Written Answers to Questions
Monday 22 March 2010
Electoral Commission Committee
Bearwood Corporate Services
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission (1) if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a copy of the report of its investigation into Bearwood Corporate Services; [322794]
(2) if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a list of the officials and staff of the Conservative party who did not accept the invitation for interview with representatives of the Electoral Commission as part of its investigations into Bearwood Corporate Services; [322795]
(3) if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a copy of the report by forensic accountants commissioned as part of the Electoral Commission's investigations into Bearwood Corporate Services. [322796]
Mr. Streeter: I will give the hon. Member a substantive reply as soon as possible.
Substantive answer from Gary Streeter to Gordon Prentice:
The Electoral Commission informs me that, consistent with its disclosure policy, it has published on its website a case summary setting out the issues considered by the Commission during the course of the investigation, the information obtained in relation to those issues, and the legal basis for the conclusions the Commission reached.
The Commission further informs me that, in the interests of effective regulation and having regard to the confidentiality and sensitivity of information provided, and the privacy and confidentiality of those involved, it is not the Commission's practice to release further information obtained during an investigation.
Trade Unions
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission which trade unions have registered with the Electoral Commission as a registered third party in respect of the forthcoming general election to date; and how much Unite has spent as a registered third party to date. [323831]
Mr. Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that as of 19 March 2010 seven trade unions have registered with the Commission as recognised third parties. These are Community, the National Union of Teachers, the Public and Commercial Services Union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, Unison, Unite and USDAW. The Commission further informs me that recognised third parties must report their regulated spending to the Commission after the general election.
Wales
Departmental Food
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. [323079]
Mr. Hain: My Department does not procure any meat or dairy products.
Departmental Publications
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether the dates of publication of any regular statistics or reports by his Department have been affected by planning for the forthcoming general election. [323454]
Scotland
Departmental Food
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. [323076]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office does not procure any meat or dairy products, with the exception of small quantities of milk on which we have not logged any particular certification.
Prime Minister
Community Relations
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2010, Official Report, column 1304W, on building resilience, whether the paper from the Civil Contingencies Secretariat entitled "Building Resilience: a new approach to crisis" by M. S. D. Granatt, Head of GICS, Cabinet Office and J. P. Macintosh DSTL, Ministry of Defence, published in July 2001 and revised in February 2002 is classified. [323330]
The Prime Minister: Yes. The paper "Building Resilience: a new approach to crisis" is classified.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Prime Minister how many designs for its (a) internal website and (b) intranet his Office has commissioned since 2005; and what the cost was of each such design. [321981]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Tessa Jowell) on 17 March 2010, Official Report, column 866W.
Intelligence and Security Committee
David Davis: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2010, Official Report, column 861W, when he expects the views of the Intelligence and Security Committee to be published. [322313]
The Prime Minister: The Government remain committed to publishing both the guidance and the views of the Intelligence and Security Committee as soon as possible.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library a copy of the benchmark results of the Civil Service People Survey for his Department and its agencies. [322573]
Mr. Woodward: The Civil Service People Survey was not carried out within the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). However, a separate NIO staff attitude survey was carried out within the Department in May and June 2009. A copy of the overall results of this survey has been placed in the Library.
Fines: Non-payment
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are in prison in Northern Ireland as a result of non-payment of fines. [323324]
Paul Goggins: On 18 March 2010 there were 28 persons in prison in Northern Ireland as a result of non-payment of fines.
Magilligan Prison
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people are expected to be employed in the (a) construction and (b) running of the new prison at HM Prison Magilligan. [323323]
Paul Goggins: It is too early to provide specific answers, but it is estimated that between 150 and 300 people could be working on site, depending on procurement method and stage of construction.
The new design would entail more cost effective staffing when the prison is operational.
