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17 Dec 2007 : Column 1081W—continued
Edward Miliband: Full-time equivalent headcounts for every Department, including the Cabinet Office, are published on a quarterly basis by the Office for National Statistics as part of its reporting on civil service statistics. At the end of the third quarter of 2007 the Office for National Statistics reported that the Cabinet Office (excluding agencies) employed 1270 full-time equivalents.
The Cabinet Office expects to deliver sufficient efficiencies to reach the full-time equivalent headcount target set for the Department in Spending Review 2004.
No formal forecast of full-time equivalent headcount has been made for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years. For planning purposes the Department has assumed that there is likely to be a slight decline in full-time equivalent headcount numbers after 31 March 2008, reflecting the outcome of the comprehensive spending review of 2007.
Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many and what proportion of posts in (a) his Department, (b) No. 10 Downing street and (c) the Office of the Leader of the House were recategorised from back office to frontline posts as classified by the Gershon efficiency review in each year since 2004. [172246]
Gillian Merron: No. 10 Downing street and the Office of the Leader of the House are part of the Cabinet Office. The majority of the posts in the Cabinet Office are posts that are categorised as Policy, Funding and Regulation posts under the definitions used by the 2004 Gershon Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency. Neither the Gershon Review nor the Government response to that review set any target on the move of back office posts into frontline delivery for the Cabinet Office or the Office of the Leader of the House, and no posts have been categorised or re-categorised as either back office or frontline posts since 2004.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisors
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) how many full-time equivalent civil servants work in support of (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) the Prime Minister's special advisers; and how many did so in April; [171449]
(2) what the office costs of the special advisers in (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) No. 10 Downing Street were in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07, including the costs of support staff. [171459]
Edward Miliband: I refer the right hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 22 November 2007, Official Report, columns 1095-96w. One civil servant supported the special advisers in my predecessor's office in April 2007.
In relation to No. 10, support staff assist a range of individuals, so it is not possible to provide information on how many full-time equivalent civil servants work in support of the Prime Minister's special advisers. All support given to special advisers is in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
Information on the office costs for special advisers cannot be disaggregated from overall office administration costs. Administration costs are accounted for in the relevant Cabinet Office annual resource accounts.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the (a) dates, (b) locations and (c) costs were of the last four awaydays of his Department’s departmental board. [173185]
Gillian Merron: Since taking post as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service in August 2005, Sir Gus O’Donnell reformulated the Cabinet Office Board. There have since been two Board awaydays:
Date: 23-24 February
Location: Down Hall Country House Hotel, Hertfordshire
Total cost (inc. VAT): £3,183.65
Date: 19-20 April
Location: Sunningdale Park
Total cost (inc. VAT): £4,303.70
Freedom of Information: Databases
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what fields of data there are in the Cabinet Office Freedom of Information database. [173179]
Gillian Merron: The Cabinet Office has a case management system to assist in the processing of correspondence received, including Freedom of Information requests. The fields of data include the type of correspondence, the date received and the date on which a response is due.
Illegal Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many illegal immigrants have been discovered working for (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons in the last year for which figures are available. [170484]
Gillian Merron: In the 12-month period 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2007, the Department discovered that one individual engaged through a work permit on a fee paid basis was an overstayer and the individual's contract was terminated with immediate effect.
Legislation: Public Participation
Mr. Vara: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much has been spent on (a) advertising and (b) conducting the Government’s consultation on its draft legislative programme. [169359]
Edward Miliband: The Cabinet Office has spent £85,070 on the production of the Green Paper ‘The Governance of Britain—The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme’ and the day-long deliberative forum on the draft legislative programme.
Manpower: Prime Minister
Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when a response will be sent to the letter of 19 September from the hon. Member for North Norfolk on Downing Street staff and requesting an internal review of a response to a Freedom of Information Act request. [173396]
Edward Miliband: The internal review requested by the hon. Member for North Norfolk of his freedom of information request is under way and a response will be issued shortly.
Members' Correspondence
Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many letters his Department received from hon. Members and Peers in each session of Parliament since 1997. [174937]
Edward Miliband: The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members’ and peers correspondence. Information relating to 2007 will be published as soon as it has been collated. The report for 2006 was published on 28 March 2007, Official Report, columns 101-04WS. Reports for earlier years are available in the Library of the House.
