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22 Oct 2007 : Column 78W—continued
Departments: Consultants
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which private consultancy firms (a) his Department and (b) agencies which report to his Department engaged in each of the last three years; which programmes or projects each firm worked on; and what the approximate cost to the Department or agency concerned was of each engagement. [155872]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department does not hold a central list of every private consultancy firm engaged by the core Department and its executive agencies over the last three years; which programmes or projects each firm worked on; and the cost of each engagement. Such a list could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Department came into being in July 2001. From information held centrally, the core-Department’s expenditure on consultancy and professional services over the financial years 2002-03 to 2006-07 is as per the following table:
| £ | |||||
| Professional services | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
The reduction in expenditure for programme and project management between 2005-06 and 2006-07 is the result of re-classifying some £14 million into the specialist consultancy expenditure category. This will be the subject of an explanatory note in the DEFRA Departmental Report for 2008.
Departments: Internet
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many websites his Department operates; how many it operated at 1 January 2005; and what the estimated annual cost has been of running his Department’s websites in the last five years. [157873]
Jonathan Shaw: As part of the Transformational Government Web rationalisation process, DEFRA is currently reviewing all its websites. Over time, content will be rationalised and where appropriate moved to Directgov and Business link. A number of the current websites will close.
A list of the websites DEFRA is responsible for was published by PSX(e) in 2007. Additional information on visitor numbers and operating costs may be found in a response to an earlier question from Theresa May (135733).
Information on the number of websites operated on 1 January 2005 is not held.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hits the (a) most popular and (b) the least popular website run by his Department has received since 1 January 2007. [157874]
Jonathan Shaw: The core DEFRA website, www.defra.gov.uk has received the following hits monthly since January 2007. More detailed records for other websites within the DEFRA network are not readily available, although information on visitor numbers can be found in a response to an earlier question from Theresa May (135733). A list of the websites DEFRA is responsible for was published by PSX(e) in March 2007.
| Month | Hits | Unique visitors | Sessions |
Departments: Manpower
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of employees in (a) his Department and (b) each (i) executive agency and (ii) non-departmental public body funded by his Department are above state retirement age. [158944]
Jonathan Shaw: The percentage of employees above state retirement age for Departments and executive agencies is not available from published sources.
The following table shows the number of staff in DEFRA and its agencies who were above state retirement age on 30 September 2006, where such information was available. The data used to provide this information was obtained from civil service statistics collected from Departments by the Office for National Statistics.
| Number of staff 65 or over (age known( 1) ) | Total number of staff (age known ( 1) ) | Percentage over retirement age | |
| (1) Analysis has been carried out where age known. (2) Data not available. (3) Indicates where data collection method does not allow age analysis. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. | |||
The information requested is not available for non-departmental public bodies.
Departments: Secondment
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff are seconded to his Department from outside Government; from which outside body each has been seconded; and what the length is of each secondment. [157872]
Jonathan Shaw: There are currently 29 staff on inward secondment to DEFRA from outside Government. They are on secondment from the following organisations:
| Outside body | Number |
The lengths of the secondments are as follows:
| Length of secondment | Number |
Dogs: Animal Breeding
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to prevent the sale of puppies from unlicensed farms and rearing establishments. [159247]
Jonathan Shaw: Anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs requires a licence from the local authority under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 (as amended 1999). It is for local authorities, who have extensive powers to check for unlicensed premises, to enforce the requirements of the Act.
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