Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 4 June 2009
House of Commons Commission
Employment Agencies
David Taylor: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many House of Commons staff have been recruited through employment agencies; and if he will make a statement. [277949]
Nick Harvey: The House of Commons does not fill any of its permanent vacancies with agency employed staff. Staff employed by agencies are used to cover temporary or interim vacancies. In 2008-09 expenditure on temporary agency staff equated to just over 4 per cent. of overall staffing costs.
Members: Allowances
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether the information on hon. Members' expenses which has been leaked was obtained by the unauthorised (a) electronic and (b) physical copying of material. [276388]
Nick Harvey: The matter is subject to an internal inquiry. I will write to the hon. Member when it has reached conclusions.
Simon Hughes: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission when the Commission expects publication by the House of information relating to hon. Members' allowances between 2004 and 2008; and if he will make a statement. [278002]
Nick Harvey: Preparation for publication of Members' allowances claims and supporting documentation from April 2004 until March 2008 is nearing completion. Final checks are being carried out, and any appeals by Members about the precise scope of what is included in the publication scheme are due to be heard and determined by the Committee on Members' Allowances during the course of next week. Subject to testing the public internet access arrangements, publication will follow as soon as possible after that.
Transport
Network Rail: Directors
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to appoint a special director for Network Rail. [277841]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has no plans to appoint a special director to the board of Network Rail.
Transport: Finance
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much each English shire county has received in transport grant in each of the last five years. [278030]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport’s website contains details relating to the allocation of capital transport grant to local transport authorities including the shire counties at:
This funding is not ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities.
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government’s formula grant.
Leader of the House
Legislation
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Leader of the House what arrangements she plans to make for consultation on the Government’s draft legislative programme for the 2009-10 Session; and if she will make a statement. [277952]
Chris Bryant: My right hon. Friend, the Leader of the House of Commons, will make an announcement shortly.
Members and Peers: Expenses
John Mann: To ask the Leader of the House if she will discuss with the Leader of the House of Lords the establishment of a Joint Committee to consider co-ordinated publication on the parliamentary intranet and website of details of the expenses of individual hon. Members and Peers. [277951]
Chris Bryant: The Government will bring forward legislation to establish a new, independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to oversee the expenses regimes of both Houses. It will be open to the new Authority to co-ordinate the publication of information about the expenses of Members of both Houses.
Written Questions
Mr. Amess: To ask the Leader of the House what steps she is taking to ensure the completeness of answers to Parliamentary Questions for written answer. [277953]
Chris Bryant: My right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the House of Commons and I are fully committed to making sure that Ministers give faithful, honest, complete and timely answers to written parliamentary questions. We keep the matter under continuous review.
Treasury
Banks: Iceland
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1083W, on bank services, for what reasons people with funds held in Icelandic banks were not alerted to the circumstances which prompted the Financial Services Authority to intensify its supervision of retail deposit-taking by Icelandic banks at the beginning of 2008. [270426]
Ian Pearson: The authorities acted responsibly throughout and, for very good reasons, have a policy of not commenting publicly on individual institutions. In line with usual practice, the authorities did not make people aware of these circumstances. To have done so in the case of the Icelandic banks could have caused precisely the consequences that the authorities were seeking to avoid.
Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles
Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the likely effects on levels of (a) carbon dioxide emissions and (b) revenue which would accrue to the Exchequer arising from a change in rates of motorcycle vehicle excise duty to the same carbon dioxide emission scales as private cars; [278003]
(2) what recent consideration he has given to the merits of setting vehicle excise duty bands for motorcycles on the same carbon dioxide emissions scale as that applying to private cars. [278004]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
Carbon dioxide based vehicle excise duty for cars rests on data produced through the European-wide system of vehicle type approval. This system does not produce carbon dioxide data for motorcycles. Vehicle excise duty for motorcycles is instead set on an engine capacity basis.
