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8 Jun 2009 : Column 757W—continued
Departmental Finance
Mr. Hague:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer to Lord Jones of Cheltenham of 11 May 2009, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA159, on the Department for International
Development: Comprehensive Spending Review, and with reference to page 40 paragraph 10.7 of the April 2009 Value for Money Update, what amount of value for money savings has been made by his Department as a result of sharing offices with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in each country where such office-sharing arrangements exist. [277684]
Mr. Michael Foster: Co-locating and sharing offices with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), where practical and feasible, can provide certain opportunities to reduce costs and to improve the effectiveness of our work abroad. In some countries these opportunities will contribute to the Department for International Development's (DFID) overall target to deliver value for money savings in administration costs. Progress towards this target is set out in DFID's Autumn Performance Report and Departmental Report. These documents are available in the Library of the House and on the DFID website:
Departmental Marketing
Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by his Department on advertising in weekly and regional newspapers in the last five years. [277152]
Mr. Michael Foster: The majority of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) advertising expenditure relates to recruitment advertising. The breakdown of expenditure on advertising in weekly and regional newspapers in the last five financial years is as follows:
| £ | ||
| Weekly publications | Regional newspapers | |
Departmental Public Appointments
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of the public appointments for which his Department is responsible are due to be (a) renewed and (b) filled in the next 24 months; what the (i) remit, (ii) salary, (iii) political restriction, (iv) eligibility requirement and (v) timetable for each appointment is; and what records his Department keeps in respect of such appointments. [254242]
Mr. Michael Foster: Information on appointments made by the Department will be published in its annual report which will be available on its website in due course. Vacancies may be advertised on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website at:
The process for making a public appointment, including guidance on political activity and eligibility criteria, follows the Cabinet Office publication “Making and Managing Public Appointments”. For appointments
regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, the appointments process also complies with the “Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies”. Copies are in the Libraries of the House.
Departmental Recruitment
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid to (a) recruitment agencies and (b) recruitment consultants in each of the last three financial years for which figures are available. [263970]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development only uses recruitment agencies to provide temporary staff. Since 2005 we have predominantly used three agencies.
The following table shows the total costs paid in the last three financial years to the three suppliers.
| Financial year | Total amount paid (£) |
| (1) This total includes executive agency costs in the support of the recruitment of DFID’s Permanent Secretary and two Non-Executive Directors. | |
Individual departments within DFID also have delegated authority to appoint professional and specialist staff from specialist suppliers and recruitment consultants, but details of this expenditure are not held centrally.
In accordance with the civil service recruitment code, all DFID permanent appointments are made on merit and on the basis of fair and open competition.
Palestinians: International Assistance
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which UN humanitarian aid can be delivered to Gaza without hindrance. [277226]
Mr. Michael Foster: Although the Israeli Government announced on 25 March that all humanitarian food items would be allowed into Gaza, this has not yet been implemented. Inconsistent clearance criteria and thorough checks at crossings continue to cause delays.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be of serious concern. The UK Government monitor UN reporting closely and consistently lobby for unrestricted access for food and other humanitarian supplies into Gaza. We are funding the UN Logistics Cluster and the UN Access Support Team to help UN agencies and NGOs get aid into Gaza. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides up to date reports on the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including on delivery of aid into Gaza. These are available on its website:
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of levels of access to Gaza for humanitarian aid and reconstruction material; and if he will make a statement. [273725]
Mr. Michael Foster: The United Nations (UN) has recently reported that the difficulty in importing concrete and construction materials continues to hinder efforts to rebuild homes and essential infrastructure destroyed during the conflict. Meaningful reconstruction will not be possible while restrictions remain in place. The UN estimate the lack of spare parts for public infrastructure and industrial equipment, along with restrictions on the entry of cash and fuel, is preventing the implementation of almost all planned early recovery activities. They also report that procedures for approved humanitarian items into Gaza remain subject to unclear and often inconsistent criteria. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) makes regular reports of the humanitarian situation in Gaza available on its website:
Sri Lanka: Overseas Aid
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial support his Department has given to the government of Sri Lanka for the construction and maintenance of resettlement camps for Tamil refugees in northern Sri Lanka in the last 12 months. [273222]
Mr. Michael Foster: The UK Government have given no financial support to the Government of Sri Lanka.
Since September 2008 the Department for International Development (DFID) has allocated £12.5 million of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka. Of this, approximately £6.5 million has been used to support resettlement camp work through impartial international agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
£6 million remains to respond rapidly to needs on the ground as they evolve.
