The National Offender Management Service is currently in the process of finalising budget allocations for 2011-12. Once we have completed this process we will able to provide an indication of staff complements by (i) region and (ii) Prison Service establishment.
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Graham Jones) of 29 March 2011, Official Report, columns 155-56, on prison service (resources), how many Prison Service staff were employed in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and what estimate he has made of the likely number of redundancies among Prison Service staff in each (i) region and (ii) Prison Service establishment in 2011-12. [50908]
Mr Blunt: Information on the full-time equivalent staff in post by region and establishment, for 31 March 2009, 31 March 2010 and 31 December 2010 are shown in the following tables:
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| Staff in post by region 2009 - 10 | |||
| Full- time equivalent staff in post | |||
| Region | 31 March 2009 | 31 March 2010 | 31 December 2010 |
| Staff in post by region and establishment , 2009 - 10 | ||||
| Full - time equivalent staff in post | ||||
| Region | Establishment | 31 March 2009 | 31 March 2010 | 31 December 2010 |
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The National Offender Management Service is currently in the process of finalising budget allocations for 2011-12. Once we have completed this process we will able to provide an indication of staff complements by (a) region and (b) establishment and the number of staff above natural wastage we will need to lose.
Prisoners: McDonald’s Meals
Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reports he has received on the purchasing of McDonald’s meals for prisoners by Prison Service staff. [50389]
Mr Blunt: All prisons must have a local contingency plan in place to cover the provision of alternative catering arrangements in the event that normal facilities are lost. Plans may identify, for immediate short term purposes, local sources of ready prepared meals which may include take away facilities. I am not aware, though, of any reports such as referred to by the hon. Member.
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Prisoners: Poole
Mr Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convicted prisoners had a home address in Poole constituency on the most recent date for which figures are available. [50514]
Mr Blunt: Information on a prisoner’s residence is provided by prisoners on reception into prison and recorded on a central IT system. Addresses include a prisoner’s home address, an address to which they intend to return on discharge and next of kin and these figures are provided in the following table.
If no address is given, a prisoner’s committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which a prisoner is resident. This is required for about 40% of the prison population and these figures are also provided in the following table. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of prisoners, these figures are excluded from the answer.
The following table shows the number of convicted prisoners as at March 25 2011 who have a recorded residential address or proxy, as described above in the constituency area of Poole.
|
|
Number of prisoners |
The figures include convicted male and female prisoners, adults, young offenders and juveniles that are held in prisons and young offender institutions.
Reoffenders
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the reoffending rate was for (a) male offenders, (b) female offenders and (c) female offenders housed in a women's rehabilitation centre in the last year for which figures are available. [50978]
Mr Blunt: The one year re-conviction data cover all adult offenders released from custody or commencing a court order between January and March 2009.
The following table shows the one year re-conviction rates for male and female adult offenders.
| Adult one-year re-conviction rates, 2009, by gender | ||
| Gender | Number of offenders | Re-conviction rate (%) |
Further breakdowns of re-conviction data for female offenders housed in a women’s rehabilitation centre is not available.
More information on the re-conviction rates is available from the Ministry of Justice website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffendingofadults.htm
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Reparation by Offenders: Finance
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the funding allocation was for restorative justice schemes in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and what level of funding he has allocated for such schemes in 2011-12. [50979]
Mr Blunt: The MoJ does not directly commission restorative justice services. A number of services are funded locally but we do not hold central information on what these allocations amount to. To support professional standards for delivering restorative justice, the Ministry of Justice allocated £25,000 in 2009-10 and £75,000 in 2010-11 to the Restorative Justice Council (previously Consortium) to support their work in providing quality assurance to restorative justice schemes through the dissemination of best practice, standards and accreditation. This includes the development of a new online national Trainers Register and new Practitioner Register, due to be launched this year
As we set out in the recent Green Paper ‘Breaking the Cycle’, we want to increase the range and availability of restorative justice approaches. We will be publishing our response to the consultation in May which will set out our approach to help deliver more effective restorative practices.
Trespass
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will review the law on trespass; what recent representations he has received on the law on trespass; and if he will make a statement. [50266]
Mr Blunt: We have received a number of representations from MPs and members of the public calling for the law on squatting to be strengthened. I also spoke in an Adjournment Debate in Westminster Hall on 30 March 2011, Official Report, column 97WH, where the problems caused by squatters were discussed. As I mentioned during that debate, we continue to look at the options for strengthening the law and will announce our plans soon. In the meantime we have published new guidance on the ‘Direct Gov’ website for property owners on evicting squatters from their properties.
