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20 May 2009 : Column 1383W—continued
Huw Irranca-Davies:
Financial assistance is being offered to headquarters staff in the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) to relocate with their existing posts from London to Tyneside. This assistance is in line with the relocation arrangements operated in my Department
which are derived from, and consistent with, the financial assistance outlined centrally by the Cabinet Office for civil service relocations.
The operational need to provide assistance, financial or otherwise, to relocations sought by members of staff from the MFA coastal offices, will be considered as part of the detailed relocation and recruitment plans being developed by the Agency.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he has taken to ensure that the future management of the Marine Management Organisation meets commitments given to staff in the Marine and Fisheries Agency, with particular reference to (a) trade union recognition, (b) training and development opportunities and eligibility to apply for posts in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. [275645]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Staff would transfer to the MMO with the contractual terms and conditions applying at the time of transfer under either Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) or the equivalent Cabinet Office protocol for transfers of civil servants between departments.
Rights to trade union representation will remain exactly as they are now and although the issues around recognition and training and development would be matters for the new MMO management board to take forward, there are no intentions to change the existing arrangements. On eligibility to apply for posts in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, I refer the hon. Member to my answer to his previous question numbered 275642.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate he has made of the minimum time required for the shadow Marine Management Organisation body to exist before vestment of the Marine Management Organisation in order to ensure an effective transition from executive agency to non-departmental public body status; [275647]
(2) if he will make it his policy to ensure that no shadow body for the Marine Management Organisation will be established before Royal Assent has been given to the Marine and Coastal Access Bill; [275648]
(3) when he expects the shadow Marine Management Organisation body to be created; and when he expects the chair and the chief executive officer of the Marine Management Organisation to be appointed to the shadow body. [275688]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The chair, board and chief executive officer of the Marine Management Organisation will be formally appointed following commencement of Clause 1 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act.
In the meantime, I am seeking to appoint a chair and CEO “designate” contingent on the Bill receiving Royal Assent, to assist with the preparations for creating the Marine Management Organisation. There are existing principles which govern the setting up of shadow bodies and the appointments required, covered in Chapter 2 of HM Treasury's 'Managing Public Money' which can be found at:
My Department will operate in accordance with these principles.
I recognise the importance of making these appointments in good time to assist with the creation of the Marine Management Organisation, in line with the principles outlined above. Plans are in place to ensure the effective transition from an executive agency to non-departmental public body status.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many days his officials and consultants in the (a) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (b) Marine and Fisheries Agency spent in (i) Tyneside and (ii) each other candidate location before the announcement to relocate the headquarters of the Marine Management Organisation from London. [275649]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Following extensive research undertaken on each of the shortlisted locations, officials from DEFRA and the Marine and Fisheries Agency, accompanied by KPMG consultants, spent a day in each location, including Tyneside. The visits provided further insights into the business and quality of life indicators used to derive the short-list. Information on the findings from the visits is set out in the KPMG report, copies of which are in the House Library.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what the (a) grade and (b) salary is of each post in (i) his Department and (ii) the Marine and Fisheries Agency working to establish the Marine Management Organisation and its headquarters in Tyneside; and when these posts were created; [275686]
(2) which posts attract temporary additional responsibility allowance in relation to the creation of the Marine Management Organisation and the relocation of headquarters; for how long these allowances have been granted; how many have been granted for more than six months; and for what reasons these posts have not been advertised on promotion in fair and open recruitment competitions. [275687]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The work to prepare for the establishment of a new Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and to relocate the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) Headquarters are two separate projects. The relocation of the MFA Headquarters would be taking place regardless of any decisions to create a new MMO. Both projects are being delivered by an Implementation Team based in the MFA. The breakdown of posts currently in the implementation team provided below reflects resourcing of both activities and includes the Programme Management Office.
| Salary range | ||
| £ | £ | |
Support for creation of the MMO, including preparations for cross-Government sponsorship arrangements, is also being provided by a further Grade 7 post based in DEFRA. Some limited specialist HR expertise is also being provided by DEFRA to support the recruitment of staff in Tyneside and redeployment of existing MFA staff where appropriate.
