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26 Nov 2008 : Column 1931W—continued
The number of VAT-registered businesses in City of York constituency rose from 2,120 at the start of 1994 to 2,630 at the start of 2007—a rise of 24 per cent. compared with a rise of 28 per cent. in York Unitary Authority, and an average rise of 21 per cent. across the UK.
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.
Christmas
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 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. [237494]
Mr. McFadden: The Department expenditure on Christmas cards in 2007 was £1,020.81. This includes purchase and printing. Expenditure on Christmas decorations was £1,804. Staff Christmas parties are not paid for from departmental funds.
The sending of Christmas cards at public expense is governed by the principles of Managing Public Money, regulated by departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety and must be in pursuit of specific departmental objectives.
I have asked the chief executives of Companies House and the Insolvency Service to respond to the hon. Member directly.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 26 November 2008:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
The amount spent on Christmas cards, parties and decorations in the last twelve months is as follows:
| £ | |
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 26 November 2008:
The Minister of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to your question (2007/4595), 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.
The Insolvency Service Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform made the following payments towards the cost of Christmas (a) cards, (b) parties and (c) decorations in the last 12 months.
| £ | |
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) lamb, (b) beef, (c) chicken, (d) pork, (e) turkey, (f) other meats, (g) vegetables and (h) fruit to be served by his Department at Christmas functions which will be sourced from British producers. [239545]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 25 November 2008]: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member before Prorogation.
Coastal Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to improve its arrangements for co-ordination with other Government Departments of policy affecting coastal towns in the last two years. [238652]
Mr. McFadden: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) leads on sponsorship of the nine English regional development agencies (RDAs). The RDAs have an important role to play, with other partners, in helping coastal areas in their regions to achieve their full economic potential as part of wider regional strategies to deliver sustainable growth.
The Department is contributing to the work of the RDA-led Coastal Towns Network, which includes local authorities and other regeneration practitioners from the public and private sector.
Last year, the then-DTI held a policy seminar on coastal towns, to provide a forum for discussion of the problems facing coastal towns and to investigate the best ways in which those problems might be addressed.
The Department is represented on a cross-departmental working group on coastal towns set up in February 2008 to provide a forum for improving cross-government understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing coastal towns, including economic development outcomes.
Consumer Council of Water
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) for what reason he has decided to review the Consumer Council for Water; [239405]
(2) what role the Consumer Council for Water has in the regular Ofwat review of charges. [239404]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what bonuses were paid by his Department in 2007-08; to which members of staff; and for what purposes. [239665]
Mr. McFadden: It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member before Prorogation.
Debts: Scotland
Jo Swinson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent estimate he has made of the level of personal debt in Scotland. [239620]
Mr. Thomas: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member before Prorogation.
Departmental Cleaning Services
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what contractors his Department uses to undertake cleaning duties; and what the hourly rates of pay are for cleaners working in the Department. [223281]
Mr. McFadden: [holding answer 10 September 2008]: GBM Services Ltd is the contractor employed on the BERR HQ Estate to undertake cleaning services. The current hourly rate of pay for the cleaning staff is £5.75.
Departmental Conferences
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what external speakers his Department and its agencies have paid since 1 January 2005; how much each was paid; and on what dates they spoke. [237599]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 November 2008]: The External Speaker Programme run by the events team in Internal Communications began in December 2007. Since then we have had 22 external speakers visit BERR.
While we pay for speaker's travelling expenses if requested we do not pay for their services.
We do not keep central records of all the external speakers who have visited the Department since 2005 and to gather this information would mean incurring disproportionate costs.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much his Department, its predecessor and its agencies have spent on (a) flat screen televisions, (b) DVD players and (c) stereo equipment in each of the last three years. [237438]
Mr. McFadden: The following figures show information relating to the purchase and installation of flat screen TVs and associated equipment (which may include some DVD players) by BERR's and its predecessors Estates and Communications teams in 2006, 2007 and 2008 to date. Information is not held centrally for any similar purchases made by other individual Directorates within the Department, nor can we separate purchase from installation costs. To attempt to provide both would incur disproportionate costs.
| £ | |
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies
House and they will respond to you directly.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 26 November 2008:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply directly to you in respect of your question (2007/4593) asking how much his Department, its predecessor and its agencies have spent on (a) flat screen televisions, (b) DVD players and (c) stereo equipment in each of the last three years.
The Insolvency Service, an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has spent the following amounts on (a) flat screen televisions, (b) DVD players and (c) stereo equipment in each of the last three years:
| £ | |||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 26 November 2008:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Companies House has spent £1,789.52 on televisions in 2008. No other televisions, DVD players or stereo equipment have been purchased in the last three years.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many civil servants have been employed by each of his Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each year from 1997-98 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [238428]
Mr. McFadden: The numbers of civil servants employed in BERR agencies from 1997-08 to 2007-08; these data are already available on the ONS and Cabinet Office websites.
The data for 2007 and 2006 are available on the ONS website in the following links:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=2899&;Pos=&ColRank=l&Rank=422
The 2007 data can be found in Civil Service Statistics 2007 First Release (Table 11).
The 2006 data can be found in Civil Service Statistics 2006 (Reconciliation Table).
Prior to 2006 the data was collected by Cabinet Office and can be found in the following link:
The numbers of civil servants employed in BERR is non-departmental public bodies in each year from 1997-98 to 2007-08; with only a couple of exceptions, executive 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 Marketing
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many staff in his Department are responsible for branding activity; and what the cost of employing such staff was in 2007-08. [237461]
Mr. McFadden: The Department has one member of staff responsible for managing the Department's brand. This includes the publication and dissemination of the brand guidelines and advising on their application. It is estimated that 25 per cent. of this person's time is spent on branding related activities. Based on the average pay costs for a member of staff at this grade, this represents a staff cost of approximately £10,512 in 2007-08.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in his Department has been in the last 12 months. [238163]
Mr. McFadden: Nothing. Special advisers in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform are not provided with Government cars.
Departmental Pensions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the effect on his Department’s expenditure would be of increasing the employee contribution to each pension scheme for which his Department is responsible by one per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [200704]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is not directly responsible for a public sector pension scheme.
BERR’s Accounting Officer has responsibility for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Pension Scheme. UKAEA’s pension expenditure may or may not be affected by increasing the employee contribution by 1 per cent. dependant upon actuarial valuation. In 2007-08 the employee contributions to the UKAEA pension schemes amounted to £24.2million.
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