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12 Oct 2009 : Column 616W—continued
Departmental Advertising
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department spent on newspaper advertising carried in each newspaper in the most recent year for which figures are available. [289515]
Mr. McFadden: The former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) spent £417,906 on press advertising via the Central Office of Information in 2008-09 as follows:
| £ | |
In addition central financial records indicate that BERR spent £90,235 in 2008-09 through an advertising agency on advertising for external recruitment.
The former Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) spent £208,137 on press advertising via the Central Office of Information in 2008-09 as below:
| £ | |
A breakdown of expenditure on newspaper advertising by title could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on advertising arising from its re-branding following machinery of Government changes in June 2009. [290081]
Mr. McFadden: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not done any advertising of the Department due to machinery of government changes.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in which buildings in central London each of his Department's units is located. [290264]
Ian Lucas: This Department has directorates based in the following buildings in central London:
1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET
Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6SW
Departmental Dismissal
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many staff have (a) been dismissed and (b) had their contract terminated by his Department and its predecessors in each of the last five years; what the reason was in each case; and what the severance costs in relation to (i) dismissal and (ii) contract termination were in each such year. [290563]
Mr. McFadden:
Staff may be dismissed for poor performance, poor attendance, gross misconduct, repeated
misconduct and the contract of employment terminated. Information for the Department and its predecessors in relation to dismissals is set out in the following table. Totals of less than five are suppressed on grounds of confidentiality.
| Number of staff dismissed | |
Staff may also be dismissed in law when a fixed term contract terminates at the end of the contract period and is not renewed. These are not included.
Information about the costs of terminating contracts is not held in the format requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Where the dismissal relates to either gross misconduct or repeated misconduct no severance cost payments are payable.
Departmental EC Law
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to the economy arising from UK implementation of EU legislation. [290088]
Mr. McFadden: It is very difficult to provide precise figures for the annual cost to the economy arising from UK implementation of legislation that stems from the European Union.
The administrative burdens measurement exercise carried out by the Government in 2006 put the proportion of administrative burdens stemming from the EU at approximately 1/3 of the annual total of 13.2 billion pounds.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) mobile telephones, (b) Blackberries and (c) laptop computers were issued to staff of his Department and its predecessors in each of the last five years; and how many of these were issued to (i) new staff and (ii) existing staff following the (A) loss or (B) theft of a previous device. [290558]
Mr. McFadden: The Department holds information only on the total number of Blackberry and laptop computers used by BIS staff during the requested period and the mobile telephone services held by ex BERR staff in 2008. The information available is presented in the following table.
| Laptops in use | Laptops lost/stolen | Blackberries in use | Blackberries lost/stolen | Mobiles in use | Mobiles lost/stolen | |
Departmental Flexible Working
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what flexi-time arrangements were available to staff of his Department and its predecessors in each of the last five years; and how many staff participated in such arrangements in each such year. [290565]
Mr. McFadden: The information is as follows:
1. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was created on 5 June, with the merger of BERR and DIUS.
2. Both staff on former BERR and DIUS terms and conditions have flexible working policies which enable staff to vary their conditioned hours, and support a work-life balance. The different ways to work flexibly include flexi-time, part-time, also compressed hours, term-times and home working. In addition staff can job share and have access to an internal job share register and the wider Civil Service Job Share Website.
3. The former Departments do not keep a central record of how many staff participate in such arrangements each year; flexible working is dealt with locally by line managers in accordance with the departmental policies. In the 2008 Staff Surveys, of the staff who responded to the survey 68 per cent. of former BERR and 66 per cent. of former DIUS staff said they worked flexibly.
Departmental ICT
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what IT systems have been in development for use within his Department in the last five years; what the reason for the development of each system was; how much has been spent on the development of each system; and which systems have been subsequently (i) implemented, (ii) terminated prior to implementation and (iii) terminated following implementation. [290559]
Mr. McFadden: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills IT infrastructure systems are provided via long standing agreements with Fujitsu Services and cover desktop services, web infrastructure services and in some cases other business applications, which are charged for as part of the overall, bundled, service charge.
In the last five years the following systems have, however, been developed from scratch and the details requested are provided:
Reason for development: Provision of secure remote access services via Blackberries and mobile laptops
Development costs: £4.9 million
Reason for development: Provision of a correspondence handling system
Development cost: £1.9 million
Reason for development: Upgrade to the Department's existing electronic document management system, (itself over five years old)
Development cost: £104,000
Reason for development: Provision of a range of electronic export control services
Development cost: £2.6 million
In all cases all systems were fully implemented and remain fully operational.
Departmental Industrial Accidents
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many workplace accidents have been reported in his Department in the last five months; and what the causes of each accident were. [290092]
Mr. McFadden: Since its inception on 8 June, there have been eight workplace accidents recorded across the BIS estate related to departmental employees or contractors. The cause of each accident, all of which were relatively minor, was as follows:
1. Finger caught by spring loaded bin lid.
2. Bump on head following fall caused by an ongoing medical condition.
3. Bump on nose caused by front cover of a paper towel dispenser falling open.
4. Fall following standing on an office chair (two instances).
5. Contractor cut finger while replacing broken light fitting.
6. Injured back while moving a cabinet.
7. Struck knee while lifting an item of computer equipment into trolley bag.
Departmental Languages
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of members of his Department are recorded as having a second language. [290458]
Mr. McFadden: This information is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, based on business demand, there are 19 civil servants in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills currently receiving language training from our preferred supplier.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many members of staff in his Department have been required to move office in changes arising from the most recent departmental reorganisation; and how many of these had been required to move office in changes arising from the previous reorganisation. [290090]
Mr. McFadden:
Since the creation of BIS we have moved Ministers and their private office staff, plus Press Office staff. In total, we have moved 46 staff. We
have also moved 170 policy officials within our two London buildings, although these were simply people moves rather than structural changes.
Moving ex DIUS staff into 1 Victoria Street was already planned before the merger between DIUS and BERR to create BIS. None of these moves were required at the previous MOG, when DECC was created and ex BERR staff moved from 1 Victoria Street to 3 Whitehall Place.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of staff in his Department joined his Department or its predecessors after working in the private sector. [290095]
Mr. McFadden: We do not record this information nor hold it centrally. It could only be made available at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many members of his Department are suspended from their duties; and for what reasons. [290097]
Mr. McFadden: We are unable to supply details of suspensions as authority to suspend staff is delegated to line managers throughout the Department and a central record is not maintained.
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the average length of employment of staff of his Department and its predecessors at each Civil Service payband. [290561]
Mr. McFadden: The average length of employment of ex-DIUS staff is shown in the following table as at 31 March.
| Pay band | Years |
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