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26 Nov 2008 : Column 1696W—continued
Apprentices: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people in Suffolk were on (a) apprenticeships and (b) advanced apprenticeships in each of the last five years. [240007]
Mr. Simon: It has not proved possible to respond in the time available before Prorogation.
Brussels
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his 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. [239495]
Mr. Simon: The Department does not maintain records of expenditure on air fares and rail fares by destination or the number of journeys to individual destinations. Therefore the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
All travel by Civil Servants is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Civil Service Management Code and departmental staff handbooks.
Christmas
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have spent on Christmas (a) cards, (b) parties and (c) decorations in the last 12 months. [237484]
Mr. Simon: In 2007 DIUS held a competition for further education college students to design an electronic Christmas card for the Department. The competition was won by Matthew Boulton college. This incurred no significant cost to the Department as colleges were individually invited to participate. The prize—a trip to a design centre or space centre—was donated by our partners. The DIUS Christmas card was distributed electronically through existing e-mail routes and therefore incurred no significant costs.
In 2008 DIUS held another electronic Christmas card competition. The result of that competition will be made known shortly.
In 2007-08 the Secretary of State hosted one official Christmas function for 50 people which cost £665. Departmental divisions do hold Christmas parties for staff to attend, for which staff must pay themselves.
DIUS did not purchase any Christmas decorations in 2007-08.
Details of expenditure by the Department's agencies—National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) and UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO)—in 2007-08 are as follows:
| £ | ||
| NWML | UK-IPO | |
Copyright Tribunal
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the Government’s response to the Second Report of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee on the Work and Operation of the Copyright Tribunal HC 637, what plans his Department has to reform the Copyright Tribunal; what steps he has taken in this respect; what timescale he has established for reform; and what plans he has to consult on granting collecting societies the right to make reference to the Tribunal. [234893]
Mr. Lammy: As I said before the House during the Adjournment debate on 12 November, I am pleased to announce that the Intellectual Property Office is implementing a series of reforms.
Specifically, the IPO is undertaking reforms in three areas:
The IPO has established the Registry of the Tribunal in London, and increased staff resources. Furthermore, the IPO is in the process of recruiting eight new lay members to the tribunal, and the Secretary of State will announce these appointments in April 2009. Finally, the IPO has agreed a timetable with the Judicial Appointments Commission to recruit a Deputy Chairperson. The Lord Chancellor will announce the appointment in early April 2009.
The Rules of Procedure are currently under revision, with a view to bringing them into line with the Civil Procedure Rules.
The IPO is analysing a number of issues in relation to the jurisdiction of the Copyright Tribunal. I expect this work to have been completed, and to be in a position to bring forward proposals, in 2009.
Departmental Absenteeism
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the rate of staff (a) absence and (b) sickness absence was in (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year since its inception; what the target rates set for his Department are in each case; and if he will make a statement. [239149]
Mr. Simon: The Department was created on 28 June 2007. Sickness absence figures for the period July 2007 to June 2008 are available on its website:
The figures include the Department's two agencies, the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), but they do not include the non-departmental public bodies as the information for them is not held centrally.
The Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and is developing its absence management policies, including targets to reduce sickness absence.
Departmental Catering
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether food and drink on sale to staff of (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies at official premises is subsidised from public funds. [237420]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is located across sites in London, Runcorn, Darlington and Sheffield. In London, the catering contract is let on a commercial basis. DIUS does not subsidise food or drink here. At the other locations, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is the major occupier. Neither Department subsidises, from public funds, the food and drink that is on sale to staff.
The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) does not subsidise food and drink on sale to staff at its premises.
The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) does subsidise food and drink. This small subsidy will be eliminated by 2010-11.
Departmental Civil Servants
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many civil servants have been employed by each of his Department's agencies and non-departmental bodies in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [239146]
Mr. Simon:
The Department's executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are non-Crown bodies and employees are not civil servants—although
civil servants can be seconded or loaned to NDPBs. Information on the number of employees in executive NDPBs is published in the annual Cabinet Office ‘Public Bodies’ publication. Copies are available from the Libraries of the House.
Advisory NDPBs do not usually employ staff. They are typically supported by civil servants from the sponsoring Department.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many external consultants work for his Department. [235314]
Mr. Simon: In keeping with good procurement practice most consultancy contracts placed by Department are based on a requirement for the delivery of outcomes or outputs, and not for a number of consultancy days or hours. We are, therefore, unable to answer the question in the way it has been asked. However, the total number of live consultancy contracts in former Department for Education and Skills; Higher Education Group and Further Education Group, at the end of August 2008 was 17. Work is progressing to harmonise policies within the former Department for Trade and Industry Groups, Government Science, Innovation, Science and Research, to capture group portfolio information on external based resource, and therefore is not currently collected in the form requested and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultancy in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [239148]
Mr. Simon: It has not proved possible to respond in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Early Retirement
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many employees in his Department have taken early retirement since its inception; and at what total cost. [238969]
Mr. Simon: It has not proved possible to respond in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department has spent on (a) flat screen televisions, (b) DVD players and (c) stereo equipment since its creation; and how much his Department's agency spent on such equipment in each of the last three years. [237440]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of machinery of government changes in June 2007. Information on expenditure prior to 2007-08 is not held in this Department.
Details of expenditure on the following items by DIUS and its agencies, the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO), are:
| Flat screen TVs | DVD Players | Stereo equipment | |
| (1 )Leased for over five years. | |||
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the cost of maintaining his Department's website (a) was in 2007-08 and (b) is projected to be in 2008-09. [235323]
Mr. Simon: The cost of maintaining the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills website in 2007-08 was £104,336.96 inclusive of VAT.
The Department was set up with an interim site and most of its information content continued to be hosted in DCSF and BERR sites. The Department is currently in the process of changing web suppliers and completely redoing the corporate website to enable migration of all content currently hosted by legacy Departments. Therefore the projected costs for 2008-09 can be broken down into two parts.
(1) The ongoing hosting and maintenance costs with the incumbent suppliers will be in the region of £120,000.
(2) The projected total costs for redeveloping the corporate site which is broken down into initial set up costs that will only be required in 2008-09 and ongoing maintenance and service is as follows.
Design: Following a competitive tender the website redesign, including research, scoping, design and production of templates and user testing is approximately £100,000.
Hosting and infrastructure: Using a shared service with the Department for Children, Schools and Families the Department is developing a new web hosting infrastructure and content management system. This cost also includes scoping, hardware and full content migration of over 20,000 pages of content from DCSF and BERR. The cost for this is approximately £240,000.
There is also a projected annual maintenance and service cost which may be in the region of £85,000.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers have been employed by his Department in each year since its inception; and at what cost in each year. [239087]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was established in June 2007. The Department employed one special adviser initially, rising to two from September 2007. A new special advisor was appointed on 1 September 2008, with one of the existing special advisors having a handover period agreed with Cabinet Office before leaving.
The Department's full complement of press officers has been 13 throughout that time, though in the earlier months of the Department's existence there were a number of vacancies.
The total cost of the press office to date is £267,095.52. Costs of DIUS special advisers salaries are included in the annual Ministerial Statement on special advisers' paybands.
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on (i) publicity and (ii) advertising in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [239147]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was established in June 2007.
In 2007-08 the Department spent £2,523,721 on publicity, and advertising. For 2008-09 £740,496 has been spent.
For much of its business the Department operates through a number of arms length bodies including non-departmental public bodies and other agencies. The Department does not hold the information requested centrally and there would be a disproportionate cost to gather the information.
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