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12 Jun 2008 : Column 502W—continued
Westminster City Council
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what grants were made by her Department to Westminster City Council in each of the last three years; for how much in each case; what grants will be given in 2008-09; and for how much in each case. [210008]
Mr. Dhanda: The following table shows by year and by grant programme, funds which have been made available to Westminster city council by the Department for Communities and Local Government and its predecessors.
| £ million | |||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008- 09 (p lan) | Total | |
| (1) From 2006-07 Revenue Support Grants were reduced due to the transfer of funding to the Department for Children, Schools and Families for Dedicated School Grant. (2) On Local Authority Business Growth Incentives Scheme, the figures provided for 2005-06 and 2006-07 are payments to date in relation to those years. (3) From 2008-09, the Area Based Grant (ABG) is replacing the old Local Area Agreements programme. | |||||
Wind Power: Planning
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2008, Official Report, column 1638W, on planning: wind power, what account she takes of the effects of planning advice in Scotland in formulating planning guidance for England on the siting of wind turbines; and if she will make a statement. [209616]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Experience from outside England, including from Scotland, can help inform the preparation
of planning guidance. The relevance and applicability to England of this wider experience will depend on a number of factors. These include geography and the similarities, or differences, in how the planning system concerned takes account of the location and landscape setting of proposed development and provides for proposals to be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Zero Carbon Delivery Unit
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the zero carbon delivery unit announced in the 2008 Budget will be established; and what funding has been allocated to it. [208259]
Caroline Flint: The 2016 task force is meeting on 5 June to discuss the detailed arrangements for establishing the zero carbon delivery unit announced in the Budget. The Government have agreed to provide pump priming funding on a match funding basis, the level of which will be dependent on the detailed business plan for the unit.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Learning Grant
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department spent on the adult learning grant in each year since 2005; and how much he expects his Department to spend on the adult learning grant in each of the next three years. [210439]
Mr. Lammy: The Adult Learning Grant (ALG) has been available throughout England since September 2007 and in its pilot phase (from 2003). The following table details the amounts which the Department has spent on ALG in the last three financial years:
| £ million | |
The Department has a budget of £32 million for ALG for each of the next three financial years (2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11), which will be allocated in line with applications from adults supported by ongoing marketing of the scheme.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Research
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much has been allocated from public funds for research into the biomedical causes of myalgic encephalomyelitis/encephalopathy in 2008-09; what proportion of Government spending on research into the condition this sum represents; how much has been allocated for research into psychological conditions in 2008-09; and how many clinical co-ordinating centres serving patients with psychological disorders have (a) closed and (b) had a reduction in public funding since 2003. [209991]
Ian Pearson: The Medical Research Council is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a strategic priority area for the MRC and the Council is continuing to promote research in this area. The MRC does not have set budgets for specific illnesses and research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The MRC welcomes applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made.
The MRC currently supports a number of studies in CFS/ME, as follows:
Professor K. Bhui, Queen Mary and Westfield College: Chronic fatigue and ethnicity (£162,000)
Dr. C. Clark, Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and the London School of Medicine: General and specific risk markers and preventive factors for chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndromes (funding approved in November 2007 £367,000)
Professor A. J. Weardon et al, University of Manchester: Randomised controlled trial of nurse-led self-help treatment for primary care patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (£743,000)
Professor P. D. White et al, Queen Mary and Westfield College: The PACE Trial: A RCT of CBT, graded exercise, adaptive pacing and usual medical care for the chronic fatigue syndrome (£2.07 million)
The Department of Health does not allocate funding specifically for psychological centres. Primary care trusts (PCTs) have the responsibility for providing funding for health and social care services to meet the needs of their local population from their general funding allocation. Information on the number of psychological centres is not collected centrally.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will provide a breakdown of the amount and proportion of his Department’s budget which is not devolved to non-departmental public bodies by main budget heading. [207552]
Mr. Lammy: The proportion of the Department’s net budget (including planned receipts) that is not devolved to non-departmental public bodies is -£4.47 billion which is -25.02 per cent. of the overall Department voted supply estimate for 2007-08 of £17.9 billion.
This includes a receipt from DCSF of £7.165 billion. If this figure is excluded from the calculation, £2.69 billion is spent centrally, which is 15.03 per cent. of the overall Department voted estimate for 2007-08 of £17.9 billion. A full breakdown of the budget headings that comprise figure can be found in the DIUS Spring Supplementary Estimate published March 2008:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./documents/public_spending_ reporting/estimates/psr_estimates_main08-09.cfm.
Please note that these are budgeted figures not the final out-turn which is yet to be finalised for the year-end accounts.
Departmental Public Participation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2008, Official Report, column 394W, on departmental public participation, what steps (a) have been taken and (b) are planned as a result of the findings of each (i) survey, (ii) questionnaire and (iii) other service carried out in 2007-08. [208927]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 5 June 2008]: The information is as follows.
HSE student support England 2007-08:
The annual Student Finance Customer Satisfaction Survey measures satisfaction with the end to end process of applying for financial help for those going into higher education, and provides year on year comparisons of the service. The aim of the research is to test customer views of the level and quality of service they have received, rather than their views on the Government’s student support policy.
Feedback from the survey influences the future development of student finance services, including provision of information and operational processes involved in applying for student support. The results of each year’s survey are made public and published via the DIUS website (previously via the DFES website).
All other student finance research:
The research on student finance was carried out to help define and articulate messages on student finance for parents. In 2007 the Government introduced a greatly enhanced package of financial help for people going into higher education. We have a duty to make the public aware of these rights and entitlements. We therefore needed the messages to resonate with the parent audience so that the information could be conveyed in the most engaging way possible so that informed choices and decisions can be made.
These messages were then used whenever promotional or PR activity was used to communicate student finance messages to parents.
As a result of using the most engaging messages to ensure the information was conveyed to our audience the following key success indicators were achieved.
80 per cent. of parents now believe that there is financial support available to students.
There has been a significant shift (from 21 per cent. to 36 per cent.) in prompted awareness among students that they can still get a grant if their parents earn up to £60,000.
Awareness of the increased threshold among parents increased to 40 per cent. during the promotional and PR activity of the enhanced student finance package.
General awareness of grants among parents has steadily increased since 2006, up from 21 per cent. to 43 per cent.
Finance is seen as an important influence for nearly two-thirds of parents.
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