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15 July 2008 : Column 330W—continued
Dentistry: Carlisle
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the first cohort of new dentists will qualify from the new dental school in Carlisle; [217426]
(2) how many students are expected to qualify as dentists from the new dental school in Carlisle each year. [217428]
Ann Keen: The new dental school at the University of Central Lancashire has four dental education centres at Accrington, Blackpool, Carlisle and Morecambe Bay where students are trained in clinical dentistry. The school admitted its first cohort of 32 students, eight of whom will be placed in Carlisle, in autumn 2007. The first students to graduate from this cohort will qualify as dentists in the summer of 2011.
Departmental Early Retirement
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's agencies have taken early retirement in the last two years. [217380]
Mr. Bradshaw: The numbers of staff who have taken early retirement in the last two years are presented in the following table:
| 2007-08 | 2006-07 | |
Departmental ICT
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of his Department's staff have access to the Department's IT infrastructure at home. [216375]
Mr. Bradshaw: At the 30 June 2008, there were 2,082 information technology (IT) accounts which had remote access to the Department's IT infrastructure. This included departmental staff and other authorised workers such as seconded and contract staff. Staff can connect securely from practically any location with access to a telephone or broadband line including their home address. If a mobile telephone network card has been supplied, connection is possible from anywhere with a general packet radio service or 3G signal. To establish how many accounts are solely for departmental staff or how many staff actually access the Department's IT infrastructure from their homes, will not be possible without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of staff of his Department and its agencies did not receive the maximum bonus possible under a bonus scheme applying to them in the last two years. [217374]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The Department and its agencies have two sets of arrangements under which bonuses can be awarded. For senior civil servants (SCSs), pay arrangements are common across all Government Departments. The Department's senior pay strategy, which conforms to these common arrangements, explains that bonuses may be awarded for delivery of personal objectives or other short-term personal contributions to wider organisational objectives. Individuals are required to agree their priorities with their manager at the beginning of the performance year. Line managers then make recommendations for
performance bonuses which are considered by the Department's pay committees at the end of the performance year. The pay committees, which meet annually, make the final decision on whether a bonus should be awarded, relative to the performance of others. In 2006 and 2007, 85 per cent. of SCSs in the Department and its agencies did not receive the maximum bonus possible under the scheme. Bonuses for 2008 have yet to be decided.
For staff below the SCS, the Department and its agencies operate a special bonus scheme whereby managers may award a bonus to recognise an outstanding contribution in a particularly demanding situation. This can include a temporary and substantial increase in job loading, dealing with pressures arising from temporary vacancies or job requirements, a high level of commitment and resolution to get a job done, difficulties requiring a special effort to overcome, or a contribution over and above what would normally be expected for the job and of the person, or team, concerned. Bonuses are generally small in value, but there is no specified maximum size of award. As a result, it is not possible to answer the question for this scheme.
Departmental Planning Permission
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) planning applications and (b) licensing applications his Department has submitted in the last 24 months. [215535]
Mr. Bradshaw: Only one planning application has been made on behalf of the Secretary of State within the last 24 months. This was for 10 flats on a site at Woodside car park, Plymouth.
No licensing applications have been made.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) with reference to page 148 of his Department's Annual Report 2008, if he will provide a full breakdown of the (a) central Strategic Health Authority allocations, (b) Department of Health administration and (c) other revenue budgets, noting for each how much money has not yet been allocated; [209134]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2008, Official Report, column 1672W, on departmental public expenditure, if he will provide a break down of the allocations to central budget holders made on 17 March. [209182]
Mr. Bradshaw: The breakdown of budgets are given in the following tables:
Table one: Central strategic health authority (SHA) allocations;
Table two: Departmental administration; and
Table three: Other revenue budgets.
All budgets were issued to budget holders by the start of this financial year.
Departmental Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of staff in his Department have had more than two periods of sickness absence of less than five days in each of the last three years. [218722]
Mr. Bradshaw: The numbers and percentages of staff in the Department who have had more than two periods of sickness of less than five days in each of the last three years are given in the following table.
| Number | Percentage | |
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