Written Answers to Questions
Monday 19 January 2009
Church Commissioners
Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners how much has been spent by the Church Commissioners on staff reward and recognition schemes in each of the last three years. [248725]
Sir Stuart Bell: In each of the last three years for which fully audited figures are available (i.e. 2005-07) the salary and pension contribution cost of staff for whom the Church Commissioners were the managing employer was £3.7 million.
Prime Minister
Departmental Marketing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Prime Minister how much has been spent by 10 Downing Street on advertising in the last 12 months. [243718]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 15 January 2009, Official Report, columns 869-70W.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Prime Minister how many complaints about advertisements sponsored or funded by his Office were made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in each year from 1997 to 2008; and how many of these were upheld by the ASA in each year. [246657]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 14 January 2009, Official Report, column 744W.
House of Commons Commission
Internet
Jo Swinson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission on what date the decision was taken to upload videos of parts of the tour of Parliament to a YouTube channel; on what date the decision was taken to restrict access to that channel to members of a private YouTube group; and if he will make a statement. [249395]
Nick Harvey: Videos of parts of the parliamentary tour were posted on the parliamentary YouTube channel:
linked from the main UK Parliament website:
on 6 January as part of our ongoing development of the website. They were removed from it on 9 January when some issues with their content were identified.
The YouTube videos were published to the UK Parliament channel as part of specific groups of videos focused on the tours. The functionality of YouTube does not allow these groups to be deleted. To remove them from public view required making the groups private, thereby restricting access.
It is not our policy to restrict access in any way to our content, including YouTube, and this was done in order to prevent inaccurate content from being in the public domain.
They will be reinstated once they meet the required quality standards. As a result of this incident we have reviewed quality control procedures and built in additional checks before material is signed off for release on the website.
Scotland
Charities
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland to which (a) charities and (b) voluntary organisations his Department has provided funding in the last five years; and how much funding was provided to each. [247372]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office, along with the Wales Office and Ministry of Justice, has funded a series of reports on devolution from University College, London. The Scotland Office agreed to contribute £25,000 over three years towards this work.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent on (a) maintaining, (b) decorating and (c) otherwise improving departmental buildings in the last five years; how much has been spent on wallpaper since 2001; and what plans there are for further spending on departmental decoration. [248066]
Ann McKechin: Under the terms of its building leases the Scotland Office is required to maintain its buildings to an acceptable standard of decoration and repair. Over the period of the last five years, the Office has shared its accommodation with a number of other Government Departments. The following figures show the gross total for repairs and maintenance of Scotland Office buildings, but does not include the contribution by the Departments towards their share of the costs.
The Office does not separately record the amount spent on wallpaper. The plans for further decoration have not yet been finalised, however any costs will be in line with the terms of the building leases.
| Cost (£) | |
| (1)In 2007-08 this included roof and exterior repairs to Dover House in London. | |
Departmental Catering
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what (a) directly-operated and (b) franchised catering outlets his Department provides for staff. [249082]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has no in-house canteen or other catering facilities.
Departmental Data Protection
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many members of staff in his Department have been (a) investigated, (b) suspended and (c) dismissed for losing (i) memory sticks, (ii) laptop computers, (iii) desktop computers and (iv) mobile telephones belonging to his Department in each year since 1997. [248256]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland office was established on 1 July 1999. Since this date no members of staff have been investigated, suspended or dismissed for losing memory sticks, laptop computers, desktop computers or mobile phones belonging to the office.
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has spent on broadband internet in each of the last five years. [245496]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not separately record expenditure on broadband internet.
Departmental Coaching: Languages
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants in his Department received coaching in a foreign language in the last 12 months; what expenditure his Department incurred in providing such coaching; and in what languages such coaching was provided. [248074]
Ann McKechin: No Ministers or civil servants received coaching in a foreign language in the last 12 months.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many members of staff were (a) employed by and (b) seconded to the Scotland Office in (i) Scotland and (ii) London in each quarter since 1999. [248510]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The office does not directly employ staff, all staff in the office are on secondment from other Government Departments, mainly the Scottish Executive and Ministry of Justice. Information on staff numbers is published in the office's annual report, copies of which are in the House Library. The office does not keep central records in a form that would allow staff numbers to be broken down by each quarter since 1999.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the responsibilities of each member of his media and communications team are; when each member of staff was recruited; and what the salary of each member of staff is. [248514]
Ann McKechin: The responsibilities of the Press Office at the Scotland Office are shared by two staff, recruited in September 2006 and March 2007. Both are on secondment from the Ministry of Justice.
The Press Office is responsible for a wide range of civil service communications functions.
To protect the privacy of individual staff, data relating to fewer than five people are not disclosed.
Departmental Pay
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy that temporary and permanent employees of his Department employed at the same grade receive the same hourly rate of pay. [248418]
Ann McKechin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 17 December 2008, Official Report, columns 763-64W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent by his Department on staff reward and recognition schemes in each of the last three years. [248705]
Ann McKechin: Staff in the Scotland Office are seconded from the Scottish Executive (SE) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) who each have bonus schemes in operation. Under the special bonus scheme of the SE and the reward and recognition scheme of the MOJ, the office may directly authorise bonus payments (or in the case of the MOJ scheme; small and instantaneous awards e.g. vouchers) for recognising special effort, achievement and commitment. The following table shows the number and cost of non-pensionable bonuses paid under these schemes:
| Financial year | Total number of bonuses | Total cost of bonuses (£) |
Departmental Catering
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working at his Department and its agencies in
(a) 2007 and (b) 2008; and how much was spent on such bonuses in each of those years. [249861]
Ann McKechin: Members of the senior civil service in the Scotland Office are seconded from the Scottish Executive and the Ministry of Justice, their bonuses are assessed under a framework set by the Cabinet Office. The office does not hold central information on such bonuses.
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which (a) food and (b) drinks companies have supplied his Department in each of the last three years; and how much was paid to each of those suppliers in each of those years. [248792]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not record the information in the form requested.
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department's central media and communication unit spent on public surveys in each of the last three years. [247919]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office Press Office have not incurred any costs on public surveys in any of the last three years.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which companies were used by his Department for providing temporary staff in each of the last five years; and what the value of contracts with each such company was in each of those years. [245296]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office paid the following amounts to recruitment agencies for temporary staff in the last five years:
| Number of staff | Total cost (£) | |
| (1) No staff were recruited in this year, however the cost of a late invoice from the previous financial year was incurred. | ||
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