Wills: Regulation
Conor Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has plans to bring forward proposals to regulate unqualified and uninsured will writers. [50877]
Mr Djanogly: I have no plans to regulate will writers at present. However, The Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA) contains provisions which allow the Legal Services Board to recommend to me that a legal service such as will writing becomes a reserved legal activity, which would then be regulated.
Since the Legal Services Board (LSB) is currently investigating whether or not it would be in the interests of the legal consumer to regulate will writing, it is more appropriate for me to await the outcome of that investigation before making an assessment of next steps.
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Cabinet Office
National Citizen Service Pilot Schemes
Mr Syms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many places on the National Citizen Service pilot schemes will be available in (a) Poole and (b) Dorset in the summer of 2011. [50495]
Mr Hurd: No National Citizen Service pilots took place in 2001.
There are no NCS pilots planned in the areas of Poole or Dorset in 2011, but there are 1,175 pilot places spread across the south-west region. A list of the numbers planned in each geographical location is available in the Libraries of the House. I have also written to every hon. Member whose constituency is likely to overlap with a local NCS pilot.
There is also regional map of NCS 2011 pilot locations available at:
www.direct.gov.uk/nationalcitizenservice
which provides contact details for every lead delivery organisation.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many expressions of interest in the National Citizen Service pilot he has received from (a) individuals and (b) organisations. [50522]
Mr Hurd: Two hundred and fifty expressions of interest to deliver National Citizen Service pilots in summer 2011 were received in the competitive commissioning process opened on 2 August 2010. All applications were received from organisations or consortia of organisations. The process was not open to individuals.
A competitive commissioning for delivering National Citizen Service pilots planned for summer 2012 opened on 9 March 2011. The deadline for initial proposals is 5 May 2011 and the process is only open to organisations or consortia (not individuals). Details of how to apply are available on the Cabinet Office and Department for Education websites.
National Citizen Service 2011 pilots are now recruiting 16-year-olds to take part and individuals to help run the activities as volunteers or paid staff. Anyone interested can visit
www.direct.gov.uk/nationalcitizenservice
www.facebook.com/ncs
to find out if there is a pilot in their local area and get contact details for the lead delivery organisation.
Cancer: Bolton
Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many patients were (a) screened for, (b) diagnosed with and (c) treated for cancer in (i) Bolton South East constituency and (ii) Bolton borough in each of the last five years. [50551]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
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Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated April 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many patients were (a) screened for (b) diagnosed with and (c) treated for cancer in (i) Bolton South East consistency and (ii) Bolton borough in each of the last five years. [50551]
The latest available figures for (b) newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2008. Please note that these numbers may not be the same as the number of people diagnosed with cancer, because one person may be diagnosed with more than one cancer.
The tables attached provide the number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer in (i) Bolton South East parliamentary consistency (Table 1) and (ii) Bolton metropolitan district (Table 2), for years 2004 to 2008.
The latest published figures on the incidence of cancer in England are available on the National Statistics website at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/mb1-39/mb1-no39-2008.pdf
ONS does not publish figures on the number of patients (a) screened for and (c) treated for cancer. The NHS Information Centre (NHS-IC) publishes figures on the number of patients invited to breast and cervical screening, for strategic health authorities and primary care trusts. The latest published figures can be found on the NHS-IC website at:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/screening
| Table 1: Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of cancer, Bolton South East parliamentary constituency, 2004- 08 (1, 2, 3) | |
|
|
Number of persons |
| Table 2 : Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of cancer, Bolton metropolitan district , 2004- 08 (1, 2, 3) | |
|
|
Number of persons |
| (1) Cancer incidence is defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97 excluding code C44, non-melanoma skin cancer. (2) Based on boundaries as of 2011. (3) Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. | |
Census
David T. C. Davies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) production and (b) dispatch of forms for the 2011 Census printed in both English and Welsh; and what the cost to the public purse was of postage for such forms sent to addresses in Wales. [50431]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) production and (b) dispatch of forms for the 2011 Census printed in both English and Welsh; and what the cost to the public purse was of postage for such forms sent to addresses in Wales. (50431)
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The printing of questionnaires, envelopes, information leaflets, guides to questions and other printed materials for the 2011 Census is all part of one large contract and it is not possible to extract accurate figures specifically for the costs of printing questionnaires due to the amount of set-up, development and storage costs within this larger cost.
