Prostitution: Internet
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has made an estimate of the number of people who regularly use internet sites to solicit prostitutes; whether he has plans to seek to prevent the use of the internet for such purposes; and if he will make a statement. [316077]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 9 February 2010]: In September 2009, the Minister for Women and Equality wrote to the Governor and the Attorney General of California to outline the Government's concerns regarding a particular website believed to be hosted in California. We want see sites like it closed down and are exploring the options for what can be done and the merits in approaches taken in other jurisdictions.
As part of the Violence Against Women Strategy, published in November 2009, the Government have also made a commitment to explore what action can be taken to challenge the advertising of prostitution.
The Government have not made an estimate of the number of people who regularly use internet sites to solicit prostitutes.
Prostitution: Prosecutions
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) arrested and (b) subsequently charged with offences relating to the soliciting of prostitutes in (i) Ribble Valley constituency, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) England and Wales in each of the last five years. [316078]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 9 February 2010]: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. From these centrally reported data it is not possible to separately identify arrests for soliciting offences from arrests for sexual offences reported to the Home Office.
There is no link from the data on arrests held by the Home Office to any subsequent outcome.
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Victim Support Schemes
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was distributed from the Victims Fund in 2008-09; and which groups received money from the fund for the provision of services to victims of (a) homicide and (b) hate crime in 2008-09. [316394]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 8 February 2010]: For the financial year 2008-09, £1.5 million was distributed from the Victims Fund across all the services that it supports. The groups that received money from the fund for the provision of services to victims of homicide and hate crime are as listed:
Child Bereavement Charity
National Victims Association
Support After Murder and Manslaughter Merseyside
Victims Of Crime Trust
Victim Support Bedfordshire
Gender Identity Research and Education Society
Greater Manchester Police—Bury Division
Greenwich Action Committee Against Racist Attacks
Hounslow Community Safety Partnership
Kirklees Metropolitan Council
North Herts People First
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Victim Support Greater Manchester
Victim Support Teesside
Voice UK
West Yorkshire Police
Cabinet Office
Advertising Advisory Committee
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who the members are of the Advertising Advisory Committee; what procedures govern their (a) appointment, (b) length of appointment and (c) remuneration; what the functions of the committee are; and to whom the committee provides advice. [315221]
Ms Butler: The Advisory Committee on Advertising (ACA) was replaced by the Government Strategic Marketing Advisory Board (GSMAB) in January 2008. GSMAB has a wider remit than the ACA, not only holding the Central Office for Information (COI) to account but also all Government Departments.
The current members of the Government Strategic Marketing Advisory Board are:
John Mayhead (Chairman, private sector)
Andrew Stott (Cabinet Office)
Mark Lund (Central Office of Information)
Sian Jarvis (Department of Health)
Sue Garrard (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tim Mack (National Savings and Investment)
Yasmin Diamond (Home Office)
Amanada Mackenzie (private sector)
Elizabeth Fagan (private sector)
Tim Evans (private sector)
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(a) Members are appointed by the Minister on the recommendation of the Permanent Secretary Government Communication.
(b) Appointments to GSMAB has been for an initial two year period.
(c) The independent Chair of GSMAB receives an annual fee of £5,000 (ex VAT), all other GSMAB members are unpaid.
Under the Board’s terms of reference the objectives of GSMAB are:
To review planned Government marketing campaigns, with a particular focus on cross departmental campaigns and provide independent validation that strategic marketing across Government Departments, including the contribution of COI, is effective, transparent and efficient.
Monitoring COI performance in the development and purchase of communication products and services to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of strategic marketing across government and ensure best value for the taxpayer.
To serve as an independent body and formal mechanism for the exchange of best practice ideas between Government and private sector practitioners providing comment and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of marketing across government.
The Chairman of the Government Strategic Marketing Advisory Board reports at least annually to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. The Board provides advice and recommendations to the Permanent Secretary, Government Communications.
