Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Leader of the House
Ministerial Statements
Mr. Bone: To ask the Leader of the House what mechanism she uses to monitor the number of occasions on which the media has been given information contained in Ministerial Statements before those statements have been made to the House. [250700]
Chris Bryant: The Leader of the House closely monitors all ministerial statements, written and oral, and is keen to ensure that paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code is always upheld. This makes clear that
“when Parliament is in Session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance, in Parliament.”
Scotland
Departmental Correspondence
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department’s average response time to a letter received from (a) an hon. Member and (b) a member of the public was in each of the last three years. [251452]
Ann McKechin: 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’ 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.
(b) The Scotland Office publishes statistics on the handling of correspondence from members of the public in our annual report. The annual reports for 2007-08 and earlier are available on the SO website at:
The Scotland Office aims to respond to all correspondence from members of the public within 15 working days of receipt.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) original expected cost, (b) original expected delivery date, (c) actual cost incurred and (d) actual delivery date was of each ICT project undertaken and completed by his Department in each year since 1997; who the contractors for each project were; what the (i) initial estimated and (ii) outturn payment to each contractor was; and if he will make a statement. [251144]
Ann McKechin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 68W, to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell).
Departmental Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the cost of his Department’s contracts with public relations consultancies was in each of the last five years. [251530]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure on public relations consultancies in the last five years.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland with reference to the answer of 4 November 2008, Official Report, column 239W, on departmental training, what personal training courses at public expense other Ministers in his Department have undertaken since 1 January 2008. [251314]
Ann McKechin: Ministers in the Scotland Office have undertaken the following personal training courses at public expense since 1 January 2008: ‘Presentation and Public Speaking Skills’ and an ‘Introduction Workshop for New Ministers’.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on digital media training courses provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau in 2008; how many such training sessions were held in 2008; and how many staff in his Department attended at least one such training course. [252237]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office have incurred no costs for media training courses provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau in 2008; and have held no such training sessions.
Departmental Travel
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what expenditure his Department has incurred in providing transport for Ministers between Parliament and departmental premises in each of the last five years. [251870]
Ann McKechin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Hoon) on 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 6W. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the ‘Ministerial Code’.
Departmental Working Hours
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the policy of his Department and its agencies is on granting staff time off in lieu for working (a) in lunch breaks, (b) in evenings and (c) at other times outside contracted working hours; and if he will make a statement. [252013]
Ann McKechin: All staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice, who remain their employers.
The matter of granting time off in lieu is delegated to Departments to determine under the civil service management code, of which section 9 sets out terms and conditions relating to hours of work and how staff should be compensated for working outside their normal pattern.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many days off in lieu were granted to staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies for working (i) in lunch breaks and (ii) at other times outside contracted working hours, in the last year for which figures are available. [252014]
Ann McKechin: The Office does not record this information in the form requested.
Official Cars
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what cars are (a) owned, (b) leased, (c) hired and (d) otherwise regularly used by his Department, broken down by cubic capacity of engine. [250138]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office do not own or lease any cars and do not hold records of the cubic capacity of the engine of cars they hire.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Hoon) on 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 10W.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place for the offence of consuming alcohol in a designated public place in each of the last seven years. [249933]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 21 January 2009]: Data showing the number of defendants proceeded against for consuming alcohol in a designated public place in England and Wales from 2001 to 2007 (latest available) are given in the following table.
| D efendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for consuming alcohol in a designated public place, England and Wales, 2001 - 07( 1, 2) | |
| Number | |
| (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform Ref: IOS 044-09 | |
Community Policing: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will meet a delegation of residents from Castle Point to discuss community policing and the return to use of Hadleigh police station. [249687]
Mr. Coaker: The management of the police estate and the allocation of resources are matters for each police authority and the chief constable to determine.
However, I am happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss community policing in Castle Point.
Crime: Business
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the cost to UK businesses of (a) shoplifting, (b) fraud, (c) forgery, (d) e-crime, (e) theft from vehicles, (f) theft of vehicles, (g) theft of plant, (h) graffiti and vandalism and (i) other crime in each year since 1997. [247127]
Mr. Alan Campbell: There are currently no year-on-year estimates of the costs of crime to business. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 January 2009, Official Report column 700W, Crime: Business that provided links to the most recent published estimates.
However the Home Office also published some estimates of the costs of crime against retail and manufacturing premises for 1994 as well as for 2002-03 in:
The results from both surveys are broadly comparable and an overview is provided in section 4 of the second report. However it is not possible to identify the year on year trends in between these two surveys. No estimate of the cost of crime to businesses has been published since the 2002-03 report.
Extradition: EU Countries
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what offences British citizens have been (a) arrested and (b) surrendered to the authorities of another EU member state under the provisions of a European arrest warrant since the Extradition Act 2003 came into force. [243022]
Meg Hillier: The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is the designated authority for the receipt and transmission of European arrest warrants in the UK. There is no Government involvement in the operation of the EAW. The following table gives a total figure for the number of people extradited to and by the UK since the EAW entered into force on 1 January 2004 until September 2008.
It is not possible from current systems to provide data broken down into British and non-British nationals, nor into types of offence. SOCA is putting in place a new database to record this information non-retrospectively.
| Extradited from the UK | |||||
| Surrenders | |||||
| Part 1 EAW | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Extradited to the UK | |||||
| Surrenders | |||||
| Part 3 EAW | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Number of EAWs issued to and by the UK since 1 January 2004 | |||||
| Totals by year | |||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
Identity Cards: Civil Proceedings
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 145W, on identity cards, what stage the legal case relating to disclosure of Gateway information has reached; how much the Government have spent to date on legal costs for the case; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the Identity Card Gateway Review, redacting commercially sensitive information. [250192]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 January 2009, Official Report, columns 508-09W. The tribunal has still not issued its decision.
The legal cost incurred, relating to the disclosure of Gateway information on the Identity Cards programme, is currently £121,000 excluding VAT.
Gateway reports, including the findings and status, are conducted on a confidential basis for senior responsible owners (SRO). We do not, therefore, make this information routinely public.
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