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20 May 2008 : Column 244W—continued
No consultants were contracted by DCMS to conduct public participation activities in 2005-06 or 2006-07.
Horserace Totalisator Board: Finance
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the budgeted financial balance of the Tote is for the financial year 2008-09. [206812]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is held internally by the Tote and is commercially confidential. Its release could potentially harm the Tote's businesses, and also the outcome of any sale of the Tote on the open market.
Horserace Totalisator Board: Manpower
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the employee headcount of the Tote was on 30 April 2008. [206813]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Tote's headcount at 30 April 2008 was 5,214, comprising 3,934 permanent staff, 1,230 casual staff and 50 fixed term staff.
National Lottery Commission: Conferences
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the National Lottery Commission spent on conferences in each of the last three years. [206725]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been informed by The National Lottery Commission that they spent the following amounts on conferences in each of the last three years:
| £ | |
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department and its predecessors spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three years; and to which companies payments for carbon offsetting have been made in each such year. [204104]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS came into existence in July 2007, but figures are not currently available for financial year 2007-08.
DIUS has continued with arrangements inherited from its predecessor Departments, DfES and DTI.
Spend on carbon offsetting for previous years are covered in the DCSF and BERR returns.
Departmental Equality
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether his Department met the Civil Service diversity targets set out on page 51 of Cabinet Office Annual Report 2007 by April 2008. [204715]
Mr. Lammy: The latest published statistics against overall civil service targets were at October 2007 and are available on the civil service website at
The final measurement against the targets will be published this autumn.
The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills was formed as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007. The Department has information about the composition of its staff from two separate databases taken from its predecessor Departments and equality-related information on staff is also collected on different bases and definitions. There are also significant levels of non-declaration in key areas of equality-related information. Preliminary analysis suggests the following staff composition but this needs to be validated as we move on to a common data collection system next year:
Currently three of 10 members of the DIUS board and three of four non-executive board members are women;
20 per cent. of the top management posts (Permanent Secretary and Director General posts) are held by women (the Cabinet Office target is 30 per cent.);
32 per cent. of DIUS senior civil servants are women (the Cabinet Office target for the whole civil service is 37 per cent.); however, of all staff around half are women;
Where ethnic origin has been declared, some 6 per cent. of the total employee population are from a black and ethnic minority (BME) background. This proportion exceeds the Cabinet Office target (4 per cent.) for the work force as a whole;
With the same caveat about the limitations of available information, 1 per cent. of the SCS are from a black and ethnic minority background (Cabinet Office target is 4 per cent.);
Where status is known, disabled people form 8 per cent. of the total employee population, which exceeds the Cabinet Office target (of 3.2 per cent.).
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many receptions he has hosted and funded in his capacity as Secretary of State in the last 12 months; which individuals and organisations (a) were invited to and (b) attended each reception; and what the cost was of each reception. [203849]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS will publish in due course, an annual list providing information relating to official receptions hosted by Ministers in the Department during the course of the previous financial year.
Departmental Public Participation
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department spent on (a) written consultations, (b) consultation roadshows and (c) stakeholder focus groups in each of the last three years. [205832]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what consultants have been contracted by his Department to conduct public participation activities in the last three years; and how much expenditure his Department has incurred on each such contract to date. [206217]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS has used the following contractors, consultants and companies for public participation activities:
Foetal Tissue: Research
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what research on applications of umbilical cord blood his Department and its predecessors have (a) undertaken and (b) funded in the last five years. [206009]
Ian Pearson: The Medical Research Council (MRC) is aware of the potential benefits of umbilical cord blood for research. MRC funds two major centres of excellence with interests in this area: the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit in Oxford; and the new MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh—and part of their research is considering the research possibilities around the use of umbilical cord blood.
In addition, MRC has in the past provided grant funding for research in this area, although the potential utility of cord blood for research outside of the immediate transplantation field has only recently been recognised.
