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28 Jan 2008 : Column 109Wcontinued
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department's main public facing telephone inquiry service, the Customer Service Centre, has a geographic number (020 7210 4850). The Department also uses a Government wide switchboard service for contact with Richmond House (020 7210 3000). There are individual switchboard services for the Department's main buildings and these have geographic telephone numbers.
The Department's Executive Agencies, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency also have geographic numbers.
The Department has a healthy start scheme (formerly known as the welfare foods helpline), a service operated under contract to provide assistance to individual members of the public with inquiries about welfare foods e.g. milk tokens. The number for members of the public is 0845 607 6823. The text phone (for minicom users) is 0845 601 7698. The numbers for commercial providers are 08707 203063/201688. The nursery milk reimbursement unit helpline provides information to nurseries and other early years providers. This number is 08707 203055. These telephone numbers will be reviewed as part of the contract review in 2008.
The Department does not collect information on the telephone numbers used by local national health service organisations and general practitioner practices. Under the NHS next stage review options are being considered in adopting a 3-digit number as a single point of access to NHS urgent care.
The NHS Direct telephone advice service, which currently operates on 0845 4647, will shortly have to change its number. The Department has had a preliminary discussion with Ofcom about the possibility of securing a 3-digit number for NHS Direct.
The Department has 25 arms length bodies and a number of national programmes e.g. NHS Employers. Information about telephone services for these bodies is not held centrally and cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
The Department also grants funds a wide range of voluntary and charitable organisations to provide services relating to health and healthy living. Some of these organisations include telephone helplines as part of their services. It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to identify individual projects with telephones services and whether geographic telephone numbers are used.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham of 17 July to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Services requesting a meeting to discuss the charging regime for multiple sclerosis treatment centres. [175219]
Mr. Bradshaw: I would like to apologise for the delay in replying to the hon. Member's letter. Advice is currently being considered and a reply will be sent out shortly.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the report on the fraud investigation into Bedfordshire Citizen Partnership will be available; and if she will make a statement. [181064]
John Healey:
The Citizens Services Partnership (CSP) Joint Authority Scrutiny Task Group was formed to oversee the findings of the fraud investigation. This is comprised of members from Mid Bedfordshire district council, South Bedfordshire district council and Bedfordshire county council. The fraud investigation is currently continuing and the Task Group is awaiting the receipt of a further general update from Bedfordshire police, covering in particular the outcome of its discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Audit Commission. The Task Group is also awaiting the receipt of a report from the Assistant Director (Audit and Risk Management) at Bedfordshire county council, which
presents a summary of the previous four Internal Audit reports regarding the CSP, in terms of what recommendations remain outstanding regarding the governance arrangements and probity of the Partnership and what, if any, changes had taken place at Bedfordshire county council to address weaknesses identified.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the value of council tax receipts was in each Government office region in England in each year since 1997-98. [Official Report, 23 April 2008; Vol. 474, c. 9MC.] [182084]
Mr. Dhanda: Details of the council tax collected in each Government office region in England in each year since 1997-98 are shown in the following table. The figures are shown in £000 and are the amount collected within the year, irrespective of the year to which the money relates. The figures include both arrears received for previous years and prepayment of council tax for subsequent years but exclude amounts funded by council tax benefit.
£000 | ||||||||||
1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1306W, on council tax: standards, for which datasets, used to calculate best value performance indicators but not required for either the National Indicator set or local indicators, the data will continue to be collected. [182165]
John Healey: We are working with other Government Departments to identify those data collections which are to be discontinued, in line with the commitment made in the Local Government White Paper to limit data collection to that which is necessary for reasons such as financial management and policy development and the 30 per cent. target for reduction in data burdens announced on 9 October 2007 as part of the comprehensive spending review.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1306W, on council tax: standards, for what reasons the performance data collected from local authorities through final quarterly returns will not be included in the National Indicator set. [182166]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1306W.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consultancy contracts her Department issued in each year since 2005; what the (a) value, (b) purpose and (c) contractor was in each case; and whether the consultant's report is publicly available in each case. [181889]
Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 22 January 2008, Official Report, column 1796, given to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins). Further information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many 0845 or similar cost telephone numbers are used by (a) her Department and (b) related departmental bodies for public access to services. [179009]
Mr. Dhanda: Communities and Local Government has one 0845 number to provide information to home owners in relation to energy performance certificates (0845 365 2468). This service is operated by a third party on the Departments behalf. There are no other 0845 or similar numbers used by the Department or related public bodies.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much her Department spent on travel (a) within and (b) outside the UK for officials in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of her Department's overall expenditure was spent on such travel in each such year; [181527]
(2) how many overseas visits by officials in her Department took place in each of the last 10 years; which countries were visited; and how much was spent on such visits in each such year. [181611]
Mr. Dhanda: Communities and Local Government (CLG) and its predecessor the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) were created following the machinery of government changes on 5 May 2006 and 29 May 2002, respectively.
The following table sets out the total annual departmental costs of overseas and UK travel and subsistence (for both civil servants and Ministers) for CLG and the former ODPM (excluding the Government offices). Expenditure figures prior to 2002-03 are not available and the detailed breakdown of overseas visits information could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.
The total cost of travel and subsistence represents in each year approximately 2 per cent. of the central Department's overall near cash administration expenditure.
ODPM | CLG | ||||
2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
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