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19 Jun 2008 : Column 1076W—continued
Broadcasting: Political Impartiality
Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent research has been undertaken by Ofcom on impartiality in news reporting in public service broadcasting; and if he will make a statement. [212193]
Andy Burnham: This is a matter for Ofcom. Accordingly, my officials have asked the Chef Executive of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the Chief Executive’s letter will be placed in the Library of both Houses.
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's (a) chart of accounts and (b) resource account codes and usage descriptions for the current financial year. [210979]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The chart of accounts for 2008-09 reflects the Department's structure for the year and will not necessarily reflect the 2007-08 structure or that for future years. The chart shows the relationship between parent codes (used for preparing resource accounts) and child codes (used for more detailed management purposes). Each code has a brief description. I am arranging for copies of this document to be deposited in the House Libraries.
The Department intends to review its chart of accounts during the summer, which may result in changes to the chart or the descriptions used.
Football: Broadcasting
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will publish the UK statement of intervention in (a) FIFA's challenge to the European Commission's re-verification of the Belgian listed events regime and (b) FIFA's and UEFA's challenges to the re-verification of the UK listed events regime. [212382]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
I do not intend to publish the UK's Statement in Intervention in relation to FIFA's challenge
to the European Commission's re-verification of the Belgian list of events. The content of pleadings before the Court of First Instance is confidential and no third party may have access to this without the authorisation of the President of the Court of First Instance after the parties have been heard.
The UK has indicated its intention to intervene in the FIFA and UEFA challenges to the re-verification of the UK's list of events. However, Statements in Intervention in those cases are not yet due to be submitted to the Court.
Queen Elizabeth II: Anniversaries
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what funds his Department has allocated to events to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in 2012; [209290]
(2) what plans his Department has made for the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in 2012. [209291]
Margaret Hodge: We are in discussions with the Royal Household as to how to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen in 2012.
Television: Sight Impaired
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has to encourage the introduction of talking menus for television services provided from digital platforms to assist the visually impaired. [209718]
Andy Burnham: A range of organisations and TV manufacturers are working on the technical development of talking menus for the mainstream TV market. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is supportive of this work and BERR, through their Usability Action Plan, will help in the promotion of products at the appropriate time.
Scotland
Departmental Furniture
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) chairs, (b) desks and (c) other office furnishings have been purchased by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; and at what cost in each case. [211760]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office does not separately record the purchase of desks and chairs from other office furnishings; the total expenditure on office furnishings was:
| £ | |
Electoral Commission Committee
Absent Voting
Mr. Evans: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what consideration the Commission has given to proposals to increase the integrity of postal ballots at elections. [212154]
Sir Peter Viggers: While the Commission believes that recent legislative changes have resulted in improvements in postal ballot integrity, it maintains that further reform is necessary. Specifically, the Commission considers that individual electoral registration will provide a more secure foundation for postal voting in Great Britain. The Commission will continue to issue detailed guidance to all those involved in the electoral process.
Leader of the House
Departmental Home Working
Bob Spink: To ask the Leader of the House how many staff in her Office are authorised to work from home. [212519]
Helen Goodman: Staff and managers are able to consider various forms of flexible working, including home working. Arrangements for home working are made locally by individual line managers and no record is held.
Church Commissioners
Ministers of Religion: Pay
Miss McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners when the Church Commissioners last met the Archbishop of Canterbury to discuss the stipendiary pay of parish priests in rural areas. [212131]
Sir Stuart Bell: The Church Commissioners met with the Archbishop only yesterday at the Annual General Meeting of the Church Commissioners at Lambeth Palace where I took the opportunity to discuss stipend levels.
I would advise the hon. Lady that the national stipends benchmark is £20,980 but dioceses set their own policy on the application of national recommendations.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Biofuels
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received on the Government's biofuels policy. [211876]
Mr. Woolas: We have received a number of representations from a range of stakeholders, including hon. Members, environmental and industry bodies, the food sector and the public on various issues concerning biofuels.
