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26 Feb 2008 : Column 1380W—continued
The RDAs grant in aid budgets for the last five years is set out in the following table.
| £ million | |||||
| RDAs | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
Sub-post Offices: Finance
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the cost to sub-post offices of the (a) services and (b) electronic services provided to them by the Post Office was in the last 12 months period for which figures are available. [188898]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 25 February 2008]: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Work and Pensions
Capita
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid by his Department to Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries in each financial year since 2004-05; which contracts were awarded by his Department to Capita Group plc in each year to the most recent available date; what the cost was of each contract; what penalties for default were imposed on contract provisions; what the length was of each contract; whether the contract was advertised; how many companies applied for the contract; how many were short-listed; what criteria were used for choosing a company; what provision was made for renewal without re-tender in each case; and if he will make a statement. [180707]
Mrs. McGuire: Information on DWP expenditure with Capita Group plc and its known subsidiaries in each year since 2004-05 is provided in the following table.
| £ million | |
| Total = £176.66 million which includes £23.79 million recoverable VAT. | |
Contracts awarded to Capita are as follows:
In 2004, DWP awarded a contract for the provision of record storage services to Capita Business Services Ltd. The contract commenced on 1 July 2004 and is due to expire in June 2011. The contract was advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). 39 organisations applied for the contract and three were shortlisted. Expenditure on this contract between July 2004 to December 2007 is £52.96 million.
Occupational h ealth s ervices
In December 2007, Capita Health Solutions was successful in a competitive re-tender exercise to identify an occupational health service provider for DWP. The competition was advertised in OJEU and a number of organisations expressed interest in the contract, eight were shortlisted and four bids were received. This service went live in April 2007. DWP and Capita mutually agreed to disengage from this arrangement with effect from 15 August 2007. Expenditure with Capita was £1.07 million. Consultancy and Interim Personnel
Capita Business Services Ltd. has a place within four lots on the DWP Consultancy and Interim Personnel framework. This framework was advertised through OJEU and went live in April 2004. Each requirement identified within the Department is competed within the appropriate lot of the framework or through other appropriate commercial arrangements e.g. PAN Government frameworks, CIPHER Communications Framework. Expenditure with Capita on consultancy and interim personnel from April 2004 to December 2007 is £5.63 million.
The UNderpinning IT DeliverY (UNITY) Project
In 2005, Capita Business Services Ltd. was one of 32 suppliers awarded a Framework Agreement under the Department's UNderpinning IT DeliverY (UNITY) project. The UNITY Project was designed to put in place commercial arrangements for the procurement of IS/IT services for DWP which complemented existing contracts. As a result of a formal competition, the UNITY suppliers were selected to compete for business within specific areas or lots. Capita Business Services Ltd. is eligible to compete for business in lot one (application development) and lot two (infrastructure development), if invited to do so by DWP. The procurement was conducted under public procurement regulations with a Contract Award Notice published in the OJEU on 31 May 2005.
Capita Business Services Ltd. is one of 23 suppliers that met those criteria in lot one and one of 12 suppliers successful in lot two. The Framework Agreement itself has no value attached to it, nor is there any guarantee that suppliers will be invited to compete for, or be awarded, any specific business for the four year duration of the Framework, which expires in 2009. To date no contract within the Framework Agreement has been awarded to Capita.
Capita Business Solutions had a contract with DWP until March 2007 for the provision of office services in the north west, north east, Yorkshire and East and West Midlands. Expenditure from April 2004 to March 2007 was £85.38 million. Capita had a contract also for the delivery of winter fuel payments which ended in May 2005, following a re-competition. Expenditure from April 2004 to the end of the contract was £4.84 million.
DWP can access Cabinet Office contracts for the delivery of PCSPS payments (Capita) and their framework for senior level recruitment where Veredus (a Capita subsidiary) is a supplier. In addition, there has been ad-hoc expenditure with Capita for example for the provision of miscellaneous training, IS/IT, property services and access to work payments, to aid in the employment of disabled workers. Expenditure from April 2004 to December 2007 in these areas is £2.99 million.
All DWP contracts are awarded on a balance of quality and cost, to provide optimum value for money for the Department. All contracts are underpinned by key performance indicators and where appropriate, service credit regimes should performance not reach the required standard. DWP also has standard clauses in respect of formal breach of contract action.
Child Support Agency: Pay
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in bonus payments to staff at the Child Support Agency in each year since 2001. [185073]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was paid in bonus payments to staff at the Child Support Agency in each year since 2001. [185073]
The Child Support Agency is part of the Department for Work and Pensions and operates Departmental schemes. Over the period from 2001 to 2007, three separate schemes for payment of bonuses have operated within the Child Support Agency. Each of the three schemes have different criteria on how a bonus can be earned and the percentage of the pay budget that can be applied to it.
The figures provided in the attached table highlight the amounts paid as special, Makinson and individual performance bonuses.
Both the special bonus scheme and the individual performance bonuses were in operation for the entire period within all parts of the Department. The guidelines, policy funding and framework for these schemes are set by the Department.
The Makinson bonus scheme was undertaken as part of a Treasury initiative to enhance performance in the public sector by linking performance to reward. This scheme only ran for 2002-03 and 2003-04 and was trialled in three parts of the Department, one of which was the Child Support Agency. Incentive payments made under this scheme were funded directly by the Treasury.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
The table below shows the sums paid to Agency employees as special bonuses, Makinson bonuses and individual performance bonuses between 2001-02 and 2006-07.
| £000 | ||||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data exchanges of sensitive personal data have taken place between his Department and local authorities in the last 12 months; and what datasets were collected. [176242]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department lawfully exchanges data with local authorities for a very wide range of purposes. Many of these exchanges are provided routinely on a day-to-day basis with local authority staff, and consequently details are not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 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. [181639]
Mrs. McGuire: Information in the format requested is available only from April 2003 and is provided in the following table.
| Overseas (£) (including EU) | Domestic (£) | Total (£) | Total as percentage of DWP overall DEL expenditure | |
| (1 )DEL expenditure for 2007-08 financial year will be available following publication of the Department's Resource Accounts later this year. | ||||
All official travel is undertaken in accordance with rules set out in departmental guidance.
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