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20 Nov 2008 : Column 789W—continued
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his most recent assessment is of the steps necessary to implement the removal of the Government’s reservations on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and what timetable he has set for taking these steps. [237061]
Beverley Hughes: The Government are currently taking the necessary procedures to remove the reservations against the Articles 22 and 37c of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is writing to the UN Secretary-General withdrawing the reservations. The Secretary-General will then notify the other states parties of the withdrawal. The withdrawal will take effect upon such notification, which we anticipate will take place by the end of this year.
Vetting: Overseas Residence
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps need to be taken in order to facilitate the taking into account of relevant offences committed overseas when individuals put themselves forward to be monitored under procedures established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. [235896]
Meg Hillier: I have been asked to reply.
The Independent Safeguarding Authority, established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006), can use foreign offences information when deciding whether to bar individuals from working with children or vulnerable adults.
There are several ways this information can be accessed. Under an EU Council Decision agreed in November 2005, an EU member state must inform the UK if a UK national is convicted in that other EU state. This information is put onto the Police National Computer (PNC) and is available for the disclosure services.
Under the same Council Decision criminal conviction information can also be sought on EU nationals being proceeded against in the UK and any information received from other member states put onto the PNC. A standard format for securely exchanging this information electronically was agreed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 24 October.
The UK sees information sharing as a key priority for the next EU work programme. We have signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation
which recognises the need to share information among member states for child protection purposes.
The Criminal Records Bureau is pursuing bilateral agreements, for example with France, Ireland and Australia, on exchanging information for employment vetting purposes. But, this is a difficult area and so far only three of the 26 EU countries approached have said they can co-operate with us on these bilateral agreements and we recognise that there is much more work to do on this.
Sir Ian Magee's Review of Criminality Information published in the summer recommended that by January 2009, the Government should agree an approach to the international exchange of criminality information and that vetting and barring should be a priority area. The Government expect to publish its response to the review shortly.
Young People: Antisocial Behaviour
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1082W, on young people: anti-social behaviour, when the independent national evaluation (a) will begin and (b) is expected to report. [236335]
Beverley Hughes: The independent national evaluation of Intensive Intervention Projects will begin in 2009, and will report in 2011.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Broadband
Mr. Gray: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent representations his Department has received on the role of private companies' in the roll-out of broadband internet. [233619]
Mr. McFadden: This Department has not received representations explicitly about the role of private companies but has received correspondence, where calls were made for Government to intervene to make industry roll-out broadband internet to areas that currently suffer from lack of service.
I am committed to looking at this issue seriously and we will consider this in more detail over the coming months, in particular through The Digital Britain Report that the Government launched on 17 October. Reporting in the spring, The Digital Britain Report will develop a comprehensive strategy to further our digital economy and society. One strand of this work will look at options for maximising broadband participation and levels of service.
Business Confidence
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what surveys of business confidence his Department and its predecessors have conducted or commissioned since 1997; and if he will place in the Library copies of each. [232036]
Ian Pearson:
The Department has not conducted or commissioned surveys of business confidence. There are a number of private sector surveys of business confidence (for example, the quarterly CBI Industrial
Trends Survey) that provide a regular, reliable source of information on business confidence, which negate the need for BERR to conduct its own surveys and add to the survey burden on business.
Business Link
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses that (a) sought advice, (b) received intensive assistance and (c) received other assistance from the Business Link network in each year since 1997. [231957]
Ian Pearson: The information requested, where available, can be found in the following table.
| Business Link—customers helped | |||||||
| Total customers | Pre-start-ups | Established businesses | Start Up | Established and start up | Intensive assists | I nquiries to national phone number | |
It shows the number of customers that have benefited over the years from Business Link where they can access a wide range of business support products. Business Link provides a wealth of information on business related topics, it helps customers diagnose their needs and helps them to identify solutions to meet those needs in both the public and private sector. It can be accessed through the website www.businesslink.gov.uk, by telephone (0845 6009006) or through the network of advisers based in England.
Business: VAT
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many new businesses in Leicester South constituency have registered for value added tax in each year since 1997. [234683]
Ian Pearson: The number of new VAT registrations in Leicester South in each year from 1997 to 2006 is shown in the following table. Data for VAT registrations in 2007 will be available 28 November 2008.
| Number of new VAT registrations and VAT-registered businesses, Leicester South | |
| Number | |
| Source: BERR National Statistics publication “Business start-ups and closures: VAT registrations and de-registrations 2006” available at: http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat/index.htm | |
Although the number of new registrations fluctuated over the 10 years, the total number of VAT registered businesses in Leicester South increased from 3,170 at the start of 1997 to 3,580 at the start of 2007, an increase of 13 per cent.
VAT registrations do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which was £60,000 at the start of 2006. Only 1.9 million out of 4.5 million UK enterprises (43 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2006.
Departmental Internet
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for which Government websites his Department is 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. [235033]
Mr. McFadden: The Department's website is:
It received a total of 10,107,460 visits from 6,589,815 unique visitors in the period 01 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.
The main cost elements of its upkeep are:
The Rhythmyx content management system (CMS). The CMS is used by staff across the Department and cost £1,029,474.83 in 2007-08.
Provision and maintenance of the site's search engine facility by a third-party supplier, Open Objects. In 2007-08 this cost £15,784.21
Departmental NDPBs
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department; and what budget each has been set for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [236915]
Mr. McFadden: The remit of each of the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Department can be found at the following link. An updated version of this list will be published shortly.
Funding for 2008-09 agreed with each of the Department's Executive non-departmental public bodies, above £1 million, can be found on page 398 of the published Central Government Supply Estimates 2008-09—see extract and following link. The only body not included on the list is "Sitpro" and we have agreed a figure of £800,000 for 2008-09. Funding for future years (i.e. 2009-10 and 2010-11) has not yet been agreed.
The advisory NDPBs sponsored by the Department incur little or no expenditure and are resourced from within the Department. As a result, information on budgets for 2008-11 is not available.
New Businesses: Greater London
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many new business start-ups there were in Bexley in each of the last three years. [232292]
Ian Pearson: VAT registration data provide the only accurate indicator of the level of business start-up activity.
The number of new VAT registrations in the London borough of Bexley was 580 in 2004, 535 in 2005 and 560 in 2006. Data for VAT registrations in 2007 will be available 28 November 2008.
Although the number of new registrations fluctuated over the three years, the total number of VAT registered businesses in Bexley increased from 5,140 at the start of 2004 to 5,385 at the start of 2007, an increase of 245 (5 per cent.).
VAT registrations do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which was £60,000 at the start of 2006. Only 1.9 million out of 4.5 million UK enterprises (43 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2006.
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