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27 Oct 2009 : Column 340W—continued
Computer Viruses
John Mann: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the number of computer viruses originating in the UK; and how many prosecutions there have been for offences related to writing viruses and malicious software in each of the last five years. [294927]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have not made an assessment of the number of computer viruses originating in the UK.
The Government have made changes to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, through the Police and Justice Act 2006, to make it an offence to make, supply or obtain articles for use in computer misuse offences, such as malicious software and viruses. The changes were enacted on 1 October 2008. The figures for prosecutions under this offence are not yet available.
Departmental Mergers
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on external advice on the implementation of the merger of the former Departments for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Innovation, Universities and Skills. [295907]
Mr. McFadden: The Department has not incurred any expense on external advice in implementing the merger of the two Departments. The cost of the merger to date are £160,000, primarily on changes to accommodation and building signage, offset by savings from removing duplication.
Departmental Visits Abroad
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on overnight accommodation for (a) Ministers and (b) officials while overseas in each of the last three years. [294684]
Mr. McFadden: Following a machinery of government change the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was formed in June. The following figures relate to the Departments before the merger.
The amount spent by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on overnight accommodation while overseas in each of the last three years was:
| £ | |
The amount spent by Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on overnight accommodation while overseas since it was formed in 2007 was:
| £ | |
The Department does not separately record overnight accommodation undertaken by Ministers from that of officials-to provide this information would entail disproportionate costs.
The Cabinet Office publish details of overseas visits costing in excess of £500 undertaken by Ministers, details are available by clicking on the following link:
Further Education: Construction
Joan Walley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the full evaluation made by the Learning and Skills Council on the readiness of all further education colleges to commence proposed capital building projects. [294339]
Kevin Brennan: The LSC has published on its website full details of the Lambert Smith Hampton readiness report and the results of the PricewaterhouseCoopers prioritisation exercise. It can be found at:
Further Education: Stoke on Trent
Joan Walley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the results were of the evaluation by the Learning and Skills Council of Stoke-on-Trent Further Education College's application for capital funding; and what the reasons were for refusal of the application. [294340]
Kevin Brennan: In line with the recommendations of Sir Andrew Foster's report a prioritisation exercise was undertaken to identify those projects which were the most urgent and the greatest need. Unfortunately Stoke-On-Trent college was not among the 13 projects which after receiving final approval are now under construction. Details of the Lambert Smith Hampton readiness report and the results of the PricewaterhouseCoopers prioritisation exercise can be found at:
GCSE and GCE A-Level: Young Offenders
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people in (a) the secure estate and (b) Reading Young Offender Institution sat (i) GCSE and (ii) A Level examinations in each year since 2004. [295950]
Kevin Brennan: The information is not available in the format requested, as we do not record the number of people sitting exams.
Table 1 shows that there were 788 GCSE enrolments and 112 GCE, A/AS and A2 level enrolments by learners funded through the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service in the 2006/07 academic year and 1,194 GCSE enrolments and 264 GCE, A/AS and A2 level enrolments in the 2007/08 academic year-an increase of 406. There was no record of GCSE and GCE, A/AS/A2 level enrolments recorded in HMP and YOI Reading in either year.
| Table 1: Increase in GCSE and GCE, A/AS/A2 level enrolments for offenders, 2006/07 and 2007/08 academic year, England | ||
| Number of enrolments | ||
| 2006/07 academic year | 2007/08 academic year | |
Higher Education: Admissions
Mr. Evans: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Universities and Colleges Admissions Service applicants are given correct information regarding the status of their applications; [295878]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of applicants affected by errors in the online system employed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service to allocate university places in 2009. [295880]
Mr. Lammy: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service is an autonomous organisation funded by its member institutions, and it is responsible for managing applications to higher education courses in the UK. UCAS has provided us with following information. It receives results from the major awarding bodies and having added them to applicant details held at UCAS makes them available to institutions. It is then the institutions' responsibility to make decisions based on this information-updating the applicant's on-line record via UCAS systems accordingly. UCAS then processes these data and communicates the decision to the applicant both online and by letter. Through the online service, applicants were able to view the decisions received by UCAS at all times. UCAS informs us that on no occasion during this application cycle were any errors made by them in the processing of decisions.