Office of the Third Sector: Finance
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the budget of the Office of the Third Sector was in (a) each of the last five years and (b) each year of the 2007 comprehensive spending review period. [173157]
Phil Hope: The Office of the Third Sector was established in May 2006. The budget of the Office of the Third Sector since its inception is as follows:
| Budget (£ million) | |
The budgets for each year of the spending review is as follows:
| Budget (£ million) | |
Repairs and Maintenance: Greater London
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many planning applications the Cabinet Office has submitted for permission for work on its properties in London in the last 12 months; to what building the applications pertained; and what the purpose was of the applications. [173475]
Edward Miliband:
Information on how many planning applications the Cabinet Office has submitted for permission for work on its properties in London in
the last 12 months; to what building the applications pertained; and what the purpose was of the applications, can be found at the Westminster city council website
Strategy Unit
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2007, Official Report, column 396W, on the Strategy Unit, what time-limited projects are being undertaken by the unit; and what the (a) start date and (b) expected end date of each such project is. [173188]
Gillian Merron: The Strategy Unit has been working on two time-limited projects since July 2007: joint work with the Department for Children, Schools and Families on childhood wellbeing in support of the Children's Plan, published on 11 December; and work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Health, the Food Standards Agency and other Departments on a study of food and food policy in the UK, due to conclude in spring 2008.
Justice
Asylum: Children
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what procedures he (a) has put in place and (b) plans to put in place to expedite (i) trials and (ii) asylum hearings involving children. [174155]
Maria Eagle: The listing of cases in the criminal courts is a judicial function. The Lord Chief Justice issued guidance in July 2005 outlining the practices to be adopted when listing cases in the magistrates courts and Crown court. It says priority should be accorded to the trial of young defendants and specific account taken of whether they are remanded on bail or in custody.
The persistent young offenders (PYO) pledge was established in 1998 to halve the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders from 142 days to 71 days. Under this pledge the Government remain committed to prioritising the prosecution of persistent young offenders.
The Government are also committed to ensuring that cases dealt with in the youth court are dealt with as swiftly and effectively as possible and are considering implementing the principles of the Criminal Justice Simple, Speedy, Summary (CJSSS) programme to speed up the youth court. A recent test at Balham youth court suggested that CJSSS could help achieve significant improvements in the time taken from charge to disposal of a case. I am placing a copy of the evaluation in the Library of the House.
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal aims to process and hear all appeals quickly and efficiently. The current target for asylum appeals is six weeks from receipt of the appeal to determination by an immigration judge. There is therefore no need for special arrangements to expedite asylum appeals involving children, although there is guidance on the conduct of hearings involving unaccompanied minors.
Cambridgeshire Probation Service
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the staff establishment of the Cambridgeshire Probation Service was in each year since 1997. [175178]
Maria Eagle: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to April 2003 were collated by a different source and were incomplete in some categories and therefore are not directly comparable with the figures collected since that time.
The following table shows the staff in post in Cambridgeshire Probation Area from 2003 onwards.
| Staff in post | ||
| Cambridgeshire | NPS | |
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the likely effect on (a) staff numbers in and (b) recruitment to the Cambridgeshire Probation Service of his Department's recent budget settlement in the period 2008-09 to 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [175179]
Maria Eagle: The information supplied by the Cambridgeshire Probation Service shows that it has not yet completed detailed business planning for 2008-09 and beyond. However, early indications are that, in the light of the improved settlement from the ‘flat cash’ budget that was originally proposed, there will be no reductions in staffing establishment apart from those achieved through efficiency measures.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his estimate is of the budgets for the Cambridgeshire Probation Service for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [175180]
Maria Eagle: The main resource grant planning figures, which comprise the vast majority of the probation budget, have recently been issued to regional offender managers and probation boards to enable service level agreements (SLA) discussions to commence. Other smaller components of the probation budgets are in the process of being worked through pending updated information. The current planning assumption for Cambridgeshire is an increase of 3.41 per cent. for 2008-09 over 2007-08 on the main resource grant, which will be subject to confirmation when SLA negotiations are completed. Budgets for 2009-10 and 2010-11 have not yet been set.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary redundancies of staff he estimates the Cambridgeshire Probation Service will make in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [175181]
Maria Eagle: The Information supplied by Cambridgeshire Probation Service shows that it is not expecting to make any voluntary or compulsory redundancies in 2008-09.
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