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8 Jun 2010 : Column 104W—continued
Northern Ireland
Departmental Billing
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of invoices from suppliers to his Department were paid within 10 days of receipt in (a) March and (b) April 2010. [1288]
Mr Paterson: In March 2010, the Department paid 97% of invoices from suppliers within 10 days. In April 2010, the Department paid 87% of invoices from suppliers within 10 days.
On 12 April, responsibility for policing and justice in Northern Ireland was devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive. During the time leading up to devolution, the Department had to refocus priorities and this led to a reduction in prompt payment performance. The Department is committed to the achievement of the target to pay 95% of suppliers within 10 days and will make every effort to ensure performance improves to meet the target.
Departmental Redundancy Pay
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to his Department of redundancy payments for (a) front line and (b) other staff employed by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [642]
Mr Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is not currently anticipating any expenditure on redundancies in the Department or its agencies. If any redundancy or other exit payments are made throughout 2010-11 they will be disclosed in the resource accounts for 2010-11.
Trade Unions
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to consult trade unions in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies concerning deficit reduction plans. [612]
Mr Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is preparing a deficit reduction plan. Once plans are finalised, and if they affect staff, trade unions will of course be consulted.
Home Department
Closed Circuit Television
Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the number of crimes detected through the use of CCTV equipment in the last 12 months; and what types of crime were so detected. [1146]
James Brokenshire [holding answer 7 June 2010]: This information is not held centrally.
Crime Prevention
Mr Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to implement early intervention policies. [1290]
Nick Herbert: We will be working closely with the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education over the coming months to develop the early interventions that take place before a young person is caught up in the criminal justice system. We want to make sure that local interventions are effective in preventing offending and reoffending.
Forensic Science Service
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has for the Forensic Science Service. [996]
James Brokenshire: The Home Office is supporting the Forensic Science Service (FSS) Ltd in its implementation of a radical transformation plan that will enable it to compete effectively in the commercial market for forensic science services that exists in the United Kingdom. The FSS will continue to play a major role in providing robust and reliable forensic science to the criminal justice system.
Knives: Crime
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to reduce the incidence of knife crime. [1028]
James Brokenshire: We will introduce better technology and reduce bureaucracy to give police forces greater freedom to target their activities according to local need, including tackling knife crime. Hospitals will share non-confidential information with the police so they can target stop and search in gun and knife crime hot spots. We will also share information on which policing techniques and sentences are most effective at cutting crime across the criminal justice system.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport which Ministers in his Department have been issued with (a) a Blackberry, (b) an iPhone, (c) another make of mobile telephone and (d) a personal digital assistant supplied by the Department. [1435]
Hugh Robertson: All four Ministers at this Department have been issued with one Blackberry each.
Departmental Official Cars
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the (a) make, (b) model and (c) place of manufacture is of the car allocated for the use of each Minister in his Department. [1476]
Hugh Robertson: No cars or drivers are allocated to Ministers in the Department. Existing contracts were cancelled by the Secretary of State on his arrival, delivering net annual savings of £250,000.
Olympic Games 2012: Lancashire
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of the likely effects of the London 2012 Olympics on the economy of (a) Pendle constituency and (b) Lancashire. [1137]
Hugh Robertson: I have not made a specific assessment of the effects of the games on the economies of the Pendle constituency or Lancashire. However, the North West stands to gain from the wide range of opportunities created by the games, through businesses winning games-related work and increased tourism. Locations across the UK, particularly those that have non-London games venues and those that are hosting international teams in pre-games training camps, will have the opportunity to create further economic benefits, including inward investment, through the international attention that will follow.
We are already seeing good progress in these areas, for example, 11 of the Olympic Delivery Authority's suppliers are businesses registered in Lancashire, and more are winning work in the supply chains of its contractors. The Old Trafford football stadium will be one of the key non-London venues hosting football matches. Additionally, 68 facilities in the region are included in the official London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide, and to date memoranda of understandings are in place with 17 of the Oceania National Olympic Committees, the National Olympic Committee of Thailand and Australia's swimming team, formalising their intentions to use facilities in the region in the run up to the games.
S4C: Finance
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he has had recent discussions with S4C on voluntary reductions in its budget. [1136]
Mr Jeremy Hunt: I discussed funding reductions with S4C recently. The outcome was that it was mutually agreed that there would be a reduction of £2 million in S4C's budget from my department for the current year.
