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10 Sep 2007 : Column 2018W—continued


Departments: Pay

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in his Department in the last three years; and at what total cost. [146979]

Mr. Thomas: The former Department of Trade and Industry awarded non-consolidated bonuses in two formats:

Based on the information available the number of staff receiving these awards in the last three years and total amount of bonuses for which this information can be provided is in the following table.

Special bonuses Performance awards
Financial year( 1) Number of staff receiving( 2) Total value (£) Number of staff receiving( 2) Total value (£) Total value (£) Percentage of pay bill

2004-05

1,261

498,592

1,274

1,563,180

2,061,772

1.18

2005-06

1,237

572,902

1,257

1,808,630

2,381,532

1.39

2006-07

919

491,669

1,286

2,532,180

3,023,849

1.81

(1 )Financial year running from 1 April to 31 March. (2) Data presented as number of staff awarded bonuses, rather than number of bonuses awarded (as stated in the question) based on the latest data available. Note: The special bonuses and performance awards for non-SCS staff are paid on a non-consolidated, non-pensionable basis and do not increase the Department's pay-bill costs each year. For the SCS the Senior Salaries Review Body determines the level of expenditure to cover bonuses.

10 Sep 2007 : Column 2019W

Departments: Postal Services

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what volume of correspondence his Department sent (a) by Royal Mail and (b) by other commercial delivery services in each of the last five years; and what the reasons were for the use of other commercial delivery services. [150442]

Mr. Thomas: The information is tabled as follows:

Outgoing lst/2nd Class Royal Mail Volumes from DTI HQ Buildings
Number

2002-03

426,301

2003-04

526,654

2004-05

341,761

2005-06

271,396

2006-07

194,831


Royal Mail Special Delivery Items
Number

2002-03

2,117

2003-04

2,189

2004-05

1,499

2005-06

1,543

2006-07

1,911


Royal Mail International
Number

2002-03

16,449

2003-04

10,799

2004-05

9,848

2005-06

7,393

2006-07

5,824


Royal Mail Same Day Courier Service Consignments( 1)
Number

2004-05

3,074

2005-06

2,941

2006-07

2,536

(1) Other commercial delivery services used at present are Parcelforce for UK timed next day/48-hour courier services and Lewis Day Transport for international courier services.

Parcelforce Consignments( 1)
Number

2004-05

4,636

2005-06

5,910

2006-07

4,664

(1) Figures recorded from beginning of current contracts. Prior information not available.

Lewis Day Consignments( 1)
Number

2004-05

513

2005-06

853

2006-07

824

(1) Figures recorded from beginning of current contracts. Prior information not available.

Other service providers include Government Mail and FCO Diplomatic Bag which I would not class as commercial delivery services.


10 Sep 2007 : Column 2020W

Departments: Press

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent by his Department on newspapers and magazines in the last 12 months. [153128]

Mr. Thomas: The Department’s expenditure on newspapers and magazines in 2006-07 was £100,115.

Departments: Publicity

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of advertising commissioned by his Department and its predecessor in the last 12 months. [148688]

Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 279W.

Departments: Recruitment

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will bring forward proposals to allow contractors employed by his Department to apply for internal job vacancies advertised within his Department; what recent representations he has received on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [152989]

Mr. Thomas: In common with other Government Departments, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform recruits its staff within the Framework laid down by the Civil Service Order in Council 1995 and the Recruitment Code issued by the Civil Service Commissioners. This sets out the legal basis for our recruitment policies and practice. The principles and the Code are mandatory and must be followed when any post is opened to competition from outside the civil service. One of the fundamental principles of the Code sets out that external appointments must be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

Any contractors in my Department who have been recruited though this method may apply, subject to relevant skills and competencies, for internally advertised job vacancies.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much the Department paid in fees to recruitment agencies for (a) temporary and (b) permanent staff in each year since 1997. [151667]

Mr. Thomas: It is not possible to identify from the Department's accounting system, how much the Department paid in fees to recruitment agencies for (a) temporary and (b) permanent staff in each year since 1997. This information can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Redundancy Pay

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent by his Department on redundancy payments in the last 12 months. [153123]


10 Sep 2007 : Column 2021W

Mr. Thomas: The cost of redundancies (including voluntary redundancies) of staff leaving the former DTI (now the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) during the 12 months to 30 June 2007 was £16.49 million.