Revenue and Customs
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HM Revenue and Customs offices were open to receive post on Saturday 31 January 2009. [277779]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs Enquiry Centres were closed on Saturday 31 January 2009. Post found and opened on Monday 2 February 2009 was treated as received on Friday 30 January 2009.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Climate Change
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the first meeting of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change to take place. [277394]
Jane Kennedy: The Government and the devolved Administrations recently announced the appointment of Lord John Krebs as the Chair of the Adaptation Sub-Committee to the Committee on Climate Change. As the Chair of the Sub-Committee, Lord Krebs will also sit on the main committee. The UK Government and the devolved Administrations are in the process of appointing five to eight board members to serve on the sub-committee. We hope to have the sub-committee in place by the end of June and the first meeting should take place as soon as possible after that.
Deer
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice his Department has issued to local authorities on the control of wild deer. [278026]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has not issued any advice on deer specifically for local authorities. For those involved in deer management, advice on the sustainable management of deer is available from the Deer Initiative. Some local authorities will have received advice from the Deer Initiative on local deer management issues relevant to their area.
Food Supply
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial and other support his Department has made available to encourage the development of local food hubs; how many such food hubs are in existence; and at which locations. [276892]
Jane Kennedy: I recognise the benefits of well run local food hubs in helping to make it easier for local food producers to access markets, including public sector customers. Under the Regional Food Strategy both DEFRA and the regional development agencies have provided support for a number of initiatives, including food hubs, aimed at facilitating access to market for local food producers.
Funding to encourage the development of local food hubs in England has come from a number of sources:
The additional £5 million over five years (2003-04 to 2007-08) which DEFRA made available to Food from Britain (FFB) to support the quality regional food sector;
The regional development agencies' (RDA) single pot funding;
The Rural Development Programme; and
The private sector.
Examples of food hub-related activities which have received public funding include:
Under the previous England Rural Development Programme a 50 per cent. Rural Enterprise Scheme grant of £228,500 which helped fund the conversion of existing traditional buildings into Plumgarths Farm Shop and Lakelands Food Park in Cumbria;
The Ludlow Food Centre which has received funding (£159,000) from the West Midlands RDA; and
A study being funded by the South East of England, East of England and London RDAs examining the feasibility of using food hubs to serve London with local and regional produce.
In addition to the above, other examples of food hub facilities can be found in Bedfordshire (Woburn Country Foods), Essex (Ashlyns Organics); Shropshire (Weston Park); Nottinghamshire (Southglade Food Park) and
Cumbria (Redhills near Penrith). In the south-west, the development of food distribution hubs is being driven by local demand through the supermarkets and food manufacturers without the need for public sector intervention.
Finally, DEFRA has also helped fund, via FFB, the research by Westley Consulting Ltd. and John Geldard (Plumgarths Farm) which led to the ‘Supplying Local Food to Mainstream Customers’ report published in August 2008. A copy of this report, which recognised the role that well run food hubs could play but was cautious about recommending public investment in establishing more hubs, can be found at the Westley Consulting website.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Minister of State plans to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 30 March 2009 on the dumping of industrial waste in Roston. [278095]
Jane Kennedy: I have now responded to the right hon. Member’s letter.
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to respond to the letter from the right hon. Member for West Derbyshire of 4 March 2009 on charges on compost. [278096]
Jane Kennedy: I responded to the right hon. Member’s letter on 3 June.
Renewable Energy: Waste
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether his Department has received any representations on whether the reference to fuels manufactured from waste in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 Schedule 1, Part 2, Section 1.1 reflects the Court of Appeal ruling in the OSS Group v. Environment Agency case; and if he will make a statement; [275101]
(2) whether his Department has received any representations on whether the reference to fuels manufactured from waste in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 Schedule 1, Part 2, Section 1.1 means that used cooling oil should be treated as a virgin oil if it has met the Carnwath test as set by the Environment Agency. [275102]
Jane Kennedy: DEFRA officials have received correspondence from representatives of companies whose business involves the processing of waste to produce fuels about issues arising from the Court of Appeal ruling in the case of OSS Group v. Environment Agency. Officials at the Environment Agency have also held meetings with the companies concerned to discuss these issues. The Government's response to the amendment of the Environmental Permitting (England Wales) Regulations 2007 in the light of the Court's decision is still being considered.
Justice
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials in his Department have been suspended from duty in each month since January 2007. [274190]
Mr. Straw: In the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), excluding the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), central records of suspension exist from April 2007 only.
The information for MoJ excluding NOMS is set out in the following table:
| Number of suspensions | |
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