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10 Jun 2010 : Column 209W—continued
Sheep: Tagging
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate she has made of the cost to farmers of electronic tagging of sheep. [1118]
Mr Paice: Detailed information about the cost of implementation in England is provided in the regulatory impact assessment on electronic identification (EID) of sheep and goats. This is available on the DEFRA website:
Supermarkets: Competition
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by what date she intends to implement her plans for an Ombudsman to enforce the Grocery Supply Chain Code of Practice; whether legislation will be required; whether the Ombudsman will have powers to deal with the international supply chain; and if she will make a statement. [1689]
Mr Davey: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) and the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) on 2 June 2010, Official Report, column 44W.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Billing
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what percentage of invoices from suppliers to his Department were paid within 10 days of receipt in (a) March and (b) April 2010. [1282]
John Penrose: The percentage of invoices paid within 10 working days of receipt was 97.45% in March and 98.05% in April 2010.
Departmental Flags
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what his policy is on flying the Union flag each day from each official building for which his Department is responsible. [1819]
John Penrose: The Department flies the Union flag every day of the year in accordance with the guidance for the flying of the Union flag on UK Government buildings. The guidance is available on the DCMS website
Departmental Translation Services
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of translating information distributed in the UK by (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies into languages other than English in the latest period for which figures are available. [1718]
John Penrose: In 2009-10 the total cost of translating information distributed in the UK into languages other than English by this Department was £2,397.04. The cost for DCMS associated public bodies is not held centrally by the Department.
National Lottery: Wales
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what effect the proposed changes in the proportions of (a) National Lottery funding for the arts, heritage and sport and (b) the Big Lottery Fund will have on the amount of National Lottery funding that will be allocated to Wales. [585]
John Penrose: On current projects of lottery income, after the proposed change in the shares of lottery income and the end of the Olympic Lottery diversion after 2012-13, all the non-Olympic lottery distributors including Big Lottery Fund, should have higher incomes.
On current projections, the lottery funding for Arts Council Wales and Sports Council Wales should increase by around £2.5 million a year each, a total of around £5 million.
In addition, Wales will continue to receive its share of funding from the UK wide distributors: UK Sport, the UK Film Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund. Big has to date allocated a standard
proportion of funding to Wales: after top-slicing 10% for UK wide projects, 6.5% is allocated to projects in Wales and this will not be affected by these changes. The other distributors, due to the nature of their business, have not operated with a such a standard proportion in the past and the amount of funding going to Wales in future will therefore depend on individual decisions about funding applications received, as usual.
The Government's consultation on the change to the lottery shares is intended to pick up any details of impact. Full details of the consultation can be found at:
Justice
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 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. [1425]
Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice has issued the following Ministers with (a) a BlackBerry: Lord McNally, Crispin Blunt and myself. No Ministers have been issued with (b) an iPhone, (c) another make of telephone or (d) a personal digital assistant.
Electoral Register
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which local authority electoral registration departments (a) did and (b) did not use door-to-door canvassing in their last electoral registration; and what the (i) actual and (ii) percentage change was in the number of people registered in each category of authority as a result of that exercise. [173]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
In relation to points (a) and (b), under section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1983, electoral registration officers (EROs) have a duty to take certain steps to maintain the electoral register, including house-to-house inquiries, and therefore it is expected that all local authority electoral registration departments would undertake this exercise.
The Electoral Commission requests that electoral registration officers supply them with information about the methods they use to canvass properties. This information is supplied on a voluntary basis, and does not therefore give a comprehensive picture.
The most recent data are published in a spreadsheet titled "The electoral registration data for 2009" on the Commission's website at
and includes the following headings:
Number of households sent an annual canvass form
Number of households returning a canvass form by personal canvasser
Number of electors added to the revised register following the 2009 annual canvass as a result of an annual canvass form
Number of electors on the local government register at 1 September 2009
Number of electors on the local government register at 1 December 2009
The information in respect of parts (i) and (ii) is not held by the Government.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 4 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1705-07W, on the electoral register, what progress has been made towards enabling lower tier authorities in two tier areas to access data held by the higher authority to facilitate the identification of individuals not registered to vote. [175]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
Electoral registration officers (EROs) may currently inspect records held by the local authority that appointed them to assist them in maintaining the electoral register. These would include:
the register of births and deaths;
council tax records;
registers of households in multiple occupation;
local land and property gazetteers;
housing benefit applications;
lists of persons in residential and care homes (in unitary local authorities only); and details of "attainers" (those aged 16 or 17) held by education departments (in unitary local authorities only).
Legislation currently provides that EROs may only inspect records held by the local authority that appointed them. EROs appointed by district or borough councils in two tier local authority areas may therefore not have access to records held by county councils, including data held by social services and education departments. The Government have announced their intention to speed up the implementation of individual electoral registration in Great Britain and any consideration of wider legislation relating to registration will be in that context.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which local authority electoral registration officers (a) sent canvass returns more than once, (b) made house-to-house inquiries in connection with the canvass, (c) made contact by such other means as they thought appropriate with a person with no entry in the register and (d) inspected a record they were permitted by law to inspect as part of the last electoral registration exercise. [177]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
The Government do not hold this information, but under section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1983, each electoral registration officer is under a duty to take all steps that are necessary to maintain their registers.
The steps that EROs must take, as set out in that section, include:
(a) sending more than once to any address the form to be used for the canvass;
(b) making on one or more occasions house to house inquiries;
(c) making contact by such other means as the registration officer thinks appropriate with persons who do not have an entry in a register;
(d) inspecting any records held by any person which he is permitted to inspect under or by virtue of any enactment or rule of law;
(e) providing training to persons under his direction or control in connection with the carrying out of the duty.
The Electoral Commission published a report on EROs' performance in March 2010: "Report on performance standards for Electoral Registration Officers in Great Britain". The report found that just under 96% of EROs in Great Britain met or exceeded the required standard for the "Completeness and accuracy of electoral registration records", compared with 83% of EROs the previous year.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what records electoral registration officers may inspect to assist them with registration. [178]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
Electoral registration officers (EROs) may currently inspect records held by the local authority that appointed them to assist them in maintaining the electoral register. These would include:
the register of births and deaths;
council tax records;
registers of households in multiple occupation;
local land and property gazetteers;
housing benefit applications;
lists of persons in residential and care homes (in unitary local authorities only); and
details of "attainers" (those aged 16 or 17) held by education departments (in unitary local authorities only).
Legislation currently provides that EROs may only inspect records held by the local authority that appointed them. EROs appointed by district or borough councils in two tier local authority areas may therefore not have access to records held by County councils, including data held by social services and education departments.
Information Commissioner: Standards
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average time taken to resolve complaints made to the Information Commissioner's office was in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [1517]
Mr Blunt: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) divides the complaints it receives into two categories: Data Protection and Freedom of Information. The latest period for which figures for the average time taken to resolve complaints are available is 1 January to 31 March 2010.
| Cases closed | Average time to close | |
The ICO closed its oldest FOI cases during this period which has affected the average age of cases
closed. On 1 April 2009 the average age of live FOI cases was 286 days but by 1 April 2010 this had fallen to 150 days.
This information has been provided by the ICO.
Liverpool and Birmingham Prisons: Manpower
Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers at each grade were assigned to (a) HMP Liverpool and (b) HMP Birmingham on the most recent date for which figures are available. [1834]
Mr Blunt: Information on the number of officers employed at HMP Liverpool and HMP Birmingham, on 31 December 2009 is contained in the following table:
| Officers employed at HMP Liverpool and HMP Birmingham | ||||
| Number | ||||
| Prison officer | Senior officer | Principal officer | Total | |
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