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2 Mar 2009 : Column 1359W—continued
Government Departments: Public Appointments
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what (a) guidance and (b) advice the (i) Cabinet Office and (ii) Cabinet Secretary has issued to Government departments on the process and procedure for public appointments. [258605]
Mr. Watson: The Cabinet Office publication “Making and Managing Public Appointments” provides advice and guidance on the public appointments process. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House. Copies can also be downloaded from:
Government Procurement Card
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many instances of the misuse of Government procurement cards within the Cabinet Office have been recorded in each of the last three years. [258609]
Kevin Brennan: There have been no cases recorded of the misuse of Government Procurement Cards within the Cabinet Office in the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Chichester of 13 January 2009, Official Report, column 582W, which expert advisers other than those formally appointed as special advisers have been commissioned by his Department since June 2007. [258656]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested is not held centrally and cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
Non-Departmental Public Bodies: Expenditure
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish figures for the total expenditure by each (a) advisory and (b) executive non-departmental public body in (i) 2006-07 and (ii) 2007-08. [258731]
Mr. Watson: This information is not held centrally. Information on expenditure by individual non-departmental public bodies is published by relevant sponsoring departments. More detailed information is published in individual bodies’ annual reports and accounts.
Non-Departmental Public Bodies: Pay
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the wage bill was of each non-departmental public body in (a) 1996-97 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available. [258592]
Mr. Watson: This information is not held centrally. Detailed information on staff costs is published in individual bodies’ annual reports and accounts.
Private Detectives
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2009, Official Report, column 873W, on private detectives, on how many occasions since January 2003 individuals from the panel of independent investigators have been used to undertake internal investigations; and how long each such investigation lasted. [258621]
Mr. Watson: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on the conduct of leak investigations.
Private Sector: Pay
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the mean wage of a full-time (a) private and (b) public sector worker was in each year since 1996-97. [258618]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK statistics authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the mean wage of a full-time worker in (a) the private sector and (b) the public sector was in each year since 1996-97. (258618). I am replying in her absence.
Levels of earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for all full-time employees on adult rates of pay, whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. The ASHE, carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom.
I attach a table showing the mean gross weekly earnings for all full-time employees in the private and public sector from 1997 to 2008.
| Mean weekly pay—gross—for full-time employee jobs( 1) , United Kingdom 1997 to 2008 | ||
| £ | ||
| Public full-time employees | Private full-time employees | |
| (1 )Full-time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. (2) 2004 results excluding supplementary survey for comparison with 2003. (3 )2004 results including supplementary surveys designed to improve coverage of the survey (for more information see National Statistics website www.statistics.gov.uk). (4 )2006 results with methodology consistent with 2007. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics. | ||
Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to introduce secondary legislation to facilitate data sharing under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 apart from the draft Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Disclosure of Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2009. [258713]
Kevin Brennan: The UK Statistics Authority has approved plans to take forward a number of data sharing measures that require secondary legislation.
In respect of the disclosure of information to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) by another public authority, there are plans for secondary legislation to share information on students in higher education (for improving population statistics), information from the Value Added Tax System (to reduce the reporting burden on business) and information from the Joint Unemployment and Vacancies Operating System (again to reduce the burden on business).
In respect of disclosure by ONS to other public authorities, there are plans for secondary legislation to disclose information from the Interdepartmental Business Register to the Bank of England. There are also plans for secondary legislation to disclose information from this source to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, although this will not require legislation in the UK Parliament.
Statistics: Employment
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether staff employed by (a) the Carbon Trust, (b) Envirowise, (c) the Energy Savings Trust, (d) Network Rail, (e) the regional development agencies and (f) UK Financial Investments Ltd., are deemed to be part of (i) the civil service, (ii) central
Government and (iii) the public sector, for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts. [258598]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK statistics authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning whether staff employed by (a) the Carbon Trust, (b) Envirowise, (c) the Energy Savings Trust, (d) Network Rail, (e) the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and (f) UK Financial Investments Ltd, are deemed to be part of (i) the Civil Service, (ii) central government and (iii) the public sector, for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts. (258598). I am replying in her absence.
