Public Sector: Co-operatives and Mutuals
Jonathan Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what business support he plans to make available to those seeking to establish public service co-operatives; and if he will make a statement. [56873]
Mr Hurd: Government will invest over £10 million to fund a programme of support for some of the most promising and innovative mutuals so that they reach the point of investment readiness. The support programme also aims to stimulate the development of the mutuals concept in key public services areas in order to catalyse take up of the 'right to provide' through a variety of delivery models.
The full programme is currently being developed. The Mutuals Information Service run by Local Partnerships, provides advice and signposting through a telephone and e-mail helpdesk, to public sector workers interested in exploring opportunities for mutualisation.
Jonathan Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the establishment and participation of co-operatives as a means of delivering public services on behalf of the state; and if he will make a statement. [56875]
Mr Hurd: This coalition Government are committed to giving public sector workers new rights to form employee-owned mutuals and co-operatives.
To help drive this commitment further and faster across Government and the public sector I have established the Mutuals Taskforce chaired by Professor Julian Le Grand. The Taskforce is advising me and other ministerial colleagues about how we can best enable the success of this policy. The group includes representatives from the John Lewis Partnership; leading practitioners; and a range of expert organisations in the field. The Taskforce is considering the evidence and experience internationally, including from within the EU, on mutuals and co-operatives delivering public services.
Jonathan Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the sources of finance available for the capitalisation of public service mutuals; and if he will make a statement. [56874]
Mr Hurd: This coalition Government are committed to giving public sector workers new rights to form employee-owned mutuals and co-operatives.
Government will not seek to dictate what is best for employees and the users of services, rather the precise model of mutualisation should follow from the service being provided and the requirements of the new organisation. Financing will be part of this consideration. Some may seek to form a joint venture with an existing organisation, others will seek debt financing or may look to access capital from their membership.
These new mutuals will benefit from “Growing the Social Investment Market—a vision and strategy”, published in February 2011, opening up new finance
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opportunities to social ventures. They will also be able to access at least £10 million of funding to get the help they need, including support to access finance.
Taxation
Dr Whitehead: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether any levy mechanisms are (a) under and (b) awaiting consideration by the classification committee of the Office for National Statistics. [57970]
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 June 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking whether any levy mechanisms are a) under or b) awaiting consideration by the classification committee of the Office for National Statistics (57970).
The National Accounts Classification Committee (NACC) makes classification decisions in line with a published protocol that is available on our website at
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/downloads/NAclassification.pdf
The proposal for a Bank Levy, contained in Part 5 of the Finance Bill 2011, was considered by NACC earlier this year, with agreement that (subject to the passage of legislation) the proceeds of the levy should be classified as a tax, coded under international national accounts guidance as D.59 'other current taxes'.
ONS has been asked by HMT for classification decisions on a number of environmental policies that could be described as levy mechanisms. They include the "Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT)", originally introduced as the Energy Efficiency Commitment; and the "Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation", which was introduced in April 2008 using powers included in the Energy Act 2004. ONS has not yet reached a final decision on these cases.
Trade Unions
Mr Raab: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff of (a) his Department, (b) Buying Solutions and (c) the Central Office of Information are entitled to work (i) full-time as trade union representatives and (ii) part-time on trade union activities; how many such staff are paid more than £25,900 annually; and what the cost to the public purse of employing such staff on such duties was in the latest period for which figures are available. [56435]
Mr Maude: There are no full time union representatives in the Cabinet Office, Buying Solutions or the Central Office of Information (COI).
The Cabinet Office, Buying Solutions and COI allocate facility time to recognised Union representatives, as set out in the following table:
| Organisation | Total days allocated | Number of TU representatives |
41 of the 43 representatives earn a salary in excess of £25,900 annually - the most junior earning in the AO range of £21,371-£24,565, and the most senior is at
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Director equivalent level, earning a salary in the £90-95,000 range. Only part of any individual's time is accounted for by trade union work, ranging from the equivalent of two days a week (in the case of the COI representative) to a few hours a year.
Voluntary Work
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will take steps to promote the benefits of volunteering to workers in the (a) private and (b) public sector who are to be made redundant. [57113]
Mr Hurd: On 23 May the Government published the Giving White Paper, which sets out a range of new programmes and initiatives that will encourage more people to give time and money.
Individuals leaving the civil service as a result of redundancy will receive transition support from their Departments. Part of this support will include information on volunteering.
To support unemployed people to volunteer the Department for Work and Pensions have created Work Together. This is a Great Britain wide initiative that aims to encourage unemployed people to consider volunteering as a way of improving their employment prospects while they are looking for work.
Well-being
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what guidance he has given to the Office for National Statistics on developing indicators to monitor the well-being and happiness of (a) adults and (b) children. [56731]
Mr Hurd: No guidance has been given to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on developing indicators to monitor the well-being of adults and children. At the invitation of the Prime Minister, ONS agreed to produce subjective measures of well-being. Government will be a key user of the information, but their production by ONS will ensure their independence.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of any variation in wellbeing (a) within and (b) between regions and nations of the UK. [56805]
Mr Hurd: No modelling has been done within the Cabinet Office since the 2003 PMSU paper on life satisfaction on variations in well-being either within the UK or between nations. The Office for National Statistics surveys that have now commenced will have a sample size large enough to examine variations across local authority areas.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will evaluate research on the effects of moving house on the well-being of (a) adults and (b) children. [57102]
Mr Hurd: Cabinet Office has no plans to undertake such an evaluation.
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Well-being: Children
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what assessment he has made of the trends in levels of childhood happiness and well-being in the last 30 years; [56726]
(2) which (a) organisations and (b) individuals his Department has consulted in drawing up its indicator for measuring the happiness and well-being of children. [56727]
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 June 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking what assessments have been made of the trends in levels of childhood happiness and well-being in the last 30 years (56726) and which (a) organisations and (b) individuals have been consulted in drawing up an indicator for measuring the happiness and well-being of children (56727).
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The ONS published a working paper entitled 'Current Measures and the Challenges of Measuring Children's Well-being' in 2009:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=2371
as well as publishing a Focus on Children and Young People in the same year.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15232&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272
As part of the Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme, the ONS has met with a range of relevant stakeholders to discuss the measurement of Children's and Young People's Well-being. This has included the Children's Society
http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/research/initiatives/well-being/publications
the Children's Rights Commissioner, the New Economics Foundation and Rathbone. As part of the 175 events that we held during the national debate, we were also invited to a number of schools where children told us what mattered to them. At the next MNW Technical Advisory Group a range of subject matter specialists from academia, government departments and other relevant organisations will discuss this issue further. The papers from this meeting will be made available on the ONS website.
Further information on Measuring National Well-being please visit our homepage:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/well-being