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26 Jan 2010 : Column 845W—continued
10 diploma subjects are currently available, a further seven will be phased in over a period to 2012.
Supervised Homes
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new places in supervised homes have been created for (a) 16 and 17 year olds who are parents and (b) all 16 and 17 year olds since September 2009. [308794]
Dawn Primarolo: The information in the table has been provided by the Homes and Communities Agency about the commitment of funding allocations to provide expected units of supported housing directed at young people.
| Allocations (not spend) and estimated outputs made from the National Affordable Housing Programme up to 10 December 2009 | ||
| Client group | Grant (£) | Units of accommodation |
Business, Innovation and Skills
Broadband
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings he has had with British Telecom to discuss funding for next generation broadband services since 1 June 2009. [313471]
Ian Lucas: The Minister for Digital Media has had one introductory meeting with British Telecom since August 2009, where a range of topics was discussed including funding for next generation broadband services.
Business Links
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses have received a health check from Business Link to date. [309659]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Between the announcement of the free Business Link 'Health Check' on 23 October 2008 and 30 November (the date of the most recent figures), over 103,000 unique businesses have benefited from a 'Health Check'.
Communication Service Providers
Mr. Watson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions his Department has had with Ofcom on consumer access to third party services from all (a) next generation and (b) public communication networks. [311874]
Mr. Timms: The Department has regular discussions with Ofcom across a range of subject areas, including access to third party services over communication networks. I provided some details of a recent case concerning 118 directory enquiry providers in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Derek Wyatt). In addition, officials from my Department have discussed with Ofcom regulation of third parties' ability to use BT's network to provide a service, including BT's next generation access network. The Department has also discussed with Ofcom issues relating to the openness of the internet, including in the context of European discussions.
Decisions on regulation of access to communications networks remain a matter for the regulator.
Companies House: Expenditure
Mr. Todd:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the reason for the cost of the (a) finance
function and (b) IT of Companies House referred to in the publication Benchmarking the Back Office: Central Government; and if he will make a statement. [312686]
Ian Lucas: I have not made a specific assessment of these costs but Companies House's total costs and efficiencies form part of my annual assessment of its performance. In comparison with other Government organisations, Companies House is a customer-facing delivery agency which bases its services on a modern IT platform, web-based interfaces and finance processes and resources which support its customers (such as invoice billing and credit control). These functions are not generally needed in all of the Government organisations against which Companies House is compared in the Benchmarking the Back Office report.
Companies House is, however, working hard to realise efficiencies. The Business Plan for 2010-11 shows IT costs at 60 per cent. of those in the year benchmarked.
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people his Department employs to maintain its participation in social media and networking sites; and what estimate he has made of the cost of employing such staff in the latest period for which figures are available. [310873]
Mr. McFadden: The Department does not employ anyone specifically to maintain its participation in social media and networking sites. The Digital Communications team supports policy officials and Ministers to engage and inform a broad range of audiences using digital channels which include social media. Currently four individuals are involved as a small part of their total duties in managing the Department's presence on social websites Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. On average the work is that of approximately 0.2 full-time equivalent staff. Taking into account the grades of the individuals, the total the cost of this staff time is estimated as £668 per month.
Departmental Public Expenditure
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department and its predecessor spent on (a) new furnishings, (b) art and (c) new vehicles in each of the last three years. [312451]
Mr. McFadden: This Department's published Annual Report and Accounts contain information on its tangible fixed assets, which includes an additions category entitled 'furniture, fixtures and fittings'. These accounts can be found on the BIS website at the following address:
The previous three published accounts are available on the website as follows:
Department of Trade and Industry Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 (HC 584) Chapter 5, Note 14;
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Annual Report and Accounts 2007/08 (HC757) Chapter 5, Note 14;
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09 (HC 447) Chapter 5, Note 15.
BIS has not procured any art or new vehicles in any of the last three years.
Employment: Young People
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of people aged between 16 and 24 years were not in education, employment and training in the fourth quarter of 2009. [311731]
Kevin Brennan: Labour Force Survey data, used to estimate the number of people not in employment, education or training, are not yet available for quarter 4 2009.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) publishes the above estimates every quarter and the latest information can be found at the following website:
Estimates for quarter 4 2009 will be published on 25 February 2010.
Higher Education: Admissions
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people normally resident in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) nationwide enrolled at university in each year since 2007-08. [313483]
Mr. Lammy: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is provided in the table.
| Enrolments1 from Jarrow constituency2, South Tyneside local authority2, the north-east of England Government office region2 and England: UK higher education institutions, academic years 2007/08 and 2008/09 | ||||
| Academic year | Jarrow | South Tyneside | North-east | England |
| (1) Covers undergraduate and postgraduate students of all ages enrolled on full-time and part-time courses. (2) The table does not include enrolments where the constituency, local authority and Government office region of the student cannot be established due to missing or invalid postcode information. Note: Figures are based on a HESA Standard Registration Population and rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency | ||||
Higher Education: Chelmsford
Mr. Burns: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applicants from (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) Chelmsford local authority area did not get a place at university in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10. [312480]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 21 January 2010]: The information is in the following table:
| Applicants to full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS from West Chelmsford constituency and Chelmsford local authority area | ||
| Year of entry | ||
| 2008 | 2009 | |
Restaurants: Hampshire
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies are registered under UK standard industry classification codes for restaurants in (a) Hampshire, (b) the City of Portsmouth and (c) Portsmouth, South constituency. [313075]
Ian Lucas: As the question stands Companies House is unable to provide the answer. However, if postal codes are provided one-off reports can be prepared from their records. If the hon. Gentleman would therefore like to provide this information to the chief executive's office the information will be provided to him directly. The contact details are as follows:
Gareth Jones
Chief Executive and Registrar of Companies
Companies House
Crown Way
Cardiff CF14 3UZ
e-mail: registrar@companieshouse.gov.uk
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the terms of reference are of the review of the Science and Technology Facilities Council announced by the Minister of State for Science and Innovation on 16 December 2009. [311824]
Mr. Lammy: The Review will consider:
how better to manage overseas programme costs;
the improved management of the exchange rate risk;
the current structure of the STFC grant portfolio;
planning the use of facilities managed by STFC but available to researchers across several Research Councils.
The Review, undertaken with the close involvement of STFC, will engage key stakeholders from the STFC scientific community, the other Research Councils and their scientific communities, the relevant learned societies and the Treasury. The Review will also examine arrangements overseas for the funding and operation of large scientific facilities and for the equivalent of STFC research grants.
Students: Finance
Patrick Hall: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reasons full assessment of loan and grant applications made in the 2009-10 academic year have been delayed. [311296]
Mr. Lammy: I refer you to my written ministerial statement to the House on 8 December 2009, Official Report, column 11WS. The report and statement can be found at the following URL:
Treasury
Bradford and Bingley
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) size and (b) regional distribution is of the buy to let portfolio of the residual portion of Bradford and Bingley owned by UK Financial Investments. [313252]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 845W.
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