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Department for Work and Pensions:Staffing Reductions
Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will ensure that staffing reductions in the Department for Work and Pensions will not reduce access to the Social Funds at weekends or out-of-hours for the destitute; and [HL3978]
Whether they have made an assessment of the likely effect of staffing reductions at the Department for Work and Pensions on the speed and accuracy of future benefit payments. [HL3980]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): We are still in the early stages of planning the announced staffing reduction and there are currently no proposals regarding specific areas of the business. However, one of our key priorities will be to ensure that we maintain the quality of our front line services, including those used by our most vulnerable customers, such as the Social Fund.
Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
7 Sept 2004 : Column WA121- errors in the administration of the Child Support Agency. [HL3979]
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: Staff reductions are intended to come from operational efficiencies following significant investment in new computer and telephony systems supplied to us by EDS. We anticipate an improvement in the accuracy of work undertaken by the Child Support Agency.
Child Support
Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they intend to combine the principles of the consultation document Parental Separation: Children's Needs and Parents' Responsibilities with the principles of the Child Support Acts 1991 and 1995 that one parent is always with care, and the other parent is always absent. [HL4007]
Baroness Hollis of Heigham: The Green Paper was published on 21 July. The closing date for comments is 1 November. The Government will decide the right way forward only once the consultation period is over.
The legislation governing child support is based on sound principles—every child has the right to the best possible start in life and parents have a clear responsibility to protect and provide for their children so that the children can make the most of their lives.
The amount of child support that a non-resident parent is required to pay can be reduced if the child stays with him on a regular basis. The amount of the reduction depends on the extent to which the care of the child is shared by the parents.
There is no tension between the proposals in the Green Paper and the principles that underpin child support.
Civil Service: Use of Outside Consultants
Lord Patten asked Her Majesty's Government:
In light of their recent proposed reductions in the number of full-time Civil Service posts, whether they intend to introduce measures to prevent job substitution using outside consultants. [HL3924]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey): The 2004 spending review announced that every department is required to consider and agree with the Office of Government Commerce by December 2004 how to pursue improvements in the value for money of all
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procurement of external professional services. This will include putting in place strong controls on the engagement of external service providers and ensuring public visibility of expenditure on these services.
Death Certificates
Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:
What guidelines are given to health authorities and primary care trusts on the definition of cause of death (other than by disease) on death certificates. [HL3951]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the Registrar General, Len Cook, to Lord Stoddart of Swindon, dated 7 September 2004.
As Registrar General, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what guidelines are given to health authorities and primary care trusts on the definition of cause of death (other than by disease) on death certificates. [HL3951].
Under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, guidelines to certifiers on completing medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) are included at the front of every book of MCCDs. These give instructions to the doctor certifying the death. MCCDs are not available without these instructions. Separate guidance is given to coroners.
Guidelines are not given to health authorities or primary care trusts. It is the responsibility of the certifier to complete the medical certificate of cause of death to the best of their knowledge and belief.
The inclusion of the term "smoking" on a death certificate is acceptable if accompanied by a medical cause of death.
Visit Britain: Funding
Lord Pendry asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much they have increased their funding to Visit Britain and its predecessors year-on-year in the past seven years. [HL3987]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Visit Britain was created in April 2003 following the merger of functions between the British Tourist Authority (BTA) and the English Tourism Council (ETC), formerly the English Tourist Board (ETB). The overall grant-in-aid allocation by the department to these bodies since 1998 is as follows:
| Year | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 |
| Grant-in-aid1 | 44.7 | 47.8 | 48.0 | 245.1 | 47.1 | 47.9 | 48.4 |
1 Figures for 1998–99 to 2002–03 comprise funding for BTA, ETB and ETC.
2 Since April 2001, £1.5 million per year formerly allocated to BTA has been paid to the Greater London Authority for the promotion of London as a gateway to Britain.
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In addition, £14.2 million was awarded to the BTA in 2001–02 and a further £19 million in 2002–03 from the Reserve. £3.8 million was awarded to the ETC in 2001–02 and a further £1 million in 2002–03 from the Reserve. This additional funding from the Reserve was aimed at helping tourism to recover from the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
In 2002, the ETC was awarded a further £3.6 million over two years from the Invest to Save budget to support the development of the EnglandNet project to establish an online tourism network for England.
Sport and Physical Activity
Lord Pendry asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they are using the London 2012 Olympic Bid to encourage greater physical activity among the general population. [HL3988]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Bidding for and, if successful, staging the Olympics is part of the Government's wider drive to increase participation in sport and physical activity. We are working with London 2012 to harness the profile of the bid to inspire more people to get active. So far, the bid has been used to help promote activities such as the 42 regional Youth Games events across the country, including Europe's largest youth sports festival at Crystal Palace in July, where over 12,000 competitors took part.
In the event of a successful bid, strategies will be developed to ensure that the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are used to underpin the UK-wide participation drive lead by the Activity Co-ordination Team (ACT).
National Sports Foundation
Lord Pendry asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will ensure that the chairman of Sport England will consult widely with existing organisations within the world of sport, including the cricket and football foundations, before reporting on proposals to involve private and public sectors in a new National Sports Foundation. [HL3989]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Government have asked Lord Carter of Coles to report on the scope to improve the co-ordination of public funding and commercial sponsorship of sport, including the potential to establish a National Sports Foundation, with the objective of securing greater investment into sport. The review will get under way in the next few weeks and will seek the views of individuals and organisations from across sport as well as other interested parties.
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