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5 Feb 2009 : Column 1463W—continued
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many notifications his Department and its predecessor received of businesses making 20 or more employees redundant in each month of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many have been received in each year since 1997. [252926]
Mr. McFadden: Employers who propose to make 20 or more redundancies at one establishment are required to notify the Secretary of State of the proposal under provisions contained in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Information on those notifications is only held from January 2006. I have detailed as follows the number of notifications received for each month from January 2006 to December 2008.
| Number | |
Regional Development Agencies: Consultants
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 1114W, on the Regional
Development Agency National Secretariat, on which external public affairs firms or consultants spending was incurred; and for what purposes each was engaged. [253516]
Mr. McFadden: The total expenditure of the National Secretariat on external public affairs firms or consultants amounts to a sum of £29,397. This was paid to Linstock Communications for an analysis of RDA national newspaper coverage during an 18 month period from 1 April 2006 to 1 October 2007.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much each regional development agency spent on external consultants in 2007-08. [253768]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 13 November 2008, Official Report, column 1366W, which provides each regional development agency expenditure on external consultants in 2007-08.
Regional Development Agencies: Finance
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what allocations his Department has made to each regional development agency for (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11. [253769]
Mr. McFadden: The following table shows the indicative allocation of each RDA's grant in aid budgets for 2009-10 and 2010-11. These figures incorporate the bringing forward of £100 million of capital expenditure from 2010-11 to 2009-10 that was announced in the pre-Budget report.
| £ million | ||
| RDA | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
Regional Planning and Development: North West
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether discussions have taken place between the North Western Regional Development Agency and Lancaster City Council on the Central Park Scheme in the west end of Morecambe. [246101]
Mr. McFadden:
[holding answer 12 January 2009]: The agency were approached by Lancaster city council and the Winning Back the West End Regeneration
Team in early 2007, and entered into discussions which led to a round one funding bid (concept approval stage ) to the agency for the Central Park Scheme in August 2007.
Further information provided when working up the detailed bid revealed that the costs of the project were increasing, which led the agency to conclude that it would not present value for money and could not generate significant economic impacts. I understand, however, that the agency would be happy to enter into further discussions with Lancaster city council and the Winning Back the West End Regeneration Team.
Retail Sector
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent discussions he has had with the Competition Commission on its proposals to (a) strengthen the code of practice in the grocery sector and (b) set up an ombudsman. [248241]
Mr. Thomas: Ministers and BERR officials hold regular meetings with the Competition Commission (CC) as part of the process of policy development and delivery to discuss a range of issues. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings. There have not been any recent meetings specifically held to discuss the CC's proposals to strengthen the code of practice in the grocery sector, or to set up an ombudsman.
Wind Power
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent discussions he has had with power generation companies on the interference of wind power generators with television signal reception. [246223]
Mr. McFadden: Neither I, nor my right hon. Friends, the Secretaries of State for Energy and Climate Change and for Culture, Media and Sport, or our officials, have had any recent discussions with power generation companies on the interference of wind power generators with television signal reception.
This is essentially a planning matter. Paragraph 64 of the Technical Annex to the Government's Policy Planning Statement (PPS) 22
“provided careful attention is paid to siting, wind turbines should not cause any significant problems of electromagnetic interference i.e. adverse effects on communication systems which use electromagnetic waves as the transmission medium (e.g. television, radio or microwave links)”.
However, it is a requirement of the consenting process for onshore wind farms that the developer addresses any issues relating to possible interference with television signal reception.
Children, Schools and Families
Almondbury High School
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent communication he has had with Almondbury High School in Huddersfield; and when he expects the school to receive its students’ full key stage test results. [252579]
Jim Knight: QCA advises that Almondbury High School has experienced particular difficulties in receiving results during the 2008 test cycle, and they have been in contact with the school to resolve these issues. They advise that the school has now been made aware of all its results, including the outcome of its review applications. The Department has no record of any communication with Almondbury High School.
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many schools in (a) Lancashire and (b) England are planned to have energy efficiency improvements under the Building Schools for the Future programme; and what estimate he has made of the consequential (i) carbon dioxide emissions avoided and (ii) savings in energy bills; [254194]
(2) how many schools in (a) Lancashire and (b) England have had energy efficiency improvements under the Building Schools for the Future programme; and what estimate he has made of the consequential (i) carbon dioxide emissions avoided and (ii) savings in energy bills. [254195]
Jim Knight: The Department does not gather detailed information on individual measures that have been implemented to improve energy efficiency for schools within Building Schools for the Future (BSF).
All schools within Building Schools for the Future (BSF) are expected to work with their Local Authority Partnership (LEP) to address their energy consumption. The effectiveness of each LEP is incentivised and monitored through a set of key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs include an assessment of energy efficiency in operation: comparing actual energy consumption per unit floor area with design estimates.
In December 2007 we introduced a requirement for all new schools within BSF to reduce their carbon emissions by 60 per cent. relative to the energy efficiency standards in 2002 building regulations. The Department has provided additional funding for more than 200 schools in Building Schools for the Future and the Academies programme to fund the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures on school sites to enable this requirement to be met. We have developed a ‘carbon calculator’ to allow users to demonstrate how they would achieve the 60 per cent. reduction. The carbon calculator compares the likely effectiveness of various energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions, but is not intended to provide accurate forecasts of energy savings.
Building Schools for the Future Programme: Cambridgeshire
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made on each project under the Building Schools for the Future programme affecting schools in North East Cambridgeshire constituency. [253158]
Jim Knight: Cambridgeshire county council has made good progress since starting its first Building Schools for the Future Project in February 2007. The local authority issued an OJEU notice to procure a local education partnership to develop four secondary schools, one special school, and a one pupil referral unit in the north east of the county on 1 July 2008. The two sample schools in the project are Thomas Clarkson community college in Wisbech and Neale Wade community college in March. The local education partnership is expected to be operational in 2010 with the first two schools being delivered in 2011 and 2012. The remaining four schools are expected to be delivered by 2014.
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