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12 Oct 2009 : Column 626W—continued
Departmental Secondment
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of staff in his Department have worked on attachment to the private sector. [290093]
Mr. McFadden: We do not record this information nor hold it centrally. It could only be made available at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
John Mason: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many external training courses were attended by staff of his Department and its predecessor in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of each course. [289677]
Mr. McFadden: Training budgets are delegated to line managers to determine locally what external training will be funded. This information is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what private sector training courses for Civil Service officials are available to staff in his Department with funding provided by his Department. [290096]
Mr. McFadden: Training budgets are delegated to line managers to determine locally what private sector training is suitable and will be funded. This information is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Travel
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department and its predecessors spent on tickets for (a) air and (b) rail travel for (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department which were not used in each of the last three years. [280008]
Mr. McFadden: In BIS the criteria for booking travel should be value for money, staff travelling on official business must take advantage of any cheap facilities which maybe available including restricted non refundable tickets wherever practical.
The Department does not separately record details of unused tickets by Ministers, special advisers and civil servants.
For the period April 2008 to March 2009 the total amount of tickets booked through our travel booking agents and refunded was:
| £ | |
Details for previous years are not centrally recorded due to the number of Government changes to the Department to provide this information would entail disproportionate cost.
All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many journeys and at what cost the Secretary of State has made in a ministerial capacity by (a) airplane, (b) train, (c) helicopter and (d) car since October 2008; what class of travel was used for each airplane and train journey; and on what dates such journeys took place. [291678]
Mr. McFadden: The Cabinet Office has published a list of all overseas visits undertaken by Ministers costing £500 or more during the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. The list provides details of the date, destination and purpose of all such visits and the cost of Ministers' travel and accommodation where appropriate. Copies of the list have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Transport has published on 16 July 2009, Official Report, column 80WS, the number of and cost to Departments of the provision of allocated cars and drivers by the Government Car and Despatch Agency to Ministers during 2008-09.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Draft Legislative Programme: Finance
Robert Neill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on whether funding allocated to his Department is to be allocated to the Department for Communities and Local Government to help implement the housing policies announced in the Draft Legislative programme for 2009-10. [290484]
Mr. McFadden: My noble Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills discussed the Department's £50 million contribution to the housing policies announced in the Draft Legislative programme with the chief secretary to the Treasury, as part of the process of publishing "Building Britain's Future."
East of England Development Agency: Consultants
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 1 May 2008, Official Report, column 574W, on the East of England Development Agency: Fishburn Hedges, what payments the East of England Development Agency has made to Fishburn Hedges since May 2008; and for what services each such payment was made. [289779]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since May 2008, Fishburn Hedges have provided support to EEDA with specific public affairs services. This support includes legislative and policy updates, a parliamentary monitoring service, information and briefings, support on political visits and events, and parliamentary procedures. EEDA does not have sufficient capacity in house to manage all these areas of expertise.
| Date | Total payment( 1) | Service |
| (1 )These figures are inclusive of VAT. | ||
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2009, Official Report, column 924W, on the East of England Development Agency: public relations, and with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells of 1 May 2008, Official Report, columns 574W, on the East of England Development Agency: Fishburn Hedges, for what reason the payments made to Fishburn Hedges are not classified as payments for external advice on public relations. [289781]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The previous question asked how much EEDA has spent on 'retaining external advice on public relations'.
By 'retaining external advice on public relations' EEDA interprets this as where a retainer contract is in place, with a monthly fee paid to an agency for public relations services. EEDA defines 'public relations services' as supporting EEDA's corporate communications. This is a function we manage in-house with a team of professionals. EEDA does not therefore 'retain' any agency to provide 'external advice on public relations'.
EEDA uses public relations agencies for specific projects where additional capacity is required.
Fishburn Hedges is a public affairs agency and EEDA uses them on a retainer basis to provide specific public affairs support services. This includes legislative and policy updates, a parliamentary monitoring service,
information and briefings, support on political visits and events and support on parliamentary procedures. EEDA does not have sufficient capacity in house to provide all these areas of expertise.
Electrical Equipment: Waste Disposal
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to reduce the administrative burden upon companies imposed by compliance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive; and if he will make a statement. [289404]
Ian Lucas: I am currently considering amendments to the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations with a view to reducing the administrative burdens on business. The Department issued a consultation paper in December 2008, outlining proposals to streamline the data reporting requirements, approval process for prospective producer compliance schemes and the introduction of a simplified system for recording evidence of the levels of WEEE collected and the recycling and recovery targets achieved.
I am hoping to introduce the amending regulations before Parliament later in the autumn with the new systems coming into effect from 1 January 2010.
Employment Tribunals Service
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many times his Department and its predecessors have been taken to an employment tribunal in each of the last five years; what the reason cited in each case was; and in how many cases the tribunal found in favour of the (a) the employee and (b) the Department. [290562]
Mr. McFadden: The Department and its predecessors have defended 28 claims for the financial years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, some of which were for multiple reasons.
The reasons cited in the claims filed were:
Age discrimination
Breach of contract
Constructive dismissal
Disability discrimination
Equal pay
Gender
Race discrimination
Unfair dismissal
Unfair selection for redundancy.
Two claims are still outstanding
14 claims were withdrawn
Eight claims were found in favour of the Department
Four claims were upheld by the tribunal.
Information for 2005-06 and 2006-07 financial years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Further details on the above cases are suppressed on grounds of confidentiality.
EU Membership
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate his Department has made of the annual regulatory cost to the economy arising from UK membership of the EU. [290089]
Ian Lucas: It is very difficult to provide precise figures for the annual regulatory cost to the economy arising from UK membership of 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 one third of the annual total of £13.2 billion.
Export Credit Guarantees: Maldives
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the debt owed to the Export Credits Guarantee Department by the Maldives was (a) in each of the last five years and (b) on the most recent date for which information is available; whether he plans to write off outstanding debt owed by the Maldives; what recent representations he has received on this matter; and if he will make a statement. [289609]
Ian Lucas: There are no outstanding debts to ECGD from the Malvides, and ECGD has not written off any Maldives debt.
I have not received any recent representations on this issue.
Exports: Government Assistance
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what programmes to support exporters his Department has announced in the last year; and what further options to support exporters his Department is considering. [292122]
Ian Lucas: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is the Government organisation that helps UK-based companies to succeed in an increasingly global economy and maximise their international success.
UKTI's trade development services for exporters aim to help develop their international trade potential and provide access to international markets. Further details on these services can be found on UKTI's website at:
Specific examples of the help made available by UKTI in the last 12 months include the 12 March 2009 announcement of the "Gateway to Global Growth" programme to provide specialist, tailored advice and support for British companies to help them improve and extend their exporting experience, and the 2009 Budget announcement of £10 million of the Strategic Investment Fund being channelled into UKTI, to be spent on events to promote UK sector expertise both in the UK and abroad. The funds are available to help UK businesses better showcase their strengths to overseas customers and markets and form part of the Government's New Industry New Jobs strategy.
A raft of wider Government assistance for UK business has been made available through BIS in various initiatives over the past year and details can be found at:
My noble Friend the Secretary of State for BIS announced the creation of the Advisory Panel on New Industry, New Jobs, Universities and Skills on 31 July. Looking forward, this panel will help generate ideas across the whole of the Government's New Industry, New Jobs agenda, challenging conventional policy thinking in these areas.
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