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9 Mar 2010 : Column 282W—continued
Departmental Advertising
Angus Robertson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much was spent on advertising by (a) his Department and (b) each of its (i) non-departmental public bodies and (ii) executive agencies in each year since 2005. [319815]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNeil) on 8 March 2010, Official Report, column 138W.
Departmental Correspondence
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to how many (a) emails and (b) letters sent by post from members of the public his Department has responded since May 2007. [319751]
Mr. McFadden: The Department has responded to 76,016 letters from members of the public since May 2007.
Since January 2009 the Department has responded to 10,931 e-mails. The Department has no records for e-mails before that date.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many full-time equivalent staff of each grade are employed by his Department to assist special advisers. [321128]
Mr. McFadden: There are currently four full-time equivalent staff employed by the Department to assist the four special advisers who support my Noble Friend the Secretary of State and the other two BIS Ministers who attend Cabinet each week, my noble Friend the Minister of State for Science and Innovation and myself.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from which companies his Department sourced temporary staff in each of the last three years; how many temporary staff his Department employed in each year; and what the monetary value of the contracts with each such company was in each such year. [320018]
Mr. McFadden: For the supply of temporary staff (interim managers, specialist contractors and admin/clerical workers), the Department uses a range of companies under the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Buying Solutions framework agreement.
The OGC is an independent office of HM Treasury, established to help Government deliver best value from their spending.
The procurement of temporary staff is not managed centrally in the Department as responsibility has been devolved locally to line management. Companies used under the framework will vary depending on the specialist needs of the line. Therefore the information is not easily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Engineering: Construction
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of UK engineering construction firms which have secured contracts for work in other EU member states in each of the last five years. [320921]
Ian Lucas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 October 2009 , Official Report, column 613W. Information relating to the securing of individual contracts in a particular sector, including engineering construction, is not collated by Government. The awarding of engineering construction contracts is a business matter for the parties concerned, and the various award criteria are commercial issues for the private sector clients involved.
Higher Education: Admissions
Michael Gove: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of students from (a) comprehensive and (b) independent schools attended Russell Group universities in (i) 1997, (ii) 2003 and (iii) the most recent year for which figures are available. [321389]
Mr. Lammy: The latest estimates show that some 19 per cent. (23,700) of state school A-level candidates who attempted one or more A-levels (or equivalent) at age 17 in 2005/06, progressed to a Russell Group HE institution by age 19 in 2006/07. The equivalent figure for candidates from independent school pupils was 46 per cent. (13,000).
These figures have been estimated using matched data from the National Pupil Database and the Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record.
Holiday Leave
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to how many contracted days' paid holiday on average employees in each employment category in the (a) public and (b) private sector were entitled in the latest year for which figures are available. [320648]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many contracted days' paid holiday on average employees in each employment category in the (a) public and (b) private sector were entitled in the latest year for which figures are available. 320648
Estimates of average paid holiday entitlement per year are provided in the attached table by sector and by whether the employees are part-time or full-time. The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The distinction between public and private sector is based on respondents' views about the organisation for which they work. Similarly, the distinction between full-time and part-time is based purely on how respondents regard their employment status.
As with any sample survey, the estimates provided are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
| Paid holiday entitlement for full-time and part-time employees by sector, three months ending December 2009, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted | |||
| Average paid holiday entitlement (days per year)( 1) | |||
| Public sector( 2) | Private sector | Total | |
| (1) Excluding public holidays. (2) Includes nationalised industry or state corporation, central government, civil service, local government or council (including police, fire services and local authority controlled schools or colleges), university or other grant funded educational establishment, health authority or NHS trust and armed forces. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey. | |||
Minimum Wage
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people were paid at the rate of the national minimum wage in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [321077]
Mr. McFadden: Data for earnings are not available at the local authority or constituency level because of small sample sizes at these levels in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).
Due to rounding in the conversion of payroll data into hourly wage rates and small sample sizes for 16-17 and 18-21 year olds in ASHE, it is not possible at the regional level to infer the number of employees earning exactly at the national minimum wage (NMW) with sufficient certainty. However it is possible to estimate the number who were paid at or below the NMW.
Table 1 shows estimates from BIS analysis of ASHE for the number of jobholders in the North-East Government Office Region and the UK who were paid
at or below the NMW in April of each year from 2004 to 2009. Comparable data for earlier years are not available as supplementary information required for the estimates was introduced in 2004.
| Table 1: Number of jobholders earning at or below the national minimum wage rate in April of reference year | ||
| North East | UK | |
| Source: BIS analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000. | ||
Mobile Phones: Competition
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effect on new entrants to the market of the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Orange. [321051]
Kevin Brennan: It is the responsibility of the relevant competition authorities to determine whether a merger results in any substantial lessening of competition. This test includes any likely effect on new entrants into a market. In this case, the investigation was undertaken by the European Commission and its decision can be viewed at the following link:
Motor Vehicles: Government Assistance
Charles Hendry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of trends in the volume of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the manufacture of vehicles sold to consumers participating in the vehicle scrappage scheme. [321253]
Ian Lucas: No detailed assessment has been made this Department. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, average CO2 emissions of a car bought through the scheme was 133.3 g/km, almost 10 per cent. below the overall new car market average and 26.8 per cent. below the average figure for a scrapped car.
National Enterprise Academy: Expenditure
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been spent on (a) the National Enterprise Academy and (b) enterprise academies in each year since their inception. [319903]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested is as follows:
(a) Learning and Skills Council (LSC) spend on the National Enterprise Academy was £394,950 in 2008-09 financial year, and £1,498,985 in 2009-10 financial year, a total of £1,893,935 to date (as at February 2010).
(b) There are no other enterprise academies in receipt of funding through the national skills academies programme.
Overseas Students: Entry Clearances
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has made an estimate of the effects of recent changes in the tier 4 points-based visa system on (a) the number of overseas students attending UK universities over the next 10 years and (b) the income of UK universities over the next 10 years. [321314]
Mr. Lammy: The changes to tier 4 of the points- based system, announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 10 February, are designed to ensure that there are no barriers to higher education institutions offering courses to genuine international students.
Demand from international students to study in the UK has grown considerably over recent years and early indications are that it continues to grow in 2010. We do not forecast the likely numbers of international students studying in the UK for future years. It is entirely up to universities to decide how many international students they enrol. In 2007-08 universities derived approximately 8 per cent. of their income from international students.
As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear at the start of the year we believe there is scope to double the value of higher education exports, both through continuing to recruit international students as well as the delivery of courses and qualifications abroad.
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