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2 Mar 2009 : Column 1224W—continued
IAD also supplements its in-house resources through using external consultants to deliver or support certain internal audit assignments.
Staff numbers are not available by Department within DFID for financial years prior to 2004-05 when a new human resources database was introduced.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make it his policy for his Department to sign the Information Commissioner’s Personal Information Promise. [258945]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Government welcomed the Promise as a commendable initiative to raise awareness of the importance of effective data protection safeguards, particularly for those organisations with no similar commitments already in place.
The Government take data protection very seriously. Following the Cabinet Office Review of Data Handling Procedures in Government, Departments have implemented a raft of measures to improve data security.
The Ministry of Justice is considering actively with the ICO how the Promise might add additional value to those measures we have already signed up to. These include the Information Charters, the recommendations of the Data Handling Review and the Thomas/Walport Review and, of course, our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act and other legislation and regulations.
Zimbabwe: Cholera
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports he has received on the operation of the UNICEF programme for distribution of potable water to the cholera-affected areas of Zimbabwe. [258289]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for International Development (DFID) is working closely with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to ensure potable water reaches those in need. Our support includes: help to establish a cholera command and control centre (to co-ordinate the response); distribution of cholera response kits; provision of potable water in affected areas; and essential medicines and other vital support to health systems.
Distribution of potable water has been arranged in three ways: by fixing infrastructure and bringing in chemicals; through drilling of local boreholes; and ultimately by trucking in daily supplies where immediate needs can only be met this way. Indications are that where such measures have been instigated they have made a significant contribution to reducing the worst effects of the cholera outbreak.
Communities and Local Government
Bed-and-Breakfast Accommodation: Young People
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many children under 16 years are living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation; and what steps are being taken to reduce that number. [258158]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about English local housing authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Information on the number of dependent children (and expected children) in bed-and-breakfast style temporary accommodation (i.e. bed-and-breakfast hotels and other privately managed shared facility annexes) is reported quarterly by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter. This figure includes all children under 16 years old, and dependent children aged 16 to 18. On the 30 September 2008, there were an estimated 1,570 dependent children in bed-and-breakfast style temporary accommodation.
We have taken action to tackle the worst aspects of temporary accommodation use—families with children who were placed in cramped bed-and-breakfast accommodation for long periods of time. The effect of the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003, which came into force on 1 April 2004, is that local authorities are no longer able to discharge their homelessness duty to secure suitable accommodation by placing households that include children or a pregnant woman in bed-and-breakfast accommodation except as a last resort and then for no longer than six weeks.
Furthermore, in 2005, we announced a target of reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation under the homelessness legislation. Following 12 consecutive quarters of decreases, the figure had fallen to 72,130 by the end of September 2008, and around 40 per cent. of local authorities have already met the target to halve the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2010.
We have provided over £200 million of homelessness funding to local authorities and the voluntary sector, to help them carry out this work.
Community Relations: Religion
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the Local Authority Guidance on including humanists and non-religious people in local authority religion and belief equality work produced by the Community Development Foundation. [259637]
Mr. Khan:
Although some of the Community Development Foundation’s published resources mention non-religious groups in the cohesion or equality context,
it has not produced any publication specifically on the inclusion of humanists and non-religious people in local authority religion and belief equality work.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy for her Department to sign the Information Commissioner's Personal Information Promise. [258949]
Mr. Khan: The Government welcome the Promise as a commendable initiative to raise awareness of the importance of effective data protection safeguards, particularly for those organisations with no similar commitments already in place.
The Government take data protection very seriously. Following the Cabinet Office Review of Data Handling Procedures in Government, Departments have implemented a raft of measures to improve data security.
The Ministry of Justice is considering actively with the ICO how the Promise might add additional value to those measures Departments have already signed up to. These include the Information Charters, the recommendations of the Data Handling Review and the Thomas/Walport Review and, of course, our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act and other legislation and regulations.
Eco-Towns
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has spent on (a) publicity, (b) public consultation and (c) legal costs on eco-town policy since 23 July 2007, identifying separately in each case expenditure on (i) consultants, (ii) support for non-governmental organisations and (iii) consultation materials and exhibitions. [259164]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 108W. This sets out details of spending on the eco-towns programme, including publicity, public consultation and consultant costs.
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will estimate the amount of time spent by officials in her Department on the eco-town project since the publication of the eco-town prospectus on 23 July 2007; and how many officials in her Department are currently working on the project. [259165]
Margaret Beckett: In common with the normal practice of the Department, we do not keep a record of time spent on specific policies and projects, so it is not possible to provide an estimate of official time spent on the eco-towns project since 23 July 2007. Currently nine officials are part of the eco-towns team, but there are also a number of other officials across the Department that contribute to the project, including those working in the areas of planning and climate change.
Eco-towns: Middle Quinton
Mr. Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will publish the PricewaterhouseCoopers interim financial viability study of the proposed Middle Quinton eco-town. [257080]
Margaret Beckett: The viability study prepared for us by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the eco-town proposal for Middle Quinton will be published shortly, alongside studies for other eco-town proposals.
Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which organisations other than faith-based groups received grants under Round (a) one and (b) two of the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund programme; and how much each such organisation received. [259653]
Mr. Khan: The following table shows the non-faith based groups that received funding in the two rounds of the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund programme. These groups all received funding to assist them with work to build relationships with and between faith communities.
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