Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 13 January 2010
House of Commons Commission
Bars
Michael Fabricant: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the (a) gross profit and (b) net trading surplus was of (i) Bellamy's bar and (ii) each other bar on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate in each of the last five years. [309749]
Nick Harvey: The gross profit (taking no account of staff and overhead costs) for Bellamy's Bar and each other bar (taken to mean venues which are primarily bars) on the Commons part of the parliamentary estate in each of the last five years was:
| £ | |||||
| Bar | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009( 1) |
| (1) April to December | |||||
The House does not record the net trading surplus or loss in each individual outlet but in 2008-09 the overall net cost incurred by the Catering and Retail Directorate in the Department of Facilities was some £6.1 million, in accordance with the budget approved by the Finance and Services Committee. This represents the difference between income and the cost of the services provided.
Members: Allowances
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much Sir Thomas Legg's analysis of hon. Members' expenses claims has cost to date; and how much of that cost was for remuneration to Sir Thomas. [310452]
Nick Harvey: Sir Thomas Legg completed his review and submitted his report on 16 December. The review has cost approximately £1.1 million to date, of which Sir Thomas's fees were £142,000. This does not include the cost of the appeal process now being conducted by the right hon. Sir Paul Kennedy, or of the work which Sir Thomas has been asked to do to update parts of his report in the light of further mortgage and rent information received from a number of Members.
Members: Computer Software
Mr. Drew: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the timetable is for migrating computer users in the House to Vista; and how many hon. Members have had their user accounts migrated to Vista. [310347]
Nick Harvey: PICT is ready to migrate Members from the Windows XP operating system to an upgraded system from the time of the next general election. A VISTA build has been successfully tested and PICT are now working with Microsoft to evaluate Windows 7 as a potential alternative option. PICT does not currently supply VISTA for any hon. Members parliamentary desktop.
Members: Electronic Equipment
Mr. Drew: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many types of personal digital assistants (PDAs) PICT supports; and what procedures hon. Members must follow to receive (a) PDAs and (b) upgrades to PDAs. [310348]
Nick Harvey: PICT currently has a range of five windows mobile devices in its PDA catalogue. Since the service was launched approximately three years ago the range of devices has changed and all those issued in the past are also supported by PICT. The full range of PDAs currently available from PICT can be viewed and ordered in the Commons Members Centre in Portcullis House. Device details and order forms can also be found on the intranet. During 2009 PICT upgraded the Parliamentary infrastructure and as a result will shortly be extending the mobile service further to allow Members to connect their own active synch compatible devices (windows mobile, symbian and iphone) and Blackberry devices securely to Parliamentary Outlook accounts.
Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology Service
Mr. Drew: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many (a) inquiries and (b) complaints PICT has received in each year since it was established. [310349]
Nick Harvey: Since it was established, the PICT Service Desk has received 345,404 calls and recorded 239 complaints.
| Number of i nquiries | Number of complaints | |
| (1) During 2006, when PICT was first established, complaints were not recorded separately. | ||
Northern Ireland
Offenders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many employees of his Department and its agencies have been convicted of a criminal offence of each type in each year since 1997. [308517]
Paul Goggins: While details of criminal convictions would be on the personnel files of employees they are not held centrally.
Olympics
Offenders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many employees of the Government Olympics Executive have been convicted of a criminal offence of each type in each year since 1997. [308518]
Tessa Jowell: The Government Olympic Executive is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The number of employees from DCMS convicted of a criminal offence since 1997 is zero.
Scotland
Anti-Slavery Day Bill
11. Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will ask the First Minister to introduce in the Scottish Parliament a legislative consent resolution in respect of the provisions of the Anti-Slavery Day Bill introducing a national day to raise awareness of the need to eradicate all forms of slavery. [309559]
Ann McKechin: The hon. Member for Totnes refers to his Anti-Slavery Day Bill which is due for second reading in this House on 5 February.
The Government are committed to the convention that we would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without seeking the consent of the Scottish Parliament, and this commitment extends to private Members' Bills that receive support from this House.
Regional News
12. Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met broadcasters in Scotland to discuss the future of regional news in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [309560]
Ann McKechin: My right hon. Friend regularly meets with broadcasters in Scotland to discuss a range of issues including regional news.
Freedom of Information Requests
13. Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many freedom of information requests his Department has received in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [309561]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office received 180 freedom of information requests during 2009.
Globespan Airways Ltd.
14. Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the entry into administration of Globespan Airways Ltd. in Scotland. [309562]
Mr. Jim Murphy: I speak to ministerial colleagues regularly on a range of issues including the Globespan problems. Along with these ministerial colleagues I am continuing to monitor the situation closely.
Banking Sector
15. Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent assessment he has made of the prospects for the banking sector in Scotland. [309563]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Following the UK Government's support to Halifax Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland worth £358 billion, I am confident that the Scottish banking sector will return to profitability and again flourish as part of Scotland's strong and diverse financial services sector.
Leader of the House
Departmental Sick Leave
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how many working days were lost due to (a) illness and (b) stress of employees in her Office in each of the last three years. [309917]
Barbara Keeley: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons joined the Cabinet Office in 2007.
The Cabinet Office has published previous annual sickness absence reports for the civil service (2003-07) these can be viewed via sickness absence reports at:
Since 2007, the Cabinet Office has continued to publish its own sick absence data on a quarterly basis. These can be viewed via absence data reports at:
No staff have taken leave for stress over the last three years.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how many sessions of media training were organised for Ministers in her Department in each of the last three years. [310241]
Barbara Keeley: In the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons one Minister has attended a Media skills training course during the last three years. This was organised by Sara Jones Associates Ltd. at a cost of £2,937.50.
Training is also provided to Ministers on a range of issues including handling the media, as part of their induction and continuing development in order to carry out their duties effectively under the 'Ministerial Code'.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Carbon Sequestration
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the effects on climate change of the practice of mob-grazing of cattle to sequester carbon dioxide in soil. [310000]
Jim Fitzpatrick: DEFRA has not carried out any formal research on the potential for mob-grazing (an extra intensive version of rotational grazing) to permanently sequester carbon in soil. However, an initial assessment from a UK perspective suggests that mob-grazing has limited potential to increase soil carbon and may increase soil compaction and erosion, resulting in a subsequent loss of soil quality and soil carbon. As a result of the density of livestock, mob-grazing practices would also be likely to lead to nutrient 'hotspots' which could lead to increased nitrous oxide emissions (a more powerful greenhouse gas) or increased nitrate leaching into water courses.
Agriculture: Waste Disposal
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will commission research into the (a) environmental and (b) economic merits of anaerobic digestion as a means of disposing of fallen stock; and if he will make a statement. [309994]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Disposal of fallen stock by means of anaerobic digestion is not permitted under the EU Animal By-products Regulation 1774/2002. This is because of the animal and public health risk associated with such disposal. There is therefore no point at this stage in carrying out such an environmental or economic assessment. However, we are aware that there is ongoing research into the possibility of using anaerobic digestions as a pre-treatment and method of temporary storage of fallen stock prior to disposal by rendering or incineration. The regulation has a provision to approve such new methods of disposal subject to evidence from research that it does not present a risk to animal and public health.
Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between badger populations and the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle, with particular reference to East Sussex. [310141]
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