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25 Feb 2008 : Column 1194W—continued
Departmental Computer Software
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the source code copies of core application software used by his Department and its agencies and supplied by third parties are held in escrow. [186909]
Mr. Bradshaw: It is a contractual requirement for the National Programme for Information Technology main suppliers to ensure all source code copies of core software supplied for the national programme systems and services, including that supplied by their subcontractors, are placed in escrow. Outside the National Programme, source code developed for the Department by third parties is held by the Department.
The core business application for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Sentinel, is supplied by Accenture and is held in escrow. For all other applications developed by third parties, the source code is supplied to the agency by the third party and held by the agency themselves.
Bespoke applications that are developed for the NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency are normally held in escrow.
Departmental Data Protection
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external sources in each case; how many records were compromised on each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned. [173687]
Mr. Bradshaw: Except in exceptional cases, when it is in the public interest, it has been the policy of successive Governments not to comment on breaches of security.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of Freedom of Information requests received by his Department have given rise to responses that have been published by his Department. [180219]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has adopted a selective disclosure log, whereby only the most interesting and high-profile pieces of information are published. Between 1 January 2005 and 30 September 2007, 2 per cent. of Freedom of Information requests received by the Department gave rise to responses that were published by the Department. However, we periodically publish a list of all requests that have resulted in release of information, providing brief subject details and advice that the information may be obtained on request. The last such list, published in August 2007, covered information released between October and December 2006.
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department paid in bonuses to press and communication officers in each of the last 10 years; and what the (a) highest and (b) lowest such bonus was in each of those years. [182719]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not have a ‘communication officer’ grade or job title so the figures provided are for press officers. Some officers in Directorates other than Communications have some media, press or communications liaison responsibility, but this is not recorded in a consistent or economically retrievable form. Figures given as follows are therefore for the communications Directorate alone. The figures for 2003-04 are estimates. Figures are given for complete financial years.
| £ | |||||
| Financial year | Special bonus total | Senior civil servant (SCS) bonus total | Total bonuses | Maximum bonus | Minimum bonus |
The Department changed its payroll provider in 2003-04. Information on performance bonus payments prior to 2004-05 is available only from individual payslips. To retrieve this information would therefore involve disproportionate cost.
The figures provided include bonuses paid to press officers who are Senior Civil Servants under pay arrangements common across the civil service and special bonuses paid to press officers under schemes operated by the Department and its Agencies.
Senior Civil Service bonuses reward excellent performance during the year, on the basis of a judgment of how well people perform relative to their peers. This covers the extent to which objectives are met and how they are achieved, and has regard to how leadership behaviours and professional skills are demonstrated and how stretching objectives are.
Special bonuses are awarded for a number of different reasons. The most common of these are an outstanding contribution in a particularly demanding situation, job loading becoming temporarily very heavy, a high level of commitment and resolution to get a job done, special efforts to produce results, cover for a high level of absence, and a contribution over and above what would normally be expected for the job and of the person or team concerned. Special bonuses can be paid either to individuals or to a group or team of staff at any point in the year, and only for additional duties undertaken which will not be recognised through annual pay awards.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many external contracts his Department held with public relations companies in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost of those contracts was. [183166]
Mr. Bradshaw: Expenditure outlined as follows is for outsourced public relations from financial years 2001-02 to 2006-07. Information related to contractual values prior to 2001 is held on legacy systems and is therefore not accessible.
| Financial year | Annual expenditure (£) | Number of contracts let |
Departmental Publicity
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by his Department on advertising in the last 12 months. [167956]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table outlines cost of departmental advertising in the last full fiscal year for which completed records are available, 2006-07.
Departmental Sustainable Development
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department is on course to meet the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate targets to (a) source at least 10 per cent. of its electricity from renewables by 31 March 2008 and (b) increase recycling figures to 40 per cent. of waste by 2010. [181316]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department has, since 2004-05, purchased 100 per cent. of the electricity for its main London administrative estate from renewable sources.
In 2005-06, 91 per cent. of the waste removed from our London administrative estate was recycled.
Notes:
1. The figure represents waste removed from our five London buildings (Skipton House, Wellington House, Richmond House, Eileen House, Hannibal House). It excludes waste removed from Quarry House, Leeds (building managed on behalf of Department for Work and Pensions). It also excludes redundant information technology equipment.
2. The recycling figures differ from those quoted in the 2006 “Sustainable Development in Government” report, which include waste removed from sites occupied by our two executive agencies, NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency, and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on travel (a) within and (b) outside the UK for officials in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of his Department’s overall expenditure was spent on such travel in each such year. [181534]
Dawn Primarolo: In 2000-01 the Department moved to resource-based accounting, so the information provided has been restricted to the period 2000-01 to 2006-07. During this period the Department spent approximately 2.25 per cent. of its administrative budget on travel. This information is shown in the following table:
| UK travel spend (£) | Overseas travel spend (£) | Percentage of departmental admin costs | |
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s internal guidance on answering Questions tabled by hon. Members. [166444]
Mr. Bradshaw: In accordance with the ministerial code, Ministers are accountable for their answers to parliamentary questions. The Department follows Cabinet Office guidance in its handling of such questions.
Depressive Illnesses
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were diagnosed with depression in England in each of the last 10 years. [187590]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Approximately 90 per cent. of people with a mental health problem are treated in primary care. Information is not collected centrally about diagnoses for any condition in primary care, so data are not available in this format.
Diamorphine
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of UK demand for diamorphine has been met by the NHS's normal suppliers in each of the last five years; how shortfalls in supply have been addressed; and if he will make a statement. [186660]
Mr. Bradshaw: The supply picture for diamorphine injection (ampoules) for the national health service in England for the years 2002 to 2006 is shown in the following table.
| Diamorphine injection supplied by year: England: hospital and community | |||||
| Units in thousands | |||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
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