Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 31 March 2009
Olympics
Departmental Absenteeism
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many staff of her Office were recorded absent due to non-medical reasons on (a) 2 February 2009 and (b) 3 February 2009; what estimate she has made of the (i) cost to her Office and (ii) number of working hours lost due to such absence; and what guidance her Office issued to staff in respect of absence on those days. [260897]
Tessa Jowell: Guidance was issued to staff that they should follow Cabinet Office policy on dealing with transport domestic emergencies.
Short periods of special leave with pay are authorised and recorded by managers and not held centrally. To obtain this information in relation to 2 and 3 February 2009 would represent a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what (a) capital funds and (b) resource funds her Office has brought forward from its (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11 budgets for use in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10; and what schemes this funding is being used to support. [267395]
Tessa Jowell: No funds have been brought forward from the 2009-10 budget for use in 2008-09 or from the 2010-11 budget for use in 2009-10, and no schemes are being funded in this way.
As I said in the Annual Report on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games published in January 2009,
“Our financial report shows that, with a continued, disciplined search for savings and a sensible use of the contingency funds set aside to manage risks, we remain within budget despite the economic downturn. It will not be exceeded”.
Olympic Games 2012: Facilities
Mr. Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2008, Official Report, column 3W, on Olympic Games 2012: facilities, if she will place in the Library a copy of the full final KPMG report on Olympic venues. [266657]
Tessa Jowell
[holding answer 26 March 2009]: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) published a redacted version of the KPMG findings on 19 December 2008. A copy of the KPMG findings, which looked at whether cost savings could be made on the 2012 temporary venues, is available in the House Library. For continuing reasons of commercial sensitivity and so as to not
prejudice the ODA’s and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games discussions and negotiations on contracts they have not yet awarded for the temporary venues, I am unable to place a non-redacted version of the KPMG findings in the Library.
Mr. Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2008, Official Report, column 3W, on Olympic Games 2012: facilities, what the (a) initial estimated and (b) outturn cost to the public purse was of the KPMG report on Olympic venues. [266804]
Tessa Jowell [holding answer 26 March 2009]: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) commissioned KPMG from its Financial Services Panel via a call off contract, on an agreed hourly rate, at an estimated cost of £105,000 plus VAT. Additional scope was added to the original remit, to include more venues and more detailed consultation, and therefore the final cost of the KPMG work to the ODA is £175,000 plus VAT.
Scotland
China
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with Scottish Executive Ministers in advance of his visit to China as part of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry trade delegation. [267533]
Ann McKechin: My officials ensured that the Scottish Executive were aware of my right hon. Friend’s visit and will brief them on return from the visit so we can share lessons learned.
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much (a) electricity, (b) gas and (c) other fuel was used by his Department in each of the last 10 years. [267327]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that date the Scotland Office have only incurred fuel costs on electricity and gas, as shown in the table:
| Electricity | Gas | |
| (1) Part year | ||
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) communications and (b) press officers his Department has. [268105]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office employs two press and communications officers.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what capital funding his Department has brought forward from its (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 budgets for use in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and to what ends this funding has been allocated. [266206]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has no plans to bring forward any of its capital funding from 2009-10 or 2010-11 to use in either 2008-09 or 2009-10.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266301]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has no plans to bring forward any of its capital funding to use in either 2008-09 or 2009-10.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his latest estimate is of his Department's capital expenditure in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11 and (d) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [268126]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has a capital provision of £100,000 each year and does not expect to exceed this figure in any of the years in question.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266686]
Ann McKechin: The cost of producing and printing the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate-General’s 2008 annual report was £3,510.69. The Offices have no public service agreements; the Offices performance indicators are published in our annual reports.
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much and what proportion of its waste his Department recycled in each of the last five years. [266615]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has two buildings, Dover House in London and 1 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh. Waste removal and recycling for 1 Melville Crescent is arranged under a Scottish government contract and no separate data are available. Data for Dover House are included in the Ministry of Justice and UK Government performance reports.
Departmental Standards
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of measuring compliance with its targets under its public service agreements in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [266706]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has no public service agreements; the Office’s performance indicators are published in our annual reports.
Performing Arts
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2009, Official Report, column 1288W, what the cost was to his Department of engaging musicians on each of those two occasions. [267537]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office engaged a quartet in January 2007, at a cost of £600 and a musician to play the ClĂ rsach in September 2007, at a cost of £80.
Defence
Afghanistan: Drugs
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to curb the local drug industry in Afghanistan. [266891]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
As the G8 Partner Nation with Afghanistan for Counter Narcotics the UK is committed to supporting the Afghan Government’s National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). This is a comprehensive approach that includes strengthening state institutions, developing licit livelihoods and disrupting the drugs trade.
UK support for the key components of the NDCS includes:
The establishment the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics which has been supported with a £12.5 million capacity programme since December 2004;
The promotion of licit alternatives to poppy—the Department for International Development has provided £35 million supporting alternative livelihoods in 2008-09;
£29 million in 2008-09 has been devoted to supporting interdiction and law enforcement efforts, including the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan—the lead drugs enforcement agency in Afghanistan and supporting the Criminal Justice Task Force which secured 133 convictions, from June to November 2008.
Progress has been made. In 2008 there was a 19 per cent. reduction in cultivation to 157,000 hectares, and the number of poppy-free provinces increased to 18—over half of the country’s 34 provinces.
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 3 November 2008, Official Report, column 1518W, how many rounds of (a) 0.338 ammunition of all natures, (b) 12 bore shotgun ammunition, (c) 30 mm armoured fighting vehicle ammunition of all natures, (d) 30 mm attack helicopter ammunition of all natures and (e) 105 mm ammunition of all natures were used in Operation Herrick 7. [268012]
Mr. Hutton: Officials are collating and validating the data needed and this is taking longer than anticipated. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Departmental Buildings
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what buildings are owned or operated by his Department under a private finance initiative (PFI) arrangement; and which companies are involved with each such PFI arrangement. [267414]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Details of the Ministry of Defence's signed PFI deals as well as the equity stakeholders in the project companies are recorded centrally on the Treasury's website at:
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266295]
Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces, gave on 27 January 2009, Official Report, column 308W, to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws).
Departmental Scientists
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's budget for scientific advice and research is in 2008-09; for what purposes the equivalent budget for 2007-08 was used; and how many people employed in his Department have a science or engineering degree. [260765]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes information on its overall expenditure on research in UK Defence Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and is available online at:
http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=67&;pubType=1&thiscontent=10&date=2008-09-24
The majority of the research expenditure is undertaken by the science/innovation/technology Top Level Budget. The budget for this organisation, including operating costs, was laid out in the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2008-09 as £502 million.
The wide ranging research activities undertaken by MOD in 2007-08 are described in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008 Volume 1: Annual Performance Report (paragraphs 171 to 183). A copy of this document is also in the Library of the House and is available online at:
In a recent survey of graduate qualifications in MOD and Dstl, the MOD's Trading Fund Agency undertaking research activities, over 3,350 members of staff declared their first degree to be in either science or engineering. However, this information has been provided voluntarily and is therefore likely to be incomplete.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |