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17 Oct 2007 : Column 1129W—continued

United Nations Population Fund

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions (a) Ministers in his Department and (b) officials have had with the United States Administration on its decision to suspend the US contribution to the United Nations Population Fund; and if he will make a statement. [158367]

Mr. Thomas: There have been no discussions between DFID Ministers or officials and the United States Administration on the suspension of the US contribution to UNFPA.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who the British representative is on the Executive Board of the United Nations Population Fund; and what relevant (a) specialist and (b) general qualifications and experience he or she has. [158370]

Mr. Thomas: The British representative on the Executive Board of UNFPA is a representative of the UK mission in New York, who acts on behalf of the UK ambassador to the UN. The representatives have specialist skills and qualifications in the areas of health and development as well as general qualifications in economics and international enterprise. The representatives’ experience in government ranges from five to 25 years.

There is a strong partnership between colleagues in the UK mission and DFID. The former liaise with DFID on all health and development issues.


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Duchy of Lancaster

Central Office of Information: Manpower

Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff in the Central Office of Information Media Monitoring Unit monitor internet blogs; and what the estimated cost of such monitoring is for 2007-08. [158688]

Gillian Merron: At present, the Media Monitoring Unit has no staff monitoring internet blogs and there is, therefore, no cost in 2007-08.

Charity Commission

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment has been made of the impact of the Charities Act on (a) the workload and (b) the adequacy of funding of the Charity Commission. [155627]

Phil Hope: The Government have considered issues around the work load and resources of the Charity Commission, including obligations arising from the Charities Act 2006. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced the details of the Charity Commission's financial settlement for the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 as part of the comprehensive spending review.

£ million

Resource funding baseline for 2007-08 (pre-CSR announcement)

30.2

New resource funding baseline for 2007-08

31.7

Resource funding for 2008-09

30.9

Resource funding for 2009-10

30.2

Resource funding for 2010-11

29.4


The Commission will receive £0.5 million in recognition of their responsibilities in the Charities Act. This sum has been added to their pre-CSR announcement baseline which also includes the previously announced funding of £1 million to support the implementation of their counter-terrorism strategy.

We are currently in positive discussions with the Commission to discuss ways to fund the new licensing regime for public charitable collections.

Delegation and Coherence

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress has been made in implementation of the policy statement Delegation and Coherence issued by the Cabinet Office in September 2006. [156830]

Gillian Merron [holding answer 10 October 2007]: Cabinet Office officials continue to work with Departments and the civil service unions to implement the key areas identified in the statement to improve operation of the delegated pay arrangements. Discussions have taken place with Heads of Professions and Departments on greater pay coherence for similar workforce groups; a set of reward principles has been published to inform departmental reward strategies; the Treasury’s annual Pay Remit Guidance
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has been strengthened to help narrow unjustified pay gaps between Departments; and we are currently considering the scope for improving the delegation process and identifying areas that can be managed more corporately.

Departments: Flowers

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much was spent by his Department on flowers in the last 12 months. [153287]

Gillian Merron: On rare occasions, officials may purchase flowers for specific purposes e.g. events, functions but there are strict guidelines in place determining such transactions. Details of expenditure can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Internet

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many websites the Cabinet Office operates; how many it operated at 1 January 2005; and what the estimated annual cost has been of running the Office’s websites in the last five years. [157885]

Gillian Merron: There are currently 14 Cabinet Office websites. There were 38 Cabinet Office websites as at 1 January 2005.

As part of the Government’s Website Rationalisation strategy (part of the Transformational Government agenda), the Cabinet Office is focusing its internet presence on two websites—the Civil Service site (www.civilservice.gov.uk). and the Cabinet Office site (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk). All other Cabinet Office websites will be closed by March 2012.

Annual website costs (including VAT) are as follows:

Financial year Cabinet Office cost (£)

2006-07

690,000

2005-06

975,000

2004-05

670,000


Website expenditure within the Cabinet Office before 2004-05 is not available. Before this time, budgets for communication activity (including website development and maintenance) were devolved to Cabinet Office business units, and there was no central monitoring of web expenditure.

The Cabinet Office was responsible for the Directgov website until April 2006, when it transferred to the Central Office of Information. Excluding one-off marketing and infrastructure renewal costs, expenditure for Directgov was £5.4 million in 2005-06 and £5.4 million in 2004-05. Prior to 2004-05, Directgov was funded from within the UKOnline budget which was the responsibility of the former Office of the e-Envoy and it has not been possible to obtain financial information for this period.

