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17 Mar 2008 : Column 844W—continued
Career Development Loans
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the value of outstanding career development loans is; how many banks provided such loans; and what the amount of (a) connected contingent liabilities on the Government and (b) calls on these liabilities was in each of the past five years. [193225]
Bill Rammell: The current value of live Career Development Loans (CDLs) is £74,692,443(1). Loans are offered by Barclays Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and the Co-operative Bank.
The loans are provided by banks, not by the Government. The Government do however provide support to individuals by paying interest on the loan while people are learning, and underwrites loans where individuals may be unable to repay when the loan becomes due to the bank. These costs are part of the normal operation of the CDLs programme and do not constitute a contingent liability.
(1) At Friday 7 March 2008.
Departmental Consultants
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much has been paid by his Department in consultancy fees since its establishment. [171892]
Bill Rammell: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created by machinery of government changes at the end of June 2007. Since its inception, the Department has operated a devolved procurement structure for consultancy contracts. There is no central register of contracts let and information on consultancy fees is not held separately for DIUS for prior years, therefore this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, year to date, the Department has spent £2,721,925 on consultancy.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what consultancy contracts his 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. [181883]
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills 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, its predecessor Department and its agencies in each year since 2004-05. [179037]
Bill Rammell: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was created as a result of machinery of government changes in June 2007. DIUS operates a devolved procurement structure for consultancy contracts. As such there is no central register of contracts let. Information on this type of expenditure is not held separately for DIUS for prior years therefore this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, year to date, the Department has spent £2,721,925 on consultancy.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many confirmed data security breaches there have been in his Department in the last 36 months; and what action was taken after each occurrence. [170250]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review.
Departmental Equality
Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what conclusions his Department has reached in fulfilment of the duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty. [190759]
Bill Rammell: As a result of the machinery of government changes announced on 29 June 2007, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was established to lead work to deliver the Government's long-term vision to make Britain one of the best places in the world for science, research and innovation and to ensure that the UK has the skilled workforce it needs to compete in the global economy. It therefore became responsible for a number of the commitments and actions set out in the Disability Equality Schemes published by the former Department for Education and Skills and Department for Trade and Industry in December 2006.
DIUS is currently developing a new Single Equality Scheme which will cover its approach and respond to its duties under the disability equality duty. An interim scheme will be published shortly, forming the basis for further public consultation. The final version of the scheme will be published later this year.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what percentage of Freedom of Information requests received by his Department have given rise to responses that have been published by his Department. [180209]
Bill Rammell: Of the 23 Freedom of Information requests received by the former DfES element of DIUS and the eight requests received by the former DTI element of DIUS, none of the responses met the triggers for publication in a Disclosure Log. Triggers include whether responses are likely to be of interest to the wider public.
Departmental Home Working
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people in his Department have been able to work from home in the last 12 months. [189780]
Bill Rammell: All staff, subject to line management agreement and the provision of relevant equipment are able to work from home. The Departmental strategy is to have a fully flexible working environment and there is guidance for staff about home working and other forms of flexible working. Almost all staff are equipped with laptops configured to access DIUS systems remotely. However, records are not maintained of the number of people working from home and a trawl to obtain details of all home working would involve disproportionate cost
Departmental ICT
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many of his Department's personal digital assistants were (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five years; and what the value of those items was. [185272]
Bill Rammell: The information is as follows:
(a) Zero.
(b) Zero.
Departmental Impact Assessments
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many regulatory impact assessments his Department has conducted in the last 12 months. [191272]
Bill Rammell: Information on the final regulatory impact assessments published between 1 January and 30 June 2007 can be found in Command Paper 7297, available at:
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created on 28 June 2007. Since then six impact assessments have been completed. This figure includes impact assessments conducted by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory and the Intellectual Property Office, as agencies of the Department.
From April 2008, all final impact assessments will be published on a central website.
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department and its predecessors 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. [182721]
Bill Rammell: The Department was created as part of the machinery of government changes on 28 June 2007 and employees have yet to complete a full year in which their performance will be reviewed for pay purposes. Consequently, no bonus payments have been awarded yet.
Departmental Labour Turnover
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the percentage turnover of staff was in (a) his Department and (b) his
Department’s agencies in (i) the last 12-month period and (ii) the last 24-month period for which figures are available. [169038]
Bill Rammell: DIUS was created by machinery of government changes in July 2007 from elements of the then Department of Trade and Industry and Department for Education and Skills.
As a consequence the Department has not yet existed for the specified periods of 12 and 24 months. At this point staff turnover has not been analysed by the new Department as the systems are not yet in place to do so reliably. The Department is undertaking a project to move to a shared services HR Data platform, and, as soon as this project is completed, will be in a position to analyse and provide such data. Until such time, the collection of the required data would involve disproportionate cost.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much was spent by his Department on (a) alcohol and (b) entertaining in the last 12 month period for which information is available. [188066]
Bill Rammell: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of machinery of government changes in June 2007. Information on this type of hospitality expenditure is not collected centrally in the Department. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what proportion of his Department’s staff are employed within each salary band; what the title and role of each position within each salary band is; and for each salary band what the (a) bonus structure, (b) retirement provision, (c) expenses provision, (d) total expenses incurred in each of the last 10 years, (e) average age of employee, (f) number of (i) women and (ii) men and (g) ethnic composition is. [171414]
Bill Rammell: The Department employs 783 staff in a wide variety of roles. It was formed as part of the 28 June 2007 machinery of government changes, taking in staff from the former Department for Education and Skills and Department of Trade and Industry. The following table sets out the numbers and proportions of men and women now employed in each of the general salary bands (percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number):
| Grade | (a) M en | Proportion men (percentage) | (b) W omen | Proportion women (percentage) | Total |
Staff undertake a wide variety of duties in support of my Department’s objectives, including some specialist roles. Titles and roles of each position and other individual information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost, but I can add the following further information on the work force: the average age of employees across the Department is 41. 50 employees (6.4 per cent.) have identified themselves as black and minority ethnic (BME) staff. Additionally, 255 (32.6 per cent.) have said that they prefer not to say or have not yet declared an ethnicity.
For staff at Grade 6 and below there is a non-consolidated bonus structure that varies according to pay agreements but is negotiated annually with the trade unions and follows Cabinet Office central guidance. For all SCS staff the bonus arrangements are determined centrally by Cabinet Office. Staff in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills participate in the general Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) determined by Cabinet Office. The PCSPS is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme. Expenses are claimed according to central and departmental guidance available to all staff. Information on individual expenses claimed in each of the last 10 years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the salary range is for each pay band of civil servants in his Department. [188798]
Bill Rammell: The Department was created as part of the machinery of government changes on 28 June 2007 and comprises employees transferred from the two previous Departments: the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education and Skills. On transfer, the employees have retained their previous salary scales pending a common range being agreed. The current salary ranges are contained in tables which have been placed in the Libraries.
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