---

Railtrack

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 21 November 2000, Official Report, column 118W, if he will use the dividend from Railtrack to increase the Government's equity stake in the company; and if he will make a statement. [140522]

Mr. Hill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 November 2000, Official Report, column 304.

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the shareholding in Railtrack held by the Government; what proportion of the total shareholding this represents; and if he is represented at the Annual Meeting of Railtrack. [139989]

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 373W

Mr. Hill: The Secretary of State holds 1,031,243 shares which represents 0.2 per cent. of Railtrack's share capital. The Secretary of State is not represented at the Railtrack Annual Meeting.

Torbay SSA

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish a breakdown by service of Torbay's standard spending assessment for 2000-01. [140402]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The information requested is given in the table.

Torbay standard spending assessment for 2000-01

Service sub-block	£ million
Primary Education	20.310
Secondary Education	23.425
Post-16 Education	4.223
Under-5 Education	2.951
Other Education	1.498
Total Education	52.406
Children's PSS	4.923
Elderly Residential PSS	10.967
Elderly Domiciliary PSS	6.945
Other PSS	3.500
Total Personal Social Services	26.336
Fire	3.268
Highway Maintenance	5.349
EPCS--County Level	4.689
EPCS--District Level	13.344
Rent allowance payments	1.643
Housing benefit administration	0.279
National Parks	0.000
Flood Defence	0.606
Coast Protection	0.071
Total EPCS	20.633
Capital Financing	2.828
Total SSA	110.821

Local Government Finance

Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will announce the provisional local government finance settlement for 2001-02. [140620]

Ms Armstrong: I will today be making a statement to the House announcing our proposals for the funding of local government revenue expenditure in 2001-02. Full details of our proposals are at the same time being made available to the local authority associations, local authorities and others with an interest.

SSAs

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each (a) shire county, (b) London borough, (c) Metropolitan district, and (d) unitary council, the (i) standard spending assessment and (ii) actual net

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 374W

expenditure, identifying the deviation as a percentage of (A) social services and (B) education for each year for which data are available since 1994-95. [138567]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Rental Accommodation

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what studies have been undertaken by his Department on the operation of the Rent Acts and the accessibility of private rental accommodation in London; and if he will make a statement. [139983]

Mr. Mullin: My Department has not undertaken a study of the operation of the Rent Acts and the accessibility of private rental accommodation in London. We are well aware of the scarcity of decent affordable rented accommodation in London and will make a statement on housing policy and announce the outcome of our consultation exercise on the Housing Green Paper in the near future.

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the effects of the implementation of Home for a World City produced by the Mayor of London on the supply of low-cost rental accommodation by (a) registered social landlords, (b) local authorities and (c) private landlords. [139986]

Mr. Mullin: My Department has made no such assessment. Officials are currently considering the report and its recommendations.

Soil Protection

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mrs. Brinton) of 2 November 2000, Official Report, column 551W, if he will make a statement on progress in developing his Department's soil protection strategy. [138509]

Mr. Meacher: As I stated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mrs. Brinton), we intend to publish for consultation a draft soil strategy soon.

Business Rates

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his most recent estimate of the annual value of the business rate foregone by the non-rating of agricultural premises. [140381]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Since agricultural premises and land have been exempt from rates since 1929 and are not valued for rating purposes, I have no reliable basis on which to make such an estimate.

Wembley Stadium

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what compulsory purchase orders he plans to issue in respect of land adjacent to Wembley Stadium so as to provide for a future Olympic bid based on Wembley. [139852]

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 375W

Mr. Hill: The Secretary of State's compulsory purchase powers under section 228 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 would not be appropriate for this purpose.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London about the planning and transport issues associated with a future Olympic bid based (a) at Wembley Stadium and (b) other venues in London. [139827]

Mr. Hill: The Secretary of State has had no discussions with the Mayor of London about the planning and transport issues associated with a future Olympic bid based at Wembley Stadium or at other venues in London.

Picketts Lock

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and (b) the Mayor of London about the planning, transport and infrastructure issues associated with the feasability studies into the suitability of Picketts Lock, Enfield, to host the World Athletics Championships in 2005. [139855]

Mr. Hill: The Secretary of State has had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport or the Mayor of London.

Social Housing

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his estimate is of the change in number of units of social housing for rent in each of the next five years in (a) Greater London and (b) England. [140113]

Mr. Mullin: The Department does not produce forecasts of the number of social housing units.

Stations (Disabled Access)

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what responsibilities are placed on rail operators to ensure disabled access to stations; and if he will make a statement. [140108]

Mr. Hill: Access to railway stations for disabled people is covered by Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Since October 1999, service providers have been required to take reasonable steps to change practices, policies or procedures which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service. From 2004, service providers will have to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or provide reasonable means of avoiding physical features that make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service.

In addition, the Rail Regulator is currently revising his Code of Practice, "Meeting the needs of Disabled Passengers", which is aimed at helping protect the interests of disabled users of railway passenger services and station services.

Railtrack are committed to ensuring that all stations are fully accessible to disabled people within 20 years to enable them to meet their DDA obligations. I understand

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 376W

they are currently developing and prioritising a detailed implementation programme in consultation with train operators, local disability organisations and local authorities.

---