HC Deb 07 February 1995 vol 254 cc164-7W
Mr. Kaufman

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will set out for each of the next steps agencies in his Department, whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them publish periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery.

Sir John Wheeler

The administration of the next steps agencies is a matter for the chief executive of each agency. I have asked the chief executives to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Pat Devlin to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995

SETRNG UP OF NEXT STEPS AGENCIES

I have been asked to reply, in respect of the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency, to your Parliamentary Question.

The Agency has leased its Headquarters building at an annual rent of £196,000.

We do not publish periodical journals and we do not have executive cars or corporate clothing.

The Agency has a specially designed logo which cost £4,750 and specially designed printed stationery which cost £2,280.03.

This is a new Agency and posts did not exist prior to it being set up. At 3 January 1995 there were 1,025 Whole Time Equivalent Staff-in-Post for the entire Northern Ireland Agency, of whom 785 are engaged in delivering child support services to the GB Child Support Agency under a Provision of Service Agreement

Letter from D. A. Stanley to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me to reply, on behalf of the Compensation Agency, to your recent Question about Next Steps agencies.

The Compensation Agency remains in the accommodation occupied by the predecessor division. No additional support staff have been required. The Agency does not publish periodical journals nor does it have any executive cars. Approximately £5,000 was spent on developing a logo and on average an additional £4,000 per year is spent on specially designed corporate stationery. The Agency does not have corporate clothing.

Letter from Brendan Magee to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995

I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the costs associated with the setting up of this Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland.

We have not acquired our own Headquarters building, have not required any additional support staff, have no executive cars and have no corporate clothing.

We publish an Annual Report and a Business/Corporate plan at an annual cost of approximately £2,500. An Agency logo was designed through an in-house competition at a cost of £150 and we use our own headed stationery which costs no more than the Branch stationery which it replaced.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Letter from L. H. Ferguson to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995

In the absence of Mr. Watson, who is on leave, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the costs associated with the set up of the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency.

The Agency has not acquired its own Headquarters building, has required two additional support staff and has no executive cars.

We publish an Annual Report and Business Plan at a total annual cost of £39,000. We have a specially designed logo at a cost of £1,000 with annual corporate clothing at £1,900 more, and specially designed stationery at £2,000 more, than the pre-Agency costs.

I hope you will find this information helpful

Letter from M. J. D. Brand to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995

I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the costs associated with the set up of the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland as a Next Steps Agency.

Ordnance Survey has not acquired its own Headquarters building, does not have any executive cars and has no corporate clothing for its staff.

Three additional support staff have been required for accounts work since we became an Agency and an Annual Report and Business Plan are published each year at a cost of £7,600.

We continue to use a logo which was introduced long before we became an Agency and which appears on our stationery.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Letter from D. W. Gallagher to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 6 January 1995

I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the costs associated with the set up of the Rate Collection Agency.

The Rate Collection Agency has not acquired its own Headquarters building, has not required additional support staff and has no executive cars.

An Annual Report and internal magazine are published each year at a cost of £4,700. Corporate clothing (ties and scarves) were ordered for the Agency launch in April 1991 at a cost of £2,705.

Finally an Agency logo was designed through an in-house competition at a cost of £100. However corporate stationery costs remain broadly similar to pre-Agency levels.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Letter from Alex Wylie to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 23 January 1995

I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the costs associated with the set up of the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency.

The Social Security Agency did not acquire a eadquarters building when it was established, but made use of existing accommodation at Castle Buildings, Stormont. We do not publish periodical journals, we do not have any executive cars, nor do Agency staff have corporate clothing.

We do have an Agency logo and were advised by consultants on the design of Agency stationery. I regret that we are unable to give the separate costs of these. However, the total cost of the development of the logo, letterheads for Agency stationery, signage for the Agency's offices and a corporate identity manual cost a total of £13,397.17 including VAT.

Finally, 30 additional staff were needed in the Agency for work arising mainly in the areas of Finance, Planning, Personnel and Parliamentary Business which had been transferred from the Department.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Letter from J. S. Crozier to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995

You have asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a number of questions about Next Steps Agencies. The Secretary of State has asked me as Chief Executive of the Training and Employment Agency to reply on behalf of that Agency.

The Agency has established its headquarters in Clarendon House, Belfast. This building was already a wholly owned part of the Government estate.

The Agency brought together in a single organisation the training and employment functions of the Department of Economic Development and a number of responsibilities previously held by the Northern Ireland Training Authority along with some of those of a number of Industrial Training Boards. Overall staffing in the Agency has reduced from 1,660 at the time of its launch in April 1990 (which was the number of staff fulfilling those functions of the Department for which the Agency was given responsibility) to 1,300 at present.

Two Periodical Journals are published by the Agency at an annual cost of £28,000.

A single executive car was purchased in 1992 at a cost of £13,500. Repairs and running costs, including petrol for the current financial year are around £1,800.

The Agency does not provide corporate clothing for its staff.

When the Agency was established the design of a corporate identity including a logo was commissioned. The overall costs of this work was £11,000. Costs of Corporate Stationery incorporating the Agency's logo are no more than was the cost of producing the Department's stationery which incorporated its own house style. The annual cost of printing stationery is just over £11,000.

I trust that you will find this information helpful.

Letter from D. J. Bell to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 13 January 1995

VALUATION AND LANDS AGENCY

Sir John Wheeler has asked that I write to you in my capacity as Commissioner and Chief Executive of the Valuation and Lands Agency to give the information requested by you from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 19 January 1995.

The period since Agentisation has been a most challenging one as the organisation sought to accommodate the necessary cultural change brought about by Agency status and strove to achieve the demanding targets set for it in a climate of considerable financial constraint across the public sector as a whole.

I am confident that the Agency will continue to demonstrate improved performance flowing from the tighter targeting and resource control put in place under Next Steps.

The following is the specific information which you requested:-

  1. (i) The Agency does not own its headquarters building-this was occupied by the Valuation and Lands Office before its agentisation—but shows an assessed notional annual rental value in its Accounts (£275,000 1993–94);
  2. (ii) no additional support staff have been acquired since agentisation;
  3. (iii) the approximate annual cost of publishing periodic journals is £13,700;
  4. (iv) the Agency does not have any executive cars;
  5. (v) the one-off cost of the Agency logo was £6,243;
  6. (vi) the Agency does not have corporate clothing; and
  7. (vii) the cost of specifically designed and printed corporate stationery since agentisation is £5,870.

I trust this information is sufficient for your purposes, however if I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.