| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
15 July 2009 : Column 410W—continued
UK Border Agency: Office of the Chief Inspector
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the budget is of the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency; and how many staff are employed in that office; [285927]
(2) how many staff employed in the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency worked for his Department prior to their appointment at the Agency; [285934]
(3) what the salary is of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency; at what pay grades staff in his office are employed; and how many such staff are employed at each grade; [285935]
(4) what the cost of the premises occupied by the Office of the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency is in 2009-10. [285936]
Mr. Woolas: The independent Chief Inspector UK Border Agency has a budget of £3 million for 2009 -10. As of 1 July 2009, 24.9 full-time equivalent staff work in the Office of the Chief Inspector (excluding the Chief Inspector). An additional five staff have been appointed and are expected to take up posts shortly.
Of the 24.9 full-time equivalent staff in post on 1 July 2009, 15.9 staff worked for the Home Office prior to their employment.
The Chief Inspector's current salary is £159,108. The following table sets out the position on the current number and grades of staff (excluding the Chief Inspector).
The annual costs for 2009-10 for the premises occupied by the Office of the Chief Inspector UK Border Agency are still to be confirmed.
| Office of Chief Inspector UKBA staff as at 1 July 2009 | |
| Number | |
| Note: In addition: 3 x SEO; 1 x EO and 1 x AO have been appointed and will take up posts shortly. | |
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many overseas visits to each country have been made by the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency; and what the cost to the public purse was of such visits. [285928]
Mr. Woolas: I have asked the independent chief inspector to respond in writing to my right hon. Friend.
Vetting
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) of 16 October 2008, Official Report, column 1436W, on vetting, how many (a) standard and (b) enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks were undertaken in each police force area in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [285996]
Mr. Hanson: The total number of standard and enhanced disclosures processed in each financial year since 2002 until March 2009 is shown in the following table.
| CRB checks processed | |||
| Financial year | Standard disclosures | Enhanced disclosures | Total |
The CRB cannot provide figures broken down by police force area. This is because standard disclosures are processed without any requirement for the police forces to conduct checks and several different police forces may be required to conduct checks in order to produce one enhanced disclosure.
The CRB has now issued over 20 million disclosures since inception and operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which are to issue 95 per cent. of standard disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within 28 days. While the CRB has consistently exceeded their targets for standard disclosures, there have been problems in meeting the target set for enhanced disclosures.
To address these problems associated with delays, the CRB has set up an improvement plan with their delivery partners, including the police forces. This is aimed at maintaining a balanced output of applications on the system while also reducing the number of aged cases. This work has started to show an improvement in turnaround times but the CRB will continue to monitor forces performance in line with its own performance.
Energy and Climate Change
Berkeley Power Station
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has for the future use of the former nuclear laboratories site at Berkeley; and when he expects the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to present proposals for that future use. [281350]
Mr. Kidney: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for the clean up and decommissioning of the Berkeley site in line with its published strategy. I understand that the NDA's objective is to separate Berkeley Centre from the licensed site to facilitate reuse and that detailed planning for this is well underway.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) photocopiers, (b) scanning devices and (c) fax machines, excluding multi-function devices, there are in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [286175]
Joan Ruddock: As of 9 July 2009, in the Department there are:
(a) 17 photocopiers;
(b) 11 faxes, and
(c) 0 scanners.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of his Department's capital underspend in 2009-10; and how much of that sum he proposes to return to the Exchequer. [284327]
Joan Ruddock: DECC does not expect to underspend against its capital budget in 2009-10.
Energy: Conservation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent steps he has taken to implement the undertakings made by the Prime Minister on 11 September 2008 in relation to the home energy saving programme; and if he will make a statement. [265834]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 23 March 2009]: The Prime Minister's announcement saw a £74 million increase in funding for the Warm Front Scheme, offering grants for central heating and energy efficiency measures for the fuel poor. Over 37,000 households have been assisted to date with this additional funding.
