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21 Apr 2009 : Column 526W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 11 December 2008 on support for small businesses. [268706]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 April 2009]: I responded to the right hon. Member on 8 April.
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when the Minister for Small Businesses plans to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 15 January 2009 on the Government’s small business loan scheme. [268709]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 April 2009]: I responded to the right hon. Member on 6 April.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 25 February 2009 with regard to a constituent; and what the reason is for the time taken to reply. [269037]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 April 2009]: I responded to my hon. Friend on 7 April. I apologise for the delay.
Mental Illness
Jo Swinson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the recommendations relevant to his Department's policy responsibilities made in the Foresight Report on Mental Capacity and Well-Being, with particular regard to those recommendations concerning flexible working; and if he will make a statement. [244011]
Mr. McFadden: The Department was pleased to read the Foresight report and will be considering it with a view to taking up any relevant findings.
Part of that process will involve an assessment of what the report might mean for BERR policy on absence management, well-being and flexible working and the Department will report on this in due course.
Paternity Leave
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many and what proportion of new fathers went on paternity leave in each year since the right to such leave was introduced. [260266]
Mr. McFadden: Information on the take-up of paternity leave in each year is not available.
The most recent estimates of take-up of paternity leave are based on the maternity rights and mothers’ employment decisions in Britain: Survey of Mothers, conducted in 2007.
The survey found 94 per cent. of employed fathers surveyed took some time off around the time of the birth. Of the fathers who took time off, 81 per cent. were paid for at least some of the time.
The Government estimate that around 400,000 fathers are eligible for the entitlement.
The survey is available in the House Libraries and at:
Regional Development Agencies: Official Hospitality
Anne Main: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) how much Advantage West Midlands has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267660]
(2) how much the East of England Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267661]
(3) how much the East Midlands Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267662]
(4) how much the South East England Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267663]
(5) how much the London Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267664]
(6) how much the North West Regional Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267665]
(7) how much One North East has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267666]
(8) how much the South West of England Regional Development Agency has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created; [267667]
(9) how much Yorkshire Forward has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each year since it was created. [267668]
Mr. McFadden: The following table shows the RDAs expenditure on hospitality and corporate entertainment since their creation to the last full financial year.
| £ | |||||||||
| RDA | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Notes: (1) Exceptional hospitality costs in respect of the 2002 Ryder Cup. (2) Before 2002-03, EEDA did not separately identify hospitality and corporate entertainment costs in accounts. To separate out this data would incur disproportionate cost. (3) LDA was set up in 2000. | |||||||||
Royal Mail: Pensions
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much Royal Mail receives in allowances for pension deficit recovery under its price control agreement with Postcomm. [263667]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 13 March 2009]: Postcomm included an allowance for Royal Mail to recover £288 million per annum from customers by way of price increases, increasing at inflation, for meeting pension deficit payments in the 2006-10 price control period.
Actual deficit funding payments have been lower than were allowed in the price control, being £243 million in 2006-07, and £284 million in 2007-08 for the Royal Mail Group as a whole.
Details of the rationale for the £288 million per annum allowance were given in Postcomm's Final Proposals document, which is available on its website at:
Telecommunications: Security
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will have discussions with Ministerial colleagues on the resilience of the IT and telecommunications components of critical national infrastructure. [268384]
Mr. McFadden:
Regular discussion takes place on IT resilience (including that of critical national infrastructure) between the Departments concerned at ministerial and
official level as appropriate. Additionally, Government continue to work closely with the telecommunications sector and the regulator to ensure a high level of resilience—especially of UK critical national infrastructure—including through EC-RRG (the Electronic Communications-Resilience and Response Group—a joint industry Government forum), as well as through the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), which provides dedicated advice to reduce the vulnerability of national infrastructure.
Much information regarding resilience is commercially sensitive and inappropriate for public discussion. However, where possible information is published here:
Children, Schools and Families
Building Schools for the Future Programme: Sixth Form Colleges
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2009, Official Report, column 636W, on the Building Schools for the Future programme: sixth form colleges, (1) what assessment he has made of the adequacy and condition of the sixth form college estate; [268525]
(2) what funding has been allocated to sixth form colleges under the Building Schools for the Future programme for the period after 2010; [268526]
(3) whether a sixth form college located in a local authority area which has already received Building Schools for the Future funding will be able to receive such funding from 2010 onwards. [268528]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Pursuant to my answer of 13 January 2009, Official Report, column 636W, I restate that we have made our intention clear to bring sixth form colleges within the scope of the Building Schools for the Future programme. This remains our position. We are considering detailed implications and will make these clear as soon as we are able.
Ofsted: Complaints
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many complaints (a) Ofsted and (b) his Department received from (i) schools and (ii) other education providers in respect of Ofsted inspections made without notice in the last four years for which figures are available. [266105]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Ofsted has recently conducted a small number of pilot no-notice school inspections and has received two complaints related to them. Ofsted also conducts some prison education and work-based education inspections without notice. It has not received any complaints related to them since April 2007, and does not hold earlier data.
The Department has no role in relation to complaints about Ofsted inspections.
Pupils
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils of each age group received (a) up to one hour, (b) between one and two hours, (c) between two and three hours and (d) three hours or more one-to-one tuition in (i) all subjects and (ii) mathematics each week in the latest period for which figures are available. [268371]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We do not currently collect or hold this level of information about the national implementation of one-to-one tuition.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils in each age group have a personal learning guide or coach. [268446]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As part of a package of measures to support personalised learning over the current comprehensive spending review period, the 2007 Budget announced that
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