Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 14 January 2010
Wales
Bilateral Meetings
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what bilateral meetings he has had with each of his Cabinet colleagues in the last 12 months. [310704]
Mr. Hain: In the course of my duties I have frequent meetings and discussions with Cabinet colleagues.
Leader of the House
Departmental Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how many citizen juries or summits have been hosted by her Office since October 2008; on what date each event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310777]
Barbara Keeley: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons has hosted no citizen juries or summits since October 2008.
Departmental Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Leader of the House how many (a) citizens' juries and (b) summits have been hosted by her Office since June 2007; on what date each event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310236]
Barbara Keeley: Since 2007, the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons hosted one citizens' jury. A deliberative forum was held on the draft legislative programme which the Leader of the House of Commons attended on 20 October 2007.
House of Commons Commission
14 Tothill Street
Michael Fabricant: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what (a) buildings and (b) rooms on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate are vacant; for how many months the offices at 14 Tothill Street have been vacant; and what the cost of (i) rent and (ii) utilities on the offices at 14 Tothill Street has been in that period. [309859]
Nick Harvey:
There are no (a) vacant buildings on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate. The number of (b) vacant rooms fluctuates
constantly as requirements change or maintenance work is carried out. At present there are 13 unoccupied offices on the estate with a total area of 216m(2). Seven of these offices are vacant to enable major roof works to take place in the area known as the "Yellow Submarine" north of Speaker's Court. There are 2,100m(2) of open plan offices leased in No 4 Millbank for use as decant space. Of this, 500m(2) is currently vacant, awaiting fit-out.
There are also 2,800m(2) of vacant, open plan space which is the House of Commons' area of No 14 Tothill Street, and this space has been empty since the building was leased in October 2007. This area will be fitted out and available for use by the Department of Resources in autumn 2010. The Commons share of (i) the total rent paid to date, including the current quarter to 25 March 2010, amounts to some £4.8 million (including VAT); and the Commons share of (ii) utility costs paid to November 2010 has been some £33,000 (including VAT).
Northern Ireland
Chief Information Officer
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what pay band his Department's chief information officer (CIO) is employed; whether the CIO is employed on a fixed-term or permanent contract; and what the size is of the budget for which the CIO is responsible in the period 2009-10. [307560]
Mr. Woodward: The post of director of communications within the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is located in senior civil service payband 2 and the current postholder is on a permanent SCS contract.
The 2009-10 budget for NIO Information Services Division is £2.1 million.
Scotland
Departmental Fines
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what powers his Department has to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such power; and how much his Department has recovered in administrative penalties in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [309266]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has no powers to impose administrative penalties.
Wind Power
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) who (a) drafted, (b) checked and (c) approved his Department's press release on the granting of round 3 offshore wind rights, distributed on 7 January 2010; and whether special advisers contributed to the (i) drafting and (ii) approval of that document; [310820]
(2) to which special advisers his Department e-mailed its press release on the granting of round 3 offshore wind rights on 7 January 2010; [310821]
(3) for what reasons his Department's press release on the granting of round 3 offshore wind rights was issued before the expiry of the embargo on the press release issued by the Crown Estate on that matter; [310822]
(4) whether his Department's press release on the granting of round 3 offshore wind rights was sent to the Crown Estate before it was issued. [310823]
Ann McKechin: The press release was drafted, checked and approved by Scotland Office press office staff using information provided by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Scotland Office press releases are drafted to include the relevant policy advice from officials and the relevant Government Department(s) and advice from special advisers where appropriate.
The release also referred to £3 million of grants to further support the offshore wind supply chain, including £1.5 million to Burntisland Fabrications Ltd. (BiFab) in Fife, from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
The announcement that a licence was to be awarded by the Crown Estate to SeaEnergy Renewables and EDP Renovaveis in the Moray Firth was already in the public domain on the morning of 7 January 2010 having been carried in The Press and Journal. The Scotland Office press office was not made aware of any subsequent embargo.
A link to The Press and Journal article can be found here:
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Billing
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. [311264]
Departmental Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the quantity of food waste generated by his Department in each year for which figures are available. [310818]
Mr. Simon: This information is not available.
Departmental Offices
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) area and (b) estimated value is of (i) vacant and (ii) occupied office space (A) owned and (B) rented by his Department. [310531]
Mr. Simon: The Department rents 13,121 sq m of office space.
9,425 sq m is occupied by the Department
3,537 sq m is sublet to tenants
159 sq m is vacant
As the space is not owned by the Department, valuations are not carried out.
Departmental Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has allocated for (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses for staff in 2009-10. [300457]
Mr. Simon: An element of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives.
Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
The wages/salary budget for 2009-10 is £25,327,000, of which non-consolidated performance payments represents an estimated 2.4 per cent.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has paid to public relations companies in each of the last five years; and for what purpose in each case. [309805]
Mr. Simon [holding answer 11 January 2010]: The costs of the Department's contracts with public relations consultancies in each of the last five years are as follows:
| PR consultancy | Spend (£) | |
These companies provided communications support on Digital Switchover, the implementation of the Licensing Act and C&binet.
Departmental Sick Leave
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many working days were lost due to illness of employees within his Department in each of the last three years; and how many of these were attributed to stress in each year. [310231]
Mr. Simon [holding answer 7 January 2010]: The table shows:
a. The number of working days lost due to illness within the Department for Culture Media and Sport in each of the last three years.
b. The number of days attributed to stress in each year.
| Working days lost | Days attributed to stress | |
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many sessions of media training were organised for Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years. [309914]
Mr. Simon: My right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) attended one media training session in 2008 when he was Secretary of State. All other Ministers in DCMS are recorded as not having undertaken media training courses in the last three years.
Industrial Tribunals
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many industrial tribunals relating to his Department there have been in each of the last five years; and what the cost to his Department was of such tribunals in each such year. [310749]
Mr. Simon: DCMS has had no industrial tribunals in the last five years.
Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many citizens' juries or summits have been hosted by his Department since October 2008; on what date each such event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310752]
Mr. Simon: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has held no citizen juries since October 2008.
Television: Licensing
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many persons over 75 years old received a free television licence in 2008-09. [311232]
Mr. Simon: Free television licences are administered for people aged 75 or over by TV Licensing as agents for the BBC.
According to the BBC's annual report and accounts, there were 4 million free television licences issued to pensioners aged 75 or over in 2008-09.
Solicitor-General
Israel
Richard Burden:
To ask the Solicitor-General what the position was of the Government as presented by the Attorney-General at meetings with representatives of the Government of Israel in January 2010 on the
operation of the law of universal jurisdiction in the UK in relation to the possibility of Israeli officials, politicians or military personnel being arrested if they travel to the UK. [310076]
The Solicitor-General [holding answer January 2010]: The Attorney-General reiterated the statement by the Foreign Secretary that the Government were looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed to avoid this situation happening again.
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