Stuart Bell: The capital valuation, using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), for properties on the estate prepared by the Valuation Office Agency in October 2010 was: Property Value (£000) 2 Parliament Street(1) 2,300 3 Parliament Street(1) 2,800 2a Canon Row(1) 780 2b Canon Row(1) 610 4 Canon Row(1) 1,900 102 Rochester Row(2) 540 22 John Islip Street(1)...
Stuart Bell: The running costs allocated to each of the residences provided for officials of the House of Commons Service for 2009-10 were: 2 Parliament Street, £6,646; 3 Parliament Street, £7,817; 2a Canon Row and 2b Canon Row, £3,835; 4 Canon Row, £14,192; and a flat at 102 Rochester Row, £13,215. In all these cases running costs include maintenance, council tax and TV licence; in the case of...
Stuart Bell: A site for the recording has been identified on the Living Heritage pages of the parliamentary website. The remaining work is to edit seven hours of recording down to a maximum of 15 minutes to create content suitable for website users. This work is in hand.
Stuart Bell: Many waste materials from offices on the parliamentary estate are separated and recycled, including cardboard, paper, glass, metal, light fittings, fluorescent and sodium lamps, glass, plastic drinks bottles and drinks cans, unwanted office files and binders, printer and photocopier toner cartridges, batteries, television monitors, refrigerators, small electronic equipment and computer...
Stuart Bell: The Parliamentary Outreach service was set up following the Administration Committee's 2007 report Improving Facilities for Educational Visitors to Parliament (HC 434 2006-07), which included a recommendation to develop a parliamentary outreach service including regional outreach officers working throughout the UK. The service is being built up over three years, commencing with a pilot year...
Stuart Bell: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer to the hon. Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale), as corrected on 12 November 2010, Official Report, column 3MC, which lists the post-holders using the accommodation in (a) to (f). This accommodation consists of six residences, privately occupied by post holders and their families, together with sleeping facilities provided for staff of the House who...
Stuart Bell: No beef or lamb purchased by the House of Commons is halal slaughtered unless specifically requested by an event organiser. However, it has recently come to the attention of the House of Commons Catering Service that it has unknowingly received supplies of poultry slaughtered using pre-stun halal methods, and consequently customers have not been made aware of this fact. Contracts for the...
Stuart Bell: The Commission has not directly received complaints about the operation of catering facilities other than a letter about the recent price rises. Complaints are received by the Director of Catering Services in various written or oral forms, including comment books in some of the catering outlets, but no record is kept of the overall number.
Stuart Bell: The House of Commons Catering and Retail Service does not keep records that would enable these figures to be estimated.
Stuart Bell: This is a matter for personal choice. All catering outlets in the House of Commons offer a menu that gives consumers the opportunity to eat vegetarian or fish dishes if they wish to avoid eating meat or dairy products.
Stuart Bell: The House of Commons provides single-room hostel-style sleeping accommodation in John Islip street, for up to 17 staff who undertake occasional late duties. Staff including doorkeepers and administrative staff are eligible to use the sleeping accommodation provided they satisfy the following guidelines: They are expected to be on duty to support the House or its Committees after 10.30 pm and...
Stuart Bell: The estimated cost to the House of administering and processing early-day motions (EDMs) in financial year 2009-10 was approximately £1 million. Figures for the previous year are not readily available but there is no reason to suppose that they were significantly different in real terms, other than that the number of EDMs tabled may be higher in a longer session. Most of this cost was...
Stuart Bell: In line with its procurement policy, the House of Commons Catering Service avoids, wherever identifiable, the procurement of foods that contain genetically modified organisms. To this end, as part of the tendering process, food suppliers are required to work to a strict GMO policy and give assurances that goods supplied be free from genetically modified materials. In line with guidance from...
Stuart Bell: The basic salary payable to Members is £65,738 per annum as at 1 November 2010. At that date, 78 staff were paid an annual salary above this figure. A list of the posts in the Senior Commons Structure and at pay band Al, which have pay maxima higher than Members' current salary, will be placed in the Library, together with the individual pay of SCS2 and SCS3 staff in £5,000 bands. Details...
Stuart Bell: Official Report staff produced the report of the Youth Parliament debate on 29 October 2010; no additional staff costs were incurred. Parliamentary Print Services produced the printed copies of the report at a cost of £186. This will come from the budget of the Department of Chamber and Committee Services.
Stuart Bell: The additional cost was: Budget £ Catering 8,689 Broadcasting 8,415 Printing 1,278 Training 1,500 Photographs 760 Supplies 216 Total 20,858
Stuart Bell: The Commission does not have responsibility for the decisions of the Administration Committee. The hon. Member may wish to write to the Chair of that Committee.
Stuart Bell: Recommendation 4 of the report of the Speaker's Conference on parliamentary representation recommended that the objectives of the Parliamentary Education Service should in future include encouraging a wider range of people to become candidates for election to Parliament. The objectives of the Education Service do not need to be changed as encouraging a wider range of people to become...
Stuart Bell: The number enrolled is 17. Seven children are already attending, and the others enrolled will all be attending by mid-February 2011. When the nursery was being planned, advice from nursery providers was that it takes several years for a new nursery to reach the target level of capacity, and the number currently enrolled in the Commons nursery is higher than was expected by this stage. The...
Stuart Bell: The nuclear defence of our country is the most significant and important issue to hit the House of Commons, and it is a bit strange that this is an urgent question, not a statement. Is my right hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State right when he says that we are both-France and the United Kingdom-nuclear powers, that we both have seats on the Security Council, and that the agreement will...