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Departmental Public Buildings

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which organisations have received (a) free and (b) discounted room hire from (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies in each of the last five years; and what the commercial value of the discount was in each case. [221592]

Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was established under machinery of government changes in June 2007. Neither DIUS or its agency hires rooms to other organisations. Rooms are not generally made available free to other organisations, but we do not keep a central record of whether this has ever occurred. It may sometimes be appropriate for events or meetings convened by DIUS-sponsored bodies to be hosted in DIUS rooms.

Departmental Public Participation

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what (a) listening exercises and (b) public forums his Department has
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held since establishment; what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost was in each case; and who the private contractor was and how much it was paid in each case. [221353]

Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007.

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Since its establishment the Department has held the following listening exercises and public forums:

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Listening exercise/public forum/consultations	Purpose	Total cost (£)	Of which: Private contractor	Cost (£)	Service provided
Informal Adult Learning (IAL) Citizen Summit x1 June 2008	Facilitate debate with members of the public around the key issues and aims of the consultation. Define the broad range of IAL activities. Develop proposal for the ‘new vision’ of IAL. Deliver qualitative and quantitative information on the experiences of the public.	(1)115,470.70	BMRB (British Market Research Bureau)	59,357.00	Event facilitation
			Hilton Paddington	9,270.52	Venue
			Stage Electrics	*4,600.00	Site production, lighting etc.
			Cheerful Scout	6,810.00	Voting and data capture
			Neal Display	*4,000.00	Set and staging
Informal Adult Learning Stakeholder Roundtable Discussions x7 May to July 2008	Engage the following sectors in the IAL consultation: broadcast and technology; families; older learners; the workplace; the voluntary and community sector. Plus a reconvened event to discuss the sector findings.	36,721.75	None
Five student juries altogether in the financial year 2007-08	To capture the views of higher education students and feed them into the policy-making process.	20,000.00	SHM Productions Ltd.	20,000.00
The European Research Area (ERA)—new perspectives.	To inform the UK Government’s response to the Commission’s Green paper ‘The European Research Area (ERA)—new perspectives’.	4,686.30	Institution of Mechanical Engineers	4,686.30	Venue hire etc.
Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver—nine regional events relating to FE.	To raise awareness and understanding of the proposals set out in Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver and to capture views on them.	(2)201,924.56	None
The Review Report ‘World Class Apprenticeships: Unlocking Talent, Building Skills for All’.	Readers were asked to provide comments/views on future strategy for Apprenticeships set out in the document. The Central Office of Information strategy consultancy were engaged to produce an assessment report of the 104 responses received.	8,240.00	None
Public consultation on the draft Apprenticeships Bill.	This is a joint consultation with DCSF. It is hosted by the DCSF consultation unit. Its purpose is to consult on the draft Bill.	(3)0	None
Single Equality Scheme consultation event.	Single equality scheme consultation to gauge public opinion and input prior to publication of scheme.	32,324.00	Paul James Associates	32,324.00	Management and facilitation of event plus post event consultation with attendees and production of report.
Adult advancement and careers service.	Workshop held to share expertise and views on the development of new adult advancement and careers service.	22,000.00	CRAC: The Career Development Organisation and the National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling.	22,000.00
Five regional innovation roadshow events in north-west, east of England, north-east, west midlands and south-west regions held between May and July 2008. Further events in east midlands, south-east, London and Yorkshire and Humber due to take place in September to November.	To promote the range of support available regionally to businesses for innovation and to facilitate discussion with a business audience on the main recommendations of the Innovation Nation White Paper.	(4)100,000.00	(5)—	(5)—
(1) Full final costs not yet invoiced by some suppliers—costs marked ‘*’ based on budget. (2) Contract delivered by the Central Office of Information. (3) No external costs. (4) The total costs of the nine events will be approximately £90,000-100,000. The costs will be split 50/50 between DIUS and the regional development agencies. (5) Event arrangements such as venue hire, printing of materials etc. and any related private sector costs are procured by the regional development agency for each event. DIUS has agreed to meet 50 per cent. of total costs which may include costs for private contractors.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what (a) reviews and (b) public consultations have been initiated by his Department since 27 June 2007. [221365]

Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007.

The Department places the highest emphasis on effective review and consultations with public and stakeholders as vital elements of evidence based policy making and delivery.

