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12 Jan 2009 : Column 194W—continued
Departmental Written Questions
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many and what proportion of written questions for answer on a named day his Department has answered on the due date in the current Session of Parliament. [245400]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Wales Office have not received any named day questions in the current parliamentary Session.
Plain English
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on Plain English Campaign training courses in each of the last five years. [245404]
Mr. Paul Murphy: No expenditure was incurred, but through staff development and coaching, my Department encourages all its staff to use Plain English.
Northern Ireland
Climate Change
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment his Department has made of its capacity to adapt to climate change; and what plans he has to publish a climate change adaptation strategy. [241172]
Mr. Woodward: The Adapting to Climate Change programme is responsible for the co-ordination of the Government's work on adaptation in England. In Northern Ireland—as in Scotland and Wales—the devolved Administration is responsible for considering how climate change will affect issues such as health, education and planning. However, it is recognised that there is a need to ensure coherence across the Administrations, and take a UK-wide approach on issues.
Therefore the UK Administrations are committed to working closely together to share best practice and develop initiatives.
My Department is working in conjunction with the NI Departments in responding to the challenges of climate change. In January 2007 the Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research published a report entitled “Preparing for a changing climate in Northern Ireland”. The report examined the ways in which Northern Ireland must prepare to meet both the opportunities and threats presented by the impacts of a changing climate. It focuses specifically on the impacts on, and the need for adaptation by, the public sector in Northern Ireland.
Under the Climate Change Act 2008 Northern Ireland will participate in the development of a UK-wide risk assessment which will help inform the development of a Northern Ireland Adaptation Strategy.
Departmental Correspondence
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) letters and (b) e-mails received by his Department had not been responded to as at 15 December 2008. [244712]
Mr. Woodward: The information is as follows.
(a) The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members/peers correspondence. Information relating to 2008 will be published as soon as it has been collated. The report for 2007 was published on 20 March 2008, Official Report, columns 71-74WS. Reports for earlier years are available in the Library of the House. When responding to all correspondence the NIO abides by the guidance as set out in “Handling correspondence from MPs, Lords, MEPs and Members of Devolved Assemblies” which was published by the Cabinet office in July 2005.
(b) In respect of e-mails, the NIO is unable to provide the information within the disproportionate cost limit as to do so would require gathering information from every official in the Department.
Departmental Data Protection
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants in his Department have been (a) investigated, (b) suspended and (c) dismissed for (i) losing and (ii) deliberately disclosing (A) data stored on departmental equipment and (B) confidential information in each year since 1997. [242917]
Paul Goggins: There have been three such cases in the Northern Ireland Office and its agencies and legal offices since 1997. As there are fewer than five cases, details about the cases cannot be released for reasons of confidentiality. The Northern Ireland Office has clear policies and processes in place to ensure that staff understand the importance of data security and data confidentiality and to ensure that any cases of potential data loss can be properly dealt with.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of contractors and suppliers to (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has reported compliance with the Government’s security standards following publication of the report, “Data Handling Procedures in Government”, and the accompanying document, “Cross-departmental Actions: Mandatory Minimum Action”, on 25 June 2008. [245328]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office breakdown percentage of contractors and suppliers that have reported compliance to Government requirements is: (a) the core Department—80 per cent.; and (b) our agencies—60 per cent. My departmental officials are working with our contractors and suppliers to ensure they maintain and improve compliance.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many contracts (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have which allow contractors to store personal data of UK citizens overseas; for which contracts this applies; in which countries the data for each contract is held; and how many people have their data stored overseas in the case of each such contract. [245349]
Mr. Woodward: There are no contracts in the Northern Ireland Office and its agencies that allow contractors to store personal data of UK citizens overseas.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of the IT systems in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies are fully accredited to the Government's security standards. [245391]
Mr. Woodward: The percentage of IT systems holding protectively marked data accredited in my Department is as follows: (a) the core Department 100 per cent.; and (b) the agencies—75 per cent. The remaining systems that hold protectively marked data are in the accreditation process.
Departmental Drinking Water
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many water coolers are used by his Department. [243228]
Mr. Woodward: My Department's general policy is to use tap water where it is available. It currently has 16 coolers in six buildings and further reductions are planned.
Departmental Equality
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what information his Department holds on the (a) sex, (b) ethnicity, (c) age, (d) disability, (e) sexual orientation and (f) religion or belief of its staff; and what assessment he has made of his Department's performance against its targets relating to diversity in its workforce. [246013]
Mr. Woodward: The civil service diversity strategy, ‘Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity’, published in July, sets civil service wide targets in relation to gender, ethnicity and disability for the next three to five years.
The Department retains Human Resource information on staff including details of (a) sex and (c) age. Human resource information may also include voluntary monitoring declarations on (b) ethnicity and (d) disability, and (d) disability data are also held following the provision of reasonable adjustments and for emergency evacuation purposes.
In Northern Ireland, (where (f) religion and belief legislation does not apply) Northern Ireland legislation requires statutory monitoring of Northern Ireland community background to be undertaken for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
At present, the Department is examining ways to sensitively monitor (e) sexual orientation.
The Department regularly assesses the diversity of its work force against its targets. In addition, Cabinet Office peer assessment of the Department's Diversity delivery plan for 2008-10 will take place in early 2009.
Departmental Furniture
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent by his Department on furniture made by (a) British firms, (b) Remploy and (c) overseas firms in each year since 2000. [244352]
Mr. Woodward: Information on furniture spend by country of manufacture is not held and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. No goods have been purchased by my Department from Remploy.
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Paterson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of
13 November 2008, Official Report, column 1318W, on departmental marketing, what each advertisement referred to was; and how much each cost. [243503]
Mr. Woodward: The information requested is contained in the following table.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many special advisers were employed in his Department at each pay band on 30 November 2008; and what his Department's total expenditure on special advisers was in 2007-08. [243566]
Paul Goggins: 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.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) departmental Christmas parties and (b) staff entertainment in the last three years. [243734]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office does not allocate official funds for departmental Christmas parties.
Information on departmental expenditure specifically on staff entertainment could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure on entertainment is set out in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 881W, on departmental hospitality, how much was spent by his Department's (a) agencies and (b) non-departmental public bodies on hosting events in the last 12 months. [244008]
Mr. Woodward: My Department's agencies spent £24,238 on hosting events in the last 12 months.
Information for the Northern Ireland Office's executive non-departmental bodies is an operational matter for each of the bodies, who operate independently of Government. I would encourage the hon. Member to write to the respective chief executives. Details of the NIO's non-departmental public bodies can be found in the NIO 2008 Departmental Report:
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