Death: Feltham
Alan Keen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the mortality rate from cancer was in Feltham and Heston constituency in (a) 1997 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available. [316686]
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 February 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the cancer mortality rate was in Feltham and Heston in (a) 1997 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available. (316686)
The table attached provides the age-standardised mortality rate, where cancer was the underlying cause of death, for Feltham and Heston parliamentary constituency in (a) 2001 (the earliest year available) and (b) 2007 (the latest year available).
Mortality rates for parliamentary constituencies which do not share boundaries exactly with a local authority can only be calculated from 2001 onwards.
| Table 1. Age-standardised mortality rate per 100,000 population,(1, 2) where cancer was the underlying cause of death,(3) Feltham and Heston parliamentary constituency(4), 2001 and 2007(5) | ||
| Rate per 100,000 population | ||
|
| Rate | 95 per cent. confidence interval |
| (1) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. (3) Cause of death for cancer was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97. (4) Based on boundaries as of 2009. (5) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. | ||
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Death: Homelessness
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2010, Official Report, column 405-6W, on death: homelessness, when she expects data for 2009 to be available. [316780]
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 February 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2010, Official Report, column 405-6W, on death: homelessness, when she expects data for 2009 to be available. (316780)
We expect data for 2009 to be available in early winter 2010. As a guide figures for 2008 were released on the 24 November 2009.
Departmental ICT
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much (a) her Department, (b) the Charity Commission and (c) the Central Office of Information have spent on font licensing in the last three years. [315211]
Ms Butler: The Cabinet Office has not spent any money on the licensing of fonts in the last three years.
The Charity Commission has spent £184 + VAT per annum over the last three years.
The Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information has written to you separately with their answer.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 2 February 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question [315211] asking how much has been spent on font licensing.
In the last three years we have spent £2,839 on the purchase of fonts. All fonts are licensed and are held on a font management system. There were no fonts centrally purchased by IT unit.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Scott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much has been paid in bonuses to civil servants in her Department in each year since 2003. [306456]
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how many (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses were paid to officials in the Office of the Leader of the House in each of the last three years; and how much was paid in such bonuses in each year; [307090]
(2) how many (a) year-end and (b) in-year bonuses were paid to officials in her Department in each of the last three years; and how much was paid in such bonuses in each such year. [307097]
Angela E. Smith: An element of the Cabinet Office’s 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.
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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 following table details the number of non-consolidated variable pay awards made to officials in the Cabinet Office under senior civil service performance management and pay arrangements and non-senior civil service pay awards and how much was awarded for the last year of published accounts.
|
| Number of awards | Total paid in non-consolidated awards (£) |
For how many and how much was paid in non-consolidated awards relating to performance in the years 2006-07, 2005-06, 2004-05 and 2003-04, I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 6 June 2008, Official Report, column 1185W, and the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) on 2 July 2007, Official Report, column 901W.
There is also a small number of staff who received in-year bonuses over this period. The total cost is not held centrally and would be available only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what average time her Office took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313660]
Ms Butler: The information is not available in the form requested.
236 named day questions were tabled to Cabinet Office between 1 January and 31 December 2009 of which 71 per cent. received substantive answers on the day due for answer. 1,500 ordinary written questions were tabled to Cabinet Office during this period of which 67 per cent. received substantive answers within five parliamentary sitting days.
Employment
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of (a) UK nationals, (b) UK-born people, (c) foreign nationals, (d) non-UK EU nationals, (e) EU A8 nationals and (f) non-EU nationals (i) aged over 16 years and (ii) of working age were in employment in the UK in each of the last 12 quarters for which figures are available; and what the percentage change in each such category was in each of the last 12 quarters. [315707]
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 5 February 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of (a) UK nationals, (b) UK-born people, (c) foreign nationals, (d) non-UK EU nationals, (e) EU A8 nationals and (f) non-EU nationals (i) aged over 16 years and
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(ii) of working age were in employment in the UK in each of the last 12 quarters for which figures are available; and what the percentage change in each such category was in each of the last 12 quarters. 315707