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15 Sep 2008 : Column 2108W—continued
Departmental Alcoholic Drinks
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what measures are in place in his Department to monitor expenditure on alcohol for hospitality purposes. [219607]
Mr. Thomas: There are therefore currently no extra, specific measures in place to monitor expenditure on alcohol for hospitality purposes. The Department operates within a set framework of rules governing official hospitality; these limit the occasions for which it is deemed appropriate to include alcohol.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what purchasing process is used by his Department for the procurement of alcohol for hospitality purposes. [219946]
Mr. Thomas: The Department does not have a separate process for the purchase of alcohol for hospitality purposes. All BERR spending must comply with Departmental and wider Government guidance on public spending.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what account his Department takes of the level of energy efficiency of buildings before entering into agreements to (a) rent and (b) purchase those buildings. [221105]
Mr. Thomas: The Department would seek to acquire only buildings with an excellent BREEAM (building research establishment environmental assessment method) rating where it is unable to re-use vacant Government property.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was paid to outside consultants used by his Department or its predecessor in each year since 2000. [211008]
Mr. Thomas: Central records indicate that the cost to the Department of engaging outside consultants in each of the following financial years has been:
| £ million | |
| (1) To date. | |
The Department has a formalised business case approval process for proposed consultancy engagements. This has been in operation for two years. We have worked
closely with OGC in formulating the cross-Government Consultancy Value Programme (CVP) and look forward to furthering this important initiative.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) officials in his Department and (b) employees of (i) agencies and (ii) other bodies reporting to his Department were (A) dismissed and (B) disciplined for matters related to their conduct in the last two years. [217601]
Mr. Thomas: The number of employees disciplined or dismissed within the Department or its predecessor during 2006 and 2007 are set out in table 1 as follows.
| Table 1 | ||
| 2006 | 2007 | |
Information regarding non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
I have asked the Chief Executives of Companies House and Insolvency Service to write direct with information covering their Agencies.
Letter f rom Stephen Speed , dated 21 July 2008:
The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly in respect of your question (2007/3400) asking how many staff have: (i) been dismissed and (ii) been disciplined for matters relating to their conduct in the last two years.
There have been a total of:
i. 5 members of staff dismissed and.
ii. 7 members of staff disciplined
for matters relating to their conduct.
Letter from Gareth Jones , dated 21 July 2008:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
In the last two years four employees were dismissed and twenty-two staff were disciplined for matters relating to their conduct.
Departmental Equality
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what progress his Department has made towards its diversity targets for 2008. [204658]
Mr. Thomas: At 1 April 2008, the Department had made the following progress towards meeting diversity targets.
| Overall civil service target for April 2008 (percentage) | BERR target for April 2008 (percentage) | Actual at April 2008 percentage | Difference to civil service target | |
Departmental ICT
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many of his Department’s staff have access to the Department’s IT infrastructure at home. [216372]
Mr. Thomas: There are 595 members of staff with laptops specially configured for access to the Departments infrastructure.
There are 800 with tokens that allow them access to the Department’s infrastructure from their home PCs.
There are 320 with BlackBerrys that allow access to the Department’s e-mail and calendar service.
All devices supplied by the Department that can hold departmental information are encrypted. All the services that access the Department’s infrastructure are authenticated and utilise encrypted communications links.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what information technology projects initiated by his Department and its predecessors have been cancelled prior to completion in the last five years; and what the cost of each such project was to the public purse. [221717]
Mr. Thomas: The Department and its predecessors have not cancelled any information technology projects prior to completion in the last five years.
Departmental Official Cars
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which make and model of car he has chosen as his ministerial car to be provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency. [217768]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 July 2008 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Department for Transport, Official Report, column 414W.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how
much his Department and its agencies spent on entertainment in each financial year since its establishment. [219257]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and, prior to April 2007, its predecessor, the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), ensures that all expenditure on entertainment and hospitality is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
The figures in the tables are from 2002-3 to 2007-8 (figures prior to 2002 are not readily available) and include both entertainment and official hospitality:
| £ | |||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| 2007-08 (£) | |
| Note: Expenditure has reduced across the period. The reason for the apparently higher spend in 2004-05 and 2005-06 is that for those years all catering provided for events held in DTI's conference centre were booked to Entertainment rather than other more appropriate codes. | |
Letter to Mr. Philip Hammond from Stephen Speed dated 15 September:
The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to your question how much his Department and its agencies spent on entertainment in each financial year since its establishment.
The Insolvency Service Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform reported in answer to PQ 2007-1522 that £4,328.55 was spent on Entertainment in the 2006-07 Financial Year. Expenditure on Entertainment in 2007-08 was £264.76. Spend on Entertainment in the first three months of 2008-09 was £901.62.
Letter to Mr. Philip Hammond from Tim Moss dated 15 September:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
The figures given below and overleaf are from 2002-3 to 2007-8 (figures prior to 2002 are not readily available) and include both entertainment and official hospitality:
| £ | |
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