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19 Jan 2010 : Column 303W—continued
Partnerships: Company Accounts
John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reasons Companies House made the most recent revisions to its form for limited liability partnerships to change details of a member, LLP288c to LLCH01; and what information may be provided through the revised form which could not be provided before its introduction. [311421]
Ian Lucas: Limited liability partnership legislation was changed from 1 October 2009 in line with new legislation brought in for companies (The Companies Act 2006).
The amended legislation includes new requirements for companies and LLPs. On form LLCH01 company directors and LLP members are required to provide a service address and residential address, a county or state of usual residence and any former names which have been used in the course of business. There are also different requirements for corporate officer appointments such as their registered number and where they are registered. This means that forms 288c and LLP288c are no longer applicable. Companies House revised the forms to align with changes in the legislation.
Royal Mail: Privatisation
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on what dates (a) the Secretary of State, (b) he and (c) his Department's officials have made an assessment of market conditions relevant to the part-privatisation of Royal Mail since 1 July 2009. [311642]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 18 January 2010]: The Department has been continuously monitoring market conditions. Our assessment remains that current market conditions would not enable the Government to secure a partner for Royal Mail, through a minority share sale, on terms that would be value for money for the tax payer.
Slough
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will set out, with statistical information related as directly as possible to the Slough constituency, the effects on Slough of the policies and actions of his Department and its predecessors since 2000. [311989]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Since 2000, the policies and actions of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (and its predecessors) have focused on building a competitive economy and on delivering prosperity and sustainable economic growth. The implementation of
BIS policy in Slough, has been taken forward primarily by SEEDA and GOSE, working in partnership with the local authority and other relevant bodies.
Examples of how BIS policies and actions have impacted on Slough include:
Levels of skills have significantly increased in Slough since 2000(1).
Performance at level 2 has increase from 62.6 per cent. to 67.1 per cent.
Performance at level 3 has increase from 41.2 per cent. to 44.5 per cent.
Performance at level 4 has increased from 23.9 per cent. to 26.4 per cent.
The stock of VAT registered businesses has increased from 3,090 businesses in 2000 to 3,645 businesses in 2007(2).
The proportion of business registrations (including VAT and PAYE) per 10,000 resident population aged 16 and above has increased from 46.2 in 2002 to 69.3 in 2008(3).
The number of business creation has also increased from 435 new businesses registering for VAT and/or PAYE in 2002 to 655 in 2008(4).
The percentage of small businesses showing growth in employed has increased from 10.53 per cent. in 2003 to 15.18 per cent. in 2008(5).
(1 )APS-Annual Population Survey data.
(2) Extracted from NOMIS, source: BERR-VAT registrations/deregistrations by industry.
(3) Data produced by BIS and available on the BIS website:
(4) As above.
(5) As above.
International Development
Departmental Billing
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in November and December 2009. [311201]
Mr. Michael Foster: The percentage of invoices from UK suppliers paid within 10 working days of receipt by the Department for International Development (DFID) was 97 per cent. in November and 96 per cent. in December.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in plans to co-locate his Department's offices overseas with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office offices in (a) Abuja, (b) Bridgetown, (c) Delhi, (d) Dhaka, (e) Kabul and (f) Jerusalem. [310744]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The progress made in plans to co-locate oversees offices of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the locations requested is outlined in the following table. Co-location is the preferred option for both DFID and the FCO and each proposal is assessed on financial and non-financial elements with a focus on achieving best value for the Government.
Departmental Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the quantity of food waste generated by his Department in each year for which figures are available. [310807]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not made any estimates of the food waste arising from our departmental estate.
Departmental Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which websites his Department's staff are blocked from accessing on departmental networked computers. [310763]
Mr. Michael Foster: In line with best practice the Department for International Development blocks access to numerous external web sites which are known to present a potential security threat to DFID's computer network or are deemed to present an additional risk or contain unsuitable material.
Information related to blocked sites is restricted and cannot be released for security reasons.
