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13 May 2008 : Column 1526W—continued
Please accept my apologies for the lateness of writing but this was due to an administrative error.
Medals: Warrington
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) veterans’ badges and (b) Bevin Boys badges have been awarded to people in Warrington North constituency. [203150]
Derek Twigg: Records based on postcodes show that a total of 926 HM Veterans lapel badges and five Bevin Boys Veterans badges have been issued to residents in the Warrington area. It is not possible to identify which applications are specifically from the Warrington North constituency.
Navy: EU Action
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what Royal Navy assets will participate in the EU review of naval forces in Toulon in October 2008; and if he will make a statement. [204564]
Des Browne: There are currently no plans for any Royal Navy assets to participate in any EU review of naval forces in Toulon in October.
RAF Innsworth: NATO Rapid Reaction Corps
Mr. Harper:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to (a) decide on and (b)
announce the timetable for the move of HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps to Innsworth in Gloucestershire. [205222]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1604W.
Royal Ordnance Factories
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Royal Ordnance factories closed in each year since 1997; [204570]
(2) how many Royal Ordnance factories there were in each year since 1997. [204591]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: In 1987 Royal Ordnance plc was sold to British Aerospace (now BAE Systems plc), with the exception of Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds which had been acquired by Vickers Defence systems in 1986.
Since 1987, MOD has had no responsibility for the former Royal Ordnance Factories and any decision by BAE Systems to rationalise its business by closure or sale of its ordnance factories has been a commercial one for the company.
Sandhurst Foundation: Finance
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department provided to the Sandhurst Foundation in each year since 1997. [204573]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Sandhurst Foundation was established in 2004 as the Royal Military Academy's ‘Alumni’ Association for past and present Army officers who trained at Sandhurst. The Foundation is funded entirely through private sources. Foundation staff do, however, have the use of two surplus offices at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), which are provided with telephones and a single MOD computer.
Service Personnel and Veterans Agency: Location
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what steps he will take to (a) minimise the potential for disruption and (b) retain (i) skills and (ii) service levels in relation to the proposed re-location of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency; and if he will make a statement; [204670]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the business case for the re-location of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency; and if he will make a statement; [204676]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department associated with relocating the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency; and if he will make a statement; [204677]
(4) when he plans to make a statement on the proposed relocation of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency. [204678]
Derek Twigg: I will write shortly to the hon. Member regarding my decision about the proposed relocation of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency functions undertaken currently at Innsworth Station.
Warships: Procurement
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on competitive tendering for (a) warship and (b) Royal Fleet Auxiliary refits; and for what reason only one bidder is being allowed to enter the reverse auction for the refit of HMS Scott. [203199]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 1 May 2008]: Competition policy for refits and docking periods (upkeeps) for legacy complex warships was suspended in 2006. Since then, the Surface Ship Support Project has been exploring a wide range of support options to deliver sustainable, efficient and affordable support for these vessels.
For Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, one-off competed contracts are currently placed for upkeep work. However, in order to achieve greater value for money, a Through Life Support Strategy has been developed that will result in contracts being placed based on a five-year maintenance cycle. These contracts are being competed and are due to be placed by late summer 2008.
For HMS Scott’s next docking period, a competition was initiated with the expectation that the tendering process would culminate in a reverse auction. Four companies were invited to tender in late 2007, but two subsequently withdrew. Following a full evaluation of the two remaining tenders, only one was compliant. Since at least two compliant tenders are required to proceed with a reverse auction, it is intended to complete the competition process with the remaining tenderer alone.
World War II: Medals
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will consider issuing a campaign medal to those who served in Bomber Command in the Second World War; and if he will make a statement. [204584]
Derek Twigg: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 4 July 2007, Official Report, column 1042W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright).
Work and Pensions
Child Support Agency: ICT
David Tredinnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases are being processed manually by the Child Support Agency because of technical problems with the new computer system. [202659]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 29 April 2008]: 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.