MRC is currently in discussion with the Wellcome Trust and the Anthony Nolan Trust with regard to the feasibility and potential benefits of setting up a national cord blood bank for research.
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the Cord Blood Review. [206010]
Ian Pearson: I have not had a discussion with the Secretary of State for Health on the Cord Blood Review, however the Medical Research Council (MRC) is aware of the rationale behind the Department of Health’s Cord Blood Review and will be represented at further discussions with the Department later this month.
London Airports
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many times his Department hired VIP facilities at (a) Heathrow, (b) Gatwick, (c) Luton and (d) Stansted airports in each month since May 2006; and what the expenditure on VIP facilities at each was in each of those months. [205149]
Measurement: Wines
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what guidance his Department issues on the sizes of wine glasses used by wine-selling on-trade establishments; and if he will make a statement. [206574]
Ian Pearson: Neither the Department nor the National Weights and Measures Laboratory has issued guidance to business on this issue. However, advice on all aspects of compliance with weights and measures legislation is available to business from local trading standards departments.
Students: Finance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether students eligible for the exemption for foundation degrees in the new funding criteria for equivalent or lower qualification students will continue to be eligible for the exemption should they continue to a bachelor's degree. [198618]
Bill Rammell: Students without a first HE qualification who study a foundation degree and then continue to a bachelor's degree will continue to attract institutional funding.
Students with a first HE qualification will benefit from the exemption while they study for a foundation degree because that is a specific qualification designed for and by employers. But the exemption does not extend to supporting students who already have a first bachelor's degree or higher qualification to take another one an equivalent or lower level in a different subject after having studied a foundation degree unless that subject was strategically important or the bachelor’s degree in question was co-funded by employers.
Vocational Training
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what proportion of his departmental staff have received vocational training. [205324]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was formed as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007. The Department's people information is maintained on the HR management systems of the two Departments from which staff were transferred, namely BERR and DCSF. Neither of these Departments is able to provide information on vocational training as their current systems do not hold central information on training or qualifications. As a consequence of this, identification of the level of vocational training could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
The introduction of a single new HR management system in 2009 will allow staff to record their qualifications and thereby enable monitoring.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Data Protection
James Brokenshire: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether any officials in his Department were disciplined or dismissed for (a) alleged breaches of data protection requirements and (b) inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [205896]
Edward Miliband: The Cabinet Office has neither disciplined nor dismissed any employee in the past three years for alleged breaches of data protection requirements or inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data.
Immigration
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate he has made of the number of inward migrants to the UK intending to stay for 12 months or more who cited work-related purposes as the main reason for migration in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many
work permit holders were given leave to enter the UK in each of those years. [206263]
Phil Hope: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 20 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question asking what estimate has been made of the number of inward migrants to the UK intending to stay for 12 months or more who cited work-related purposes as the main reason for migration in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many work permit holders were given leave to enter the UK in each of those years. (206263)
The estimates of inward migration to the UK of those intending to stay 12 months or more are taken from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) and are shown in the table attached.
Those with a work related reason for migration are those with a definite job to go to and those looking for work. The data are also broken down by British, European Union and non-European Union citizens as work permits are only applicable to non-EU citizens.
Work permit data from the Home Office was provided for a previous Parliamentary Question. Please see Official Report, written answers, 12 September 2007 column 2159W to 2161W.
| International migration: Estimates from the International Passenger survey time series 2004-06—Citizenship by reason for migration—Inflow (United Kingdom) | |||||||||
| Thousand | |||||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |||||||
| Of which: | |||||||||
| Main reason for migration | Work related | Definite job | Looking for work | Work related | Definite job | Looking for work | Work related | Definite job | Looking for work |
| (1) Figures show the EU25 (EU15 plus the 10 countries of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). These countries are included in the definition for the whole of 2004, whether migration occurred before or after 1 May 2004. Note: Those with a work related reason for migration are those with a definite job and those looking for work. | |||||||||
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