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14 Jan 2010 : Column 1079W—continued
River Lymington: Ferries
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what studies Natural England has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated to secure bathymetric and other data to measure adverse effects of ferry movements on the Lymington river mudflats and the effectiveness of potential mitigation and compensation measures. [310730]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
Natural England has evaluated three studies on the risk of impacts of the W class ferry on the Natura 2000 sites and Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI) at Lymington, produced by: ABPmer; H R Wallingford; and Black and Veatch.
Natural England has also commissioned and evaluated technical advice from H R Wallingford on the technical effectiveness of Wightlink's proposal to mitigate any adverse impacts of the W class ferries on these sites.
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what budget has been allocated to the process of evaluating submissions to the consultation on the proposal to deposit dredge material on the Lymington mudflats scheduled to end on 22 January; and if he will make a statement. [310731]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Natural England has an internal team to manage the stakeholder engagement process in relation to Wightlink's mitigation proposals. This team is supported by expert technical advice. No budget has been allocated for this exercise, the costs of which will be met from existing resources.
Sheep
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of records relating to sheep born in the UK that have been lost in each of the last five years. [310647]
Jim Fitzpatrick: No estimate has been made of the number of records relating to sheep born in England that have been lost in each of the last five years.
Sheep inspections and record keeping in Scotland and Wales are a matter for devolved Administrations.
Wood: Government Departments
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he has made an estimate of the proportion of wood-based products procured by the Government and its agencies in the last 12 months which come from (a) Forest Stewardship Council-certified sources, (b) Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme-certified sources, (c) other timber certification schemes and (d) non-certified sources; and what mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance with his Department's Buy Sustainable - Quick Wins minimum environmental product standards. [309673]
Dan Norris: From 1 April 2009 all timber and timber derived products purchased by the UK Government departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies must comply with the UK Government's timber procurement policy. Only legal and sustainable or FLEGT licensed timber and wood products should be purchased. No distinction is made between forest certification schemes, and also no distinction between certification and other forms of evidence.
Guidance is available on how to ensure purchased timber meets the UK Government legality and sustainability criteria. Please see the document "UK Government timber procurement policy: Definition of 'legal' and 'sustainable' for timber procurement (TPAN April 2009) on the CPET website at:
A recent report, 'UK Timber Industry Certification' by Timbertrends, concluded that in 2008 the proportion of certified products available to the UK timber supply chain by forest certification scheme was distributed as follows: FSC 51.5 per cent.; PEFC 31.5 per cent.; other schemes 0.5 per cent.; and 33.2 per cent. not certified. We assume that the proportion of certified timber and wood products purchased (with category A evidence) by the public sector reflects availability and with two thirds being FSC and one third being PEFC.
This proportion also corresponds with CPETs experience. It should however be noted that the report quoted assessed the timber industry and for other product groups such as paper and furniture the proportions might not be the same.
Furthermore, a recent study conducted by DEFRA and CPET 'timber reporting pilot study' published July 2009 and available on the CPET website
showed that implementation of reporting requirements across mandated bodies is not currently possible, but that assurance of implementation and compliance with the policy is a first step towards achieving meaningful data.
DEFRA in conjunction with CPET has also started an awareness raising campaign and support program across Central Government as well as encouraging local authorities and the remainder of the public sector to voluntarily adopt the UK Government timber procurement policy.
Support for delivery and compliance with Quick Wins, by central government departments, is overseen by the Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement (CESP) in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).
Cabinet Office
Central Office of Information: Consultants
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Central Office of Information has spent on strategic consultancy in 2009-10; and which Departments received services or advice from such consultancy. [309832]
Tessa Jowell: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information to reply to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 7 January 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on COI Strategic Consultancy spend in 2009/10 (309832).
Strategic Consultancy spend for the financial year 2009/10 cannot be provided until the figures have been fully audited and approved.
COI spend figures for 2009/10 will be published in our annual report and accounts this summer.
Central Office of Information: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Central Office of Information has spent on its cost-benchmarking project. [309845]
Tessa Jowell: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information to reply to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 7 January 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on COI Cost-benchmarking 2009/10 (309845).
The COI Cost-benchmarking project is an internal project and as such any costs associated with this would be internal staff time.
This information is not held centrally and could only be made available at disproportionate cost.
Central Office of Information: Publications
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many copies of the Central Office of Information's book, How Public Sector Advertising Works, have been sold; and what income has been derived from these sales. [309844]
Tessa Jowell: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information to reply to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 7January 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on COI sales of the COI book, How Public Sector Advertising Works (309844).
Sales of the book have so far generated total sales of £52,000.
