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15 Jan 2009 : Column 872W—continued
Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many former prisoners are employed by his Department; and what his Department's policy is on employing former prisoners. [246336]
Mr. Watson: The Cabinet Office does not hold central records on the number of its employees who have served prison sentences. Such information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Department does not require applicants who have spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to provide details of those convictions when seeking employment. Applicants with current convictions are not precluded from taking up employment and each case is considered on the basis of individual circumstances.
Office of the Third Sector
John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what funding his Department has allocated to support the Office of the Third Sector in the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [247247]
Kevin Brennan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 1084W.
The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) budget is published annually as part of the Cabinet Office Main Estimates and updated in the Supplementary Estimates.
The OTS is committed to invest at least £515 million in third sector programmes over the years 2008-2011.
Population
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people were registered as resident in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) England in each year since 1993. [247592]
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 January 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question regarding how many people were registered as resident in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) England in each year since 1993. (247592)
The table below shows the estimated mid-year resident population of North Yorkshire and England for the years 1994-2007. The latest population estimates available are for mid-2007.
| Mid-year population estimates, 1994-2007 | ||
| Thousand | ||
| England | North Yorkshire | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics | ||
Private Detectives
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what use the Cabinet Office has made of (a) private investigators and (b) Risk Analysis UK Ltd. since May 2005. [244794]
Mr. Watson: Cabinet Office maintains a panel of independent investigators who can be called on to undertake internal investigations. The panel is made up of retired civil and Crown servants with investigation experience and retired senior police officers. The investigators are employed in a personal capacity to carry out investigations. No private companies are contracted to do this work. The Cabinet Office has never employed Risk Analysis UK Ltd.
Sight Impaired
Tom Levitt: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidelines his Department follows in respect of making printed materials and forms accessible to people suffering red/green colour blindness. [245709]
Mr. Watson: We endeavour to adhere to the various guidelines recommended to us, such as those published by the Informability unit of the Central Office of Information, the Images of Disability guidelines of the Office for Disability Issues, and the See It Right guidance by Royal National Institute for the Blind.
However, the majority of Cabinet Office publications are distributed electronically through the Department’s websites and we work to the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative guidance. We use specialist software for checking sites against colour vision and to simulate how images will look to users suffering from:
Deuteranopia (red/green deficiency), Protanopia (another form of red/green deficiency) and Tritanopia (blue/yellow deficiency)
Women and Equality
Departmental Equality
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many staff in the Equalities and Human Rights Commission work on community cohesion issues; and what estimate she has made of the cost of employing such staff in (a) 2008-09 and (b) each of the following two financial years. [245582]
Maria Eagle: The structure and business objectives of the Equality and Human Rights Commission are such that work on community cohesion issues is not specifically allocated to one team or group of staff and is spread across the organisation. The Commission do not, therefore, have cost figures for staff working in this specific area.
Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many former prisoners are employed by the Government's Equalities Office; and what the Office's policy is on the employment of former prisoners. [246333]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established in October 2007 and was formed of some 60 civil servants drawn from other Government Departments. The personnel records covering those staff are confidential to the original Department and are not accessible to GEO. The GEO began its own recruitment in December 2007. Since then, none of the 40 or so staff employed are former prisoners. The GEO adheres to the Civil Service Management Code and will employ former prisoners subject to satisfactory completion of character checks and security vetting.
Transport
A1079: Noise
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his most recent assessment of the level of noise on the A1079 is; what assessment he has made of trends in noise levels over the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [247319]
Paul Clark: No assessment of noise levels on the A1079 have been carried out in the last 10 years. There has been no requirement to undertake such assessment work. Up until 2002-03, the road was the responsibility of the Highways Agency but passed to the East Riding of Yorkshire council upon de-trunking.
Bus Services: Concessions
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with representatives of local authorities facing funding shortfalls for the national concessionary bus fares scheme; what such meetings are planned; and if he will make a statement. [247444]
Paul Clark: To date, I have met Members of Parliament whose constituencies cover the following authorities to discuss funding of concessionary travel:
Scarborough Borough Council
East Riding of Yorkshire
Exeter City Council
Worcester City Council
In the coming weeks I am also due to meet with Members whose constituencies cover the following authorities :
Harrogate Borough Council
Fareham Borough Council
The Isle of Wight Council
Chesterfield Council
In addition to these authorities, departmental officials have either met or will shortly be meeting with representatives from the following local authorities:
Oxford City Council
Lancashire County Council
Bournemouth Borough Council
The Government remain confident that there is sufficient funding in total to meet the cost of the statutory minimum bus concession. The £212 million of extra funding that was provided to meet the additional cost of the extended concession is based on generous assumptions about fares, bus pass take up rate, extra journeys and additional operating costs. We will however continue to monitor the impact of the new concession.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) which local authorities have not received sufficient funding to meet their expenditure on the national concessionary bus fares scheme in 2008-09; and how much the shortfall is in each such case; [247445]
(2) what estimate his Department has made of the difference between funding and expenditure on the national concessionary bus fares scheme in (a) England and (b) each local authority area in 2008-09. [247446]
Paul Clark: We are confident that there is sufficient funding in total for the statutory minimum bus concession in England. The bulk of funding for concessionary travel is still given to authorities through the formula grant process (Revenue Support Grant) but it is not separately identified within that block grant. It is therefore not possible to identify how much individual authorities receive specifically for concessionary travel.
An additional £212 million is being provided by special grant this year solely to pay for the extension of the statutory concession to cover England-wide travel. Again, we are confident that this is sufficient in total and we consulted widely on the formula used to distribute it. Data on changes in authority expenditure caused by the new concession will not be available until autumn 2009.
We will shortly be consulting on possible changes to how concessionary travel is administered and any changes may provide an opportunity to consider how best to distribute the totality of funding.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from the Local Government Association about the adequacy of funding for the national concessionary bus fares scheme. [247447]
Paul Clark: Officials in the Department for Transport have had regular meetings with the Local Government Association (LGA) regarding concessionary travel. The LGA and representatives from other tiers of local government are present at regular meetings of the Department’s Concessionary Fares Working Groups.
I also met with David Sparks of the LGA on 13 January 2009 to discuss this issue.
Bus Services: EU Action
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the EU Commission’s proposal for bus passenger rights on bus passengers; and what response the Government has made to the damage liability for operators contained in the proposal. [248089]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport is currently preparing an initial impact assessment on the European Commission’s proposal for a new regulation on bus and coach passenger rights, which will include an assessment of the costs and benefits to both passengers and operators. The Department will shortly be consulting on the proposal to help inform the Government’s position and it is intended that the initial impact assessment will form part of that consultation. An explanatory memorandum (EM 16933/08) on the proposal was submitted to Parliament on 13 January 2009, copies are available in the Libraries of the House.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 were made to his Department since 2005; how many such requests were (a) agreed to and (b) refused in each of those years; how many refusals were subject to appeal to the Information Commissioner in each of those years; how many appeals were successful; if he will place in the Library copies of the material subsequently provided in each case; how much was spent by his Department opposing each appeal; which (i) consultants and (ii) law firms were employed by his Department in connection with each appeal; and if he will make a statement. [244834]
Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister of State for Justice. my right hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 507W.
Public Transport: Greater Manchester
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will undertake an assessment of means of improving public transport serving Manchester and surrounding areas in light of the recent decision on the proposed congestion zone. [247433]
Paul Clark: Following the decision not to proceed with their proposals for the Transport Innovation Fund, it is for the Greater Manchester authorities to develop a sustainable transport strategy that is affordable within the available funding streams. We will be working closely with them as they take this forward.
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