Written Answers to Questions
Monday 14 January 2008
Olympics
Look of London
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 919W, on Look of London, who was responsible for drawing up the estimate for the funding allocated to the Look of London while hosting the 2012 Olympic Games; and if she will make a statement. [177946]
Tessa Jowell: An allowance of £40 million for street dressing and cleaning to improve the Look of London was included in the original public sector funding package announced in 2003 and was reported by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in their Third Report of Session 2002-03 “A London Olympic Bid for 2012” HC 268. The allowance was estimated by DCMS and was based on spending in Manchester on the Commonwealth Games. The allowance was revised downwards to £32 million, as a result of the cost review carried out by DCMS after the bid was won, and this amount was included in the revised public sector funding package that I announced on 15 March 2007. The expenditure on Look of London is not programmed until 2011-12 and 2012-13 and the details of how and to what extent the funds from this allowance will be drawn on will be determined before then.
Electoral Commission Committee
Northern Ireland Certification Officer
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what meetings the Electoral Commission has had with the Northern Ireland Certification Officer since the establishment of the commission. [177707]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has had no meetings with the Northern Ireland Certification Officer.
Political Parties: Donors
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 351W, on political parties: donors, on what date the most recent version of the donation and loans guidance was sent to each political party. [177708]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the guidance was published on 1 September 2006. A letter was sent on 8 September 2006 to all registered party treasurers in Great Britain announcing the publication of the guidance and its availability on the commission’s website.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 922W, on political parties: finance, on what date the document, “Donations and loans: guidance for political parties in Great Britain” was sent to the Registered Treasurer of each registered political party; and whether the document was emailed or posted. [177706]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the guidance was published on 1 September 2006. A letter was sent by post on 8 September 2006 to all registered party treasurers in Great Britain announcing the publication of the guidance and its availability on the commission’s website.
Wales
Departmental Christmas Cards
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas cards and (b) postage of Christmas cards in 2007. [176912]
Mr. Hain: My Department spent £710.83 on Christmas cards in 2007.
Postage records are not in a format that allows individual items to be singled out. This could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Contracts
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the (a) objective and (b) value was of each contract placed with (i) Deloitte and Touche, (ii) Ernst and Young, (iii) KPMG, (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers and (v) PA Consulting by his Department in each year since 2004-05. [179027]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has not entered into any contracts, consultancies or other services with the aforementioned companies since 2004-05.
Departmental Data Protection
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether personal data for which his Department is responsible is (a) stored and (b) processed overseas; and if he will make a statement. [176011]
Mr. Hain: My Department does not store or process personal data overseas.
Departmental Databases
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what obligations his Department and its agencies place on contractors in relation to the audit of personal data and IT equipment. [176471]
Mr. Hain: Within my Department, contractors have not conducted any audits of personal data.
All IT is provided to my Department under Ministry of Justice (MOJ) PFI contracts. Any audits would meet with regulations issued by MOJ. To date there have been no IT audits.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what audits his Department carried out in relation to personal data and IT equipment in each of the last 10 years. [176486]
Mr. Hain: My Department has not carried out any audits on personal data in the last 10 years.
Since 2004 all IT equipment within my Department has been provided under Ministry of Justice PFI contracts. There have been no audits within that time.
Prior to 2004 IT equipment was provided by the Welsh Assembly Government. The information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether any of his Department's special advisers also work for organisations outside his Department. [178471]
Mr. Hain: Neither of my special advisers work for any outside organisations.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what salary each of his Department's Ministers drew (a) in 2006-07 and (b) since July 2007. [178956]
Mr. Hain: Ministerial salaries are paid in accordance with the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975. Details of ministerial salaries are available at:
and in the Library of the House.
English Language
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department has spent on English language classes for staff in the last year for which figures are available. [177428]
Women and Equality
Domestic Violence
Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government has to increase support for families affected by domestic violence. [172807]
Barbara Follett: Action on the National Domestic Violence Plan, including the delivery of support to victims and their families, is monitored through the Inter-departmental Ministerial Group on Domestic Violence, on which I sit.
A lot has been done to improve and increase the support available for families affected by domestic violence:
This year, the Home Office has allocated just under £6 million to tackle domestic violence including £2 million to support and improve local delivery on domestic violence for victims and their children and funding for improved public protection arrangements for domestic violence victims and a matrix of help lines to provide advice and support to victims and their families.
The Ministry of Justice has allocated £3 million for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers whose aim is the safety and support of victims and their children. This is in addition to annual court business costs.