The cost of printing all of the millions of questionnaires, information leaflets, and envelopes etc, which is estimated to be over one billion separate pieces of paper, is £18,057,000 at contract award.
In Wales there were 3,811,400 questionnaires printed, half of which were in English and half in Welsh in order to comply with ONS's obligations under its own Welsh Language Scheme and the provisions of the Welsh Language Act.
The cost for the delivery of questionnaires to households in Wales is part of a postal contract with Royal Mail. In Wales the cost of delivering the questionnaire pack to households was 0.30p. Each questionnaire pack comprised both an English and a Welsh Language questionnaire, return envelope and information leaflets. This came to a total of £434,763 which covered the delivery of 1,418,677 questionnaire packs.
The remaining questionnaires printed, but not delivered, are either individual questionnaires, replacement questionnaires or continuation questionnaires. These are available on request and will, if required, either be issued by census field staff in the course of their duties or will be delivered separately from this initial round of deliveries.
Bob Russell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what arrangements the Office for National Statistics has to include in the 2011 census returns members of HM armed forces normally resident in the UK who were serving in Afghanistan on 27 March 2011; [50507]
(2) whether the total population of Colchester reckoned in the 2011 census will include those members of the armed forces normally based at Merville Barracks, Colchester, who are serving in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [50508]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated April 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking (i) what arrangements the Office for National Statistics has to include in the 2011 Census returns members of HM forces normally resident in the UK who are serving in Afghanistan on 27 March 2011 (50507); and, (ii) whether the total population of Colchester reckoned in the 2011 Census will include those members of HM armed forces normally based at Merville Barracks, Colchester, who are serving in Afghanistan. (50508)
Armed forces personnel based in the UK are counted as usually resident in the UK. This applies even if they are deployed outside the UK, (for example serving in Afghanistan) on census day, 27 March. Such people should be included on the questionnaire sent to their permanent home in the UK, for example, their family home. Those members of the armed forces without a permanent address other than the military base where they are based, should be recorded as a resident at the base address.
In some situations this may mean that armed forces personnel are recorded as being resident at the home of their parents, which may be in a different area of England and Wales from where they are based. In these circumstances, those responsible for completing the questionnaire in respect of armed forces personnel are asked in question 5 whether or not the person in question stays at another address for more than 30 days a year. They should tick the 'yes' box and record the address of the military base where that person is based. In question 6 they are then asked if the address given in question 5 is an armed forces base.
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ONS can then produce accurate population statistics for those areas containing armed forces bases, showing the number of people who actually live and use services in an area, rather than just the number of people who record themselves as actually living in such areas.
Therefore, armed forces personnel based in Colchester, will be recorded in the census population statistics as staying in Colchester, whether or not they are deployed in Afghanistan.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reasons Lockheed Martin were contracted to gather UK Census data. [50578]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for what reasons Lockheed Martin were contracted to gather UK census data. (50578)
ONS has a statutory duty to take the 2011 Census in England and Wales and is legally responsible for gathering and processing the data to create census statistics.
Lockheed Martin UK was contracted to provide a range of support services for the England and Wales census because it provided the best value for money, the best technical solution, and was compliant with the requirements as set out in the procurement process.
ONS carried out a fully compliant procurement in accordance with the requirements of European law and the European Union Procurement Directives, which have been incorporated into English law.
No employees of Lockheed Martin UK, or their US parent, will have any access to personal census data.
Community Development: Greater London
Mr Evennett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans his Department has to provide opportunities for the training of community organisers in (a) the London borough of Bexley and (b) London. [50850]
Mr Hurd: The first community organisers to be trained in London will be placed in Camberwell and in Canning Town, hosted in local VCS organisations. At the moment, there are no plans to train and place community organisers in the London borough of Bexley.
The initial approach of Locality (the delivery partner for the Community Organiser programme) is to work through its membership of community-led and owned neighbourhood centres. These are willing to recruit, support and sustain community organisers in their role. However, involvement is not limited to Locality’s membership and any interested organisation can make an expression of interest through Locality’s website.
The first tranche of 30 trainees will be hosted by ‘kick-starter’ organisations in Cumbria, Hull, Manchester, Birmingham, east counties, Bristol, Cornwall and London.
Community Relations
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effects of differing levels of trust within a community on levels of (i) crime and (ii) mental health disorders. [48303]
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Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office has not commissioned research on the effects of differing levels of trust within communities on levels of crime or mental health problems.