Letter from Susan Park, dated 13 May 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a
substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As the Chief Executive is currently on leave, I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases are currently being processed manually by the Child Support Agency because of technical problems with the new computer system (202659)
The Agency’s clerical caseload is currently 36,900 cases which is less than 3% of the total caseload. The latest figures relating to clerical cases are routinely published in the Child Support Agency’s Quarterly Summary Statistics in Table 20 and further information on clerical cases is set out in the accompanying notes to the table. The latest copy is available in the House of Commons library or via the internet at:
Child Support Agency: Telephone Services
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of telephone calls to the Child Support Agency offices in (a) Liverpool, (b) Birkenhead, (c) Dudley, (d) Belfast, (e) Falkirk, (f) Plymouth and (g) Hastings was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [201563]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 25 April 2008]: 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.
Letter from Susan Park, dated 13 May 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As the Chief Executive is currently on annual leave, I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of telephone calls to the Child Support Agency offices in (a) Liverpool (b) Birkenhead (c) Dudley (d) Belfast (e) Falkirk (f) Plymouth and (g) Hastings was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [201563]
Such information as is available is included in the attached tables. The tables show the average length of call and the average speed to answer the call by Agency office. Information on telephone calls to Agency offices prior to April 2006 is not available.
Further information on the Agency's telephony performance is available in Table 16 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons library or on the internet at the following link:
The Agency has shown significant and sustained improvement in telephony performance under the Operational Improvement Plan. In the year ending March 2008, the Agency received 5,369,000 calls from clients and answered 98% of calls available to be answered, with an average waiting time of twenty seconds.
| Average length of call and time taken to answer by Agency office, Belfast, Birkenhead, Dudley, Falkirk | ||
| 2006-07 | ||
| Centre | Call duration | Time to answer |
| 2007-08 | ||
| Centre | Call duration | Time to answer |
| Notes: 1. Information includes old system (CSCS) and new system (CS2) calls. 2. Average length of call by office is not available prior to April 2006. 3. Average length of call includes inbound talk time and time on hold. 4. Time to answer starts once the call enters a queue and is awaiting a response by a member of staff. New system (CS2) calls enter a queue once the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) process is complete. IVR refers to the automated touch tone part of the process where customers enter their details via the telephone key pad. Once callers have cleared this part of the process, they enter a queue to be answered by a member of staff. There is no IVR process on the old system. | ||
Departmental Energy
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to reduce its energy consumption in the last 12 months; and what his Department's expenditure on energy was in (a) the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available and (b) the immediately preceding 12 months. [201743]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce energy consumption. Our estate partner, Land Securities Trillium, is incentivised to reduce energy consumption by 2 per cent. per annum as part of a shared savings mechanism.
There has been a comprehensive campaign to encourage energy reductions, covering both technical and “housekeeping” measures across the estate. These include the implementation of automatic (‘Smart’) meters to provide half-hourly monitoring of consumption, to enable analysis of trends and resolution of any issues the day after they arise, and to improve reporting to staff. Initial estate-wide “spend to save” investments on energy saving devices are nearing completion and further site-specific measures are now under consideration. Figures for 2007-08 are still being gathered, but significant savings are estimated as a result of these initiatives.
Expenditure for the last couple of years is given in the following table:
| £ | |
Departmental Freedom of Information
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many freedom of information requests made to his Department were (a) answered (i) within 20 days, (ii) within 40 days, (iii) within 60 days, (iv) after 60 days, (b) not answered and (c) answered citing an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as a reason not to provide the requested information in each year since the Act came into force. [201730]
Mrs. McGuire: The Ministry of Justice has published two annual reports containing statistical information on freedom of information requests received by monitored bodies (including central Government Departments) in 2005 and 2006. These reports can be found at the following address:
The 2007 annual report is currently being drafted for publication in June 2008. However, statistics on requests received in each quarter of 2007 have been published and can be found via the MOJ website:
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