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2010, Official Report, column 435W, on international development: mandatory exclusions, if he will publish a list of the organisations and individuals which are excluded from contract awards made by his Department because they have been convicted of fraudulent or corrupt activity. [310743]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not maintain a list of organisations or individuals excluded from contract awards, rather the Department makes appropriate checks in relation to each contact in line with the Public Sector and Utilities Procurement and EU Directives.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library a copy of the results from his Department's most recent staff survey; which organisation carried out the survey; and what the total cost of the survey was. [310768]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) will publish its October 2009 staff survey results on the DFID website in early March 2010. Following publication we will place a copy of the results in the Library.
ORC International carried out the survey. Their services were procured by the Cabinet Office to deliver the first cross-civil service people survey. The people survey replaced all existing staff surveys in the civil service.
The final cost of the 2009-10 people survey for DFID is expected to be approximately £50,000. By procuring a single supplier for staff surveys in 2009-10, the civil service has saved 35 per cent. on the total cost of staff surveys in 2008-09.
Non-governmental Organisations: Finance
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will require non-governmental organisations in receipt of partnership funding from his Department to publish information on the projects on which such funding is spent. [310878]
Mr. Michael Foster: Partnership Programme Arrangements (PPAs) are provided to achieve organisational outcomes, agreed between the Department for International Development (DFID) and the relevant partner, as opposed to specific funding for individual projects. All PPA holders are required to produce an annual report of progress made against these agreed outcomes, which are published on the DFID website.
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many armoured cars have been purchased with funds from his Department for the use of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza since January 2008; what the total cost was to his Department; how many such vehicles have entered Gaza; how many are stored awaiting permission to enter Gaza; and what the cost to his Department has been to date of such vehicle storage prior to their delivery to Gaza. [311197]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department of International Development (DFID) donated three armoured cars to the UN following the conflict in Gaza. These arrived in Israel during January 2009. The UN Relief and Works Agency took responsibility for the clearance of the vehicles into Israel. Two of these vehicles entered Gaza in June 2009. The third car has been transferred, with our agreement, to the World Food programme, which expects to transfer it into Gaza in the next month.
The cost of the vehicles was approximately £320,000 and DFID has also spent £101,000 on freight and handling costs. The UN is liaising with the Israeli authorities on storage costs. DFID has not paid any storage costs to date.
Energy and Climate Change
Departmental Billing
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009. [311261]
Joan Ruddock: 90.7 per cent. of invoices were paid within 10 days of receipt in December 2009.
Departmental Internet
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what expenditure his Department incurred 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 websites in 2008-09; and what budget has been allocated for each such activity in 2009-10. [311633]
Joan Ruddock: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 13 January 2010, Official Report, columns 1045-6W.
Departmental Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) citizens' juries and (b) summits have been hosted by his Department since June 2007; on what date each such event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310239]
Eaga
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding is available to Eaga under the Warm Front scheme to provide emergency assistance to households in which a boiler or central heating system has failed in extreme weather conditions. [311646]
Mr. Kidney: Warm Front is not designed to provide an emergency service and therefore no separate funding is provided in this respect. Everyone that applies to Warm Front does so because they are on a low income and/or have a disability. That means that everyone that applies is dealt with as swiftly and efficiently as possible and will be regularly contacted by the scheme manager, Eaga, advising them of the progress of their application. However, an immediate need for heating is met by arranging for temporary heaters to help customers until a more permanent heating installation can be completed.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what targets there are in respect of the time taken by Eaga to complete boiler or central heating installations in circumstances in which a boiler or central heating system has been classified as unfit for use; and what factors Eaga takes into account, with particular reference to the needs of elderly and other vulnerable groups, in setting timetables for the completion of such work. [311647]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 18 January 2010]: Once an installer has been allocated to carry out recommended heating work, eaga is contractually obliged to ensure that this is completed within 120 working days.
The scheme is extremely popular, particularly during winter. Everyone that applies to Warm Front does so because they are on a low income and/or have a disability. That means that everyone that applies is dealt with as swiftly and efficiently as we can.
Where possible, however, an immediate need for heating is met by arranging for temporary heaters to help customers until a more permanent heating installation can be completed.
Warm Front Scheme: Lewes
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households applied for grants under the Warm Front scheme in Lewes constituency in each year since the inception of the scheme. [311170]
Mr. Kidney: The following table indicates the total number of applications to the Warm Front Scheme received in Lewes each year to date.
| Referrals received | |
| (1) To 12 January 2010 | |
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