Departments: Taxis

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent by his Department on taxis in the last 12 months. [153132]

Mr. Thomas: The DTI spent £349,075 during the 12 month period 2006-07. This figure includes taxi spend in both the UK and overseas. To obtain more up to date figures would entail disproportionate cost.

All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code.

Departments: Travel

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent by his Department on first class train tickets in the last 12 months. [153129]

Mr. Thomas: The Department spent £1,264,527 on first class train tickets during the 12 month period 2006-07. To obtain more up to date figures would entail disproportionate cost.

First class rail travel entitlement is part of the terms and conditions of service for staff in senior grades within the senior civil service. However all staff are encouraged to travel standard class where appropriate and should take advantage of discounted or other cost effective travel options which may be available (e.g. special offers, day returns) wherever practical. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent by his Department on (a) first class and (b) business flights in the last 12 months. [153130]

Mr. Thomas: The amount spent on first class and business flights for the 2006 calendar year was:

£

(a) First Class Flights

173,035

(b) Business Class Flights

2,584,247


10 Sep 2007 : Column 2022W

The figures include both UK and overseas flights.

To obtain up to date figures would entail disproportionate costs.

Domestic Appliances: Standards

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department is taking to improve international manufacturing standards, with particular reference to the energy efficiency of household appliances. [153306]

Mr. Timms: The Government are committed to working closely with industry including manufacturers, retailers and service providers to encourage them to manufacture, procure and sell more energy efficient products.

Examples of this work include the Market Transformation Programme, the Retail Environmental Sustainability Expert Group and our work with the European Commission on the development of further measures for improving Ecodesign for Energy-using Products.

In addition, the Government's Energy White Paper published on 23 May 2007 proposed a policy package to raise product standards with the potential to save up to 3MtC by 2020. The White Paper also announced proposals in consumer electronics. For example, we are aiming to reduce the stand-by power requirement of new TVs by 85 per cent. by 2015, compared to today's average.

Electronic Equipment: Exports

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) fridges, (b) washing machines, (c) cookers, (d) televisions, (e) video recorders, (f) computers and monitors and (g) other items of household electrical equipment were exported from the UK in each of the last five years; and how many items of each type of equipment were exported to each country in each year. [151933]

Mr. Thomas: Detailed information is published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Overseas Trade Statistics and at their website

The following table shows recorded figures for the value and numbers of exports for selected standard international trade classification (SITC) codes.


10 Sep 2007 : Column 2023W

10 Sep 2007 : Column 2024W
77521 77511 69731 & 77586 761 76381 75220 & 75230
SITC Value Number Value Number Value Number Value Number Value Number Value Number

2002

23.9

0.4

20.4

0.1

241.8

4.9

619.6

9.0

186.9

90.9

2,795.7

7.4

2003

28.0

1.5

24.1

0.2

222.7

4.4

582.0

5.3

164.8

3.3

2,669.0

3.9

2004

30.2

0.4

35.1

0.2

161.8

2.5

806.2

6.3

198.2

2.4

2,427.6

3.6

2005

41.5

1.5

55.0

1.1

155.8

1.8

798.0

6.8

225.3

2.0

2,434.6

4.1

2006

48.7

0.8

59.1

0.4

146.2

2.0

1,071.0

10.1

395.5

3.1

2,979.6

10.6

Notes:
These SITC codes represent:
77521: refrigerators, household type (electric or other), whether or not containing a deep-freezer compartment.
77511: household or laundry-type washing machines (including machines which wash and dry), each of a dry linen capacity not exceeding 10 kg.
69731: domestic cooking appliances (e.g. kitchen stoves, cookers etc.) and plate warmers, non-electric, of iron or steel.
77586: microwave ovens, other ovens, cookers, cooking plates, boiling rings, grillers and roasters.
761: TV receivers (including monitors and projectors) whether or not incorporating radio receivers or recording/reproducing apparatus.
76381: video recording or reproducing apparatus, whether or not incorporating a video tuner.
75220: digital automatic data processing machines containing in the same housing at least a CPU and an input and output unit, whether or not combined.
75230: digital processing units, whether or not presented with rest of a system or containing one or two of: storage, input, output units.

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