Departmental Legal Costs
Mr Nuttall: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department spent on legal fees in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [46528]
Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office has spent the following on legal fees:
2009-10; £2,066,447
2010-11 (to end of February 2011): £2,642,005.
Employment: Graduates
Mr Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) graduate and (b) post-graduate level jobs with starting salaries of £20,000 or more per annum there were in each region in the most recent year for which figures are available. [49294]
Mr Willetts [holding answer 28 March 2011]: I have been asked to reply.
Information on the number of graduate jobs available per annum is not held by the Department.
Information on the salaries of graduates six months after graduating is collected via the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey. Graduates in employment are asked to declare their salary. Not all graduates eligible to declare a salary do so: the response rate to this question is usually around 50%. Therefore, the following table shows the proportion of DLHE respondents declaring a salary who were earning £20,000 or more per annum, rather than the number.
The information presented in the table relates to all jobs which graduates are employed in, not specifically those defined as graduate level jobs.
| Proportion of UK domiciled graduates who studied full-time, entered full-time employment in the UK six months after graduating and declared a salary in the DLHE survey, who were earning £20,000 or more per annum: graduates in academic year 2008/09 | ||
| Percentage | ||
| Region of employment | First degree | Postgraduate |
| Source: DLHE survey Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). | ||
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Public Expenditure
Stephen Mosley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what mechanisms have been put in place to enable members of the public to make suggestions to the Government in support of its Big Society agenda. [50460]
Mr Hurd: Big Society is about shifting power away from Whitehall to give the public greater control over their communities, by decentralising power, supporting community action and opening up public services.
The Cabinet Office has invited wide input into policy related to the Big Society, receiving around 500 responses to our consultation on supporting the VCSE sector: ‘Supporting a Stronger Civil Society’, through the ‘Sector Challenge’ which invited the voluntary sector's ideas on spending reductions, and through our Green Paper on Giving which elicited around 400 responses.
The Government have explicitly invited comments on how Big Society can be accelerated through the Department for Communities and Local Government ‘Barrier Busting’ website, and Departments also routinely consult on relevant policy issues such as the involvement of local people in public health, and neighbourhood justice panels.
Public Sector Workers
Mr Syms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether he has received any expressions of interest in forming a mutual from any public sector workers in (a) Poole and (b) Dorset. [50497]
Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office has not directly received any expressions of interest from public sector workers interested in forming a mutual from Dorset or Poole. However, the Cabinet Office would of course be pleased to engage with any interested parties in these areas.
The Mutuals Information Service run by Local Partnerships, Employee Ownership Association and Co-operatives UK reports that they have received inquiries from two groups of public sector workers in this area.
Third Sector
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department provided to each charity it funds in each of the last five years; and how much he has allocated for funding to each such charity in each of the next five years. [48299]
Mr Hurd: Officials are currently looking at the best way for Departments to regularly report publicly on spending, both in terms of baseline levels and how these levels change through the spending period.
It is therefore not currently possible to provide this information without the Department incurring disproportionate costs.
Details of all new central Government contracts are now available online at
www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department spent on encouraging people to volunteer in each of the last five years; and how much he expects to spend in each of the next five years. [48304]
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Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office annual report and accounts contain details of the Department’s spending on programmes to encourage participation in society. The accounts for 2008 - 09 and 2009-10 are available on the Cabinet Office website at
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/plans-and-performance
Departmental expenditure by programme area is detailed in note 11, page 98.
Data covering 2007-08 and 2006-07 are available in previous Cabinet Office annual reports, which can be found on the National Archive of the Cabinet Office website at
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100304041448/http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Budgets for the years 2011-12 to 2014-15 have not been finalised.
Training: Community Organisers
Mr Syms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what opportunities his Department plans to make available for training community organisers in (a) Poole and (b) Dorset. [50498]
Mr Hurd: At the moment, there are no plans to train and place Community Organisers in Poole and Dorset. Locality’s initial approach is to work through its membership of community-led and owned neighbourhood centres, willing to recruit, support and sustain community organisers in their role.
However, involvement is not limited to Locality’s membership and any interested organisation can make an expression of interest through Locality’s web site.
The first tranche of 30 trainees will be hosted by ‘kick-starter’ organisations in Cumbria, Hull, Manchester, Birmingham, east counties and London. In the south west region, there are two further kick-starters in Bristol and Penwith, Cornwall.