Carbon Emissions: Advisory Services
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many enquiries the green homes service pilot has dealt with since 2 April 2008, broken down by type of enquiry. [211017]
Joan Ruddock: The number of inquiries dealt with by the Green Homes Service for April and May 2008, (for England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland), are shown in the following table:
| April | May | |
As well as telephone contacts, figures for in-bound telephone calls include face-to-face contact at promotional and awareness-raising events.
The overall figures for customers receiving advice includes those who have completed a home energy check and received feedback, and those who have contacted the service electronically.
The type of inquiries are listed as follows:
Inbound calls 34 per cent.
Commit campaign participants 30 per cent.
Completed Home Energy Check 26 per cent.
Questionnaires 7 per cent.
Outbound call 3 per cent.
Letter/e-mail <1 per cent.
By i nquiry topic—not mutually exclusive:
Energy efficiency 94 per cent.
Transport 8 per cent.
Renewables 4 per cent.
Waste/water <1 per cent.
Climate Change: Arctic
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what forecasts his Department has made of the area of Arctic summer sea ice in each year from 2008 to 2013; on what evidential basis these forecasts have been made; and if he will make a statement. [211214]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 June 2008, Official Report, column 929W.
Coastal Areas: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will commission research on the potential effect of the digging of a deep channel in the Thames adjacent to (a) the Canvey Island sea defences and (b) the Sir Richard Montgomery ammunition ship wreck; and if he will make a statement. [209630]
Jonathan Shaw:
The dredging of the Thames to provide navigation, manoeuvring and berthing depth for the ships using the new port, will be carried out under Tidal
Works Approval from the Port of London Authority (PLA). An application for Tidal Works Approval is to be submitted to the PLA shortly. The Environment Agency will be consulted on this application and will consider the impact of the dredging work on the flood defence structures as part of its assessment of the application.
The navigation channel, which will be deepened to accommodate vessels using the new port, is approximately 2 km from the wreck. D. P. World, the developer of the London Gateway Port, is aware of the existence of the wreck and the company’s dredging contractor will have no need to work in close proximity to it.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what training courses were (a) available to and (b) taken up by civil servants in his Department in the last 12 months. [210576]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA encourages staff to develop their skills and capability outside of traditional training courses. Over the past 12 months DEFRA staff had access to a range of management training aligned to the organisation's strategic objectives. Management Information shows that 2,436 core DEFRA staff attended internal training courses in the last financial year.
Dry Stone Walls
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the length and proportion of dry stone walls in each of the national parks in England that is in a ruinous state. [211470]
Jonathan Shaw: I have made no estimate of the length and proportion of dry stone walls in each of the National Parks that are in a ruinous state.
Environment Agency: Manpower
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons contractors have replaced the Environment Agency’s electricians, carpenters, welders and divers at its in-house craft workshop in the Thames Region. [208429]
Mr. Woolas: The Environment Agency has contracted out craft work of a non-emergency nature. Craft posts required for emergency response at critical assets remain in-house.
The reasons for contracting out work include:
contractors are better able to use specialist craft skills;
reorganisation will provide better value and a more rational structure;
contractors do this work every day as it is their core business and are more likely to innovate;
Thames’ craft teams are generally small and there were difficulties recruiting and maintaining skills; and
long-term contractual arrangements provide more certainty about maintenance standards.
Thames region has largely been able to use current contractors to undertake the work which was previously undertaken in-house. The review has led to no forced redundancies.
Fertilisers: Prices
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to try to mitigate the effects of rising fertiliser prices on farmers. [211987]
Jonathan Shaw: We are aware that current high energy prices are having a knock-on effect on the price of manufactured ‘inorganic’ fertilisers. Hilary Benn recently discussed this issue when he met the Agricultural Industries Confederation, which represents the UK fertiliser sector. We are alert to the potential impact high fertiliser prices may have on farmers and we will continue to monitor the situation.
Farmers will need to make greater use of best practice to ensure efficient fertiliser use. Some farmers will also need to consider increased use of ‘organic’ fertilisers such as manures. Other options include the use of digestate from Anaerobic Digestion.
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