The (a) reviews and (b) public consultations initiated by the Department have been detailed as follows.

(a) Reviews

Review of the Designing Demand programme run by the Design Council

Audit of the Government Chemist function by two external experts

The Review of Post 16 Learner Statistical First releases

Operation of the Government funded Apprenticeship programme in England (joint with DCSF)

Review of Investors in People UK's remit including services to help employers develop their business

The performance management arrangements for offender skills and employment delivery

Reform of Weights and Measures Legislation

(b) Consultations

Science and Society Strategy Consultation Innovation Nation Consultation

The PIUS Single Equality Scheme

Raising Expectations: Consultation on two new systems to deliver education and training for young people and adults (jointly with DCSF)

Focusing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) on Community Cohesion

Informal Adult Learning—Shaping the Way Ahead

The role of Further Education Providers in promoting community cohesion, fostering shared values and preventing violent extremism

The draft Apprenticeships Bill

Improvement in the Further Education Sector—a consultative prospectus for a new sector-owned organisation (joint with Quality improvement Agency (QIA) and Centre for Excellence in Leadership(CEL)

A formal time to train consultation

European IP Charter (Code) for the management of intellectual property by universities and other public research organisations

Fast track processing of Patents and Trade Marks

The Draft Patents (Compulsory Licensing and Supplementary Protection Certificates) Regulations 2007

Proposed changes to copyright exceptions

Modernisation and consolidation of the Trade Marks Rules.

Informal Consultation Paper on The Modernisation of the Trade Marks (International Registration) Order

The Artist's Resale Right: Derogation for Deceased Artists

Proposed changes to Copyright Exemptions in respect of Music Licensing

Informal Consultation Paper on The Patent Research Exception

Departmental Responsibilities

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which projects his Department has commissioned from (a) think tanks and (b) charities in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what the aim of each project was; which think tank or charity was commissioned; and how much was paid. [221615]

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Mr. Lammy: The Department’s accounting records do not collate information to this level of detail. To provide a response would be at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Retirement

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether his Department has a standard retirement age; and how many employees have been asked to retire on reaching 65 years of age in each year since 2000. [218215]

Mr. Lammy: As part of the Machinery of Government changes of 28 June 2007, the Department has taken on board terms and conditions of staff transferred in from the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and Department for Trade and Industry (DTI). In DfES there was no set retirement age for the majority of staff. In DTI staff could retire at any time between the minimum retirement age of 60 and the maximum retirement age of 65. Staff also have a statutory right to request to continue working beyond 65. Careful consideration is given to such requests, but any offer to continue working beyond that age will be at the discretion of the Department.

A retirement age of 65 has been adopted by central Government for the senior civil service (SCS) but members of the SCS can request to work beyond that age.

Departmental Sick Leave

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) how many sick days were taken by employees in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which it has responsibility due to (i) stress and (ii) mental health and behavioural disorders since the Department's establishment; what proportion of sick days taken this represented in each case; and if he will make a statement; [216158]

(2) how many staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which it has responsibility have taken sick days due to (i) stress and (ii) mental health and behavioural disorders since the Department was established; what proportion of staff of each body this represented in each year; and if he will make a statement; [216159]

(3) what the average duration of single periods of sick leave taken by staff in (a) his Department and its predecessor, (b) its agencies and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which it has responsibility who gave (i) stress and (ii) mental health and behavioural disorders as the reason for their absence has been since the Department was established; and if he will make a statement. [216160]

Mr. Lammy: Sickness absence figures for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills for the year ending 31 March 2008 are available on its website:

www.dius.gov.uk/press/civil_sickness.html.

It is not possible to separate information on absence relating to stress and mental health and behavioural disorders as these are grouped together under ‘mental disorders'. As the Department was not created until 28 June 2007, the sickness absence figures reported include the actual sickness absence for the period July 2007 to March 2008, with estimated figures given for the period
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April 2008 to June 2008. The figures include the Department's two agencies, the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), but they do not include the non-departmental public bodies as the information for them is not held centrally.

Absence management is a high priority for the Department. We are aware of the importance of tackling stress, mental health and behavioural issues and are taking positive steps to manage these issues.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the average duration of single periods of sick leave taken by staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which it has responsibility since the Department was established; and if he will make a statement. [216161]

Mr. Lammy: Sickness absence figures for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills for the year ending 31 March 2008 are available on its website

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