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26 Jan 2010 : Column 823W—continued
Women and Equality
Departmental Advertising
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what advertising campaigns her Office has been responsible for in each of the last three years; which campaigns have (a) commenced and (b) continued in 2009-10 to date; and what the cost of each such campaign has been [312055]
Michael Jabez Foster: Since the Government Equalities Office was created in October 2007, we have run three campaigns. The first was to encourage more Black, Asian and minority ethnic women to become councillors, from July 2008 to July 2009, at a cost of around £89,000. The second was to raise awareness of new flexible working rights between April and September 2009, at a cost of around £126,000. The third is to encourage more women, people from ethnic minorities, and disabled people to apply for public appointments. This campaign started in November 2009 and will end in March 2010 at an estimated cost of £150,000.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Scott: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much has been paid in bonuses to civil servants in the Government Equalities Office in each year since its inception. [306422]
Michael Jabez Foster: Since its creation on 12 October 2007 the Government Equalities Office has awarded the following staff bonuses.
| Number of bonuses | Total of bonuses (£) | |
Equality: Local Government
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality if she will consult fire and rescue authorities on the likely effects on them of the duty to tackle socio-economic disadvantage proposed in the Equality Bill. [312881]
Michael Jabez Foster: Yes. The Government will be writing to the chairs of the fire and rescue authorities about this issue shortly.
Energy and Climate Change
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Mike Wood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies for
which he has responsibility plan to sign up to the 10:10 campaign for cutting carbon usage; and if he will publish the research or criteria on which decisions about participation in the campaign have been based. [312470]
Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change signed up to the 10:10 campaign on 18 November 2009. The Department has an ongoing Greening DECC programme to reduce its energy consumption and increase its overall sustainability, and in July 2009, as part of its Low Carbon Transition Plan, DECC committed to a 10 per cent. reduction in its carbon emissions in this financial year (2009-10), with more to come in 2010. The 10:10 campaign fits well with this work.
DECC does not have any agencies.
The decision to sign up to the 10:10 campaign and to publish the justification for that decision is for each individual NDPB.
Departmental Information Officers
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) press officers and (b) communications staff were employed by his Department on the latest date for which figures are available; and what the cost of employing such staff was in 2008-09. [311632]
Joan Ruddock: There were 10 press officers in DECC as at 15 January 2010, all of them permanent full-time staff.
There were 35 other communications staff, including ministerial correspondence drafters, as at 15 January 2010, comprising 26 permanent staff and nine contractors or other temporary staff. Figures for part-time staff are included in this figure and are given in terms of their full-time equivalent.
The cost of all DECC communications staff in 2008-09 including press officers was £512,000, but note that this relates to the period from October 2008, as prior to this costs were divided between BIS and DEFRA (the Departments from which DECC's original teams were drawn), for which disaggregated figures for DECC's predecessor teams are not available.
Nuclear Power: Security
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reason the Office of Civil Nuclear Security has (a) stood down the armed response at Capenhurst and Springfield nuclear sites and (b) downgraded the security level at each. [313578]
Mr. Kidney:
Security in the UK's civil nuclear industry is stringently regulated by the security regulator, the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS). Operators of civil licensed sites are required by law to have in place a range of security measures required under the UK's Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 as amended. OCNS conducts routine and no notice compliance inspections to ensure that sites remain compliant. The UK's civil nuclear security regulator has, for many years, chosen to take account of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s guidelines in setting security
standards at the UK's civil licensed nuclear sites. The civil licensed nuclear sites at Capenhurst and Springfields are category III nuclear sites as defined by the IAEA and in the nuclear industries security regulations and the security measures at each site meet or exceed guidelines approved by the IAEA. It is not usual for category III sites, with the exception of nuclear generating stations, to have an armed response present at them. Police officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary have not been routinely armed at Capenhurst and Springfields since January 2007.
Cabinet Office
Central Office of Information: Expenditure
Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment she has made of the reason for the cost of (a) the finance function and (b) the human resources function of the Central Office of Information referred to in the publication Benchmarking the Back Office: Central Government; and if she will make a statement. [312679]
Angela E. Smith: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information (COI) to write to the hon. Member.
A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Communications Electronic Security Group
Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will place in the Library a copy of the Communications Electronic Security Group Annual Report for (a) 2007 and (b) 2008. [312277]
Chris Bryant: I have been asked to reply.
No annual report has been produced by the Communications Electronic Security Group (CESG) since 2006. There is no statutory requirement for CESG to produce such reports.
Jobseeker's Allowance: Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the percentage change is in the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants resident in (a) Ashford and (b) Kent between 1997 and the latest period for which figures are available. [313508]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the percentage change is in the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants resident in (a) Ashford and (b) Kent between 1997 and the latest period for which figures are available. (313508).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
Figures have been provided for those people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance resident in the Ashford constituency and Kent local authority using figures for December 2009, the latest date for which data is available, and December 1997. The percentage change in the number of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants, are increases for both (a) Ashford 15.7 per cent and (b) Kent 2.9 per cent.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
National Income: Portsmouth
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the gross domestic product per head of the resident population of the City of Portsmouth was in each year since 1992. [313071]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated January 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the gross domestic product (GDP) per head of the resident population in the City of Portsmouth in each year since 1992 (313071).
The Office for National Statistics publishes regional Gross Value Added (GVA) rather than GDP. GVA is measured at current basic prices, which is GDP less taxes on products, plus subsidies on products. The data are produced at three geographical levels using a European classification system called NUTS (Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics). GVA by NUTS3 regions, (principally individual counties and unitary authorities) has been calculated since 1995. The latest year for which GVA is published at NUTS3 level is 2007.
The headline estimates for the Portsmouth NUTS3 area, which corresponds to the Portsmouth local authority area, shown as £ per head figures, for the period 1995-2007 are shown in the table below:
| Portsmouth NUTS3 area | |
| GVA per head (£) | |
| Source: Table 3.2, Regional GVA, ONS, available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/NUTS3.xls | |
Unemployment
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how people who do not qualify for contribution-based or income-based jobseeker's allowance but are claiming Class 1 national insurance credits, attend Jobcentre and remain available for and actively seeking employment are (a) recorded or (b) otherwise accounted for in the monthly labour market statistics. [313103]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether people who do not qualify for contribution-based or income-based jobseeker's allowance but are claiming Class 1 national insurance credits and attend the Jobcentre and remain available for and actively seeking employment are included within the official claimant count. [313104]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate she has made of the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) in each month since January 2008; and how many of those were in receipt of (i) contributory, (ii) income-based and (iii) credits-only JSA. [313212]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 26 January 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) in each month since January 2008; and how many of those were in receipt of (i) contributory, (ii) income-based and (iii) credits-only JSA (313212).
Due to the large amount of data requested there would be a disproportionate cost to provide all the requested estimates. As an alternative, in table 1, we have provided the total number of people claiming JSA for December of each year since 1997 along with a breakdown of each type of claim. These estimates have been derived using data from the Jobcentre Plus 5 per cent. cohort. This is a sample of the Jobcentre Plus administrative system and as such the total number of claimants will differ from that published in the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin.
| Table 1: Number of persons claiming jobseeker's allowance by type of claim | ||||||
| December each year | Contribution and inco me based | Contribution based | Income based | National insurance credits only | Not available | Total |
| (1). Estimates are based on a 5 per cent. sample of computerised claims. All claims have been weighted by a factor of 20 to represent the population. Source: Jobcentre Plus 5 per cent. Cohort | ||||||
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