Written Answers to Questions
Monday 20 April 2009
Olympics
Legacy: Young People
6. Andrew Selous: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what plans she has for the legacy use of Olympics sporting venues by young people. [269381]
Tessa Jowell: The Olympics sporting venues in East London and elsewhere in the UK will be available for use after the games at all levels from local communities to elite athletes.
The legacy business plans being prepared for the sports venues—including the stadium, the aquatics centre and the velodrome and velopark—have the provision of affordable access for young people at their heart; for example we anticipate over half a million visits a year at the Aquatics Centre, of which over 100,000 will consist of use by schools, swimming lessons and clubs, and many more by young people visiting during community sessions.
The stadium will include, in addition to a 25,000-seat, IAAF-compliant athletics facility with the capacity to host domestic and international events, a range of other educational and sporting uses including a school with a sporting specialism for 300 to 400 14 to 19-year-olds and a National Skills Academy for sport and leisure providing skills training focused on the 19 to 24 years age group.
Construction Programme
7. Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what recent progress has been made on the London 2012 Olympics construction programme; and if she will make a statement. [269382]
Tessa Jowell: Over 30 per cent. of the Olympic Delivery Authority's Programme is now complete. All the major venues are on schedule and the Olympic stadium and Aquatics Centre are ahead of schedule.
Construction of the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre commenced last week and, in the past few weeks, work has begun on the foundations for the Velodrome and on the construction of the sweeping roof of the Aquatics Centre.
Olympic Delivery Authority Contracts
Ms Keeble: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many organisations based outside London have been awarded contracts by the Olympic Delivery Authority. [269377]
Tessa Jowell: To date, the Olympic Delivery Authority has awarded contracts to 935 businesses. Of these 424 were to businesses registered outside of London, including three in my hon. Friend's own constituency.
London 2012 expects to directly procure £6 billion worth of contracts, generating 75,000 supply chain opportunities.
Early evidence shows businesses across the UK are already benefiting.
Housing
Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what steps she is taking to ensure that housing built for the London 2012 Olympics will be available to rent and to buy after the event concludes. [269379]
Tessa Jowell: I and my colleague, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, are working together to ensure the Games will provide a housing legacy of up to 35 per cent. affordable homes, as provided for in planning approvals and associated section 106 agreements.
After the Games the Olympic Village will be converted into mixed tenure housing which will be available to rent or buy for a wide range of people, including existing local communities.
The allocation of affordable homes after the Games will be agreed between the relevant London boroughs and the Homes and Community Agency.
Employment: Olympic Park
Clive Efford: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many local people are employed in the construction of the Olympic Park site; and how many of them were unemployed immediately prior to their employment on the site. [269380]
Tessa Jowell: The figures published by the Olympic Delivery Authority in January 2009 show that at the end of December 2008 there were 3,315 people working on the Olympic Park site. Of these 23 per cent. were residents of the five Olympic host boroughs. 17 per cent. of these declared themselves as unemployed prior to working on the site.
Olympic Games 2012: Tourism
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what estimate she has made of the number of additional visitors expected to visit the UK as a result of the London 2012 Olympics. [265726]
Tessa Jowell [holding answer 23 March 2009]: Using London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games' (LOCOG) London 2012 Ticket Allocation Model, The Oxford Economics Study ‘The Value of the London 2012 Games and Paralympic Games to UK Tourism', published in September 2007 and commissioned by VisitBritain and Visit London, estimates that there will be approximately 900,000 attendees for events related to the 2012 games. However, this will contribute only a small part of the estimated £2.1 billion tourism gains for the UK as a whole that will result from the games in the period 2007 to 2017. The Oxford Economics study has also identified that there will be in excess of 32 million UK-wide extra nights stayed by visitors as a result of the games.
Scotland
Departmental Buildings
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what properties his Department has sold in each of the last five years. [267554]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has not sold any properties in the last five years.
Departmental Computers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many laptop computers have been provided to (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005; and at what cost. [268258]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office shares an information technology system (SCOTS) with the Scottish Executive, which is responsible for the development, administration and maintenance of the system, including the provision of hardware.
The Office has a pool of eight secure SCOTS laptops at its disposal that are available for Ministers, special advisers and staff to use. A couple have been allocated for the sole use of Ministers and special advisers, but they remain allocated to the Office as a whole. The laptops were provided as part of an ongoing technology refresh to the SCOTS IT system, the direct costs of the hardware came to £6,091.20.
Departmental Coordination
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what (a) accommodation, (b) financial systems, (c) personnel and (d) ICT and (e) other administrative support services his Department receives from (i) the Ministry of Justice and (ii) the Scottish Executive. [268108]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not directly employ staff. All staff in the Office are on secondment from other Government Departments, which administer the personnel records of their staff. The Scotland Office has its own separate set of books within Scottish Executive’s financial system and have access to their ICT system. No accommodation or other administrative support services are received from either Department.
Departmental Empty Property
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the change in the annual cost to his Department of maintaining the empty public buildings owned by his Department as a result of the April 2008 changes to empty property rate relief. [267128]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not own any buildings.
Departmental Pay
Mr. MacNeil:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department (a) spent on salaries for (i) special advisers and (ii) communications
and press officers in each year since 2003 and (b) plans to spend on salaries of (A) special advisers and (B) communications and press officers in 2010-11. [268106]
Ann McKechin: Since 2003, the Government have been committed to publishing an annual list detailing the number and costs of special advisers. Information for 2007-08 was published by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 July 2008, Official Report, columns 99-102WS. The salary costs of communications and press officers in the Scotland Office is as follows:
| Communications and press officers (£) | |
Plans for 2010-11 have yet to be finalised.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department paid the (a) Ministry of Justice and (b) Scottish Executive for (i) accommodation, (ii) financial systems, (iii) personnel, (iv) ICT support and (v) other administrative services in the last 12 months. [268107]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office (SO) does not share any accommodation with either the Scottish Executive (SE) or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The SO maintains its own separate set of books within the SE accounting system, at no additional cost. The SO does not directly employ staff—they are all secondees from other Government Departments, which invoice the SO for pay costs but administer personnel records for secondees themselves. The SO paid the SE £115,073 for ICT support for the last 12 months. No other administrative services were received from either the SE or MoJ.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been spent on media training for each Minister in his Department in each of the last three years; how many sessions have been provided; and which organisation provided such training. [268556]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure on media training for Ministers in the last three years.
Opinion Leader Research
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department has paid Opinion Leader Research in each year since November 2007. [265977]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has not used Opinion Leader Research since November 2007.
House of Commons Commission
Departmental Manpower
Tony Lloyd: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many contracts of employment relating to staff employed by right hon. and hon. Members the Department of Resources holds. [269527]
Nick Harvey: As at 31 March 2009 the Department of Resources held 2,344 contracts of employment.
Parliament: Visits
Geraldine Smith: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many participants in tours of Parliament booked through the central tours office which took place in the last 12 months came from each part of the UK. [267659]
Nick Harvey: Information is not available in exactly the form requested. The table gives a regional breakdown of the number of tours booked by Members through the Central Tours Office for the year April 2008 to March 2009 inclusive.
| Regional breakdown of tours booked by Members, 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 | |||
| Region | Number of sponsoring Members | Number of tours booked | Percentage |
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