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13 May 2009 : Column 835W—continued
Departmental Training
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much his Department has spent on IT training for its staff in each of the last five years. [274213]
Kevin Brennan: Information relating to spend on IT training for staff is not held centrally and therefore is available only at disproportionate cost.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Cabinet: Glasgow
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much expenditure was incurred by his Department in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273943]
Mr. Simon: The total expenditure incurred by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009 was £1,708.23.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) he and (ii) officials in his Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273944]
Mr. Simon: The following expenditure has been incurred by DIUS in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009 by (i) the Secretary of State, (ii) Lord Drayson and (iii) officials. Costs for car hire, which officials will also in part have utilised, is placed under the relevant Minister.
(a) (i) £642.30
(ii) £502.43
(iii) £497.50
(b) (i) Zero
(ii) Zero
(iii) £66.00
(c) (i) Zero
(ii) Zero
(iii) Zero
Departmental Assets
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assets his Department shares with the Department for Children, Schools and Families. [274065]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has a separate asset register from the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF). No assets are shared. However, DCSF provides DIUS with a wide range of corporate shared services. These include elements of information technology infrastructure and the provision of office space, building services and furniture at three DCSF sites: Moorfoot in Sheffield, Castle View house in Runcorn and Mowden hall in Darlington.
Departmental Buildings
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department spent on building maintenance in each year since its creation; and if he will make a statement. [274561]
Mr. Simon: The Department’s building services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which manage and maintain the buildings that DIUS occupies.
BERR charges DIUS for maintenance costs at Kingsgate house, London. These charges are as follows:
| £ | |
Maintenance costs cannot be separately identified in the amount that DIUS has paid to DCSF for office space and building services.
The Department has a contract for an integrated facilities management service for the buildings in Teddington occupied by the National Physical Laboratory and the National Measurement Office (formerly the National Weights and Measures Laboratory).
The cost of maintenance is not paid separately but the amount of the facilities management payment which relates to maintenance equated to approximately:
| £ | |
The cost of facilities management on the site (including maintenance) was recovered from the occupiers of the buildings: NPL Management Ltd. and the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (an executive agency of DIUS).
Industrial Health and Safety
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department spent on compliance with requirements of health and safety at work legislation in each year since its creation; and if he will make a statement. [274539]
Mr. Simon: It is not possible to identify separately all of the Department's expenditure on health and safety compliance. The management of health and safety involves a combination of elements, each of which is part of a wider role or service. The amounts spent on special furniture to meet the health and safety needs of particular members of staff are as follows:
June 2007 to March 2008: At least £4,037. Full amount identifiable only at disproportionate cost, because records were not kept separately for DIUS in all buildings.
April 2008 to March 2009: £2,944.
Women and Equality
Discrimination: Religion
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what assessment has been made of the likely effect of the provisions of the European Commission’s Draft Discrimination Directive on (a) faith schools and (b) public authorities procuring services from faith groups. [273393]
Maria Eagle: EU competence in relation to education is restricted to contributing to the development of quality education and encouraging member states in their responsibility for their own educational systems and content of teaching. The draft directive cannot therefore affect faith schools in the UK. We are seeking to make this clear in the text during negotiations on the directive.
The draft directive proposes to prohibit discrimination in the provision of services on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. It applies to those who are providing the service and not those who are procuring the service. Any organisation that is delivering a service, whether a faith group or not, will have to deliver that service in a non-discriminatory way. This is already a requirement in UK law on three of the grounds covered by the draft directive (religion or belief, disability and sexual orientation) and we are introducing protection from discrimination on the remaining ground (age) in the Equality Bill. The directive will not therefore affect public authorities procuring services from faith groups.
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Operating Costs
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the cost to the public purse of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has been in each year since its establishment. [274138]
Maria Eagle: The costs of the Equality and Human Rights Commission are shown in the annex A: core tables of the Government Equalities Office's annual report and Accounts. More recent forecast outturn data are now available and are shown in the following table.
| £000 | ||
| Financial year | Resource | Capital |
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the cost to the public purse of (a) the Commission for Racial Equality, (b) the Equal Opportunities Commission and (c) the Disability Rights Commission was in each of the three years up to October 2007. [274139]
Maria Eagle: Outturn for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) for the three years up to October 2007 is published in Annex A: core tables of the Government Equalities Office's annual report and accounts 2007-08.
Final figures for CRE, EOC and DRC are now available for the period 1 April 2007 to 30 September 2007 and are as follows:
| 1 April 2007 to 30 September 2007 | ||
| £000 | ||
| Commissions | Resource | Capital |
Equality Bill
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what assessment has been made of the effect of implementation of the provisions of the Equality Bill on the expenditure of local authorities. [273394]
Maria Eagle: The Equality Bill will strengthen and streamline discrimination law. These measures will result in both costs (such as those arising from organisations familiarising themselves with the new legislation) and savings (such as those resulting from the simplification of the legislation).
The impact of the Equality Bill is set out in the impact assessment published alongside the Bill on 27 April. The impact on the expenditure of local authorities has not been identified separately. For the 22,000 public authorities (which includes the 420 or so local authorities) the impact assessment identifies the following costs and benefits:
Costs in the first year—£18.6 million to £ 52.1 million
Benefits in the first year—£12.2 million to £41.4 million
Recurring costs from year two onwards—£5.5 million to £39.0 million
Recurring benefits from year two onwards—£12.6 million to £42.9 million
Culture, Media and Sport
Big Lottery Fund: Empty Property
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to the Big Lottery Fund of empty property business rates on its empty properties recorded on the Government’s e-PIMS database was in 2008-09. [274082]
Barbara Follett: The Big Lottery Fund has advised that it did not pay empty property business rates on empty properties during 2008-09.
Big Lottery Fund: Travelling People
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 1587W, on the Big Lottery Fund: travelling people, what the purpose of each grant to each organisation was. [274140]
Barbara Follett: Pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 4 May 2009, Official Report, column 1587W, the Big Lottery Fund have advised what the purpose of each grant to support travelling people was. I am arranging for this information to be deposited in the House Library.
BMRB Social Research
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has paid BMRB Social Research in respect of its work in the Taking Part survey in each of the last three years. [274729]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 12 May 2009]: The Taking Part survey collects data about people’s engagement and non-engagement in culture, leisure and sport, and is a national statistic.
Taking Part was commissioned in 2005 and is jointly funded (approximately 50:50) by DCMS and four partner bodies—Arts Council England, English Heritage, Sport England and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. BMRB Social Research is contracted to conduct the survey fieldwork. Between 2006-07 and 2008-09, DCMS contributed the following levels towards the cost of BMRB Social Research’s work:
| £ million | |
In addition to supporting core running costs of the survey, these figures include other expenses such as additional analysis, piloting and questionnaire reviews.
Departmental Complaints
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what procedure his Department follows for dealing with complaints received (a) by e-mail, (b) by post, (c) by telephone and (d) via his Department's website. [274528]
Mr. Sutcliffe: For each of the items above, in most circumstances the team that handled the original issue will review the complaint.
Many communications into the Department, including complaints, are managed by the Department’s public engagement and recognition unit. If a complaint is serious in nature the request will be drawn to the attention of a relevant senior civil servant, up to and including the permanent secretary.
There are also formal procedures in place within the Department for issues such as the internal review of Freedom of Information requests and the public appointments process, besides the usual array of external complaints and review procedures available via the courts and the parliamentary ombudsman.
Further details on complaints processes can be found on the DCMS website at:
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