St. Helena: Aviation
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the effects of not building an airport on St. Helena on the island’s population. [277520]
Mr. Michael Foster: Demographic studies, carried out as part of the 2005 Feasibility Study, suggest that in the absence of air access, the population of St. Helena will decline by around 1.5 per cent. a year.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he plans to reply to question 263970 on departmental recruitment tabled by the hon. Member for Cotswold on 11 March 2009. [277754]
Mr. Michael Foster: A response to parliamentary question 263970 has been issued.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in respect of Zimbabwean refugees living in Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries. [266162]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Zimbabwe’s social and economic decline has forced many Zimbabweans to leave the country during the last few years. The vast majority of those leaving do so by irregular means and do not request refugee status. They are viewed by neighbouring governments as illegal economic migrants and run the risk of deportation. It is therefore difficult to assess their numbers or provide assistance. Since 2000, oppressive policies and post-election violence have also seen hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans forcibly displaced within the country. However the Government of Zimbabwe deny the existence of internally displaced people and have thus refused a comprehensive national assessment of their numbers and needs.
In Zimbabwe, the Department for International Development (DFID) is the second largest donor to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), providing £5 million to deliver humanitarian assistance to 250,000 Zimbabwean deportees from South Africa and 30,000 from Botswana, at key border crossing points, as well as over 240,000 victims of forced internal displacement. The UK also provides further support to Zimbabwean migrants, including street children, in Zambia and South Africa. DFID will provide around £49 million of humanitarian and other essential support to the people of Zimbabwe this financial year, none of which goes through the Government of Zimbabwe.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Cabinet: Glasgow
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Minister of State for Business, Innovation, and Skills how many (a) special advisers and (b) officials of his Department accompanied him to Glasgow for the Cabinet meeting on 16 April 2009. [273941]
Mr. Simon: The information is as follows:
(a) No special advisers accompanied the Secretary of State or Lord Drayson to Glasgow when they attended the Cabinet meeting there on 16 April 2009.
(b) One official accompanied each Minister on their visit to Scotland to attend Cabinet in Glasgow on 16 April 2009—making two Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills officials in total.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on Wednesday 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Minister of State for Business, Innovation, and Skills what car journeys he undertook in attending the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273942]
Mr. Simon: The then Secretary of State travelled from his London home to London City airport. On arrival, the then Secretary of State travelled by car from Glasgow airport to the regional Cabinet meeting. Following the Cabinet meeting, the Secretary of State went by car to visit the University of Strathclyde before returning to Glasgow airport. He flew back from Glasgow to Southampton airport and travelled to his constituency home.
Lord Drayson travelled to Bristol airport from his home to fly to Glasgow. He was driven from Glasgow airport to the University of Glasgow before journeying to the Cabinet meeting. Once the Cabinet meeting had finished, Lord Drayson travelled to Glasgow airport for his return flight to Bristol airport—from there he travelled home.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on Wednesday 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Companies House: Standards
John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the performance of Companies House in achieving its targets in 2008-09. [278057]
Ian Pearson: A report on Companies House's performance is laid before Parliament each year before the summer recess. The report for 2008-09 will be laid on 16 July 2009.
Conditions of Employment
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what his latest estimate is of the number of people who have a statutory right to request flexible working as a result of having been employed continuously for 26 weeks or more. [270809]
Mr. McFadden: The impact assessment produced in 2007 when the right to request flexible working was extended to carers of adults estimated that 2.65 million carers would be eligible.
The impact assessment published in March 2009 to accompany the Government response to the recent consultation on implementing the recommendations of the Walsh Review estimated that an additional 4.5 million parents would be eligible to request flexible working under the extended legislation. The impact assessment also estimated that 3.5 million parents were already eligible under the existing legislation. The total number of parents who have the statutory right to request flexible working is around 8 million.
Overall more than 10 million employees have the statutory right to request flexible working.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many contracts his Department has held with (a) UBS, (b) Barclays Capital, (c) Goldman Sachs, (d) Morgan Stanley, (e) Credit Suisse, (f) Merrill Lynch and (g) Lehman Brothers in the financial year 2008-09; what the monetary value was of each such contract; and for what purposes each contract was awarded. [261487]
Mr. McFadden:
The Shareholder Executive engaged UBS on three separate assignments—the sale of British Energy, the sale of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's sites and to advise the Shareholder Executive on the process for finding suitable partners for Royal Mail. These assignments were covered by two separate
contracts, the values of which are commercially confidential on an individual basis but with the total value up to £15 million depending on success factors.
The Department also spent £135,175 with Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd in financial year 2008-09. These relate to salary costs for the secondment of Philip Remnant as Chairman of the Shareholder Executive.
The Department does not currently have any contracts with Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers and has not made any payments to them in 2008-09.
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