The Implementation Team has changed in size and profile at various stages of the project to reflect changing workloads, but broadly speaking a core project team consisting of six to eight posts has been in place in the MFA since the beginning of 2008-09. Additional resource has been recruited to the project since the beginning of 2009 to support activity during this implementation year.
Three of the above posts are being delivered by members of staff who are receiving Temporary Additional Responsibility Allowance (TARA), all of which have been granted for longer than six months. The decision was taken not to fill these posts permanently with members of staff at the substantive grade required because of the relocation of the MFA Headquarters and the time-limited need of the implementation work.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether there have been any recent changes to the timetable for the completion of the vestment of the Marine Management Organisation by 1 April 2010. [275689]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In common with any major programme of this type, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) implementation activity is under constant review with minor revisions to plans, approaches, and specific delivery dates. However, there have been no significant changes to the timetable for vesting the MMO and my officials are still working to a vesting date of 1 April 2010.
Rivers
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department and its agencies have spent on the restoration of riverbeds in each of the last three years. [276261]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In the past three years the Environment Agency has spent the following on projects that delivered a substantial element of riverbed restoration:
| £ million | |
River restoration schemes typically encompass several related activities such as the placement of spawning gravels, removal of debris, tree planting, bank protection and enhancement works, etc.
Rural Areas: Tourism
Mr. Ellwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 381W, on tourism: rural areas, how much funding from
the Rural Development Programme for England 2007-13 has been provided for support to encourage rural tourism in each region. [276426]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 19 May 2009]: Each region has set out in published Regional Implementation Plans, the indicative allocation for support for rural tourism over the period 2007-13. Regions have taken different approaches to how these are expressed, but the approximate indicative allocations are:
| £ million | |
| Source: Regional Implementation Plans: www.defra.gov.uk | |
These figures include amounts that Local Action Groups are planning to spend on tourism through the Leader approach, which are not included in the figures programmed to the tourism measure in the Rural Development Programme document.
Transport
Blue Badge Scheme
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the answer of 27 October 2008, Official Report, column 601W, on the blue badge scheme, what progress has been made in developing a project implementation plan for the blue badge reform scheme; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the implementation plan when finalised. [268401]
Paul Clark [holding answer 2 April 2009]: We are in the process of finalising the blue badge project implementation plan. A high level plan will be published on the Department for Transport's website shortly. This is being developed to provide stakeholders and other interested parties with further information on each element of the work programme and an indication of the associated likely timeframes for implementation. Copies of the high level plan will be placed in the Library, once published.
We also intend to publish regular Blue Badge Reform programme bulletins on the Department's website to provide progress updates.
Departmental Buildings
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much (a) his Department and its predecessor and (b) its agencies has spent on (i) refurbishment, (ii) maintenance and (iii) emergency repairs of its office estate in each year since 2001. [276452]
Mr. Hoon: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Furniture
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on office furniture in each of the last five years. [276487]
Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 May 2009, to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) Official Report, columns 883-6W.
Departmental Lighting
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on (a) lighting and (b) light fixtures in each of the last five years. [276488]
Mr. Hoon: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff employed in London on work contracted out by his Department earn less than £7.45 per hour. [274698]
Mr. Hoon: The number of staff employed in London on work contracted out by the Department for Transport is 54.
Departmental Work Experience
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many work placements his Department offered to (a) school pupils, (b) university students and (c) graduates in each of the last five years. [274478]
Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 17 December 2008, Official Report, column 780-81W.
The information requested for 2004 and 2005 can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Employment Tribunals Service
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many actions under employment law were brought against his Department in each of the last three years, broken down by category of action; and how many were contested by the Department at an employment tribunal. [275622]
Mr. Hoon [holding answer 14 May 2009]: The total number of employment law actions brought against the Department for Transport in each of the last three years is broken down by category in the following table:
| Category | Number of actions | |
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