House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Feb 2009 (pt 0013)

25 Feb 2009 : Column 826W—continued

25 Feb 2009 : Column 827W

25 Feb 2009 : Column 828W

Thousand
		South East	South West	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland	Total
1997	Q3	74	40	38	69	23	724
1998	Q3	74	47	43	72	19	698
1999	Q3	64	37	38	63	⁽²⁾—	651
2000	Q3	58	38	39	64	⁽²⁾—	631
2001	Q3	64	39	32	69	20	628
2002	Q3	74	41	30	72	17	649
2003	Q3	75	36	34	70	⁽²⁾—	669
2004	Q3	68	40	36	62	⁽²⁾—	681
2005	Q3	81	46	37	66	⁽²⁾—	701
2006	Q3	88	49	38	60	⁽²⁾—	797

2006	Q4	72	45	39	50	⁽²⁾—	676

2007	Q1	73	51	33	51	⁽²⁾—	669
2007	Q2	75	39	42	62	⁽²⁾—	675
2007	Q3	98	53	38	60	⁽²⁾—	806
2007	Q4	92	34	30	57	⁽²⁾—	663

2008	Q1	70	40	28	56	⁽²⁾—	642
2008	Q2	76	35	29	54	⁽²⁾—	676
2008	Q3	96	52	49	55	⁽²⁾—	864
2008	Q4⁽¹⁾	**92	***48	***49	***55	****⁽²⁾—	*793
⁽¹⁾^{( )}Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described below: ⁽²⁾ Sample size too small for reliable estimate. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV - for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical robustness * 0 = CV [le] 5 Estimates are considered precise. 5 = CV [le] 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. * 10 = CV [le] 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV = 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Note: It should be noted that the estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc).

Work Experience

Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the proposed new national internship scheme will apply to the Civil Service. [258591]

Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.

The Government are committed to helping new graduates into work in these challenging economic times and one of our proposals is to increase the availability of graduate internships across a wide range of sectors. It is as yet too early for me to say exactly where those additional internships will be available, but we are currently consulting key stakeholders, including other civil service employers, about the development of our proposal.

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Bankruptcy: Milton Keynes

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many (a) bankruptcy orders and (b) individual voluntary agreements were recorded in Milton Keynes in each year since 1997. [257403]

Mr. McFadden [holding answer 23 February 2009]: Table 1 as follows shows the number of bankruptcies and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) in Milton Keynes in each year between 2000 and 2007, derived from postcodes provided by insolvent individuals^{(1, 2)}. Earlier figures are not available on this basis; figures for 2008 are not yet available.

^{(1 )}Classifying bankrupts and IVAs into administrative geographies is done using the postcode that the insolvent individual provides. The use of this in assigning an individual to a borough is thus only as reliable as the postcode information provided.

^{(2 )}In particular, inaccurate or missing postcodes mean that the numbers in the above table will be subject to an element of missing data. Nationally, for bankruptcies, this proportion has been decreasing from about 12 per cent. in 2000 to less than 4 per cent. in 2007. For IVAs this proportion has been decreasing from about 15 per cent. in 2000 to about 3 per cent. in 2007.

Table 1
	Bankruptcies	IVAs
2000	83	29
2001	107	27
2002	109	29
2003	128	38
2004	178	50
2005	186	128
2006	304	235
2007	306	274

Broadband

Nick Herbert: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of households in rural areas (a) are connected to and (b) have the capacity to be connected to (i) 256 kb/s, (ii) 512 kb/s, (iii) 1MB/s and (iv) 2 MB/s broadband. [256374]

25 Feb 2009 : Column 829W

Mr. McFadden: The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mike Penning: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) what his most recent estimate is of the number of households which have access to broadband internet in (a) Hemel Hempstead, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England; [256488]

(2) what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of households which own a computer. [256542]

Mr. McFadden: The matters raised are the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his most recent estimate of the number of households which have access to broadband internet in (a) Winchester, (b) Hampshire and (c) England is. [257790]

Mr. McFadden [holding answer 23 February 2009]: The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Broadband: Wales

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimates he has made of the cost of ensuring that every household in Wales can receive high speed broadband services. [254201]

Mr. McFadden [holding answer 4 February 2009]: This Department has not made any assessment of the costs of such action. However, the Welsh Assembly Government launched a programme of activities to transform broadband availability and take up across Wales in 2002. The Regional Innovative Broadband Support Scheme provided funding to upgrade 35 telephone exchanges in Wales, making broadband available to an additional 7,500 premises.

They are shortly to announce the awarding of a contract to look further into this “not spot” issue and how best to address it. This followed on from a registration scheme it set up to enable those who cannot access broadband to register their demand for broadband. To date there are over 1,400 registrations.

Next Section

Index

Home Page