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many hits the (a) most and (b) least popular website run by the Cabinet Office has received since 1 January 2007. [157886]

Gillian Merron: Based on statistics, the website with the most hits was the Civil Service Recruitment
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Gateway (www.careers.civil-service.gov.uk) which from 1 January to the end of August received:

Based on statistics, the website with the least hits was the HM Government website (www.hmg.gov.uk) which since it was set up on 9 April received:

“Hits” can be a misleading statistic as, depending on how a website is designed and managed, an individual looking at a single page can generate a widely varying number of “hits”. Statistics of “Page Views” and “Visits” are generally accepted as a more accurate representation of website usage.

Departments: Manpower

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people have been appointed to his Department outside of civil service grades in the last 30 days. [153292]

Gillian Merron: The only appointments that fall outside civil service grades in the Cabinet Office are those made using fee-paid contracts. The number of fee-paid appointments made during the period 27 June 2007 to 26 July 2007 is six.

In addition, my Department publishes information annually on appointments to the public bodies for which it is responsible. Data for 2006-07 are in the process of being collated, and will be published shortly on the Cabinet Office website:

Copies will also be placed in the Libraries of the House for the reference of Members.

Departments: Publications

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) of 26 March 2007, Official Report, column 1393W, on Departments: publications, if he will place in the Library a copy of the July 2007 edition of the Central Office of Information’s White Book. [153889]

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library a copy of the July 2007 edition of the Central Office of Information’s White Book. [158188]

Gillian Merron: The publication of the White Book is being prepared to reflect the changes in departmental boundaries and responsibilities.

The new edition will be published and placed in the Library next month.


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Olympic Games: Greater London

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Minister for the Olympics (1) what estimate she has made of the cost of construction of the facilities required to stage the Olympic shooting events at the Royal Artillery Barracks; and if she will make a statement; [154847]

(2) what estimate she has made of the cost of staging the shooting events for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley. [154848]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 10 September 2007]: Outline assessments during the bid phase were conducted on the basis of providing the overlay required to stage shooting events at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley. However, during the bidding phase, the International Olympic Committee commented on the distance between Bisley and the Olympic Park. On the basis of this feedback, and following consultation with the International Shooting Federation, the Royal Artillery Barracks was selected as the shooting venue, due to its iconic location and its close proximity to the Olympic Park and Village. These factors will improve the athlete and spectator experience by limiting travel and making it easier to attend other Games events on the same day in the Olympic Park.

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics if she will provide a full breakdown of the £2.7 million Olympic contingency fund; and whether any of that contingency has been drawn down. [157734]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 15 October 2007]: On 15 March 2007, Official Report, column 450, I announced a funding provision for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games of £9.325 billion. This included provision for £2.747 billion programme contingency, comprising:

The use of the programme contingency is subject to approval by the ministerial funders group. As set out in recent NAO report “The Budget for the London 2012, Olympic and Paralympic games,” in June 2007, the group agreed to release £360 million of programme contingency to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). This will be drawn down from April 2008.

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics if she will place in the Library a copy of the cash flow forecast for the Olympic Delivery Authority. [157735]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 15 October 2007]: Details of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s cash flows for 2007-08 are included in the ODA’s 2007-08 business plan summary, published on its website. A copy of which is in the Libraries of both Houses.

Chapter 20 of the CSR White Paper published on 9 October sets out the Government’s contribution for the
17 Oct 2007 : Column 1134W
next three years (2008-09 to 2010-11). The balance of the funding requirement will be met, as planned in March 2007, from contributions from the Mayor of London (GLA and LDA); from funding already coming in from Olympic lottery games; from funds from the Sports Lottery Distributor; and from the funds to be transferred from the National Lottery Distribution Fund, subject to affirmative resolution in both Houses.

Further details of cash flows will be set out in future business plan summaries.

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how the issue of financing costs is being addressed in the Olympics Delivery Authority budget. [157736]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 15 October 2007]: The CSR announced grant in aid from Government of £1,559/£1,104/£1,050 million in 2008-09 to 2010-11. Provision for 2011-12 to 2013-14 will be confirmed in the next CSR.

The balance of the funding requirement will be met, as planned in March 2007, from contributions from the Mayor of London (GLA and IDA); from funding already coming in from Olympic lottery games; from funds from the Sports lottery distributor; and from the funds to be transferred from the national lottery distribution fund, subject to affirmative resolution in both Houses.

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how much it will cost to rent all facilities not located on the Olympic park necessary to stage the London 2012 Olympics, broken down by venue. [158728]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 16 October 2007]: The London Organising Committee for the Olympic games (LOCOG) have informed me that they have set aside an allowance of circa £30 million for arrangements for non-Olympic park sporting venues.

LOCOG are not currently in a position to disclose further information, by venue, as they are still negotiating terms with some of the venue owners and to do so would prejudice their commercial interests.

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what her latest estimate is of the likely cost of the London 2012 Olympic games that will be paid via the council tax in London; and if she will make a statement. [158837]

Tessa Jowell: The estimated contribution from the London council tax, as announced in 2003, remains at £625 million.


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