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Written Answers

Thursday, 25th April 2002.

GCHQ

Lord Hughes of Woodside asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish the recruitment statistics for GCHQ in 2000. [HL3994]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Amos): GCHQ notified the Civil Service Commissioners that as a result of recruitment schemes run in 2000, 324 individuals have joined the department or are awaiting completion of the application process. This compares with 241 reported for 1999 recruitment schemes. In addition, one former member of staff was reappointed in 2000, compared with nine in 1999.

Subject Access Requests

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether guidance will be issued to civil servants on the handling of requests for personal information under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998. [HL3992]

The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): I have recently issued central guidance on the handling of subject access requests. I have placed a copy of this guidance in the House Library.

House of Lords Appointments: Applicants

Lord Jacobs asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many of the 3,166 applicants to the House of Lords Appointments Commission whom it was not possible to interview met the interview parameters. [HL3381]

The Lord Chancellor: I understand that the commission was very pleased with the high quality of the applicants. It interviewed those whom it judged, on paper, to be the most outstanding against its published assessment criteria.

Home Office Race Equality Scheme

Lord Clarke of Hampstead asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they intend to publish the Home Office Race Equality Scheme. [HL4022]

Lord Rooker: The Home Office has today published its Race Equality Scheme, setting out how the Home Office intends to promote race equality in accordance

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with its responsibilities under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. The scheme is made up of an overarching scheme which describes the high level principles which apply across the Home Office, together with associate schemes for the core (non-IND) Home Office; the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND); the National Probation Directorate; the Forensic Science Service; the Passport and Records Agency and the Prison Service.

Copies of the complete Home Office Scheme are available in the Library and on the Home Office website, www.homeoffice.gov.uk.Janice

Invest to Save Initiative

Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:

What projects in the Invest to Save initiative announced by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 10 April are to be developed which bring together two or more public bodies at a cost of £390 million. [HL3758]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Invest to Save budget has allocated some £340 million (of the £385 million available to it) to 325 partnership projects. The great majority of these projects have involved a partnership between two or more public bodies. Tables listing those projects are being placed in the Library of the House.

Government Departments: Assets of Cultural Significance

Baroness Anelay of St Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:

On how many occasions during 2000 and 2001 the Financial Reporting Advisory Board met; on how many occasions it considered the disposal of items held by government departments which were categorised by the Government as:


(a) antiques; or


(b) non-operational heritage assets; or


(c) operational heritage assets; and on how many occasions the advice of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board was rejected by the Government; and [HL3750]

Why there are no fixed criteria for determining whether assets held by government departments should be categorised as "antiques" or "heritage assets"; and [HL3751]

Whether their decision to dispose of the Privy Council silver collection was submitted to the Financial Reporting Advisory Board for its consideration and advice; and [HL3752]

Further to the Written Answer by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 12 February (WA 139), whether it is their intention that both the Financial Reporting Advisory Board and the Cultural Property Unit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport shall advise government departments on the disposal of their heritage assets and antiques. [HL3753] Janice

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Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The role of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board is to provide independent advice on the financial reporting standards and principles which central government bodies should follow when preparing their accounts. For departmental resource accounts that advice is incorporated by the Treasury in the Resource Accounting Manual. The board's advice has never been rejected.

It is not part of the board's role, nor is it intended to be, to advise individual departments on the management of their assets. Consequently, the issue of the Privy Council silver collection was not discussed by the board.

The board met on nine occasions during 2000 and seven during 2001.

The Resource Accounting Manual defines heritage assets as, "those assets which are intended to be preserved in trust for future generations because of their cultural, environmental or historical associations", and identifies the characteristics typically displayed by heritage assets. The manual does not define antiques because those, which are not encompassed by the definition of a heritage asset, are accounted for in the same way as fixed assets generally. The manual is available in the Library of the House and on the Internet.

The main role of the Cultural Property Unit of the DCMS is to facilitate the acquisition of cultural assets of national importance for public collections and to increase public access to such items in private collections. It is also available to advise departments on the disposal of heritage assets. jenny

Baroness Anelay of St Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 10 April (WA 113–14), whether they will list the members of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board, the terms of reference for the appointment to the board and the expertise held by current members of the board in heritage matters.[HL3777]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The current membership of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board is:

Chairman:

Elwyn Eilledge, CBE, Director of BG Group PLC and former Chairman of BTR plc, Senior Partner of Ernst and Young and Member of the Accounting Standards Board.

Members:

Colin Balmer, Principal Finance Officer, Ministry of Defence

Mike Barnes, Head of Technical Development, Audit Commission

Dr Peter Collings, Principal Finance Officer, Scottish Executive

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Brian Delaney, Head of Accountability and Accounting Services Division, Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland

Russell Frith, Director of Audit Strategy, Audit Scotland

Heather Jackson, Director of Finance, HM Land Registry

Graham Jenkinson, Director, National Expenditure and Income Division, Office for National Statistics

Claran Martin, Head of Resource Budgeting, HM Treasury

Professor David Mayston, Professor of Public Sector Economics, Finance and Accountancy, University of York

Nigel Reader, Director of Finance, Environment Agency

Martin Sinclair, Assistant Auditor General, National Audit Office

Jeff Tomlinson, Head of NHS Accounting, Department of Health

Ken Wild, Partner, Deloitte & Touche, Member of the Accounting Standards Board and former Chairman of its Public Sector and Not for Profit Committee.

In accordance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 the Treasury has consulted the Comptroller and Auditor General on the board's membership.

The terms of reference for appointment to the board, which form part of the board's terms of reference, are:

"The Board will comprise:

1 member nominated by the Treasury

1 member nominated by the Scottish Ministers

1 member nominated by the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland

1 member nominated by the Comptroller and Auditor General

1 member nominated by the Auditor General for Scotland

1 member nominated by the Audit Commission

3 members nominated by the Principal Finance Officers of UK government departments to represent respectively departments, trading funds, and non departmental public bodies

1 member nominated by the Department of Health

1 member nominated by the National Statistician

1 member nominated by the Accounting Standards Board

1 member, an independent economist, nominated by the Head of the Government Economic Service.

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In addition, an Independent Chairman of the Board will be nominated by the Chief Accountancy Adviser to the Treasury, and in respect of future appointments, in agreement with the Scottish Ministers and the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland.

The periods of appointment will be determined by the nominating bodies."

The role of the board is to provide independent advice on the financial reporting standards and principles which central government bodies should follow when preparing their accounts, with the aim of ensuring compliance with generally accepted accounting practice as far as appropriate.

Expertise in heritage matters is not a prerequisite of board membership. However, when considering proposals for accounting for heritage assets the board has been able to take account of the views of relevant bodies. The Treasury carried out detailed consultations with those bodies prior to submitting proposals to the board. Also, the board has discussed accounting for heritage assets directly with representatives from bodies concerned.

The board publishes an annual report on its activities. This is available from the House of Lords Library and the Internet. The report for the year ended March 2002 is expected to be available in July. jenny

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