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16 Dec 2009 : Column 1327W—continued

Mr. Kidney: The Coal Liabilities Unit (CLU) within DECC has the responsibility for reviewing Capita's
16 Dec 2009 : Column 1328W
performance, with most of the Service Level Agreements (SLA) also audited by our external auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

In addition to the SLA regime, the Department's contract with Capita also provided milestone payments linked to claim settlement performance. For the Vibration White Finger Scheme, Capita earned 42.5 per cent. of the bonus available over three milestones. For the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Scheme, Capita have to date achieved 100 per cent. of the bonus available from two of the three milestones.

The following table sets out Capita's performance under the SLA regime, which commenced in August 2006. The SLA measures listed are those that have been utilised over the contract up to February 2009.

Since February 2009, the arrangements have changed and whilst all criteria continue to be measured and monitored, the financial incentive is only in place for the COPD quality measure.

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16 Dec 2009 : Column 1330W

SLA	Description	SLA Performance (%)	SLA Incentive (%) Payment	Audited by PwC	Comments
COPD Quality	Representatives of Capita's Technical Team and PwC's Audit Team use a comprehensive scoring check list to verify the information Capita adjusters have used, on a random sample of claims. If an error is identified, whether it affects the final offer value or not, or whether the error results in a potential overpayment or underpayment, the SLA score is reduced.	97	91	Audited on a quarterly basis	Capita's actual SLA performance was over 97% but due to the effect of a quality sliding scale (NB. SLAs have different sliding scales), any decrease in performance accelerates the loss of payments achieved, so Capita obtained 91% of the SLA incentive payment. The reason why they achieved 97% rather than 100% performance is because Capita's Technical Team and PwC identified errors in the information.
VWF Quality	As with COPD Quality (above), the Capita Technical Team and PwC Audit Team use a comprehensive scoring check list to verify the information Capita adjusters have used on a claim.	99.5	100	Audited on a quarterly basis	Capita achieved 99.5% for performance, but due to the sliding scale, they obtained 100% of the incentive payments.
COPD and VWF Disputes	This SLA measures Capita's handling of COPD and VWF disputes within the timescales stated in the relevant Claims Handling Agreement.	99	97	Audited on a six monthly basis	Capita achieved over 99% for performance, but obtained 97% of the incentive payments. The slight drop in performance from 100% to 99% was because Capita did not deal with all disputes within the required timescale.
VWF Stalled Claims	This SLA measures Capita's handling of the Stalled Claims process: Stage 1 - trigger for stalled claims process Stage 2 - no substantive response received Stage 3 - No correspondence received since Stage 1 and 2	65	67	Audited on a six monthly basis	Capita's systems could not automatically report the 3 different stages of the stalled claims process with the additional complexities brought about by the exceptions applying to cohorts such as Grant of Probate and DWP Schedule, etc. As such, this SLA is potentially under-reported.
Keystage Data Accuracy	This SLA measures the accuracy of the indicators on Capita's IT system which shows where the claim is in the claims process (i.e. the key stage). It does not measure any other aspect of data accuracy.	90	71	Audited on a quarterly basis	Capita achieved over 90% for performance, but due to the sliding scale, obtained 71% of the incentive payments. The main reason why Capita achieved 90% rather than 100% performance is because the PwC auditors took their sample from all the claims including the very oldest claims which had not always been updated with new key stage indicators on the system.
Scan Post Received	This SLA measures the timescale that post received by Capita is electronically scanned onto their document management system.	100	100	Audited on a six monthly basis	No drop in performance. All post was scanned within the 3 days SLA timescale.
Complaints	This SLA measures the volume of complaints received by Capita (or expression of dissatisfaction in some way, or chasing for a response from Capita) as a percentage of the total volume of correspondence received by Capita in the same period.	1.2 of correspondence	55	Audited on a six monthly basis	An average of 1.2% of correspondence Capita received were classified as complaints. Many of the complaints were chasing letters (e.g. what is happening with the claim or when will we get a response) generated automatically on a regular basis by solicitors IT systems. Such correspondence did not take into account issues in the Court process that delayed the progression of claims. On the sliding scale, Capita achieved 55% of the incentive payments. For Capita to have been able to achieve 100% for this SLA, there would have to be less than 0.5% of the correspondence received as complaints.
Management Information Reports	This SLA measures the timescale to produce high priority and medium priority reports for the Department.	100	100	Not audited by PwC as this was monitored by the Department when reports were requested.	No drop in performance. The contract defined different timescales for different priority reports.

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 12 November 2009, Official Report, column 669W, on industrial diseases: compensation, whether the terms of the contract between his Department and Capita Group plc allow his Department to levy fines on Capita Group plc. [303419]

Mr. Kidney: The contract is designed to incentivise Capita to perform to a high standard, especially in terms of the quality and accuracy of claim offers and the timely settlement of claims. While the contract does not specifically mention the levying of fines, the comprehensive Service Level Agreement performance regime contained within the contract allows Capita to achieve a range of incentive and bonus payments. If Capita do not meet the targets, they do not earn the full amount available.

In addition to the incentive and bonus payments structure, Capita are required to reimburse the Department for not meeting the required timescale for payments to claimants which attract judgement debt rate of interest (JDRI).

