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10 Oct 2007 : Column 622W—continued


Treasury

Employment

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many (a) women, (b) single parents and (c) people were in work in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) south Tyneside, (iii) the north-east and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997; [156033]

(2) what the level of (a) adult and (b) youth unemployment was in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) south Tyneside, (iii) the north-east and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997; [156035]

Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. The relevant tables have been placed in the Library.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 9 October 2007:

Smuggling: Birds

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many incidents of wild bird smuggling have been recorded by HM Revenue and Customs since 1 July 2007. [156833]


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Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforcement powers in relation to wild birds apply to those species listed as endangered under Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 on the protection species of wild fauna and flora.

HMRC records show no detentions or seizures of wild birds since 1 July 2007.

Transport

Buoyancy Aids: Fishing Vessels

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has undertaken on the potential to save lives of the introduction of compulsory personal flotation devices to the UK fishing fleet; and if she will make a statement. [156816]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) commissioned research entitled "Practical Application of Regulatory Impact Diagrams to Buoyancy Equipment at Work for Fishermen" which was completed in February 2001. This addressed all factors which may affect the wearing of buoyancy devices at sea.

All fishing vessels are required to carry lifejackets but the report argued that prior to taking a regulatory approach to wearing lifejackets, we needed to identify the needs and experiences of lifejacket users, in order to gauge the requirements for regulations. This finding was supported by research which demonstrated that safety precautions show little correlation with the likelihood of accidents.

Following publication of this report the MCA has participated in research by the Seafish Industry Authority (Seafish) and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute on Lifejacket and Buoyancy Aid Acceptability Trials. The trials of 24 products were in two stages, a test tank assessment to ensure that products are effective when worn with ‘sea gear' and long term assessments by fishermen in the course of fishing.

The results of the research have been made available to the industry to inform the purchase and wearing of such equipment and manufacturers of buoyancy aids and lifejackets to inform development.

The MCA has also recently undertaken research on the approach taken to the wearing of lifejackets adopted by other countries, and the effect on casualty statistics, and is currently assessing the findings of this research.

Departments: Publicity

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what her Department's projected spending is on advertising and promotional campaigns for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09, broken down by cost relating to (i) television, (ii) radio and (iii) print media. [155887]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department's projected spending for advertising campaigns for the 2007-08 fiscal year is set out in the following table. Please note, these are anticipated spend and could be subject to
10 Oct 2007 : Column 624W
change. Additional advertising costs, such as cinema, ambient and online, have been incorporated into ‘other' advertising costs.

The main expenditure by the Central Department is in support of the THINK! Road Safety, Act On CO2 and Aviation campaigns. DVLA investment is in support of their vehicle excise duty enforcement, electronic vehicle licensing and sales of marks campaigns.

2007-08
£000
Television Radio Print Other

Central DfT

6,099

2,350

1 ,800

3,711

DSA

40

0

50

0

DVLA

3,617

1 ,567

457

0

HA

0

60

120

20

VOSA

0

0

0

0

MCA

15

0

1.7

0

VCA

0

0

46

0


The Department's projected spending for advertising campaigns for the 2008-09 fiscal year is more difficult to project because some budgets have yet to be allocated. We anticipate that circa £11 million will be spent by Department for Transport and £4.6 million by Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Investment in each specific media channel has yet to be finalised.

Breaking down the costs of promotional campaigns for the Department by television, radio and print media for 2007-08 and 2008-09 fiscal years could be done at only disproportionate cost.

Lorries: Licensing

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the most recent estimate is of the number of (a) heavy goods vehicles and (b) public service vehicles which should be covered by an operators licence but are not. [156055]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department is responsible for the enforcement of road traffic legislation. Records are kept of the number of operator licences issued. An operator licence may list a number of vehicles. The Department's records do not detail the number of vehicles as a percentage of the total heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicles fleets in use.

Although DVLA may have records of HGVs and PSVs registered, some will not require an operator licence. One operator licence holder can have multiple vehicles listed. In addition, it is not mandatory for PSV operators to list all the vehicles that they may use on their operator licence. So the DVLA and VOSA records cannot be directly compared.

Lorries: Safety

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the most recent estimate is of (a) heavy goods vehicles and (b) public service vehicles which should have an annual safety check conducted by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency but do not. [156056]


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Jim Fitzpatrick: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is responsible for the enforcement of road safety legislation. Its records reflect the number of heavy goods vehicles (HGV) and public service vehicles (PSV) which have presented for annual test. Its records do not record this as a percentage of the total HGV and PSV fleets in use.

Although the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) may have records of HGVs and PSV's registered, some may be exempt from annual tests or have been declared as off the road (and therefore not require a certificate.) Also VOSA may have tested some vehicles more than once in a year so the DVLA and VOSA records cannot be directly compared.

Work and Pensions

Carers’ Allowances

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will extend eligibility to carer's allowance to allow a carer to receive carer's allowance in respect of more than one individual in the same household. [153756]

Mrs. McGuire: Carer's allowance is intended principally to provide a measure of financial support for carers who cannot work full-time because they provide at least 35 hours of care a week for a severely disabled person. It is not payable in respect of each disabled person a carer may look after and we have no plans to change these arrangements.

Children: Maintenance

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Child Support Agency cases have been outstanding for more than (a) one year and (b) five years. [154671]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Duncan Gilchrist, dated 10 October 2007:


10 Oct 2007 : Column 626W

Departments: IT

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many IT contracts were put out to competitive tender by his Department in each year since 1997; how many bidders there were for each tender; and which company won the tender in each case. [155377]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 17 September 2007]: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was created in June 2001, prior to that, contractual arrangements were the responsibility of different departments and agencies. Information is provided for contracts awarded since the formation of the Department in 2001.

Wherever possible, the Department makes use of existing framework agreements to procure the full range of IS/IT services. This enables more efficient and faster procurement of services against agreed terms. When this is not possible an advertisement is placed in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Two contracts have been awarded as a result of competitive tender through the Official Journal of the European Union. These are the:

Other contracts awarded since 2001 using either the Unity framework, or the Office of Government Commerce's S-Cat agreement, are:

Contract awarded to

Accenture

Employment Support Allowance

Accenture

Customer Information System

Accenture

Pensions Transformation Project

Atos

Stand Alone Support Applications

Atos

Debt Management

Atos

Working Age Transformation and Change, Benefit Processing Replacement Programme

Atos

Bank Liaison Automation System

Energis

Government Secure Intranet (GSI)

IBM

Working Age Transformation and Change, Benefit Processing Replacement Programme

IBM

Customer Management System

Oracle

Resource Management

Logica

Pensions Regulator

Siemens

Central Payments System

Xansa

Work Train Project


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