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20 May 2008 : Column 216W—continued
Departmental Public Participation
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on (a) written consultations, (b) consultation roadshows and (c) stakeholder focus groups in each of the last three years. [205846]
Mr. Plaskitt:
Consultation forms an integral part of policy-making in my Department and we consult on both an informal and formal basis. However there is no
central budget for consultation exercises and activity is funded by each individual policy area or agency operation. I can therefore provide an answer to this question only at disproportionate cost to public funds.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to publish the latest Households Below Average Income statistics; what the reasons are for the time taken to publish them; and if he will make a statement. [206837]
Mr. Timms: The Households Below Average Income publication will be published in June 2008. The exact date of release will be announced on the National Statistics website at least a fortnight before publication in line with the National Statistics code of practice. Full details of the reasons for the delay in release were given in my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's written statement on 22 April 2008, Official Report, column 102WS.
Departmental Standards
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what projects sponsored by his Department were subject to Gateway reviews in each of the last four years; what status each project was assigned under such reviews; how much his Department spent on Gateway reviews in each such year; and if he will make a statement. [205870]
Mrs. McGuire: Gateway reports, including the findings and status, are conducted on a confidential basis for Senior Responsible Owners (SRO) and are not therefore, made available.
The information in the table provides a list of the Gateway reviews undertaken on the Department's projects over the last four years:
| Name of review | |
|
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)—Corporate Information Project | |
A key principle of Gateway is that they are cost neutral. However, where there is a shortfall in civil service Gateway reviewers, suitably accredited external resource may be used. While the Department is unable to identify the individual costs for each review undertaken, as this information is not specifically recorded, we have spent the following on Gateway reviews.
| Spend on Gateway( TM ) Reviews (£) | |
The Secretary of State is fully supportive of the Gateway Review Process, which is applied to all major programmes and projects within the Department. The Process is firmly embedded into the Department's governance regime and Gateway reviews are used as an integral part of the overall Assurance provision within the Department. Feedback from Senior Responsible Owners (for whom the reports are written) and project teams is that overwhelmingly they are extremely useful in helping the projects deliver their intended outcomes.
Departmental Translation Services
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on translation and interpretation services in 2007-08, broken down by language. [205174]
Mrs. McGuire: In 2007-08 the Department for Work and Pensions spent £1.6 million on telephone interpreting services and £1.8 million on face to face interpreting services.
The Department's contracted spend on translation services in 2007-08 was £40,698, of which £31,535 was translating English into Welsh. No other information is held centrally to provide any further breakdown by language and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Electronic Government
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether mechanisms are in place to monitor the extent to which his Department's (a) internal and (b) external (i) correspondence and (ii) distribution of publications is carried out electronically. [199193]
Mrs. McGuire: DWP does not have mechanisms in place to monitor the extent to which the Department's internal and external correspondence and publications are distributed electronically.
However it is the Department's policy to use electronic formats as the principal route for the distribution of internal communications and a range of electronic methods are in place to deliver external correspondence.
Fraud
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 28 April 2008, Official Report, column 42W, on fraud, how many staff in his Department were (a) dismissed and (b) prosecuted for fraud offences in each year since 2003. [204240]
Mrs. McGuire: The information is not available in the format requested. To extract this information from individual records for the period requested would be at a disproportionate cost.
The Department introduced a new personnel computer system incrementally from November 2006, being fully implemented by April 2007. The system did not categorise the reason for dismissal, for example fraud. The system was enhanced from 28 January 2008 to capture categories of dismissals.
Information on numbers prosecuted is not available. However the numbers of staff convicted for fraud since January 2004 are available and shown in the following table.
| Number of staff convicted | |
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