Also the weekly rate for cold weather payments was increased from £8.50 to £25. Over 8 million payments were made during winter 2008-09-at a value of £209 million.
Following full public consultation, the Government have laid the statutory instruments giving effect to the proposals for the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and the increase in the Carbon Emissions Reductions Target (CERT), subject to parliamentary approval.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much new funding for low-carbon community heating schemes announced in Budget 2009 will be provided in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) subsequent years. [285101]
Mr. Kidney:
Of the £25 million made available in Budget 2009 to fund low-carbon community heating schemes, £20.96 million is being administered by the
Homes and Communities Agency to fund at least 10 exemplar schemes in England. It is anticipated that all of the funding will be provided to successful schemes in 2009-10. The remainder of the funding was made available to the devolved Administrations in line with the Barnett formula and is a matter for them.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the first payments of money from the new funding for low-carbon community heating schemes announced in Budget 2009 will be made. [285102]
Mr. Kidney: The first payments of money from the new funding for low carbon community heating schemes will be made before the end of July. A formal and more detailed announcement will be made as soon as is possible.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what criteria will be used to select recipients of the new funding for low-carbon community heating schemes announced in Budget 2009. [285103]
Mr. Kidney: The criteria used to select recipients of the new funding for low carbon community heating schemes include:
Novelty, innovation or exemplar quality;
Support for new housing development or refurbishment of existing buildings;
Value for money;
Carbon savings;
Progress of the scheme and ability to deliver quickly, and to timescales;
Help for people affected by fuel poverty; and,
Ability to leverage additional public or private funding.
Energy: Meters
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the number of domestic dwellings in Tamworth constituency which have a smart meter. [285367]
Mr. Kidney: The Department has no estimate of this.
European Energy Market
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of levels of likely voluntary implementation by EU member states of the most recent EU liberalisation package in respect of the European energy market in advance of legislation coming into force in 2011. [284773]
Mr. Kidney: We expect the latest EU energy liberalisation package to come into force shortly, with implementation of most aspects of it then to be completed within 18 months. Well functioning EU energy markets will make an important contribution to energy security and investment to support low carbon energy supplies. This is why we are encouraging other member states to implement early as much of the package as possible.
There has already been considerable progress on transparency and on setting up the new bodies for cooperation between regulators and system operators. Work is also under way on the technical and regulatory frameworks needed to underpin greater market integration.
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the early voluntary implementation of the most recent EU liberalisation package in respect of the European energy market. [284774]
Mr. Kidney: The EU liberalisation package was adopted on 25 June. Department officials are encouraging other member states to implement early as much of the package as possible, and I will reinforce this when I meet other EU energy Ministers in the course of business.
Evian
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the outcomes were of his visit to Evian on 6 July; and if he will publish on his Department's website the papers discussed with his French counterpart during that visit. [286719]
Joan Ruddock: The meeting showed how close the thinking of the UK and France is on climate change and energy policy. Much of the discussion between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and French Ministers concentrated on how to secure an ambitious agreement at COP 15 in Copenhagen. Most notably we agreed to seek international adoption of new, tougher reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The results are summarised in joint declarations on international climate change negotiations and on nuclear energy. These appear on the No. 10 website.
Fuel Poverty
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which schemes sponsored by the Government have as an objective the reduction of fuel poverty; which such schemes are planned; and how much has been spent on each scheme in the latest period for which figures are available. [285901]
Mr. Kidney: Warm Front is the main Government funded scheme for tackling fuel poverty in England. Over 1.9 million households have received assistance with heating, insulation and other energy efficient measures since the scheme's inception in June 2000.
Funding for the scheme has been increased to more than £950 million in the current spending round. In the previous spending round period, 2005-08, Warm Front total spend was £862 million.
The Government are currently undertaking a wide-ranging review of our fuel poverty policies. The review is examining whether existing measures to tackle fuel poverty could be made more effective and whether new policies should be introduced to help us make further progress towards our goals.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |