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14 July 2009 : Column 328W—continued
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2009, Official Report, column 284W, on departmental contracts, what contracts were entered into with (a) Coffey International Development Ltd., (b) CP Recoveries, (c) Crown Agents, (d) Ebla Translations, (e) DGSI, (f) Disposal Services Authority, (g) Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, (h) Fugro Middle East, (i) GTZ, (j) Heathrow Airport Limited, (k) MCI UK Ltd., (l) RN Golds Associates, (m) SMA Ltd., (n) Thales UK Ltd. and (o) The Carbon Trust in 2008-09; and what the monetary value of each such contract was. [285293]
Chris Bryant: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) only has a static database of all of its contracts in the UK and overseas which was compiled in the latter part of 2008. Work is currently being undertaken to convert this to a real time database. To gather all of the contract information for 2008-09 would involve disproportionate cost so the following table reflects records kept by the two contracts teams in the FCO and FCO Services for 2008-09 which will cover a high proportion of the contracts awarded by the FCO in the UK during the period.
Departmental Databases
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what categories of personal information on members of the public will be held on each database expected to become operational in the next five years and which will be managed by his Department or one of its agencies; what estimate he has made of the likely number of individuals' details each such database will hold when fully operational; and if he will make a statement. [286154]
Chris Bryant: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s Data Protection Register entry with the Information Commissioner's Office is to be renewed in September this year. The general categories for which the Department processes personal data for its work will be similar to those listed now, for example, processing a range of personal data for providing consular assistance to British nationals overseas. However, the FCO will continue to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and governmental data handling standards.
Departmental Manpower
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff his Department employed in (a) the Middle East and (b) South Asia (i) in 2007 and (ii) on the latest date for which figures are available. [285281]
Chris Bryant: On 1 April 2007 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) employed 133 UK civil servants at posts in the middle east and 104 UK civil servants at posts in south Asia.
On 1 July 2009 the FCO employed 137 UK civil servants at posts in the middle east and 147 UK civil servants at posts in south Asia.
We do not hold figures centrally for the numbers of staff recruited locally to work at each post.
Departmental Pay
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 20 May 2009, Official Report, column 1420W, on departmental pay, who the employers are who are paying less than £7.45 an hour for work contracted out by his Department; what the nature of the work undertaken on each contract is; how many staff at each (a) payband and (b) location are working on each contract; what the duration of each contract is; and what union recognition agreements are in place with each contractor. [285513]
Chris Bryant [holding answer 9 July 2009]: Two contractors working within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) pay some of their staff less than £7.45 per hour.
These contractors are Interserve and Compass. Both companies share responsibility for delivering different facilities management services to the FCO, including cleaning, porterage, grounds maintenance and catering. Neither company operates a payband structure.
In the case of Interserve, it employs 40 cleaners, and one porter based in London who are paid less than £7.45 per hour. It also employs 19 cleaners, three porters and one grounds maintenance operative based in our offices near Milton Keynes who are paid less than £7.45 per hour.
Compass employs 17 catering staff in London and 12 catering staff in our offices near Milton Keynes who are paid less than £7.45 per hour.
The contract the above companies deliver commenced on 1 December 2008 and is set to run for a minimum of seven years, with an option to extend for up to three further years.
Both companies recognise all UK unions and actively consult with them on issues which affect their members.
Departmental Policy
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what policy objectives he has set for the UK's economic and political cooperation with its international partners; and what his assessment is of his Department's performance against those objectives in (a) 2008 and (b) 2009. [285288]
Chris Bryant: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s annual report for the financial year 2008-09 was laid before Parliament on 30 June 2009 and is also available at:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/publications/publications/annual-reports/departmental-report/
as is the report for 2007-08. The report sets out how the FCO spends public funds to meet its policy and service delivery objectives.
Departmental Procurement
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes have been made to his Department's (a) office equipment and (b) stationery purchasing policy in the last six months. [285312]
Chris Bryant: In April 2009 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) introduced a policy change for its stationery and office equipment requirements. This ensures that an approved core-list of non-branded products is purchased rather than more expensive brand-name alternatives. The policy change will save the FCO approximately £32,000 in the current financial year.
Embassies: EU Countries
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost to the public purse of the British Embassy in each other European Union member state was in each of the last 10 years. [282838]
Chris Bryant: The information requested by the hon. Member is set out in the table. The information includes some current EU member states which were not members 10 years ago.
The apparent rise in costs in 2004-05 relate to a change in costing methodology. In 2006-07 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office reverted back to the previous methodology (and has continued to use this methodology since).
| Net running costs for British embassies and high commissions in European Union countries | ||||||
| Net running costs in each year (all figures in GBP) | ||||||
| Country | Embassy/high commission | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
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