Copies of the book are also made available educational purposes.
Departmental Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which websites her Department's staff are blocked from accessing on departmental networked computers. [310052]
Angela E. Smith: The Cabinet Office Corporate IT System accesses the Internet via the Government Secure Intranet (GSI) services as provided by Cable and Wireless.
In order to enforce the Cabinet Office HR 'Appropriate Usage Policy' for our IT systems we additionally use the website blocking system Websense Web Filter. The Websense Web Filter provides a list of categories to be blocked and URLs of sites within the category are updated on a daily basis. We use this to block the categories rather than specific web sites.
Departmental Legislation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by her Department since 1 May 2008. [307789]
Angela E. Smith: No criminal offences have been created or abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by the Cabinet Office since 1 May 2008.
Health
Cervical Cancer: Vaccination
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vaccinations against cervical cancer were provided in 2009. [310472]
Gillian Merron: In total, about 2,076,000 doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine were administered between 1 January and 30 November 2009 (December 2009 data are not available currently) as part of the HPV vaccination programme in England. Three doses of the vaccine are needed to ensure sufficient protection.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the reduction in the average number of cases of cervical cancer which will be diagnosed each year as a result of the introduction of the policy of offering teenage girls vaccination against cervical cancer. [310476]
Gillian Merron: Immunising young women with the human papillomavirus vaccine could eventually lower the number of new cases of cervical cancer diagnosed each year in England by approximately 1,300 from recent levels.
Departmental Billing
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. [311262]
Phil Hope: The proportion of invoices paid within 10 days of receipt to commercial suppliers by the Department in December 2009 was 95.43 per cent.
Departmental Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) citizens' juries and (b) summits have been hosted by his Department since June 2007; on what date each event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event; [310237]
(2) how many citizens' juries or summits have been hosted by his Department since October 2008; on what date each event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310778]
Ann Keen: The Department recognises the important contribution that the public can make in developing policy and carry out a wide range of activities which allow ministers and officials to listen to and understand the views of the public and stakeholders in developing policy.
Data from 2007 on the number of citizens' juries and consultation with random panels of people to aid decision-making by the Department are not readily available. Supplying the occurrences of citizens' juries and deliberative consultations would require a substantive investigation into all public engagement programmes undertaken by various divisions within the Department at a disproportionate cost.
However, the Department does engage widely with the public using a number of methodologies which feed into the policy making process. These do on occasion include citizens' juries and summits and other events which can but do not always include ministerial attendance.
Some examples of engagement events which involved Ministers were:
NHS Next Stage Review-led by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Lord Darzi;
(September 2007 events held in each strategic health authority and attended by various Ministers including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson and former departmental Ministers Lord Darzi, Ben Bradshaw, Dawn Primarolo and current minister Ann Keen);
(January 2008 events again held in each SHA and attended by various Ministers including Lord Darzi and Ann Keen); and
Primary and Community Care Review (April 2008 event attended partially by Ben Bradshaw).
Some examples of extensive public engagement which did not involve Ministers include:
Review into the Consequences of Additional Private Drugs for the NHS (2008): workshops with cancer patients, email consultation and the focus groups; and
NHS Constitution (2008-09): A series of focus groups and a deliberative event with patients, the public and stakeholders.
Mental Health Services
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people were admitted to mental health units in each primary care trust area in each month of the last two years; [310570]
(2) how many people were admitted into mental health units in each primary care trust area in each of the last five years. [310571]
Phil Hope: The information has been placed in the Library.
Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services
Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance's report "Joint Working? An audit of the implementation of the Department of Health's Musculoskeletal Services Framework". [310782]
Ann Keen: The Musculoskeletal Services Framework provides good practice guidance for the national health service on delivering care closer to home for people in the UK with bone and joint conditions. It was published as good practice guidance, and as such the Department is not mandating its implementation but continues to support the good practice promoted in the guidance.
The Department has no plans to make a specific assessment of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance's report "Joint Working? An audit of the implementation of the Department of Health's Musculoskeletal Services Framework".
NHS Litigation Authority
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organisations achieved level (a) 0, (b) 1, (c) 2 and (d) 3 in NHS Litigation Authority assessments in each of the last three years; and if he will list those organisations in each such category. [310174]
Ann Keen: The data requested for each organisation are contained in the documents:
Risk Management Assessment Levels 2006-07.
Risk Management Assessment Levels 2007-08.
Risk Management Assessment Levels 2008-09.
Copies have been placed in the Library.
The data are also available from the Factsheets (No. 4) in the publication section of the NHS Litigation Authority's website: www.nhsla.com
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