Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Wales
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many external consultants work for his Department. [237144]
Departmental Land
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much surplus land his Department owns; and what the (a) area and (b) estimated monetary value of each site is. [236424]
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department assist special advisers; and what the cost of employing such staff was in each of the last three years. [237497]
House of Commons Commission
Portcullis House: Repairs and Maintenance
Michael Fabricant: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission on what percentage of sitting days in the last 12 months have (a) one and (b) both water features in the Portcullis House Atrium been out of operation; for what reason the water features have not been in operation; what steps have been taken to restore them to working order; and if he will make a statement. [235313]
Nick Harvey: Both Portcullis House Atrium water features were out of service for one sitting day during the last 12 months on 10 November 2008, which represents 0.67 per cent. of sitting days. The water features were decommissioned for routine maintenance and repairs over the weekend of 8 and 9 November and the contractor failed to recommission them at the prescribed time, prior to the start of business on 10 November.
Scotland
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Questions for written answer were tabled to him in Session (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04, (c) 2004-05,
(d) 2005-06, (e) 2006-07 and (f) 2007-08 to date; and how many were (i) answered substantively and (ii) not answered on grounds of disproportionate cost. [235384]
Ann McKechin: Details are as follows:
| Session | Number of written PQs table d | Number not fully answered on grounds of disproportionate cost | Number answered half factually and half at disproportionate cost |
| (1) Until 31 October 2008 | |||
Leader of the House
Committees
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House what estimate she has made of the annual cost of the proposed (a) regional Select Committees and (b) regional Grand Committees, including remuneration for Committee Chairs. [236179]
Chris Bryant: The House of Commons Management Board has produced estimated costs of regional select committees, which were distributed in the Vote Office in advance of the debate in the House on 12 November, as an Explanatory Memorandum relating to the Government’s motions.
The House decided on 12 November that there should be no pay for regional Select Committee Chairs.
The estimated costs, excluding pay for Select Committee Chairmen, are as follows:
(a) select committees: £924,348
(b) grand committees: £312,080
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Leader of the House how many Questions for written answer were tabled to her and her predecessors in Session (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2005-06, (e) 2006-07 and (f) 2007-08 to date; and how many were (i) answered substantively and (ii) not answered on grounds of disproportionate cost. [235388]
Chris Bryant: The information is as follows:
| Session | Total number of questions answered | Number of questions where whole or part of the answer could not be provided due to disproportionate cost |
Early-Day Motions
David Taylor: To ask the Leader of the House what recent assessment she has made of the methods by which hon. Members may add their names to early-day motions. [235325]
Chris Bryant: Hon. Members may add their names to an early-day motion by signing a copy of the motion or a piece of paper with the EDM number; by asking another hon. Member to sign on their behalf; or by asking in person in the Table Office for their name to be added.
The Procedure Committee recommended in May 2007 that there should be no move towards the electronic tabling of early-day motions without significantly stronger authentication than is currently required for parliamentary questions (First Report of 2006-07, HC 513, paragraphs 93 to 96).
The House endorsed this approach in its debate on the Committee’s Report on 25 October 2007.
The Procedure Committee is currently considering the issue of authentication as part of its inquiry into written questions.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Leader of the House if she will bring forward proposals to allow hon. Members to table no more than one Question for oral Answer to each Department which answers substantive and topical Questions in respect of each answering day. [236847]
Chris Bryant: I have no current plans to do so but I will keep the operation of topical questions under review.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council England: Employment Agencies
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Arts Council England spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last five years; and which companies provided these services. [231370]
Barbara Follett: Arts Council England has provided the information in the table for spend on recruitment consultants.
| Cost of recruitment consultants | |
| £ | |
The recruitment consultants used by Arts Council England were: Adept Recruitment, AEM International, Accountancy Addit, Advantage Placement, Anderson Leigh Associates, Ann Pettengell Gold Helm Ltd, Badenoch and Clark, Barkers Human Resources, Brand Recruitment Ltd, Buckley Prichard International Ltd, Capita Resourcing Ltd, Crystal UK Ltd, Eden Brown, Eventus Ltd, Facilities Recruitment Limited, Hays, HR Resourcing, Hudson Global Resources, Huntress Search Ltd, International Resources Group, JR Personnel, Key Personnel, Law Absolute, Macmillan Davies, Michael Page UK, Northern Recruitment Group PLC, Office Angels Ltd, Pan European Recruitment, Payroll Partnerships, Pure Resourcing Solutions, Robert Half Ltd, Roberts Knight SE, Select Appointments plc, Solutions Recruitment, Spherion UK, Synergy, Tate Appointments, The ID Group Ltd, The Principle Partnership, TFPL, Volt Europe.
Departmental Internet
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for which Government websites his Department are responsible; how many visitors each received in the last period for which figures are available; and what the cost of maintaining each site was in that period. [235041]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is as follows:
(a) Visitor figures for the period 2007-08 were supplied in my answer to the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire the (Mr. Heald) on 17 November 2008, Official Report, columns 8-10W. Visitor figures for Breakout site are counted in the Culture (main departmental) website figures.
(b) Maintenance costs for DCMS websites are covered under one contract. In 2007-08 this figure was £8,741. in addition £4,800 was spent on editorial costs for the Breakout minisite.
English Heritage: Planning
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which planning applications for renewable energy projects English Heritage have objected to in the last five years. [234843]
Barbara Follett: English Heritage has a statutory role in the planning process to provide advice to local authorities on planning applications that impact on the historic environment. English Heritage is consulted on approximately 16,000 planning cases a year. Since May 2004, English Heritage estimates it has been consulted on approximately 100 renewable energy projects and has raised concerns about just over 20 of these. Figures prior to this period are available only at disproportionate cost. The projects are set out in the following table.
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