Lady once this has been completed.
Prisoners Release
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners were released from each prison in Northern Ireland before completing their full sentences in each month since January. [152480]
Paul Goggins: I am not aware that any prisoner has, since January, been formally discharged from Northern Ireland prisons before completing their sentences. However, with my agreement one prisoner was temporarily released under the prison rules to enable transfer to Cheswold Park hospital, England, to receive specialised treatment, prior to completing his full sentence.
Prisoners: Proscribed Organisations
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was paid to prisoners in Northern Ireland who were imprisoned for scheduled offences connected to a paramilitary organisation in each year since 1998. [149806]
Paul Goggins: Prior to November 2000, prisoners were paid for being employed within the prison regime amounting to approximately £10 per week. Those listed as not employed received a basic payment of £4. In November 2000, the progressive and earned privileges scheme (PREPS) system was introduced, which is a three-tier regime designed to encourage prisoners to improve their behaviour and engage in constructive activity. Under this system, payments are currently made as follows:
Basic regime level—£6
Standard regime level—up to £11
Enhanced regime—up to £20.
The amount received by each prisoner is not held centrally and cannot be broken down for scheduled offences. This could be provided only at disproportionate cost
Scotland
Departments: Agencies
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much the Department paid in fees to recruitment agencies for (a) temporary and (b) permanent staff in each year since 1997. [151669]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that date, the Office has not spent any money with recruitment agencies for permanent staff; the costs for temporary staff are in the following table.
| £ | |
| (1 )part year | |
Departments: Air Conditioning
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in each of the last five years. [151978]
Departments: Disabled
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of people employed by his Department are disabled. [153602]
David Cairns: This information is published in the annual report of the Scotland Office, a copy of which has been placed in the House Library.
Departments: Flowers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much was spent by his Department on flowers in the last 12 months. [153199]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office does not maintain a central record of flowers purchased.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many press officers are employed by his Department. [153203]
David Cairns: This information is published in the annual report of the Scotland Office, a copy of which has been placed in the House Library.
Departments: Official Hospitality
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent on alcoholic drinks for receptions in each of the last five years. [152828]
David Cairns: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 188W.
The Scotland Office keeps no separate record of hospitality expenditure of category of provision.
Dover House: Official Hospitality
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 188W, on Dover House: official hospitality, how many receptions held at Dover House in each of the last five years were organised and funded by (a) trade unions, (b) charities, (c) businesses and (d) other types of organisation; and what income his Department received from charges for the use of facilities for receptions in each of the last five years. [152010]
David Cairns: The third party receptions held at Dover House may be categorised in the following table.
| Trade unions | Charities | Other types of organisation | |
None of the events listed above was organised and funded by any commercial business. The Scotland Office received no income for any of these events.
Sewel Motions
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what procedure the Government uses to notify the Scottish Parliament of its desire for a Sewel motion to be considered by the Parliament; and what involvement the Scottish Executive has in the process. [151259]
David Cairns: In line with Devolution Guidance Note 10, it is for the Scottish Executive to indicate the views of the Scottish Parliament in relation to a provision or provisions in UK Bills that trigger the Sewel Convention and to take whatever steps are appropriate to ascertain that view. I expect these arrangements to continue.
Treasury
Customs: Tour de France
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the customs arrangements were for the Tour de France UK leg in terms of drugs and medicines being (a) brought in and (b) taken out of the UK by teams. [150810]
Jane Kennedy: The organisers and competitors in the Tour de France and their associated personnel were subject to the normal regulatory and anti-smuggling controls both at entry into and departure from the UK.
Departments: Redundancy Pay
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by his Department on redundancy payments in the last 12 months. [153165]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 21 June 2007, Official Report, column 2140W.
Employment: Yorkshire and Humberside
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) men and (b) women were in work in (i) City of York parliamentary constituency, (ii) City of York Council area and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in (A) May 1997 and (B) each year since. [152205]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 26 July 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) men and (b) women were in work in (i) City of York parliamentary constituency, (ii) City of York Council area and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in (A) May 1997 and (B) each year since. (152205)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics for local areas from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.
Table 1, attached, shows the number of men and women, aged 16 and over, resident in the City of York constituency, who were in employment, for the 12 months ending in February for 1997 to 2004 from the local area LFS and for the 12 months ending in March for 2005 and 2006, from the APS. Corresponding headline employment rates, for persons of working age (males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59), are also provided. The working-age employment rates allow changes to be seen in the context of changing population numbers. Table 2 shows corresponding data for the City of York Unitary Authority and Table 3 for Yorkshire and the Humber.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. In this case, for the City of York constituency and the City of York Unitary Authority, the sample sizes are not sufficient to give an accurate estimate of even the direction of the change over the period.
| Table 1: Employment by sex; City of York parliamentary constituency | ||||||
| Thousand | ||||||
| Men | Women | Total | ||||
| 12 months ending | Level( 1) | Rate( 2 ) (percentage) | Level( 1) | Rate( 2) (percentage) | Level( 1) | Rate( 2) (percentage) |
| (1) Persons aged 16 and over. (2) Persons of working age - males aged 16 to 64 and females aged 16 to 59. Notes: 1. Estimates are subject to sampling variability. 2. Changes in the estimates over time should be treated with particular caution. Source: Annual local area Labour Force Survey; Annual Population Survey. | ||||||
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