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20 Apr 2009 : Column 331W—continued
Departmental Furniture
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent by his (a) Department and (b) its agencies on furniture in each of the last five years. [266202]
Maria Eagle: Information is not held centrally on the amount spent on procuring furniture before the financial year 2007-08. Available data were therefore related to the financial year 2007-08 only, when the total expenditure was £3,214,944. This was made up of:
| £ | |
Details for the financial year 2008-09 will be available shortly.
Information about the expenditure of the National Probation Service is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost by contacting 43 probation boards and trusts.
The Prison Service seeks to manufacture furniture in house by using prisoners. This has resulted in expenditure on outsourced furniture decreasing as internal production has expanded. Expenditure for the financial year 2006-07 was £761.229, resulting in a decrease of £111,229 in 2007-08. The Prison Service aims to occupy prisoners in out of cell activity and wherever possible to help them gain skills, qualifications and work experience to improve their employment prospects upon release.
Departmental Lost Property
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the total cost of replacing lost or stolen property from his Department was in the last 12 months. [268037]
Mr. Straw: Details of individual cases of property lost or stolen are maintained at a local level, and to obtain all information across the MOJ could be completed only at disproportionate cost. To determine the replacement cost of the property could similarly be gathered by making queries at an operational level across the organisation only at disproportionate cost.
For the year to date 2008-09 the following unaudited balances are available for the value of property lost or stolen within HM Prison Service, where the majority of cases arise, totalling £133,317. This comprises:
Losses of stores: 479 instances; £41,279
Loss of personal property for which compensation was paid to prisoners, staff or third parties: 1,598 instances; £92,038.
Departmental Manpower
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials in his Department have been working on matters related to the Governance of Britain agenda since July 2007. [268205]
Mr. Wills: The Governance of Britain Green Paper set out to tackle the problems that power remains too centralised and too concentrated in Government and some people have become cynical about the political process and disengaged from it. It also set out to explore how the United Kingdom can benefit from articulating a shared understanding of what it means to be British.
A team was set up within the Ministry of Justice to implement the proposals contained in the 2007 Green Paper to deliver these objectives. Numbers in the team varied, with the maximum being the equivalent of 21 permanent members of staff, added to which a number of other staff within the Constitution Directorate have contributed to the delivery of various of the proposals. It would, however, entail disproportionate cost to determine the precise number of staff time devoted to the delivery of each of the proposals in the Green Paper.
Departmental Mobile Phones and Computers
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how much has been spent on (a) the purchase of and (b) bills for (i) Blackberrys and (ii) other mobile
telephones for (A) Ministers, (B) special advisers and (C) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005; [268252]
(2) how many laptop computers have been provided to (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in his Department and its predecessor in each year since 2005; and at what cost; [268269]
(3) how many (a) Blackberrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [268299]
Mr. Wills: Departmental laptops, mobile phones and BlackBerrys are provided through contracted arrangements with service providers. They are usually allocated from a central pool and returned to the pool for re-allocation when no longer required. The contracts provide fully managed services, which include the provision of equipment, service costs, helpdesk support, and, for mobile phones, line rental and call charges.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) was established in May 2007. Numbers of BlackBerry and laptop users for 2007-08 and 2008-09 are given as follows. These are taken from the Department’s central records which cover MOJ headquarters, and main business areas, including Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) and tribunals. The figures for mobile phone users cover MOJ headquarters only. Larger business areas, which include HMCS and Tribunals Service, manage mobile telephone provision locally, and these figures could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| 2007-08 | |
| Number | |
| 200 8-09 | |
| Number | |
In addition, the National Offender Management Service holds a central record of the following equipment:
| Average laptop volumes | Average BlackBerry volumes | Average mobile telephone volumes | |
Costs incurred for mobile phones and BlackBerrys allocated to Ministers and special advisers have been identified from available records. These figures include the cost of call charges, rental and the original purchase cost, if applicable. Note: figures for BlackBerrys are only available for 2008-09.
| 2007-08: Mobile phones | |
| £ | |
| 2008 - 09 : Mobile phones | |
| £ | |
| 2008-09: BlackBerrys | |
| £ | |
Other cost information is not readily available in a form to answer the question. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry is continually seeking to ensure optimum use of resources. Recent initiatives include the One computer policy, which encourages staff to use only one device—either a laptop, desktop, or BlackBerry, and new approvals procedures for BlackBerrys have been introduced.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) his Department and (b) the Department for Constitutional Affairs spent on public consultations in each of the last five years. [266176]
Mr. Straw: Most of the Ministry of Justice and the former Department for Constitutional Affairs public consultations conducted in the last five years were covered by departmental costs as an integral part of the policy-making process. No breakdown exists for those costs and to provide one would incur disproportionate cost. However, the following table shows where activity over and above a standard consultation has been carried out and related cost details are available because the consultation was therefore funded by a different method.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 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. [266204]
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266297]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has not brought forward any capital spending from 2009-10 or 2010-11 for use in 2008-09 or 2009-10. However, the MOJ is considering bringing forward capital spending on maintenance projects on existing operational estates.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 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. [268124]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice is currently forecasting to spend its full capital allocation of £961 million in 2008-09, as published in the Spring Supplementary Estimate (SSE). A copy of the SSE is available in both Libraries of the House.
The Department plans to spend its full allocation of funding of £768 million and £734 million respectively in 2009-10 and 2010-11, as published in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), a copy of which is available in both Libraries of the House. This does not include funding made available by HM Treasury following the Carter Review of Prisons to increase prison capacity. Also there is a sum of c. £370 million relating to additional prison expansion projects that we are expecting to spend during 2009-10 and 2010-11.
For 2011-12, this falls outside the current CSR period and so it is not possible to provide details of planned expenditure until the next spending review has been finalised.
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