The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme aims to improve the welfare of all children by putting in place arrangements for earlier and more effective assessment and intervention for vulnerable children, such as those affected by domestic violence.
Communities and Local Government has developed a range of accommodation options for victims including Sanctuary scheme guidance, and £61 million of Supporting People funds were used by local authorities in 2006-07 to provide housing related support for victims of domestic violence and their families.
Guidance available for Jobcentre Plus staff provides advice about domestic violence and its potential impact on victims, explains the sorts of support they may need and provides advice on taking account of their particular circumstances when dealing with a benefit application. The guidance also has contact details of a range of organizations which provide advice and support to domestic violence victims.
Financial support in respect of children, such as child benefit and child tax credits, is paid to the person who is responsible for those children and is often already paid directly to mothers. Where there is any family breakdown, the benefits will, where necessary, normally be transferred to the person with whom the children are residing.
Domestic violence tears apart families and always negatively impacts on children. The Government recognise the strong links between child protection concerns and domestic violence. Victims leaving a violent relationship will often need a range of financial and practical support for themselves and their children. The Inter-departmental Ministerial Group will continue to monitor this aspect of delivery.
Equality
Jo Swinson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality whether a racial impact assessment was carried out on the decision to reform the Women and Equality Unit as the Government Equalities Office. [170587]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 13 December 2007]: No. The decision to create the Government Equalities Office did not in itself require a race equality impact assessment.
Human Trafficking
Mrs. May:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what estimate she has made of the number of trafficked people who arrived in the UK in each of the
last five years, broken down by (a) country of origin and (b) sex; and how many of these were (i) British and (ii) foreign nationals. [174507]
Barbara Follett: The most up to date estimate suggests that at any one time in 2003 there were approximately 4,000 victims of trafficking for prostitution in the UK.
However, no research has been undertaken which would provide a basis for estimates of the number of trafficked people arriving in the UK in the last five years broken down by (a) country of origin or (b) sex, or for estimates on how many of these victims were (i) British or (ii) foreign nationals.
We do know that the top four nationalities of victims referred to the Poppy project are Lithuania/Albania/Nigeria and Thailand. The project has found that the largest number of referrals are for women aged between 17-25 years.
Religion: Harassment
Jo Swinson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the Government's policy is on the introduction of a religious harassment offence covering insulting or abusive language. [170297]
Barbara Follett: The Government introduced statutory protection from harassment on grounds of religion or belief in employment and vocational training in 2003, as part of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations. As a consequence, where an individual is subjected to unwanted conduct in the workplace, which violates their dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment for them, they have recourse to a civil remedy through employment tribunal.
As part of the Discrimination Law Review, we recently consulted on the possibility of extending similar statutory protection from harassment on grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education in schools, the management or disposal of premises and in the exercise of public functions.
The Government Equalities Office is currently analysing over 4,000 responses which were received as a result of the consultation, and we will carefully consider the views expressed in these responses before any decisions are taken.
The aim of any provisions in this area would be to clarify the existing protection from less favourable treatment because of a person’s religion or belief when accessing goods, facilities or services, offered by part 2 (religion or belief) of the Equality Act 2006. If we decided to legislate in this area, it would not affect social interaction between private individuals, or prevent proselytising in the street. As with the employment provisions, harassment provisions in this context would give rise to civil remedies, not create any criminal offences of religious harassment.
The separate, criminal offence of incitement to religious hatred came into force on 1 October 2007. This covers threatening words and behaviour which is intended to stir up religious hatred.
Leader of the House
Members: Pay
Mr. Evans: To ask the Leader of the House what the cost of the Senior Salary Review Body’s most recent review of hon. Members’ and Ministers’ pay was. [178054]
Ms Harman: The current cost of the review is £136,296 and covers SSRB Members’ fees, and travel and subsistence, and consultancy costs. The cost of publishing the report has not been finalised.
Culture, Media and Sport
Archaeology: Finance
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport why funding for the Portable Antiquities Scheme was not ring-fenced in the Comprehensive Spending Review; and if he will make a statement. [176798]
James Purnell [holding answer 7 January 2008]: The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and so any decisions on its funding are a matter for the MLA. The MLA has already committed to maintain current levels of support for the scheme for 2008-09. Since the 2004 spending review, the Department's funding allocation to the MLA has not included ring-fencing for the PAS.
Casinos: Planning Permission
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he plans to bring forward proposals to authorise the development of 16 small and large casinos; and if he will make a statement. [178334]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In July 2007 the Secretary of State wrote to the 16 licensing authorities recommended for the eight large and eight small casinos to see if they still wished to license a casino. Ministers are now considering the next steps.
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