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Heathrow Airport
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on how many occasions this year a mixture of landings and take-offs on the same runway has been allowed at Heathrow Airport because of congestion. [123259]
Mr. Mullin: The Tactically Enhanced Arrival Measures (TEAM) procedure at Heathrow involves the use of the departure runway to increase arrival rates and reduce holding delays. The procedure is approved only when it can be accommodated within the Heathrow Departure air traffic controllers' workload.
For environmental reasons, controllers are required to record the occasions on which the TEAM procedure is implemented. During the period 1 January to 18 May the TEAM procedure was implemented on the westerly runways at Heathrow on 53 occasions.
In accordance with local environmental restrictions, when the easterly runways are in use, arriving aircraft are permitted to use either of the parallel runways, Runway 09 Right or Runway 09 Left, at any time without restriction during the majority of the operating day. For environmental reasons, Runway 09R is normally used for all departures.
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Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed Terminal 5 on the number of air traffic movements at Heathrow Airport. [123260]
Mr. Mullin: This matter was explored fully at the public inquiry into BAA's planning application for a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport and because of the Secretary of State's quasi-judicial role in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to comment on the application or its implications until the inspector's report has been received and carefully considered.
Correspondence
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Derbyshire, dated 16 March 2000, regarding Mr. D. Williams of Kirk Ireton. [123306]
Mr. Mullin: This letter was sent for advice in March. Due to a clerical error the advice was delayed. However, I have now sent the hon. Member a full reply.
North Wales Main Line
Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will verify the accuracy of Virgin Trains' commercial study of the electrification of the North Wales mainline by using external consultants. [123458]
Mr. Hill: The Franchising Director did use external consultants to satisfy himself of the validity of the Virgin study.
Local Authority Housing
Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on progress towards the introduction of the new financial framework for local authority housing. [123709]
Mr. Raynsford: My right hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and the Regions announced on 22 June 1999, Official Report, column 337W, that the Government intended to proceed with their proposals for the introduction of a new financial framework for local authority housing. Our Housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All" repeated that commitment. The new financial framework will place authorities' accounts on a more businesslike footing and encourage more efficient investment in the stock. Together with Best Value, it will help ensure that local authority housing assets are managed in a way which will ensure that the resources which have been and will continue to be invested in them provide good-quality homes which reflect tenants' wishes and needs.
Our intention remains to introduce the new financial framework from 1 April 2001 with the exception of removing rent rebates from the HRA where primary legislation is needed. We are providing resources through HRA subsidy to help authorities with initial costs. Over recent months we have undertaken consultation on a number of detailed aspects of the new system and my officials have continued to work closely with local government and others. Significant progress has been
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made and my officials are today writing to local authorities with detailed material on various aspects of the change. The material is also being made available in the Library of the House and will shortly be available on the Department's website.
We have consulted on four particular topics since my right hon. Friend's announcement of 22 June. On stock valuation, we are today publishing the final version of the guidance. There was general support for the approach proposed based on the identification and valuation of beacon properties. The final version of the guidance reflects a number of detailed comments made in response to consultation. It will help authorities in preparing the valuations which will be necessary for the new-style accounts.
On business planning, there has been a general welcome for the concept. We will be publishing final guidance taking account of comments made in response to consultation in June; authorities will be expected to produce initial business plans by 31 October.
On the methodology for calculating the Major Repairs Allowance, we have carefully considered the comments made and are sending authorities a detailed list of our responses. We have made some adjustments to the assumptions underpinning the calculations as a result of the consultation process. The Major Repairs Allowance will be part of HRA subsidy from April 2001, and will form part of our normal consultation on subsidy later this year. All this material, and the guidance on shadow accounts which the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy expect to be issuing in June, will help authorities prepare for the new regime.
On removal of rent rebates from the HRA, there was general support for the principle involved. The majority of respondents agreed that it was right to regard local authority housing as a national programme and that assumed surpluses in authorities' housing accounts should be retained within housing and redistributed through a pooling mechanism. Some authorities in negative subsidy have expressed particular concerns about the impact of the new system, and the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South (Mr. Mullin), announced on 4 April 2000, Official Report, column 810, that we would introduce transitional arrangements for authorities in negative subsidy from 2001. We will be consulting on the details of the transitional measures.
I am grateful for the positive and helpful contribution that local authorities have made to the development of these important proposals. I hope that they will approach their implementation in the same way.
Councils (Beacon Status)
Mr. Hope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will invite councils to apply for beacon status. [123785]
Ms Armstrong: We will publish tomorrow an Application Brochure, inviting councils to apply for beacon status by 25 July. Copies of the brochure will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
School Security
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what was the total amount spent by schools on security measures in 1999 (a) by constituency and (b) by local education authority; [123134]
(2) how much the Government have awarded to local education authorities in each year since 1995 for schools to (a) implement security reviews and (b) undertake measures to make their premises more secure. [123167]
Ms Estelle Morris: The Department does not collect information in the level of detail requested. Expenditure by each local education authority in England supported by the Government's Standards Fund grant for school security, which is allocated directly to authorities, is shown in Table 1 for 1998-99, the latest year for which outturn information is available, along with the total sums available to authorities for 1999-2000.
Specific grants for school security measures have been made available since 1997-98, following a recommendation from the Government's Working Group on School Security. To date, £94 million has been made available to support a variety of security measures in schools in England, to help make a safer environment for pupils and staff. A breakdown, by year, of this total funding is given in Table 2.
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Notes:
1. GEST and the Standards Fund grants for school security had grant rates. This means Government provide the set grant rate and local education authorities are required to contribute the remainder in order to take up the grant.
2. In 1997-98 and 1998-99, an additional £2 million per year was made available to schools in the grant-maintained sector via the Funding Agency for Schools.
3. The Standards Fund school security grant is allocated to local education authorities by formula and can be used on a variety of physical measures and on security related training for staff and governors. Local education authorities are required to devolve at least 70 per cent. of their grant allocation to schools, while being allowed to retain a maximum of 30 per cent. of their allocation to co-ordinate a training programme for staff and governors.
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23 May 2000 : Column: 443W
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