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24 Nov 2008 : Column 1124W—continued
Futurebuilders
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much Futurebuilders has spent in payments to the charity Catz Club; and what the (a) amount and (b) date was of each payment made. [233371]
Mr. Byrne: The payments made to Catz Club by Futurebuilders are set out in the following table.
| Catz Club payments | ||
| Facility type | Amount drawn (£) | |
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for what reasons Futurebuilders ended its contract with the charity Catz Club. [233372]
Mr. Byrne: The Futurebuilders Programme is run by Futurebuilders England Ltd. (FBE) under contract to the Cabinet Office. The termination of their relationship is subject to a confidentiality agreement between FBE and Catz Club.
Office of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Stephen Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff the Office of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman had in each of the last three years; and what the Office’s budget was in each such year. [236445]
Mr. Byrne: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is an independent statutory office holder. The ombudsman publishes details of staff numbers and budgets in her annual report which is laid before Parliament in accordance with Section 10(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967. Copies of the ombudsman’s annual reports are available in the Libraries of the House.
Productivity
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the productivity level per worker was in each region in the latest period for which figures are available. [238462]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on what productivity level per worker was in each region in the latest period for which figures are available. (238462)
The Office for National Statistics does not produce output per worker estimates at a regional level. Output per worker productivity estimates are only available at the UK level with base year 2003=100. Annual productivity statistics at Government Office Region are available for gross value added (GVA) per hour, GVA per job and GVA per head. These are produced with the base being UK=100.
Table 1 attached provides estimates of the index value with UK=100 of GVA per filled job at Government Office Region level for 2006.
| Table 1 | |
| Region | GVA per filled job |
Unemployed
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) the UK who were unemployed for six months or more in each of the last five years. [237095]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about what estimate has been made of
the number of people in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) the UK who were unemployed for six months or more in each of the last five years (237095).
The Office for National Statistics compiles employment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
Table 1, attached, shows the number of people aged 16+, resident in (a) the Vale of York constituency and (b) the UK who were unemployed for six months or more in each of the last five years. Estimates are provided for the 12 month period ending in February 2004 from the annual LFS, and for 12 month periods ending in March from 2005 to 2008 from the APS.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.
| Table 1: Number of persons unemployed( 1) for 6 months or more resident in (a) Vale of York and (b) UK in each of the last 5 years | ||
| Thousand | ||
| 12 months ending | York | UK |
| (1) Levels of unemployment are provided for persons aged 16 and over. The figures presented are weighted to population estimates published in 2007. (2) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality. (3) Data not available or disclosive. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV< 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Annual Population Survey and annual Labour Force Survey | ||
V
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what funding his Department has provided for the charity v in the last five years; what estimate he has made of (a) the number of volunteers created as a result of such funding and (b) the cost per volunteer created; and what assessment he has made of the effects of diversion and substitution of volunteers resulting from such funding on other charities. [236524]
Kevin Brennan: The Cabinet Office has provided £25,643,000 to v in 2006-07 and £47,175,000 in 2007-08.
(a) Up to the end of September 2008 v had created over 750,000 volunteering opportunities and approximately 251,000 had been completed by volunteers.
(b) Organisations that deliver projects under v involved, the national youth volunteering programme, were expected to apply for funding based on the following costs per volunteer:
| Type of opportunity | Scale of cost per opportunity (£) |
|
Full-time—approximately 30 hours a week over a period of not less than 13 weeks | |
|
Part-time—a few hours per month up to two or three days per week | |
v aims to prioritise opportunities for a diverse range of young people including young people in or leaving care, offenders and ex-offenders and people with physical or learning disabilities. Volunteers from these groups can require more support which increases the cost per volunteer.
v is working with existing volunteer involving organisations to inspire a million more young volunteers. The volunteer opportunities that they have created will therefore improve the quantity as well as the quality of the opportunities that are being offered to young people.
Communities and Local Government
Brussels
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on visits by its staff to Brussels in 2007-08; and how many such visits were made by (a) air and (b) rail. [239417]
Mr. Khan: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Councillors: Isle of Wight
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Standards Board for England’s investigation into six councillors on the Isle of Wight has cost. [237391]
John Healey: The investigation of these complex cases, which the Isle of Wight council’s standards committee invited the Standards Board for England to investigate and which involve serious allegations against a number of councillors, is continuing. Hence, while the final costs have yet to be determined, the Standards Board assesses that some £35,000 in costs have been incurred to date.
Departmental Catering
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether food and drink on sale to staff of (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies at official premises is subsidised from public funds. [237412]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not subsidise the cost of food and drink to its staff.
Staff at the Fire Service College do receive free issue tea and coffee as part of the overall provision of refreshments to students attending courses.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultancy in each year since her Department's inception; and if she will make a statement. [239068]
Mr. Khan: Figures for the Department and its agencies expenditure on external consultancy have been published in our Annual Reports for the last two financial years and can be found here:
Figure for earlier years and the Department's wider family of non-departmental bodies could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
The figure for professional services (excluding research) but including consultancy at the half year mark for the Department alone was £21,862,398 excluding VAT. Of this, Management and IT Consultancy was £20.2 million. Similar figures for agencies and non-departmental Government bodies could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
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