Youth Custody
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) young adults and (b) women were serving a custodial sentence in prison in Northern Ireland in (i) January 2010, (ii) January 2009 and (iii) January 2008. [323325]
Paul Goggins: The information for the last Monday in each month is provided in the following table.
| Young o ffenders serving a sentence | Women serving a sentence | |
Young offenders are defined as being aged 18 to 21 years. Upon attaining 21 years they are deemed to be adults and can be sent to an adult prison.
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) maximum and (b) minimum number of years of over-paid council tax is that should be refunded to local taxpayers when a council tax banding error has been identified by the Valuation Office Agency; and what guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter. [323104]
Barbara Follett: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) on 1 March 2010, Official Report, columns 952-53W. No guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.
Council Tax: Empty Property
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 896W, on council tax: empty property, whether the additional revenue raised under the recalculation of the council tax base for the 2011-12 settlement will be retained by local authorities. [323039]
Barbara Follett: All council tax revenue is retained by local authorities. Each local authority's council tax base is calculated for the purposes of formula grant distribution, and is the number of Band D equivalent properties in their authority.
Departmental Records
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when his Department's headquarters were last reviewed for compliance with the Public Records Acts; and what the results were of that review. [322839]
Barbara Follett: The Department's headquarters were reviewed by the National Archives for compliance with both the Public Records Acts and Lord Chancellor's Section 46 Code of Practice for Records Management under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in 2007. The outcome of the review was published on the National Archives website. This can be found at:
The outcome includes evidence of good practice, the challenges faced and recommendations. The Department also has put in place arrangements to ensure that records
are managed on a day-to-day basis to comply with the requirements of the Public Records Acts and officials meet regularly with the National Archives to review record-keeping arrangements.
Departmental Temporary Employment
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department undertakes equality and diversity monitoring of agency staff recruited to work at its headquarters. [322841]
Barbara Follett: Our contracted supplier for temporary staff is Reed and, as part of their contract, they are required to monitor the diversity of the staff they provide to the Department. The data include staff provided to the Government Offices and the Government Equalities Office (GEO). They report to us on a monthly basis, with the report covering nationality, ethnicity, gender, age and disability.
Fire Services
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has provided guidance to fire and rescue authorities on the use of socio-demographic profiling to inform decisions on the provision of fire and rescue services. [308427]
Mr. Malik: A range of IRMP-related guidance has been issued to FRAs and is available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
The guidance, which is non-prescriptive, is designed to provide advice and assistance on IRMP and its associated processes, allowing local authorities and local communities to make appropriate decisions at the local level.
The Department has also provided each fire and rescue service with a suite of software called the fire service emergency cover (FSEC) toolkit. This toolkit allows each fire and rescue service to undertake a risk-based assessment of their area. FSEC is based upon a geographical information system, which takes account of a range of factors including socio-economic and geo-demographic data, and uses bespoke software to calculate the probable losses based on a particular set of response strategies in terms of lives lost and property costs. That then enables the FRA to determine its optimum prevention, protection and response strategies appropriate to its own area.
The Department has also recently published research on socio-demographics and fire risk, which can be found at:
Fire Services: Standards
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average response time was for a fire appliance to attend (a) a dwelling fire with persons involved, (b) a dwelling fire with no persons involved, (c) a fire in a non-dwelling building, (d) a road vehicle fire and (e) an outdoor fire broken down by (i) region, (ii) fire service family group and (iii) local authority in each of the last three years. [320846]
Mr. Malik: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Housing: Conferences
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department attended the MIPIM international property conference in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009; [323282]
(2) how much his Department expects to spend on (a) travel and (b) accommodation for (i) Ministers and (ii) officials attending the MIPIM international property conference in March 2010; [323283]
(3) how much he expects to be spent by the Homes and Communities Agency on (a) travel and (b) accommodation for officials attending the MIPIM international property conference in March 2010. [323285]
Barbara Follett: In 2007, 2008 and 2009, the MIPIM conference was attended by the following officials from Communities and Local Government:
Director General, Policy Programmes and Innovation
Director General, Housing and Planning
Director General, Tackling Disadvantage
Director General, Finance and Corporate Services
Director General, Housing and Planning
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