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12 Oct 2009 : Column 25W—continued

Departmental Postal Services

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on Royal Mail services in each of the last two years. [288744]

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Mr. Hain: In the last two years my Department has spent the following using the services of Royal Mail:

	£
2007-08	1,711
2008-09	2,531

Departmental Procurement

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what companies or organisations provided (a) goods and (b) services to his Department in 2008-09; and what the cost to the public purse was in each case. [289013]

Mr. Hain: To provide the information the hon. Lady has requested would incur disproportionate cost.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which Minister in his Department has been assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in his Department; whether his Department has established a public sector reform team to implement service reforms; and if he will make a statement. [289732]

Mr. Hain: I have asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to take on the role as the Wales Office's Value for Money Minister. Both he and I take an active role in ensuring that the Wales Office delivers value for money in all its expenditure. We are not a service delivery Department however and thus do not have a public sector reform team.

Departmental Recycling

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what proportion of his Department's waste was recycled in the latest period for which figures are available. [289670]

Mr. Hain: The last period for which figures are available covers January to March 2009. During this period, the Wales Office recycled 84 per cent. of its waste.

Departmental Travel

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on (a) car hire, (b) train travel, (c) air travel, (d) hotels and (e) restaurant meals for (i) Ministers and (ii) staff in his Department in each of the last five years. [289979]

Mr. Hain: In the last five financial years, my Department's expenditure for car hire, train travel and air travel is broken down as:

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Spend (£)
	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Car hire
Ministers	77,153.00	92,866.68	106,707.39	135,649.52	217,129.45
Staff	126.00	277.37	41.02	0	143.44
Train tickets
Ministers	11,011.50	7,124.00	6,270.70	11,601.44	14,549.50
Staff	69,951.60	102,599.83	90,371.00	113,758.51	155,685.00
Air fare
Ministers	4,959.28	0	169.43	676.88	1,156.53
Staff	15,108.30	211.67	9,577.03	1,491.29	2,792.56

The increase in car hire for Ministers in part of 2007-08 and 2008-09 came about because in previous years the Secretary of State's car was provided by the Northern Ireland Office and then the Department of Work and Pensions when he held dual responsibilities. Restaurant meals and hotel costs are not kept separately and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Legislative Competence: Wales

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what guidance his Department has issued on the status of proposed legislative competence orders which have not completed the process of Parliamentary approval at the point of a dissolution of Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [290496]

Mr. Hain: Legislative Competence Orders will be treated in the same way as any other form of legislation passing through the Palace of Westminster following the dissolution of Parliament.

Women and Equality

Budget April 2009

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many copies of the Budget 2009 Report the Government Equalities Office ordered; and what the cost was of that order. [290266]

Michael Jabez Foster: The Government Equalities Office has not purchased any copies of the Budget 2009 report

Departmental Conditions of Employment

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what percentage of employees in the Government Equalities Office (a) are on a flexible working contract, (b) are on a job share employment contract and (c) work from home for more than four hours a week. [287090]

Michael Jabez Foster: The Government Equalities Office (GEO) operates a flexible working policy which is available to all staff. The GEO currently does not have any staff on job share contracts. Staff are allowed to work from home, subject to line management agreement based on business need, however central records on the amount of time worked from home are not held.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Robert Neill: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what procedures apply to the grant of permission for the use of the (a) resources and (b) offices of the Equality and Human Rights Commission activities related to a private sector organisation. [290430]

Maria Eagle: Permission to use the resources and offices of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) would not normally be granted for activities relating to private sector organisations.

Exceptionally the EHRC approved the use of their offices for a private sector organisation; however this was without the approval of the Government Equalities Office. The use of the EHRC offices for private sector organisation meetings has since ceased.

Equality and Human Rights Commission: Finance

Robert Neill: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much funding the Equality and Human Rights Commission has given to Traveller groups; on what dates; and for what purposes. [288252]

Maria Eagle: The following tables contain a full list of Traveller-related work, totalling £344,734, funded under the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Interim Grants Programme, which ran from 1 April 2008-31 March 2009.

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Funding awarded to Traveller groups under the 2008-09 Interim Grants Programme
Organisation	Outcome	Region/country	Amount (£)
Friends, Families and Travellers	To develop an environment where Gypsies and Travellers in West Sussex and east Hampshire have the confidence to participate actively in the life of the community.	South East	39,817
Gypsy/Travel Education and Information Project North East (GTEIP)	To support Gypsy/Traveller women and Gypsies/Travellers with disabilities to address barriers which prevent them accessing services and their capacity to live free and equal lives. (This will take the form of Action Research; both recording issues and experiences while supporting action on the issues.)	Scotland	21,000
London Gypsy and Traveller Unit	Improved and informed policy development and public profile of Gypsies and Travellers; to include their views and be based on fair and accurate information.	London	39,927
S.P.A.R.C	To improve Gypsies and Travellers access to health care provision and related services in Tees Valley, and reduce the significant health inequalities experienced by older people, children, women and those with mental health issues within these communities.	North East	35,000
One Voice 4 Travellers Ltd.	To provide support and advocacy for roadside Traveller women and children in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire by means of an outreach volunteering strategy.	East Midlands	20,000

Other funding awarded to deliver traveller-related work under the 2008-09 Interim Grants Programme
Organisation	Outcome	Region/country	Amount (£)
Bradford Community and Voluntary Service (BCVS)	To enable Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers to have equal access to services and to represent their own needs and concerns in order to participate in civic life in the District.	Yorkshire and Humber	35,000
Pakistan Community Association and Multicultural Advice Centre	Provide a study support service which allows young Roma people to achieve their full potential and integrate with other ethnic minorities in the area.	Yorkshire and Humber	20,060
Save the Children UK	To improve understanding of prejudice and diversity by marginalised young people(especially young Gypsy/Travellers) by holding workshops to promote and develop key skills.	Scotland	39,930
The Race Equality Council for Gloucestershire	1. To facilitate access to public services for Migrant Workers informing them of services.	South West	35,000
	2. To improve access to public services including creation of permanent sites for caravans for Travelling Community and better access to education for their children: improved relationship between travelling and settled community.
	3. To create opportunities for people of different cultures to meet and learn about each other by experiencing art, culture and music of different traditions: promote an appreciation of benefits of cultural diversity especially in Cheltenham area.
The Rural Media Company	To work with local authority Planning and Diversity officers, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups (GRT) (including women, children and the elderly) in the West Midlands bringing them together to develop a DVD Resource to address the racial discrimination issues in local communities around Traveller homelessness and lack of stopping sites.	West Midlands	35,000
Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG)	To develop the capacity of Gypsy and Traveller communities by providing training in project management and equality and Human Rights legislation to ensure these communities are able to participate more effectively in planning and other decision making contexts which effect their lives.	-	14,000

Robert Neill: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality when the annual statements of accounts of the Equality and Human Rights Commission were signed off; and what the reason was for the time taken to sign them off. [288253]

Maria Eagle: The accounts were laid on Monday 20 July. The preparation of the first set of accounts for the Commission was a major undertaking, bringing together the assets and liabilities of the legacy commissions and establishing common standards for measurement and evaluation which needed to be agreed with NAO.

Accounts for the Disability Rights Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality were only laid in May and June 2009 respectively. Information from those accounts has had to be consolidated with the Equality and Human Rights Commission's own figures and this has taken time.

Robert Neill: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what payments the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has made to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) since the EHRC's establishment; for what purposes and projects those payments were made; and whether it has commissioned the IPPR to undertake further work in the future. [288265]

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