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23 Mar 2010 : Column 169W—continued
House of Commons Commission
Illegal Immigrants
Robert Neill: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many people have been identified as working illegally on the parliamentary estate in each of the last five years. [323041]
Nick Harvey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer provided on 8 March 2010, Official Report, column 3W.
Nurseries
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many (a) staff and (b) hon. Members are on the waiting list for a place in the proposed House of Commons day nursery for one or more children. [323705]
Nick Harvey: There is no such waiting list at the present time, but much interest has been expressed informally.
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission when an application was made to (a) English Heritage and (b) Westminster city council to make changes to 1 Parliament Street in connection with the creation of a day nursery; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the application. [323706]
Nick Harvey: The design work, which is needed before any application is made, is nearing completion. Any applications made for listed building and change of use consents will be made to Westminster City Council: these will be in the public domain and available in the usual way.
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission when the House of Commons Commission met to discuss the public petition against the closure of facilities at the Astor Suite, Bellamy's Bar and Bellamy's Club Room. [323854]
Nick Harvey: The petition was referred to the Commission at its meeting of 8 March 2010.
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) of 16 March 2010, Official Report, column 731W, on nurseries, how much time was saved as a result of not referring the matter to the Finance and Services Committee. [323952]
Nick Harvey: Referring the matter to the Finance and Services Committee would have delayed the opening of the nursery by introducing a further stage in the process of approval. The nursery would not then have been available for Members' use in the autumn.
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the Oral Answer to the hon. Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Leigh) of 11 March 2010, Official Report, column 428, on Bellamy's bar, for what reasons 1 Parliament Street was preferred to the North Curtain corridor for the location of a day nursery. [323978]
Nick Harvey:
Following assessment of the potential sites and advice on their suitability from three child care specialists, 1 Parliament street's advantages over North Curtain Corridor as a location for a nursery included direct access, ease of conversion, its greater degree of natural light and the fact that no Members'
rooms are affected. In addition, the provisional costs including fees of converting 1 Parliament street were provisionally estimated at £490,000 excluding VAT, compared with £607,000 excluding VAT, for North Curtain.
Speaker's Adviser
Mr. Chope: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether the financial implications of creating a new post of special adviser to the Speaker were (a) discussed by the House of Commons Commission and (b) referred to the Finance and Services Committee. [323707]
International Development
Bangladesh: Water
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance the Government are giving to Bangladesh to tackle salinity in (a) land and (b) groundwater; and if he will make a statement. [323239]
Mr. Michael Foster: Supporting Bangladesh to meet the challenges of climate change, including rising land and groundwater salinity, is an important priority for the Department for International Development (DFID).
Since 2003, the UK has disbursed £4.6 million to the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) managed by the United Nations Development Programme, which has helped the Government and vulnerable communities to better manage the impact of climate change, including rising salinity. For example, some 34,000 people are benefiting from rainwater harvesting and pond sand filters in Satkhira, one of the worst saline affected districts. We recently committed a further £12 million to a second phase of CDMP, and £60 million to a wider Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Climate Change (subject to approval by the Government of Bangladesh), both of which will be drawn upon for similar activities in the future.
The Sanitation, Hygiene and Water Supply Project managed by UNICEF, to which the UK has provided £36 million, is contributing to better national monitoring of water salinity. We are also supporting innovations such as the cultivation of saline-tolerant vegetables in pilot areas.
Burma: Health Services
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding he plans to allocate to the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thailand-Burma border in each of the next three years. [323756]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) allocated £120,000 to the Mae Tao Clinic in 2009-10. DFID has recently received a funding request from the Mae Tao Clinic, for a continuation of funding over the next two financial years, which we are considering.
Burma: International Assistance
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of World Bank (a) funding and (b) technical advice for development projects in Burma. [323755]
Mr. Thomas: The World Bank has approved no new funding for Burma since 1987 and has no plans to resume its programme. It does not give advice on development projects in Burma. It did however provide valuable technical advice as part of the international humanitarian response to Cyclone Nargis which struck Burma in May 2008.
The UK Government would not support a resumption of World Bank funding for Burma until the country has made genuine progress towards political reconciliation and respect for human rights.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Day Care
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what payments the National Childminding Association has received from his Department in each of the last three years. [305263]
Dawn Primarolo: The total payments made by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to the National Childminding Association (NCMA) in each the last three years are as follows:
| £ | |
The bulk of these totals reflect the regular quarterly payments to the NCMA for the work highlighted in each year's Strategic Grant that it receives from the DCSF to support children, families and communities across the country and help deliver departmental priorities and programmes, with a particular focus on further enhancing the professionalization and professionalism of childminders. The four broad objectives of the Association's Strategic Grant are to:
Support families to access the child care they need;
Improve outcomes for children by developing a highly qualified home-based child care work force;
Narrow the gap for disadvantaged and vulnerable families by raising the quality and scope of childminding practice;
Promote integrated working and childcare initiatives.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) consultants in each year since its inception; and how much he expects to spend in each of the next two years. [304754]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department's spend on advertising budgets since inception on 28 June 2007 is outlined in the following table. The figures include media spend but do not include production and fees. Figures for 2009/10 are for spend billed to 24 November 2009.
The cost for consultants cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost. Anticipated advertising spend for the next two years cannot be provided at this time.
| £ (exc. VAT) | |
| Total | |
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent on (a) alcohol and (b) entertainment in the last 12 months. [305540]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Details of expenditure on entertainment recorded by the Department in the last financial year are as follows:
2008-09: £16,122.
The figure excludes costs incurred as part of official events or formal meetings held to further departmental business. DCSF is unable to separately identify the costs of alcohol from those of general entertainment; as such expenditure is claimed and recorded under the general heading of Entertainment.
The basic rules governing hospitality are set by HM Treasury.
(a) The following guidance is issued by my Department to staff on the provision of alcohol.
There is a general principle that alcohol should not be provided at public expense and never when only civil servants are present.
Moderate amounts of alcohol can be provided at public expense when entertaining non-civil servants if not providing alcohol might be regarded as unusual or cause embarrassment. Examples of such events are hospitality from Ministers, at publicity events such as launches or the rare occasions when senior staff judge that official business can best be transacted by hosting a meeting over lunch or dinner.
(b) Hospitality expenditure is limited to occasions when official business can best be transacted in that way. Entertainment is usually restricted to where senior managers (deputy director or above) are acting as a host and expenditure must be approved in advance by a director or executive board member.
Teachers: City of York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the gross average salary of a full-time teacher in local authority schools in the City of York was in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 1996-97. [322118]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available for the City of York because it is not possible to verify the reliability of the data source at the constituency level.
The following table provides the average salary of teachers in service in local authority maintained schools in cash terms and real terms for York local authority, in each March, 1997 to 2008.
| Average salary of full-time regular teachers( 1) in service in local authority maintained schools( 2) in cash and real terms( 3) , Years: March 1997 to March 2008 , Coverage: York local authority | ||
| £ | ||
| York local authority | ||
| As at March each year | Cash terms | Real terms |
| (1) Teachers of all grades including school leadership. (2) There are no city technology colleges or academies in York local authority. (3) Real terms figures calculated at 2007-08 prices using 4 January 2010 GDP deflators. (4) Provisional. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest £100 Source: Database of Teacher Records | ||
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