Transition Fund
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many applications to the Transition Fund from each parliamentary constituency have been (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful to date. [50233]
Mr Hurd: To date there have been 201 awards from the Transition Fund. We do not publish details of unsuccessful applicants. A table of the breakdown of successful awards by constituency has been placed in the Library of the House.
| Constituency | Number of awards |
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Mr Syms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether any charities or voluntary groups in (a) Poole and (b) Dorset have received support from the Transition Fund. [50496]
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Mr Hurd: There have been no Transition Fund awards so far to charities in Poole. There were two Transition Fund awards made in March to charities in Dorset. Further details about these were published in the press release issued on 22 March. These early awards will be followed by many more during April and May.
Health
Cancer: Drugs
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidance to strategic health authorities and clinical panels on steps to ensure timely access to the Cancer Drugs Fund by patients with a late diagnosis of cancer. [50589]
Paul Burstow: The Department published ‘Guidance to support operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund in 2010-11’ on 23 March 2011. The guidance is intended primarily for strategic health authorities (SHAs) and their clinically-led panels.
The guidance specifies that it is imperative that decisions affecting individuals' treatment are made in a timely fashion. SHAs should ensure that the process put in place supports timely decision-making for all cancer patients, bearing in mind the 31-day cancer treatment standard.
A copy of the guidance has been placed in the Library.
Clostridium
Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of recurrences of clostridium difficile were due to re-infection rather than relapse in the latest period for which figures are available; and how such recurrences are recorded in mandatory surveillance statistics. [50560]
Mr Simon Burns: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) does not routinely collect data on the proportion of Clostridium difficile infections that were as a result of re-infection rather than relapse. The HPA surveillance system is only able to capture data on numbers of cases diagnosed. In order to establish whether a particular infection is a re-infection or a relapse, it is necessary to culture the organism (not a routine test) then perform strain typing (additional molecular test). This will give some idea as to whether the infection is new or not.
Dental Services
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent estimate is of the cost to (a) the public purse and (b) dental practices of the Care Quality Commission registration process for dental practitioners. [51014]
Mr Simon Burns: The Care Quality Commission estimates that the cost to them of registering primary dental care providers in 2011-12 will be £15.8 million. These costs will be met by an estimated £8.1 million paid in fees by primary dental care providers and £7.7 million of grant in aid provided by the Department.
In addition, the Department has estimated that the cost to primary dental care providers of applying for registration for the first time and complying with the registration requirements would be a one-off cost of between £4 million and £4.8 million.
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Departmental Consultants
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has hosted any meetings with representatives of Mandate Communications over the last six months; and if he will make a statement. [50725]
Departmental Contracts
Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contracts his Department and its associated public bodies signed with Lockheed Martin in each of the last 10 years; and for what purposes each such contract was let. [50698]
Mr Simon Burns:
A search of the Department's central procurements database shows that no contracts have been entered into with Lockheed Martin up to 31 December 2010. The central database was introduced in
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July 2008; to gather any further information on previous years, before the introduction of the database, would involve a search within every departmental directorate which would involve disproportionate cost.
None of the Department's associated public bodies has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin in each of the last 10 years.
Departmental Travel
Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date (a) he and (b) each other Minister in his Department last used a ministerial car while travelling in an official capacity; and how many times (i) he and (ii) each other Minister in his Department has travelled to their constituency in a ministerial car since May 2010. [50195]
Mr Simon Burns: Data taken from ministerial diaries are set out in the following table. Data are up to and including the 30 March 2011.
| Minister | Last date travelled by ministerial Government car service pool car | Number of times a ministerial car was used to travel to constituency |
| (1) Does not have a constituency. Notes: 1. In line with the new Ministerial Code, Ministers at the Department gave up their allocated cars and drivers when existing contracts ended on 19 August 2010. 2. In line with the Ministerial code, Ministers are permitted the use of an official car for official business and for home to office journeys within a reasonable distance of London on the understanding that they would normally be carrying classified papers on which they would be working. | ||
Departmental Public Transport
Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) on what date (a) he and (b) each other Minister in his Department last travelled by (i) London Underground and (ii) public bus services on government business; how many times (A) he and (B) each other Minister in his Department has travelled by each such form of transport on government business since May 2010; and if he will make a statement; [50086]
(2) how many of his ministerial team have been issued with (a) an Oyster card and (b) a (i) monthly and (ii) annual travel card valid on London Transport and paid for by his Department for use while travelling on government business. [50173]
Mr Simon Burns: All Ministers in the Department use public transport, where practical, while travelling on official Government business. However, the information requested is not formally recorded.