Manufacturing Industries: Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of firms in (a) Leeds, West constituency and (b) the City of Leeds are involved in manufacturing. [294024]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information from the interdepartmental business register on the number of manufacturing enterprises registered for VAT and/or PAYE in the Leeds city council area and the Leeds, West parliamentary constituency in 2009 is given in the following table.
| Manufacturing enterprises( 1, 2) | All enterprises | |||
| Area | Number | Percentage of total | Number | Percentage of total |
| (1) UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activity (SIC) 2007 (2) Business numbers are rounded to the nearest five. These numbers comprise whole business enterprises registered in the appropriate locations, and not branches operating in the appropriate location but with their headquarters elsewhere. Source: Office for National Statistics Inter-Departmental Business Register 2009 | ||||
Post Offices: East of England
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many sub-post offices have closed in each local authority area in the East of England in each year since 1999. [296038]
Mr. McFadden: The Department does not hold the information requested. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of Post Office Ltd., to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Post Offices: Norwich
Chloe Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many post offices there were in Norwich, North constituency in (a) 1997, (b) 2007 and (c) January 2009. [296106]
Mr. McFadden: The Department does not hold the information requested. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of Post Office Ltd., to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Regional Development Agencies: Pay
Margaret Moran: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which staff in which regional development agencies (RDAs) received a salary greater than £50,000 in 2008-09; what expenses were reimbursed by each RDA to each such staff member in 2008-09; what pension entitlement each such staff member accumulated in 2008-09; what estimate has been made of the monetary value of hospitality received by each such staff member in 2008-09; whether such staff members received further benefits from their RDA in 2008-09; and what the equivalent figures were for each (a) chief executive and (b) chair of each RDA in 2008-09. [291476]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Scotland
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department plans to make a submission to the Scottish Executive's National Conversation consultation on Scotland's constitutional future. [288953]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not submitted evidence to the Scottish Government's National Conversation.
The Commission on Scottish Devolution was established by majority vote in the Scottish Parliament and with the full support of the UK Government. UK Departments submitted evidence to the Commission during its First phase of evidence gathering.
The Commission recently published its Final Report, which can be found here:
A Steering Group has been established under the Chairmanship of the Secretary of State for Scotland to help the UK Government and the Scottish Parliament plan how to take forward the Caiman recommendations and deliver stronger devolution within a stronger United Kingdom.
Small Business Finance Forum
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Small Business Finance Forum in improving the access of small businesses to finance. [293773]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Small Business Finance Forum (SBFF) is an important means through which Ministers can engage with key representatives of the small business community and banks to facilitate better and more effective communication on finance issues. Business representatives have recognised the impact that the forum has had in improving relations.
Key achievements of the SBFF include the agreement of the Statement of Principles and the formation of the SME monitoring panel. The Statement of Principles defines how banks and their small business customers will work together, and aims to establish the right relationship from the start and outline how banks will help if companies get into difficulties, The SME monitoring panel was set up to monitor bank lending and initiate a constructive dialogue with individual lenders on the availability, risk and overall cost of lending. The panel reports monthly to Ministers.
Takeovers: Mass Media
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps the Office of Fair Trading has taken to amend guidance on local and regional newspaper mergers and competition issues since publication of the Digital Britain Final Report. [294103]
Kevin Brennan
[holding answer 19 October 2009]: Since publication of the Digital Britain Report, the
OFT has published updated guidance on jurisdictional and procedural matters relating to merger control. The new 'Jurisdictional and Procedural Guidance' is available at:
Paragraph 6.15 of the guidance sets out how the OFT will consult Ofcom on media mergers involving newspaper publishing and/or commercial radio or television broadcasting.
Urenco
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what guidelines will be applied by the Shareholder Executive to safeguard national security in the sale of the UK share in Urenco; and whether any prohibition will be put on bids from companies or organisations from particular countries. [293886]
Mr. Kidney: I have been asked to reply.
Careful consideration will be given to the policy issues that realising value from our interest in Urenco would give rise to before any decision to proceed is taken. Safeguarding national security will remain of paramount importance.
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