Transport
Departmental Public Expenditure
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of his Department's expenditure which is allocated to each region. [1085]
Mr Philip Hammond: Estimates of my Department's expenditure analysed by region have been provided in successive Annual Reports, which are lodged in the Library of the House and available on the Department for Transport's website. The most recent estimate available is contained within the 2008-09 Annual Report, which sets out outturn spend by region up to 2007-08 and planned spend for 2008-09 and 2009-10.
HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses Publication for 2009, which is available on HM Treasury's website, sets out expenditure on transport by region for the public sector as a whole for successive years up to 2008-09.
The DfT Annual Report 2008-09 is available at:
(Table A7, "Total spending country and region", page 230)
HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses Publication for 2009 is available at:
(Table 9.8e, "Identifiable expenditure on economic affairs (of which: transport) by country and region, 2003-04 to 2008-09", page 134)
Northern Rail: Rolling Stock
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many additional rail carriages have been provided to Northern Rail as part of the High Level Output Specification Process, and how this compares with those allocated to other train operating companies. [1083]
Mrs Villiers: 18 carriages have been contracted to be operated by Northern Rail as part of the high level output specification process.
Carriages contracted to be operated by other operators are as follows:
| Number | |
River Wear: Bridges
Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has for funding a new bridge over the Wear in Sunderland. [905]
Norman Baker [holding answer 7 June 2010]: The Department for Transport will consider the funding for local authority major transport schemes as part of the Government's spending review to be carried out by the autumn. Until then the Department can give no assurances on funding for any local authority scheme that is not yet in construction.
Safety Belts
George Hollingbery: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to extend the requirement for the wearing of seat belts in coaches beyond the current age limit of 13 years; and if he will make a statement. [1373]
Mike Penning: Current regulations require all bus and coach passengers aged 14 years and above to use a seatbelt if available. Younger children must do so in a front seat. EC Directive 2003/20/EC requires us to consider how to extend these requirements in relation to all children aged three to 14 riding as passengers in buses and coaches.
International Development
Departmental Billing
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of invoices from suppliers to his Department were paid within 10 days of receipt in (a) March and (b) April 2010. [1280]
Mr Andrew Mitchell: In March and April 2010 respectively, 96.5% and 90.5% of invoices were paid by the Department for International Development (DFID) within 10 days.
Departmental Manpower
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what his estimate is of the cost to the public purse of proposed reductions in numbers of non-front line staff in his Department and its agencies; [494]
(2) what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to his Department of redundancy payments for (a) front line and (b) other staff. [640]
Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) has initiated a programme to review our operating costs. Savings from this programme will be diverted into frontline departments to strengthen the delivery of our development programme.
It is our policy to minimise any costs involved by redeploying affected staff and by not replacing staff that retire or leave DFID. Since specific proposals have not yet been developed, it is not possible to estimate the impact on staff numbers or potential costs.
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) front line and (b) other staff were employed by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in the latest year for which figures are available; and what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to the public purse of employing staff of each type in his Department. [540]
Mr Andrew Mitchell:
On 31 March 2010 the Department for International Development (DFID) employs 1819 frontline members of staff and 518 members of staff performing a range of corporate service functions, including HR, finance, IT, procurement, security, estates and
office services. Staff costs for frontline activities in the 2009-10 financial year were £98 million. Staff costs for the corporate service functions for the same period were £28 million.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of his Department's development awareness raising projects in Scotland have been abolished in the last 12 months; and what estimate his Department has made of the level of saving to the public purse. [1232]
Mr Andrew Mitchell: In May 2010 Department for International Development (DFID) funding to one development awareness project in Scotland was cancelled. This project, run by the Scottish Development Education Centre, is titled "First Steps to Lasting Change: Targeting the Staff of the Early Education and Childcare Courses at Three FE Colleges in Edinburgh". This project aims to address the lack of awareness of global issues among early year education and child care staff.
This decision to cancel this funding followed an initial review of those areas of expenditure where the link between project activities and poverty reduction in the developing world was least demonstrated. An estimate of funds saved by terminating this project is £121,095. These funds will be redirected to front line poverty reduction in developing countries.
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