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Jobcentres with four or more CCOs = 142
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay asked Her Majesty's Government:
What have been the total payments to private security firms for supplying customer care officers to jobcentres for each of the past three years for which figures are available; and how much has been paid to individual security firms in each of those three years. [HL1631]
Lord McKenzie of Luton: The department entered into a 20-year PFI contract with Land Securities Trillium (LST) in 1998 known as the PRIME contract, which was expanded in 2003 following the merger of the Department of Social Security and the Employment Service. The department pays an all-inclusive unitary charge to LST for this provision.
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This unitary charge includes 13 reference facility management services, one of which is the provision of security. An element of the overall security package is customer care officers. Therefore, DWP does not make direct payments to security firms for this provision.
The original PRIME contract and the subsequent expansion were both subject to independent audits by the National Audit Office (NAO). They concluded that the original contract represented value for money, making specific comment in 1998 that the LST deal compared favourably with continued public sector ownership and that the costs of facility management services (including security) was low.
The customer care officer role was introduced in 2001 to complement the change in service delivery by the then newly formed Jobcentre Plus to front-of-house public waiting areas and goes beyond that of a typical security specification. Therefore, it was not possible externally to benchmark the cost of this service.
However, the NAO concluded in its report dated January 2005 that the expansion also represented value for money, in that although this was a non-competitive expansion, LST's final price provided greater savings than the “should cost model” developed by DWP and its professional advisers to assist in determining value for money from the expansion.
To date, LST has been paid approximately £27 million for the period 2002-05; 2005-06 expenditure on CCOs was £15.2 million. The forecast for spend in 2006-07 is approximately £26.4 million and is likely to increase as a further 20 sites go live.
Olympic Games 2012: Lottery Funding
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether participation in the National Lottery and its related games is likely to increase if more than the £1.5 billion already allocated is used to meet the costs of the 2012 Olympic Games. [HL1358]
Lord Davies of Oldham: National Lottery sales trends are influenced by various factors such as the wider economic climate, consumer spending patterns and developments in other areas that compete for the “leisure pound”. The National Lottery operator is striving to grow lottery sales across the board with a view to achieving maximum returns for the good causes, both Olympic and non-Olympic.
Pensions: Expatriates
Lord Jones of Cheltenham asked Her Majesty's Government:
What procedures must be followed to achieve a reciprocal agreement between the United Kingdom and (a) another country, or (b) a British Overseas Territory, to allow for the pensions of British expatriates who live in that country or territory to be fully uprated annually; and [HL1671]
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In which countries and territories annual uprating of British expatriate pensions takes place (a) with and (b) without a reciprocal agreement; and in which countries and territories annual uprating of British expatriate pensions does not take place. [HL1672]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The United Kingdom's reciprocal social security agreements with other countries are binding intergovernmental treaties. The detail of such agreements, and those with British Overseas Territories, is achieved through negotiation. We have no plans to negotiate any new reciprocal agreement.
The countries and British Overseas Territories with a reciprocal agreement where annual uprating increases are payable are: Barbados; Bermuda; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Croatia; Guernsey; Isle of Man; Israel; Jamaica; Jersey; Mauritius; Montenegro; the Philippines; Serbia; Turkey; the USA; and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Annual uprating increases are payable to United Kingdom pensioners living in any EEA country and Switzerland in accordance with the European Community’s (EC) Social Security Regulations (EC1408/71). The EC regulations effectively supersede the United Kingdom's social security agreements with the following states: Austria; Belgium; Cyprus; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; and Switzerland.
The United Kingdom does not have reciprocal social security agreements with the following EU/EEA states but annual upratings are paid in accordance with the EC regulations: Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Estonia; Greece; Hungary; Latvia; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Poland; Romania; and Slovakia.
Upratings are not payable in any other countries or British Overseas Territories.
Peru: Millennium Development Goals
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
What information they have concerning progress towards attainment of the millennium development goals in Peru; and how they are monitoring these since the Department for International Development has dropped all its programmes in the country. [HL1700]
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): Progress in moving towards the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in Peru has been unequal. Between 1991 and 2002, extreme poverty in Peru increased from 23 per cent to 23.9 per cent of the population and households experiencing hunger increased from 22.3 per cent to 35.8 per cent. Since 2002, extreme poverty has been decreasing in Peru. Since 1991, maternal and infant mortality indicators have constantly improved.
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Progress has been slower in poor rural areas and among indigenous people. Extreme poverty affects 50.3 per cent of the population in rural areas and 9.7 per cent of the population in urban areas.
According to data provided by the United Nations development programme, Peru will meet the MDGs on poverty, health and education only if economic growth is accompanied by redistributive and social policies to tackle inequality.
DfID continues to assist Peru to reach the millennium development goals, primarily through our contributions to the European Commission, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank. In addition, DfID’s Latin America regional programme works to enhance the effectiveness of World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. This is done by strengthening the focus of operations and analytical work on poverty, inequality and inclusion. For Peru, this work is led by the DfID Andes office in Bolivia, supported by the DfID liaison officer in Lima.
Quangos: Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Which quangos’ offices the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has visited since taking office. [HL1481]
Lord Rooker: Since my right honourable friend took up office as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 6 May 2005 he has visited the following non-departmental public bodies:
Railways: Freight
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 22 January (WA 207), when they expect to announce the results of their consideration of which rail freight schemes will be funded under the Transport Innovation Fund. [HL1788]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: We are working with Network Rail to take forward the detailed case for TIF funding for a number of rail freight schemes. We will be making final decisions and announcements on the allocation of funding on an individual basis as the
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Transport: Drivers' Working Hours
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 26 January (WA 270-01), whether they will inquire of the Irish Road Safety Authority if any follow up action has been taken with Irish drivers who repeatedly abuse drivers' hours regulations in the United Kingdom. [HL1787]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: We have assurances from the Irish Road Safety Authority that details of all breaches reported to it are followed up in an appropriate manner.
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Vehicles: End of Life
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Truscott on 30 January (WA 46) concerning the End of Life Vehicles Regulations, whether they or the Environment Agency have issued guidelines as to when a motor vehicle becomes classified as end of life. [HL1834]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): The Environment Agency has shared with relevant trade associations its understanding of the End of Life Vehicles Regulations and case law concerning the definition of waste. Individual operators have been given more specific advice according to their circumstances. To assist operators further, the Environment Agency has consulted widely on guidance based on some common scenarios and it is expected that the guidance will be published within the next six weeks.
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