Oyster cards paid for by the Department, under the prepay system, are used when Ministers are travelling on official business. Ministers regularly use their own personal oyster cards to cover the cost of such journeys. No monthly or annual travel cards are paid for by the Department, but where Ministers have these and they are valid on London transport, they use them to travel on official business.
Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on ministerial travel by (a) ministerial car, (b) train, (c) bus, (d) commercial aircraft and (e) private aircraft since May 2010. [50204]
Mr Simon Burns: The information held on the Department's Business Management System shows that invoices were processed from 1 May 2010 to 28 February 2011 for the amounts to the value shown in the following table:(1)
| £ | ||||||
| Minister | Ministerial car costs (2) | Train costs | Bus and London underground | Commercial air travel costs (3) | Private air travel costs | |
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| (1) ( )Data have been extracted from the categories listed above as defined on the Department's Business Management System. Data are incomplete as spend categorised as general office expenditure can include ministerial train, bus and London underground costs, which cannot be readily identified on the system. (2) In line with the new Ministerial Code, Ministers at the Department gave up their allocated cars and drivers when existing contracts ended on 19 August 2010. (3) Includes both United Kingdom and overseas flight costs. (4) Unknown. | ||||||
Exercise
Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on sporting and physical activity as a means of maintaining health; and whether he is taking steps to reflect this position in health policies. [50423]
Anne Milton: Promoting the benefits of regular participation in physical activity remains central to the Government’s commitment to improve public health and well-being in England. The health benefits of physical activity are significant. As well as assisting in the maintenance of a healthy weight, physical activity can have a beneficial effect on up to 20 chronic diseases or conditions, including a lower risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, mental health and certain types of cancer.
The Public Health White Paper “Healthy Lives, Healthy People” sets out the Government’s strategy for public health in England.
The Government are also keen to maximise the opportunities to get the least active children and young people involved in sport and physical activity. Therefore, the Department is investing up to £20 million to promote physical activity for children and young people through Change4Life sports clubs and the School Games, in partnership with Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education.
General Practitioners
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms he plans to put in place for (a) GP consortia and (b) foundation trusts at risk of financial failure; and if he will make a statement. [51019]
Mr Simon Burns: The NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible for assessment of the performance of general practitioner (GP) consortia. The Health and Social Care Bill will introduce clear powers to enable the NHS Commissioning Board to intervene where a GP consortium is failing to discharge its functions or where there is a risk of it failing to do so. This includes a consortium's duty to ensure that expenditure in any financial year does not exceed their allocated budget.
The powers set out in the Bill will be supported by regulations that will set out the process for using the powers of intervention set out in the Bill. Guidance will be published on these areas by the Board so that there is a clear, transparent, rules-based approach to intervention.
Commissioners would have primary responsibility for ensuring the continuity of health care services, on behalf of their populations, and whether provided by NHS foundation trusts, GP practices or other independent providers. The Health and Social Care Bill proposes that commissioners would review services in consultation with local partners and apply to Monitor to designate services as subject to additional regulation, where withdrawal of those services would result in adverse impact on health and there are no alternative providers. Monitor would have an important role, as economic regulator, in supporting commissioners by imposing additional regulation to secure continued access to designated services, including, as a last resort, by implementing a special administration regime to secure continued provision of designated services in an insolvency. In addition, the Bill proposes additional safeguards against foundation trust failure, for a transitional period, in the form of additional powers for Monitor to intervene and direct foundation trusts at risk of failing and, where necessary, to remove members of the Board.
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to put in place any (a) criteria and (b) limits on performance-related payments to GP consortia. [51020]
Mr Simon Burns: The Government have proposed that general practitioner consortia that achieve high quality outcomes for patients within the resources available to them should receive a quality premium. The NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible for developing a commissioning outcomes framework that will enable the Board to hold consortia to account for the quality of services they commission and promote continuous improvement in health care outcomes. This framework will also ensure that there are clear criteria for awarding the quality premium.
We are committed to ensuring that these arrangements create the right incentives for consortia to achieve high-quality outcomes for patients and that there are appropriate limits on payments.
Hospitals
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which hospital projects exceeding £50 million (a) started and (b) were completed in each year since 1997. [50756]
Mr Simon Burns: The hospital building projects with a capital value exceeding £50 million which started and were completed in each year since 1997 are shown in the following tables:
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