PMQT Written Answers – 8 November 1995
Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 8th November 1995.
PRIME MINISTER:
Specialist Advisers
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Prime Minister how many (a) specialist advisers and (b) press or public relations officers are employed by his Department; and what is the total annual salary bill for (a) and (b).
The Prime Minister: I will write to the hon. Member in due course.
Scott Inquiry
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister how many persons in (a) the Prime Minister’s Office or (b) the Cabinet Office are on the public payroll or employed as consultants or advisers and work on a part-time or full-time basis in relation to the Scott inquiry; if he will list their names; and how much each is paid.
The Deputy Prime Minister [holding answer 8 November 1995]: I have been asked to reply.
The number of officials within the Cabinet Office wholly employed on matters relating to the Scott inquiry is five and their direct annual salary cost is approximately £140,000. There are no officials employed on Scott inquiry-related matters within my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Office on a full-time or part-time basis, although some will inevitably be involved from time to time. There are also no external consultants or advisers employed on such matters by the Prime Minister’s Office or the Cabinet Office. It is not the practice to name staff or external advisers.
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister how many persons have been authorised to have access to documents held by the Cabinet Office or the Prime Minister’s Office relating to the Scott Inquiry; and if he will list such persons.
The Deputy Prime Minister [holding answer 7 November 1995]: I have been asked to reply.
Ministers, former Ministers, officials and other advisers have access to material relating to the inquiry as necessary in order to carry out their responsibilities.
Committee on Standards in Public Life
Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list where appropriate for each Nolan commissioner his or her most recent public salary.
The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply. Lord Nolan receives his judicial salary. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater (Mr. King) and the right hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Mr. Shore) receive their parliamentary salaries. They receive no emoluments as members of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Of the remaining seven members of the committee, six were paid an honorarium of £1,000 per month from November 1994 to April 1995 and subsequently an attendance fee of £155 per day and one, who was then in receipt of a salary from public funds, was not. All seven are now entitled to the daily attendance fee.
Five of the seven have previously held full-time positions paid at public expense. Two members of the committee hold other current part-time appointments paid from public funds. Sir Martin Jacomb is chairman of the British Council, for which he receives an honorarium of £10,250 per year, and Diana Warwick is a lay member of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, for which she is paid an attendance fee of £186 per day.
Sir Gerald Warner
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister what are the specific functions in the Cabinet Office of Sir Gerald Warner; and what are the terms on which he is remunerated.
The Deputy Prime Minister [holding answer 7 November 1995]: I have been asked to reply.
Sir Gerald Warner is employed in the Cabinet Office at grade 2 level as the intelligence co-ordinator. As such, he advises the Secretary of the Cabinet on the co-ordination of the intelligence machinery and its resources and programmes. He chairs various formal and informal groups charged with intelligence management. He has particular responsibility for reviewing the United Kingdom’s intelligence requirements and for advising on the allocation of the resources to enable the intelligence agencies to meet them. He is remunerated within the civil service grade 2 range.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Betts: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list by type of project (a) how many schemes have been approved to date under the private finance initiative, (b) what is the value of those schemes and (c) what public sector contribution will be required both initially and as revenue support during the lifetime of the schemes.
The Deputy Prime Minister [holding answer 7 November 1995]: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him today by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.