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 12 November 2009, Official Report, column 671W, on industrial diseases: compensation, what data were taken into account in his Department's value for money assessment of the contract with Capita Group plc. [303421]

Mr. Kidney: In the context of the most recent retender of the Department's claims handling contract in 2005-2006, the value for money (VFM) assessment was made on both financial and non-financial measures. Data was taken from Capita's bid, references with other Government Departments and the Department's knowledge of the incumbent service provider and the associated contractual arrangements.

The financial assessment represented 40 per cent. within the scoring system. The non-financial assessment
16 Dec 2009 : Column 1331W
represented the remaining 60 per cent. as set out in my reply to my right hon. Friend on 12 November 2009, Official Report, columns 671W and 672W.

Carbon Emissions: Conferences

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 12 October 2009, Official Report, column 457W, on departmental conferences, how many (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials from his Department attended the EU-China Near Zero Emissions Coal Initiative phase I Final Conference. [303508]

Mr. Kidney: Three DECC officials attended the China-EU NZEC Phase I Conference in Beijing on 28-29 October 2009. No Ministers or special advisers attended. The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change delivered a pre-recorded video message congratulating all those involved in NZEC and setting out his views more broadly on CCS internationally at:

http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/en/global-action1/asia/china/nzec-meets-in-beijing

Carbon Emissions: Housing

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department plans to spend on the Social Housing Energy Saving Programme in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and what estimate he has made of the (i) proportion of such expenditure to be incurred in England, (ii) the carbon savings to be achieved, (iii) the number of properties affected and (iv) the number of jobs created from such expenditure in each year. [300476]

Mr. Kidney [holding answer 23 November 2009]: The information is as follows:

(a) 2009-10-£54.5 million of funding has already been allocated

(i) 100 per cent. of the funding is allocated to social housing providers in England,

(ii) 52,000 tonnes estimated carbon saving

(iii) 65,000 homes

(iv) 1,300 Jobs

(b) 2010-11-£29.3 million of funding has already been allocated

(i) 100 per cent. is allocated social housing providers in England

(ii) 34,400 tonnes estimated carbon saving

(iii) 43,000 homes

(iv) 900 Jobs

( c, d and e) Currently no funding has been allocated to the programme post 2011.

Climate Change: Publicity

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department had spent on the Act on CO2 Campaign on the latest date for which figures are available. [304032]

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Mr. Kidney: The invoiced cost of the ACT ON C02 campaign from September 2008 to 10 December 2009 is £15 million. This includes all fees, and covers production, media, digital activity, research, events and other campaign-related spend.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on television advertising for the Act on CO2 Campaign to date. [304037]

Joan Ruddock: From April 2009 to December 2009, the Department for Energy and Climate Change is expected to spend approximately £2.2 million (exclusive of VAT) on TV advertising media space.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much the Act on CO2 Campaign has spent on promotion on (a) Facebook and (b) other social networking websites since its establishment. [304038]

Mr. Kidney: The information is as follows:

(a) Expenditure for promotion (advertising) on Facebook to date is £10,750 as part of the first phase of the ACT ON CO2 campaign.

(b) No expenditure for promotion on other exclusively social networking sites has occurred to date.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much the Act on CO2 advice line for advice on saving money has cost since its inception. [304052]

Joan Ruddock: The Act on C02 Advice Line is part of a comprehensive service provided by Energy Saving Trust's network of advice centres. This service not only covers the provision of telephone advice on energy and water saving, waste minimisation and domestic microgeneration but also incorporates proactive outreach, support for local authorities and communities, and capacity building with local energy efficiency related trades. The network was rolled out during 2008-09 and has been fully operational during 2009-10. The disaggregated cost of the advice line to date is approximately £5.9 million.

Coal Authority: Information and Communications Technology

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells of 12 October 2009, Official Report, columns 459-60W, on departmental ICT, what the terms of reference of the Coal Authority's Inferis IT project are. [307197]

Mr. Kidney: In my answer of 7 December 2009, Official Report, column 131W, I advised that a copy of the invitation to tender in respect of the Coal Authority's Inferis IT project was being placed in the Libraries of the House. I refer the hon. Member for Wealden to that document, in particular sections 5 (Background), 6 (Objectives and Aspirations) and 7 (Scope of Requirements).

16 Dec 2009 : Column 1333W

Departmental Advertising

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire of 12 October 2009, Official Report, columns 453-55W, on departmental advertising, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the advertisements his Department placed in (a) What's on TV magazine and (b) Take a Break magazine. [303504]

Mr. Kidney: We do not keep hard copies of publications. I have sent examples of the Act on CO2 advertisements in What's on TV and Take a Break to the hon. Member.

Departmental Billing

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many and what proportion of invoices submitted to his Department have been paid within 10 days in each month since October 2008; and if he will make a statement. [307968]

Mr. Kidney: The following table lists the number of invoices submitted and the proportion paid within 10 days.

Month	Number of invoices submitted	Proportion paid within 10 days (percentage)
2008
November	528	73
December	647	88
2009
January	672	98
February	575	99
March	730	97
April	617	98
May	746	97
June	652	98
July	877	97
August	527	94
September	710	85
October	750	93
November	802	92

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