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13 Oct 2008 : Column 952W—continued
| Table 2: Employment rates for people of working age( 1) , by nationality United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| Percentage | ||||||
| UK | Non-UK | EU14( 2) | A8( 3) | Rest of world( 4) | ||
| (1) Men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59. (2 )EU14 comprises Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. (3) A8 comprises Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. (4) Rest of world excludes UK, EU14 and A8. Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.) Source: Labour Force Survey | ||||||
Higher Civil Servants: Car Allowances
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what mileage rate for motoring expenses is paid to senior civil servants. [226623]
Mr. Watson: The Department does not provide central rules regarding levels of reimbursement of car mileage undertaken on Government business. Departments and agencies have delegated authority to reimburse the expenses incurred by their own staff, including senior civil servants, in connection with their employment subject to the conditions set out in Section 8 of the Civil Service Management Code:
Copies of the Civil Service Management Code are available in the Libraries of the House.
Internet
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether webmail accounts are blocked in the
offices of (a) 10 Downing Street and (b) the Cabinet Office. [198183]
Mr. Watson: Access to webmail accounts from the corporate IT networks in the Cabinet Office is tightly controlled to mitigate any threat that such accounts may pose to the integrity, security and availability of Government data.
Local Government: Contracts
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether local government employers were consulted before the decision was made to extend the Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Advice and Trade Unions in Government Contracting to local government. [224077]
Mr. Watson [holding answer 17 September 2008]: No decision has yet been taken to extend the Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Trade Unions and Advice in Government Contracting, which aims to improve the quality of services delivered under Government contracts by raising the skills of employees working on these contracts. This is explicitly stated in the Joint Statement. The Local Government Employers’ organisation agreed to hold a consultation with local authorities to seek views on the application of the Joint Statement to local government.
Media Monitoring Unit
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what his policy is on the release to third parties of transcripts of broadcast interviews (a) produced and (b) commissioned by the Media Monitoring Unit at public expense. [222218]
Mr. Watson: The Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) produces transcripts commissioned by Government Departments. Transcripts are then distributed to Government Departments.
Office of the Third Sector: Consultants
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Office of the Third Sector spent on outside consultancy in financial year (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [225264]
Kevin Brennan: The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) has engaged outside consultants for specialist recruitment exercises for senior public appointments, for procurement exercises and for the development and/or review of data sources, policies and programmes. The OTS spent just over £590,000 on consultancy in 2007-08, excluding VAT.
Details of outside consultancy spend in 2008-09 will only be available when the Department’s resource accounts are fully audited and laid before Parliament. This is expected to be before the 2009 summer recess.
Office of the Third Sector: Manpower
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff are employed by the Office of the Third Sector. [225263]
Kevin Brennan: As at 30 September 2008, The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) employed 66 staff. This includes all staff paid by OTS. The figure includes 57 staff in post and nine staff not currently working in the office, such as staff on maternity leave, short term appointments and staff on long term sick leave.
Official Residences: Repairs and Maintenance
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2008, Official Report, column 1307W, on official residences: repairs and maintenance, what the (a) nature and (b) purpose was of the work incurred on Project Silent Night. [199104]
Mr. Watson: The expenditure in 2000-01 was to convert rooms into office accommodation.
Private Sector: Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with reference to the Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Trade Unions and Advice in Government Contracting, whether private sector firms with public sector contracts who provide information to their employees about trade union membership will be (a) required or (b) encouraged by the Cabinet Office to include information about union members' rights to opt out of the political levy. [223371]
Mr. Watson [holding answer 10 September 2008]: The Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Trade Unions and Advice in Government Contracting provides an Annex containing information on skills, trade unions and advice which service providers may be asked to distribute to employees. Both this Annex and the Joint Statement are available in the Library of the House. The Annex sets out employees' legal rights concerning trade union membership and other basic information relevant to the workplace and, like the whole Joint Statement, was agreed by Government, union and private and third sector representatives.
Not all unions have a political fund or levy, but it is a legal requirement for union members to be informed about the right to opt out of these. The Joint Statement Annex supplied to employees refers them to sources which explain the rules regarding political levies.
Public Services Forum Task Group
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on which dates the Public Services Forum Task Group has met; and if he will place in the Library copies of the agendas and minutes of each meeting. [197452]
Mr. Watson [holding answer 31 March 2008]: Details of task groups' meetings, such as agendas and minutes, are not generally disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of discussions.
Training: Prime Minister
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what diversity training is provided to new
staff as part of their induction process in the Prime Minister's Office. [199063]
Mr. Watson: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
Diversity training is incorporated into all aspects of Human Resources including the induction of new entrants.
Unemployed: Young People
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many (a) UK citizens and (b) people in the UK aged 16 to 24 years old were unemployed in each quarter of the last two years for which figures are available; and what the employment rate of each group was in each such quarter. [223547]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 15 September 2008]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated September 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) UK citizens and (b) people in the UK aged 16 to 24 years old were unemployed in each quarter of the last two years for which figures are available; and what the employment rate of each group was in each such quarter. (223547)
The attached table gives the number of people unemployed in the categories requested together with the corresponding employment rates from quarter 2 2006.
The data for analysing unemployment and employment comes from the Labour Force Survey. UK citizens have been defined as UK nationals for the purpose of answering your question. Estimates according to nationality are based on the nationality of people at a given time in the LFS.
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