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17 Dec 2008 : Column 819W—continued
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how many special advisers were employed in her Office at each pay band on 30 November 2008; and what her Office's total expenditure on special advisers was in 2007-08. [243567]
Chris Bryant: The Government are committed to publishing an annual list detailing the number and costs of special advisers. Information for 2007-08 was published by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 July 2008, Official Report, columns 99-102WS.
Euthanasia
Mr. Amess: To ask the Leader of the House whether she plans to provide Government time on the Floor of the House to debate (a) assisted suicide and (b) euthanasia during (i) Session 2008-09 and (ii) Session 2009-10; what representations she has received on the matter since July 2008; and if she will make a statement. [244883]
Chris Bryant: Plans for debates will be announced throughout the Session by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House in the usual way. I understand the interest in this issue and I am aware that the matter has been raised by hon. Members.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Departmental Work Experience
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many individuals have worked in his Department on (a) paid and (b) unpaid work experience or internships in each year since its establishment; on average how many hours a week were worked by such people in each year; what types of work each was involved in; what proportion were in full-time education; what proportion did not complete their set period of work experience; and how much those who received remuneration were paid on average per week in each year. [242112]
Mr. Simon: Since its creation in June 2007 to date, the Department has made seven paid internships and 11 unpaid work experience places available. For internships, four interns were placed in summer 2007 and three interns in summer 2008. All interns were university-level students in Cabinet Office programmes. For work experience, four year 10 and 11 students were placed from 28 July to December 2007 and five year 10 and 11 students were placed from January to December 2008. The Department did not run a co-ordinated programme for work experience in 2008 but did sponsor a further two students as part of the Windsor Fellowship programme in July 2008. Information on work experience hours is not collected centrally but it is expected that students and graduates would work similar hours to full-time staff on the relevant site and at the discretion of the team to which they have been assigned. Information on students who did not complete their set period of work experience is not collected centrally and, along with the work hours worked, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Payments for internships for 2007 and 2008 were £285 per week in London and £245 per week outside London.
All interns and work experience students and graduates undertook a range of structured and supervised tasks to learn and feedback on the delivery of a range of projects for the Department using the core skills of Professional Skills for Government.
The Department is currently in the process of planning its own work experience programme for 2009.
Further Education: National Insurance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount paid in national insurance contributions by (a) further education colleges and (b) universities in the last 12 months for which figures are available [243985]
Mr. Lammy: There have been no estimates made of the annual amount paid in national insurance contributions by further education colleges or universities, as this is a matter for FECs and HEIs themselves as employers of their own staff.
Nuclear Power: Research
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much funding the Government has provided for research into nuclear fusion in each of the last five years. [244552]
Mr. Lammy: UK Government expenditure on nuclear fusion research in the last five years is given in the following table. The UK also contributes to the EURATOM fusion research budget through its share of the funding of the European Union.
| £ million | |
Overseas Students: Scholarships
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many doctoral students from Commonwealth countries have received scholarships from his Department in each year since 1997. [243997]
Mr. Lammy: The Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award scheme has been operating since 2004 through the Research Councils. The Department for Trade and Industry previously had responsibility.
There have been approximately 560 scholar posts to the universities and we have had nationality data from the universities for approximately 420 scholars to date, which reveals 100 from Commonwealth member states.
Research: Finance
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much and what proportion of university research income was sourced from (a) business and (b) charities in each of the last 10 years. [242773]
Mr. Lammy: Statistics on research grants and contracts income are collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in their Finance Statistics Return.
The following table shows for Higher Education Institutions in England, a time series of research grants and contracts income from UK-based charities and UK industry. The information is shown in a separate table.
| £ million/percentage | |||||||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
|
Total Research income (Research grants and contracts + HEFCE Recurrent R) | |||||||||||
Students: Debt
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what plans he has to review the costs associated with balances owed to the Student Loans Company. [243594]
Mr. Lammy: The legislative provisions for Income Contingent Repayment student loans require that the rate of interest must: (i) be no higher than is necessary to maintain the value of the loan in real terms; and (ii) not exceed 1 per cent. above the highest of the base rates of a specified group of banks(1) (the ‘low interest cap’). The interest rate is normally set every September to equal the retail prices index for the previous March—currently 3.8 per cent. Following the reduction in the Bank of England base rate by the Monetary Policy Committee on 4 December 2008, all the specified banks have reduced their base rates to 2 per cent. and the low interest cap comes into play. The Student Loans Company (SLC) have therefore reduced the interest rate for income contingent loans from 3.8 per cent. to 3 per cent. with effect from 5 December 2008 until further notice. The SLC have published this information on their website and in national newspapers.
The interest rate for loans taken out before 1998 (known as ‘mortgage style loans’) is not affected as these loans are governed by different legislation.
(1) Bank of England; Bank of Scotland; Barclays Bank plc; Clydesdale Bank plc; Co-operative Bank plc; Courts and Co; HSBC Bank plc; Lloyds TSB Bank plc; Natwest Bank plc; the Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
Treasury
Banks: Regulation
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidelines (a) UK Financial Investments Ltd and (b) the Financial Services Authority has established to govern bonuses paid to senior bank executives. [243869]
Ian Pearson: On 13 October 2008 the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority wrote to the chief executives of the major banks and building societies, setting out the criteria for remuneration policies and practices which are properly aligned to sound risk management and controls.
UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI), which is wholly owned by the Government, will oversee the conditions attached to subscribing to the Government's recapitalisation fund, including in relation to remuneration policies of banks’ board directors. UKFI will work to ensure management incentivisation based on long-term value maximization, which attracts and retains high quality management and which minimises the potential for rewarding failure.
Credit Rating: EU Action
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 880W, on credit rating, what assessment he has made of the outcome of the European Commission's consultation on an EU-wide registration scheme for credit rating agencies. [243803]
Ian Pearson: The Government support registration of credit rating agencies. The Commission's proposals are now being discussed in council working groups.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on Ministerial hospitality in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08, expressed in current prices. [241239]
Angela Eagle: Spending by Treasury Ministers on hospitality is included within their conference and hospitality budgets covering internal and external conferences, catering and meeting refreshments. Outturn for the years requested are shown in the following table:
| £ | |
GDP deflators necessary to convert the aforementioned figures to current prices can be found at:
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