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19 Jun 2009 : Column 550W—continued
Public Expenditure
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the provision of lawyers employed by his Department to speak at National School of Government legal training courses. [281194]
Mr. Hain: Raising awareness and knowledge of the devolution settlement and of the role of the Wales Office is integral to the work of Wales Office lawyers. As part of this role they have in the last year spoken at several training courses held by the National School of Government. We estimate that travelling and related costs (which will often include travelling which would have been undertaken for other purposes) were less than £1,400.
Welsh Language
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he plans to publish his Department's revised Welsh language scheme. [281199]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office continues to work with the Welsh Language Board to revise its Welsh language scheme, and will aim to finalise this document in the coming year.
Women and Equality
Government Equalities Office: Market Research
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much the Government Equalities Office spent on (a) opinion polling, (b) focus groups and (c) other forms of market research in each year since 2007; what surveys were commissioned; and what the purpose of each was. [279369]
Michael Jabez Foster: Since the establishment of the Government Equalities Office (GEO) on 12 October 2007, the GEO Research and Analysis Team has conducted or commissioned a range of research on equality issues using a variety of research methods.
Based on current records, Table 1 lists research projects involving opinion survey (defined broadly here as any surveys of the public to acquire relevant information) commissioned by the Department from October 2007 and the GEO's expenditure on this research by financial year. Table 2 sets out research projects involving focus groups, commissioned by the Department and the associated total annual expenditure by financial year. Table 3 presents information on any other forms of market research commissioned by GEO and associated costs by financial year.
A number of these research projects combine a mixture of research methods, for which it is not possible to disaggregate the specific cost of surveys or focus groups. Under these circumstances, the total cost of the project has been provided, and is included in only one place in the tables (to avoid the double-counting of costs).
Rape: Victim Support Schemes
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2009, Official Report, column 826W, on rape: victim support schemes, for what reason £200,000 of the £1.1 million special fund for rape crisis centres had not been paid out. [281481]
Michael Jabez Foster: All monies from the special fund for rape crisis centres were paid out by the end of the financial year (2008-09).
The Government Equalities Office paid out £900,000 from the special fund in grants to individual centres, ensuring that no rape crisis centre closed. Following consultation with the contributing departments, a further £230,000 was paid out to the two main umbrella bodies for the sexual violence voluntary sector—Rape Crisis England and Wales and The Survivors’ Trust—for them to help their member groups build capacity. These grants are listed in the tables of grants referenced in the answer given on 1 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1241-42W.
Work and Pensions
Asbestos: Documents
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the document retention policies of the Health and Safety Executive are in relation to documents it has collected since 1984 under the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983. [278979]
Jonathan Shaw: Documents collected by HSE since 1984 under the Asbestos Licensing Regulations are retained in accordance with HSE's retention policy. Archive paper files are reviewed for further retention after nine years and electronic files after seven years. If at that stage a judgment is made that the material should be retained the next review would be after 25 years. At 25 years it could be destroyed, archived, or kept for a further agreed period of time for operational reasons. Paper documents whose contents have been saved electronically may not be retained. Files of documents identified as relating to health, including asbestos health related files, are retained for 40 years.
Cabinet: Glasgow
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what car journeys were taken attending the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009; [273934]
(2) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) she and (ii) officials in her Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273936]
Jim Knight: For information in relation 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 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Departmental Data Protection
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many notifications her Department made to the Information Commissioner in the year ended 30 April 2009 in respect of the loss or mishandling of personal information or data; what was notified in each such case; and how many individuals were the subjects of personal information or data in respect of which such notifications were made. [278723]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department will publish in its Resource Accounts for 2008-09 details of incidents involving personal data that have been notified to the Information Commissioner during the year to 31 March 2009. The accounts are currently being finalised. Details of the notifications made to the Commissioner in respect of incidents arising in the year commencing 1 April 2009 will be published in the Resource Accounts for 2009-10.
Departmental Travel
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department spent on tickets for (a) air and (b) rail travel for (i) Ministers,
(ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in her Department which were not used in each of the last three years. [280010]
Jim Knight: Unfortunately, the data requested are not held centrally by the Department and to gather them could be achieved only at a disproportionate cost.
All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Employment and Support Allowance
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what back to work support will be provided to people claiming employment and support allowance for two years or more. [255128]
Jim Knight: As announced in the White Paper “Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future”, the support provided to new employment and support allowance customers through pathways to work will be extended from the current six mandatory work-focused interviews, in the first eight months of the claim, to include quarterly work-focused interviews up to the two-year point after claiming. Beyond this claimants will be able to access support through pathways to work voluntarily and will also be able to receive help from the new specialist disability employment programme, which is due to be launched in October 2010. This new programme will be for those disabled people who have complex barriers to employment and will ensure that they have access to the right level of support based on their individual needs, to help them prepare for, enter and/ or retain employment.
As we set out in the White Paper, we will need to introduce further changes gradually and extend the work-focused interviews regime beyond current time periods as resources allow. This is consistent with the direction of travel set by David Freud in his report “Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity: options for the future of welfare to work” and further developed in the recent review by Professor Paul Gregg. The Invest to Save pathfinders, due to begin in five areas from spring 2011, will help to increase our understanding of how best to support long term claimants with a health condition or disability into work.
Employment Schemes
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on the prevention of the practices of creaming and parking in relation to work placements arranged by potential providers under contracted out employment services; and if she will make a statement. [275468]
Jim Knight:
DWP published the Commissioning Strategy in February 2008. This provides a set of principles to incentivise providers to support all customers on contracted employment provision. Longer and larger contracts will make provision attractive to a broader range of providers. This competition for and within contracts will incentivise providers to drive up performance offers, and the number of people they plan to get into work. Competition for
flexible new deal contracts has been fierce, and preferred bidders have committed to get more people into work than the best of existing provision, employment zones.
Flexible new deal will replace a diverse patchwork of contracts with just 24. This will enable DWP to strengthen its contract management function. Contract managers will require suppliers to uphold their commitments, including how they provide support for all our customers.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many businesses have received the recruitment subsidy element of the six-month offer announced on 12 January 2009 via Jobcentre Plus; how many enquiries on the scheme have been received; and if she will make a statement. [276733]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not available.
Equitable Life Assurance Society
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Equitable Life. [277972]
Jim Knight: I can confirm that I have not had any discussions with ministerial colleagues in HM Treasury regarding Equitable Life.
Future Jobs Fund
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent under the Future Jobs Fund. [280338]
Jim Knight: We published our bidding criteria for the Future Jobs Fund and invited bids on 13 May. The initial set of bids will be assessed during the summer and we hope to be in a position to announce the first set of awards in August, with the first placements beginning later in the autumn.
As the assessment of bids has not yet taken place, no funding allocations have yet been made.
Incapacity Benefit
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will bring forward proposals to make it mandatory for incapacity benefit assessors to take account of the advice of a person's GP during that person's assessment for incapacity benefit. [281256]
Jonathan Shaw: The provision of medical evidence from a person's GP is required under current regulations. This evidence is gathered as part of the process for claiming incapacity benefit before a personal capability assessment takes place. Additionally, the Department's external medical provider regularly requests additional medical evidence from GPs according to the circumstances of the case. All the available evidence is taken into account by the decision maker in deciding whether or not a person is incapable of work and entitled to incapacity benefit.
Job Creation: Finance
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding her Department has allocated to the Future Jobs Fund for 2009-10. [275699]
Jim Knight: The Future Jobs Fund has been allocated £300 million for 2009-10.
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