Written Answers to Questions
Monday 7 December 2009
Scotland
Departmental Taxis
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many miles (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have travelled by taxi in the course of their official duties in each year since 1997; and at what cost to the public purse in each such year. [302717]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not record the number of miles travelled by taxi by Ministers or officials in the course of their official duties. The costs of taxi journeys since the Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999 are shown in the following table:
| £ | ||
| Ministers | Officials | |
Electoral Commission Committee
Electoral Commission: Leave
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, for how many days each year the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission is released or is entitled to take leave for service on the board of the Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Foundation Trust; and if he will make a statement. [304447]
Mr. Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the chief executive is allowed up to five days paid leave a year for service as a non-executive director of the trust, provided that there is no adverse impact on the performance of his duties at the commission. The chief executive does not receive payment from the trust for his services.
Electoral Commission: Pay
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the salary or salary band of the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission is. [304446]
Mr. Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that in 2009-10 the salary of the chief executive of the Electoral Commission is £121,800.
Wales
Welsh Language
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish before 9 December 2009 all correspondence his Department has received on the Welsh Language Legislative Competence Order other than from Welsh Assembly Government Ministers and officials. [304685]
Mr. Hain: The correspondence the Wales Office has received falls into two broad categories-first, the responses received to my predecessor's call for views on the proposed legislative competence order. Those responses which could be made public were sent to the Welsh Affairs Committee and the First Minister and were copied to the National Assembly for Wales Committee that scrutinised the LCO, on 14 May 2009, and I will place copies of that correspondence in the Library of the House.
The second category is correspondence received either before or after the call for views. This includes:
some 300 e-mails from members of the public seeking a swift publication of the Welsh Affairs Committee report. The vast majority of these were a standard text;
correspondence from members of the public and Welsh language bodies. This totals some 37 letters and e-mails;
some eight items of correspondence from parliamentary committees or committees of the National Assembly for Wales, or from individual members of those committees; and
some 10 letters from businesses or their representative bodies.
We have not sought the permission of these respondents to publish their correspondence, and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Releasing correspondence from businesses and their representative bodies would also prejudice commercial interests.
Prime Minister
Official Engagements
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Prime Minister when he last met the Chief of the Defence Staff accompanied by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Air Staff. [304721]
The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues and others including the Chief of the Defence Staff, Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Air Staff.
Scientists
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions he has met the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months. [303989]
The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.
Cabinet Office
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many external consultants work for (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) the Prime Minister's Office. [303244]
Ms Butler: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and therefore the answer provided is for the whole of the Cabinet Office.
The information requested for the Cabinet Office is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
KBR
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether her Department has entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009. [303286]
Ms Butler: The Cabinet Office has not entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.
Political Honours Scrutiny Committee
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) whether any records held by the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee relating to individuals nominated for a peerage have been destroyed; [304581]
(2) where the records and documents of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee are held. [304582]
Ms Butler: No records of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee have been destroyed although criteria for selecting those for preservation at the National Archives (TNA) are presently being considered. Any records over 30 years old that are not selected for transfer to TNA will be destroyed.
Records of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee are held by the Cabinet Office.
Refuges: Enfield
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much funding has been provided for women's refuges and rape crisis centres in Enfield in the latest period for which figures are available. [302364]
Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 1 April 2009, Official Report, column 1236W, for detail of individual awards from the Victims Fund and the Government Equalities Office Special Fund 2008-09. Details of the awards made in 2009-10 will be placed in the Commons Library.
The Supporting People programme provides the main source of public funding for housing-related support services in England. This programme is delivered at a local level. The 2008-09 national allocations for Supporting People amount to £1.686 billion.
The most recently available spend data on Supporting People is for 2007-08. Details of this data will be placed in the Commons Library. It shows that Enfield reported an annual spend of £397,817 on housing-related support services with a primary client group of women at risk of domestic violence.
The Government have invested around £11 million over the last five years in specialist services for victims of sexual violence; this is in addition to funding provided
locally. Most of this funding has come from the Victims Fund. We do not have a breakdown by local authority area of funding to rape crisis centres.
The Government do not collect information centrally on what services are available for victims of rape and sexual abuse or domestic violence. Information is held on the following central Government funding:
organisations which have received awards from the Government Equalities Office Special Funds in 2008-09 and 2009-10;
organisations which have received awards from the Victims Fund in the last three financial years (2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10);
total Supporting People spend by Administering Authority per Client Group (£), per financial year.
The provision of services to victims of these terrible crimes is an issue for local authorities; decision makers in these authorities are best placed to assess the needs of their area. The majority of services are delivered through local providers who are supported and funded by local bodies, such as councils and health organisations.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Subsidies
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average level of fine charged was for late payments in respect of the 2005 Single Payment Scheme; and what estimate he has made of the outstanding amount due relating to payments under the (a) 2005 and (b) 2006 schemes. [303424]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Financial penalties are applied by the European Commission if member states fail to make 96.154 per cent. of payments, by value, under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) by 30 June of the year following each scheme year. To date, such penalties, totalling some £64 million, have only been applied to the UK in respect of the 2005 SPS.
The SPS payments still due are estimated at £9,628 for the 2005 SPS scheme year and £6,440 for the 2006 scheme year. Most of the nine outstanding claims are cases where probate issues still need to be resolved. Some additional sums may become due as a result of changes to claim values following, for example, appeals by farmers.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many claims of under (a) £300 and (b) £500 have been made under the Single Payment Scheme in 2009. [303612]
Jim Fitzpatrick: In England, for the 2009 Single Payment Scheme, the Rural Payments Agency received 3,748 claims for less than £300 and 4,223 claims for between £300 and £499.99. These reflect the value claimed; the value paid may differ.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average time taken to process a claim made under the Single Payment Scheme was in each of the last five years. [303621]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Based on the information contained within the NAO Value for Money Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 880 Session 2008-09, published on 15 October 2009 and titled "A Second Progress Update on the Administration of the Single Payment Scheme by the Rural Payments Agency", the average staff time taken to process single payment scheme (SPS) claims in England for each year is set out as follows:
| SPS scheme year | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
The number of staff shown includes staff employed in shared service and corporate service roles, indirectly supporting processing, as well as those employed directly in processing.
Figures are not yet available for processing 2009 scheme claims.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cheques under the Single Payment Scheme have been issued by the Rural Payments Agency for less than (a) £60, (b) £40, (c) £20, (d) £10 and (e) £1 in each year since 2001. [303623]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of Single Payment Scheme (SPS) cheque payments issued by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) for the bands and scheme years specified in the question are as follows:
| Number of payments | ||||
| Band | SPS 2005 | SPS 2006 | SPS 2007 | SPS 2008( 1) |
| (1) A change in EU regulations meant that the RPA stopped making payments by cheque on 15 October 2008. All payments are now made via BACS. | ||||
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