Written Answers to Questions
Monday 11 January 2010
Scotland
Departmental Billing
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 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. [307967]
Ann McKechin: The following table shows the volume of invoices received by the Scotland Office and the percentage of invoices paid within 10 days. Figures prior to November 2008 are not available.
| Month | Volume | Percentage paid within 10 days |
Departmental Pay
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff in his Department received bonus payments in each of the last five years for which information is available; what proportion of his Department's workforce they represented in each year; what the total amount of bonuses paid was in each year; what the largest single payment was; and if he will make a statement. [300378]
Ann McKechin: All staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice. Staff may be eligible for non-consolidated performance payments in different ways. Firstly, through end of year performance payments under their parent bodies' performance management arrangements. The Scotland Office does not itself make the end of year awards and does not hold information centrally on end of year non-consolidated performance payments made to its secondees.
Secondly under the Special Bonus Scheme of the Scottish Executive and the Reward and Recognition Scheme of the MoJ, the Office may directly authorise non-consolidated performance payments (or in the case of the MoJ scheme, small and instantaneous awards, e.g. vouchers) in recognition of special effort, achievement and commitment. The following table shows the number and cost of non-pensionable payments made under these schemes:
| Financial year | Total number of payments | Total cost of payments (£) | Percentage work force | Percentage pay bill |
The largest single payment under these schemes was £750.
Members of the senior civil service in the Scotland Office are seconded from the Scottish Executive and the Ministry of Justice, their non-consolidated performance payments are assessed under a framework set by the Cabinet Office. The Office does not hold central information on such payments.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much funding his Department has allocated for (a) year-end and (b) in-year bonuses for its staff in 2009-10. [307025]
Ann McKechin: The salary budget of the Scotland Office for 2009-10 is £2,847,000, of which non-consolidated performance payments represent an estimated 0.01 per cent.
The non-consolidated performance payments are an integral element of the reward package for staff, have to be re-earned each year and do not add to future pay bill costs (e.g. pensions). The Scotland Office believe that performance payments help drive high performance in the office.
Hotels
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hotel room nights were booked by officials in his Department in each year since 2007; and how much his Department spent on the fees of third party agents in booking hotel accommodation in each of those years. [309060]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not separately record the number of hotel rooms booked by officials and does not directly pay any fees to third party agents in booking such hotel accommodation.
All travel and subsistence is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code. All expenditure has be incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Northern Ireland
Clergy: Misconduct
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what response he has made to the submission by Joe Rice, a solicitor acting on behalf of persons who when children were victims of abuse in Church and state institutions in Northern Ireland requesting that an inquiry be held on the same lines as that recently conducted in the Irish Republic; and if he will make a statement. [308062]
Paul Goggins: Officials replied to Mr. Rice explaining that the Northern Ireland Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety had written to me about the implications for Northern Ireland of the Ryan Commission report and that I was currently considering the letter and would reply to the Minister in due course.
Departmental Fines
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what powers (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) have to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such power; and how much (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies and NDPBs have recovered in administrative penalties in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [309259]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not have the power to impose administrative penalties.
Departmental Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department's website in each of the last three years; and what budget has been allocated for each such activity in 2009-10. [310214]
Paul Goggins: A review of my Department's website was conducted during the 2006-07 financial year to optimise the site and improve performance and download speeds. This review cost £15,677. In the next two financial years, the Department spent £4,308 and £4,227 respectively on hosting and infrastructure. No other costs were incurred. The total budget allocated for the next financial year is £5,000.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which websites his Department's staff are blocked from accessing from departmental networked computers. [310245]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) runs software to block all categories of websites which do not conform with the NIO Internet Acceptable Usage Policy or would be considered a network security risk. It is not possible to produce a list of the websites as they run into millions globally and come and go every day.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on (a) alcohol and (b) entertainment in the last 12 months. [305533]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) records expenditure for alcohol and entertainment under the description of either hospitality or catering.
The NIO, including its arm's length bodies but excluding its agencies and executive NDPBs, spent £189,855 on official hospitality and catering in 2008-09.
This includes receptions and events held at Hillsborough Castle. These events were attended by 15,287 cross-community representatives from the police and their families, armed forces, business, charity, voluntary and criminal justice sectors across Northern Ireland.
All expenditure has to be incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what remuneration, including all categories of pay and allowances, has been paid to (a) the Chairman and (b) members of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in each year since its inception. [308991]
Mr. Woodward: The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission have been paid as follows:
| 1999-2000 | |
| £ | |
| 2000-01 | |
| £ | |
| 2001-02 | |
| £ | |
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