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Manor Farm Estate, Scunthorpe
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that the residents of the Manor Farm Estate in Scunthorpe receive a definite offer of 100 per cent. compensation immediately. [110311]
Mr. Mullin: On 30 November 1999, my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning and officials of the Department met representatives of North Lincolnshire Council, my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) and also a local estate agent acting on behalf of the property owners, to discuss the issue of compensation. At that meeting a number of options were explored, with a view to seeking the best possible solution and a fair deal for those concerned.
From that we believe that a positive way forward, involving the use of "buy back" provisions, has been identified. This, including the proposed compensation arrangements, is now subject to further discussions between North Lincolnshire Council and the owner- occupiers concerned. My Department and North Lincolnshire are hopeful that this will lead to a positive outcome for all concerned.
Advertising Budgets
Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his Department's advertising budget for (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01. [110259]
Ms Beverley Hughes
[holding answer 16 February 2000]: The Department's advertising budget for 1999-2000 is £13,160,000 and for 2000-01 is £16,150,000. The Department uses advertising, in conjunction with a range of other publicity activities, to promote its key road safety messages (on subjects such as drinking and driving, speed, using mobile phones while driving and rear seat belts) and environmental awareness messages (through the Are You Doing Your Bit? campaign). The figures provided do not include the cost of statutory and recruitment advertising.
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Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the average cost of issuing a media release from his Department in 1999. [110272]
Ms Beverley Hughes
[holding answer 16 February 2000]: The average cost of issuing a press release in 1999 was £104.
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has for holding referendums to establish elected devolved assemblies in the regions of England. [110440]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
We said in our manifesto that, in time, we would introduce legislation to allow people, region by region, to decide in referendums whether they wanted directly elected regional government. We remain committed to this. However, finding the right arrangements may take time, just as the arrangements for Scotland, Wales and London have taken time.
Mr. Moore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the progress of Sir David Davies' assessment of rail safety systems. [110384]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 16 February 2000]: Sir David Davies' report on train protection systems will be published shortly.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the secondment policy in his Department. [110672]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The Department has a long history of seconding staff to organisations outside the civil service and of taking inward secondees. There have been secondments with the wider public sector, the private sector and the voluntary sector. The Department intends to build on these links as part of the Modernising Government initiative on bringing in talent and creating a more open civil service.
Mr. Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many second homes entitled to the 50 per cent. council tax discount there are in each district and county/unitary authority area; and what percentage they represent of domestic housing stock in each such area. [110204]
Ms Beverley Hughes
[holding answer 15 February 2000]: I have placed in the Library of the House today a table showing the latest available information on the number of dwellings in each English district and county/unitary authority area which are entitled to the 50 per cent. council tax discount. Not all of the dwellings that receive the discount are second or holiday homes.
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The Department does not collect separate information on these dwellings. The 50 per cent. discount applies to all unoccupied dwellings and certain occupied dwellings such as those where all of the residents are disregarded--for example, households consisting of someone who is severely mentally impaired and their carer.
Mr. Galbraith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people are employed by the National Air Traffic Services at (a) Prestwick in Scotland and (b) in total throughout the United Kingdom. [111005]
Mr. Mullin:
The air traffic control facilities at Prestwick comprise the Scottish Area Control Centre (ScACC), which handles traffic over Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the Oceanic Area Control Centre (OACC), which handles traffic over the north Atlantic to the west of the UK and Ireland. The combined facilities, sometimes referred to as ScOACC, currently employ a total of 532 staff, including 217 controllers. The overall number of UK staff employed by National Air Traffic Services totalled 5,372 at 31 March 1999.
Mr. Portillo:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he proposes to introduce legislation to enfranchise leaseholders. [110465]
Mr. Raynsford:
Leaseholders of houses already enjoy rights to enfranchise their property under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, and leaseholders of flats enjoy collective enfranchisement rights under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. We intend to make these existing rights easier to exercise. The first stage in this will be the publication of a draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill for consultation during this session, as was announced in the Gracious Speech given on 17 November 1999, Official Report, columns 4-7. Following that consultation, we intend to bring forward legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Mr. Austin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the responsibilities of his Department in the event of a (a) bus and (b) train operating company going into liquidation. [110251]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 16 February 2000]: My right hon. Friend has no specific responsibilities if a train operating company or a bus company goes into liquidation. The Franchising Director has a responsibility to take over the operation of any franchised train operator in the event of premature termination of a franchise, as a result of liquidation of the company or for any other reason, and he has arrangements in readiness to do this at short notice, if necessary. London Transport Buses are responsible for the provision of bus services in London.
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Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what (a) date he was informed of the establishment of a judicial inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday and the appointment of Lord Saville, (b) how many self-loading rifles were submitted for ballistic testing to the Widgery Inquiry, (c) how many of those rifles are available with their original barrels for examination, (d) on what dates were batches of those rifles sent for the fitting of new barrels and for destruction and (e) who was responsible for the decision in each instance; and if he will make a statement. [108485]
Mr. Hoon:
The Government decision to set up a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday and the appointment of Lord Saville of Newdigate to chair the Tribunal of Inquiry was announced by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on 29 January 1998.
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry believe 29 self-loading rifles (SLRs) were submitted for ballistic testing during the Widgery Inquiry to the Department of Industrial and Forensic Science. It is not possible to say how many have retained their original barrels; it is highly probable that they would have been re-barrelled at some point during their operational lives, in which case their forensic value would be substantially reduced. Detailed records were not kept of repairs to SLRs and no record was kept of whether a rifle had been re-barrelled, or how many times this may have occurred. The SLR was declared obsolete in November 1997 and authority to commence destruction was given in January 1998. SLRs were therefore recalled for disposal in line with this policy. By the end of January 2000 approximately 116,000 rifles had been disposed of out of a total of 144,000.
A list of 29 partial serial numbers, relating to the rifles fired on Bloody Sunday, was sent by the Inquiry to the MOD on 1 September 1999. From the information available it was not possible to identify the rifles until 29 September 1999. Of the 29, 14 were identified as having been issued for destruction on the following dates: 26 January 1998, 13 February 1998, 8 April 1998, 29 April 1998, 30 April 1998, 3 June 1998, 29 June 1998, 10 August 1998, 17 August 1998, 22 February 1999, 29 March 1999, 23 August 1999 and two on 24 September 1999. Ten rifles were identified as having been sold to private companies, leaving the five in the possession of the MOD. Despite an embargo on the movement of the remaining five, two of these rifles were destroyed on 26 and 28 January 2000.
Thus 24 of the rifles were disposed of as part of the routine disposal programme at a time when they could not be identified as Bloody Sunday rifles from available MOD records. That two rifles have been destroyed since is a matter of deep regret and an investigation has been launched by the Chief Constable of the Ministry of Defence Police to which officers from the West Mercia Constabulary will be seconded. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry will be invited to send an observer. The remaining three rifles have been secured and the Bloody Sunday Inquiry has been given assurances about their safe keeping.
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Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations have been made to the Northern Ireland Office regarding proposals for a fresh inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday; and what response his Department has made. [108486]
Mr. Hoon:
My Department was closely involved in considering the need for a fresh inquiry into Bloody Sunday and it has co-operated fully with the Tribunal of Inquiry chaired by Lord Saville. I am withholding details of internal discussion and advice under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
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