The Office for National Statistics collects employment statistics for the public sector, as part of the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES). I can confirm that staff employed by the Carbon Trust, Envirowise, the Energy Savings Trust, Network Rail and UK Financial Investments Ltd are not currently deemed to be part of the Civil Service, central government or the public sector for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts.
Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are included in total public sector employee and central government headcounts. They are not deemed to be part of the Civil Service.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether staff employed in (a) non-Ministerial departments and (b) non-departmental public bodies are deemed to be part of (i) the Civil Service, (ii) central government and (iii) the public sector, for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts. [258599]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated February 2009:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning whether staff employed in (a) non-ministerial departments and (b) non-departmental public bodies are deemed to be part of (i) the Civil Service, (ii) central government and (iii) the public sector, for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts. (258599). I am replying in her absence.
The Office for National Statistics collects employment statistics for the public sector, as part of the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES).
Staff employed in non-ministerial departments are deemed to be part of the Civil Service, central government and public sector for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts.
Most non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are classified to the central government sector and are included within estimates of total public sector employee headcounts. However, some NDPBs are also public corporations—the staff employed by these NDPBs are not deemed to be part of central government for the purpose of Office for National Statistics sector employee headcounts, but are included within total estimates of public sector employment and some within the Civil Service employee headcount totals (depending on the employment status of their employees). Most executive NDPBs are non-Crown, as such any staff they employ are not civil servants (although some will have civil servants on loan or secondment). There are 3 exceptions—ACAS, the Health and Safety Executive and the new Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission. These 3 bodies are Crown NDPBs and their employees are civil servants and are counted as being in the Civil Service, central government and total public sector for the purpose of ONS sector employee headcounts.
VAT
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether value added tax (VAT) is charged on VAT-liable items in (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) 10 Downing Street staff canteens; and whether retail prices on VAT-liable items have been reduced since December 2008. [258614]
Kevin Brennan: The Prime Minister’s Office forms an integral part of the Cabinet Office. All canteen facilities within the Cabinet Office are provided by external suppliers, and as commercial entities, they are required to apply VAT in line with HM Revenue and Customs policy. This includes applying the reduction from 17.5 per cent. to 15 per cent. introduced in December 2008.
Regional Ministers
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidance he issues to departments on the facilities to be made available to assistants to regional Ministers; and if he will make a statement. [257438]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 February 2009]: The Cabinet Secretary provided guidance to departments on the support that can be provided to parliamentary assistants to Regional Ministers. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Information about the number of visits where assistants to Regional Ministers have used transport provided by Government Offices is not held centrally.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many phosphorus munitions have been used by NATO forces in Afghanistan in the last two years. [257014]
Mr. Hutton [holding answer 24 February 2009]: The MOD does not hold information on NATO forces expenditure of phosphorus in Afghanistan in the last two years. NATO forces in Afghanistan use phosphorus munitions to produce a smoke screen to provide cover and thus protection for troops on the battlefield, and not in an anti-personnel capacity.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2009 to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife, on Afghanistan: peacekeeping operations, what modifications will be made to the Merlin helicopters; and which company he expects to undertake such modifications. [259451]
Mr. Hutton:
We will provide our Merlin helicopters with modifications appropriate to the environmental conditions and hostile threats which the Merlin force is likely to encounter in Afghanistan. These modifications will include the fitting of improved rotor blades to allow the aircraft to operate in hot and high conditions and changes to the aircraft’s defensive aids suite. Details of this equipment is being withheld as its disclosure
would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
All procurement will be undertaken by AgustaWestland as the prime contractor.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Merlin helicopters are being upgraded for operations in Afghanistan; and what the average cost of the upgrade is. [259664]
Mr. Hutton: It is envisaged that all 28 Merlin Mk3/3a helicopters will eventually be upgraded at a cost in the region of £50 million. This equates to an estimated average of £1.8 million per aircraft.
The number of aircraft to be deployed on operations in Afghanistan is being withheld as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
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