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13 May 2008 : Column 1531W—continued
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires public bodies to respond to written requests within 20 working days of receipt, but allows additional time for the consideration of the public interest in disclosing the requested information.
The published reports provide statistics on the number of “non-routine” requests received during each period where: an initial response was provided within 20 working days; an initial response was given outside this time but a public interest test extension had been applied; an initial response was given outside this time and no public interest test extension was applied, and where no initial response had been given at the time the statistics were collected.
The 2006 annual report provides statistics on the duration of the public interest test extensions in that year. Corresponding statistics for 2007 will be available when the 2007 annual report is published.
Information requests where deadlines were extended beyond 40 days is not collected in the form requested; however the proportion of resolvable requests the Department answered “in time” (i.e. meeting the deadline or with a permitted extension) in 2007 was 87 per cent.
For 2005 and 2006, the reports show the number of requests received by the Department which were withheld, either in full or in part, where an FOI exemption or EIR exception was applied. For 2007, the number of such requests was 125, based on aggregated quarterly statistics from 2007. Requests withheld solely under the exemption applicable to “information available by other means” are not included; statistics on these are not collected centrally because they are dealt with as routine business.
Departmental ICT
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure that counterfeit routers and counterfeit other hardware are not utilised in his Department’s computer networks. [203245]
Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions has its IT services delivered via an infrastructure that is managed by leading IT suppliers. The Department has rigorous procurement policies and processes, to source IT equipment from recognised and trusted suppliers that meet defined supply and security criteria. All components are supplied direct to either BT or EDS from their original manufacturers or their nominated and approved resellers and are individually certified as authentic.
The Department and its suppliers also use rigorous change control procedures which are compliant with recognised industry standards to control installation and change to the IT infrastructure.
Departmental NDPBs
Mr. Curry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were serving on the boards of the non-departmental public bodies which his Department sponsors at the latest date for which figures are available. [203598]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 6 May 2008]: The Cabinet Office publication Public bodies 2007 lists the number of people serving on the boards of public bodies as at 31 March 2007. These figures are broken down by individual Departments. Public bodies 2007 can be downloaded from:
Copies are also available in the Library of the House.
Disabled
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the impact of shared spaces on disabled people, with particular regard to visually impaired people. [201690]
James Purnell: I have had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on this specific issue. However, the Department for Communities and Local Government is represented on the cross-ministerial group on “Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People”, which meets regularly under the chairmanship of the Minister for Disabled People.
The Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government have been working together on the issue of shared spaces, and shared surfaces, and have produced guidance: the Manual for Streets, which was published in 2007.
Later this year, the Department for Transport will start a two-year contract to address the issues faced by visually-impaired people in negotiating shared spaces and shared surfaces. The aim is to produce a
comprehensive guidance document outlining various techniques which can be used to help visually-impaired people navigate their way around these environments.
Employment: Disabled
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to measure the effectiveness of specialist disability employment service providers from all sectors working with specific impairment groups, including deaf people, under the (a) Pathways to Work, (b) Flexible New Deal, (c) New Deal for Disabled People, (d) Remploy and (e) Workstep schemes. [203350]
Mrs. McGuire: All Department for Work and Pensions contracts with employment service providers, including specialist disability employment service providers, contain the performance standards required. Professional contract managers monitor the extent to which these performance standards are met, and address any performance issues through established processes.
Providers of specialist disability employment services are also subject to Ofsted inspection and independent audit.
Remploy's financial and operational performance is regularly reviewed as part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ sponsorship role of the company which is a non-departmental public body.
Family Resources Survey
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the next Family Resources Survey will be published. [200063]
Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 21 April 2008]: This publication has been delayed because we have introduced additional validation and quality assurance checks of the data set. It will now be published on 2 May 2008. The date of publication has been announced on the National Statistics website, in line with the National Statistics code of practice.
Industrial Health and Safety: Construction
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many construction industry businesses were (a) prosecuted and (b) fined for breaches of health and safety regulations in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997. [202457]
Mrs. McGuire: The following table shows the number of separate cases taken by HSE(1 )against employers or individuals in the construction industry. These cases may include a number of separate charges. If an employer or individual was prosecuted on more than one occasion, these will be counted separately in the table.
Numbers for the Jarrow constituency cannot be separately identified. In the period shown, there were two prosecution cases in South Tyneside. Both were decided in 1996-97, and both resulted in a fine. These two cases related to the same set of circumstances, but separate cases were pursued against the company and a director. The figures for the North East are for the Government Office region. The HSE does not enforce in Northern Ireland, so the national total shown is for Great Britain.
(1) The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 allocate enforcement of health and safety in the construction industry to HSE.
| Prosecution cases taken by HSE against employers or individuals in construction (SIC45) 1996-97 to 2006-07 | |||||||||||
| Year case was decided | |||||||||||
| Region | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999- 20 00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07( 1) |
| (1) Provisional | |||||||||||
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many construction industry site visits were carried out by Health and Safety Executive inspectors in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [202458]
Mrs. McGuire: This information is not available in the form requested without disproportionate cost.
Jobcentre Plus: Fishburn Hedges
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payments (a) Jobcentre Plus and (b) the Pension Protection Fund made to Fishburn Hedges in each of the last five years; and on what date and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [202271]
Mrs. McGuire: The information available with regard to spend with PR Agency Fishburn Hedges by (a) Jobcentre Plus and (b) the Pension Protection Fund is as follows:
(a) The following table sets out the total payments made to Fishburn Hedges by Jobcentre Plus over the last five years. The payments were in respect of various customer focused programmes targeting specific
groups such as lone parents or driving customer outcomes, for example through the Local Employment Partnership scheme.
| April to March each year | £ |
| (1) No contract or spend. | |
No further spend has been identified and a more detailed breakdown of the programmes would incur a disproportionate cost.
(b) The following table sets out the total payments made to Fishburn Hedges by the Pension Protection Fund over the last five years. The payments were in respect of strategic public affairs and communications advice, including advice on schemes entering compensation and the implementation of the Pension Protection Levies.
| April to March each year | £ |
| (1) No contract or spend. | |
No further spend has been identified and a more detailed breakdown of the programmes would incur a disproportionate cost.
Jobseekers Allowance
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of jobseekers allowance were recorded as having been on holiday in each year since 1997. [203261]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested is not available.
Occupational Health
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the incidence of self-reported work related ill-health in each year since 2004; and what progress is being made towards meeting this element of his Department's Public Service Agreement target 5. [200823]
Mrs. McGuire: The following table sets out the published statistics for the years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. The provisional figures for 2007-08 will be published in autumn 2008.
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