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Fair Trade

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what is the value of fairly traded (a) tea and (b) coffee used in his Department in each of the last five years. [17564]

Dr. Whitehead: Fair traded tea and coffee is available through the staff restaurant and for internal meetings. Information on the value of these products is not available due to disproportionate costs.

Smoke Alarms

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 43W, what smoke alarm installation work he encourages; and if he will make a statement. [17879]

Dr. Whitehead: We encourage the fire service to provide and install smoke alarms to householders as part of their general community fire safety work. Brigades focus their efforts mainly on those households deemed to be at high risk from fire. The implementation of such work is down to individual brigades to determine, using local data and statistics to highlight where within their brigade area fires are most likely to occur.

Supporting People Strategy

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much money is being given to local authorities to fund the Supporting People Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [17955]

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Ms Keeble: The Government have allocated £40 million to local authorities to fund the implementation of the Supporting People Programme in 2002–03. This is in addition to the £15.2 million allocated to local authorities in 2001–02.

East Coast Main Line

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans exist for special purpose vehicles to be created to undertake works in connection with the East Coast Main Line; and if he will place the plans in the Library. [17789]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 23 November 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela Smith) on 2 April 2001, Official Report, column 8W.

Terminal 5

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his statement of 20 November 2001, on Terminal 5, what the first date would be on which (a) a new regime for night flight quotas and (b) other arrangements to reduce noise nuisance from night flights would come into practice following completion of the consultation exercise. [17793]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 23 November 2001]: Any changes would be introduced after appropriate consideration but before the opening of Terminal 5.

Children's Social Services (Seaside Authorities)

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the ability of the children's social services SSA to meet the demands found in seaside resort unitary authority areas; and if he will make a statement. [17962]

Dr. Whitehead: The overall level of formula grant that Government make available to local government, including that for social services, is decided as part of our spending review process. Decisions are based on an assessment at the national level of pressures on services, the scope for greater cost-effectiveness, and what is affordable. We have not made an assessment specific to seaside resort authorities. The SSA formulae are the means by which we allocate this total level of grant between authorities. The grant distribution formulae are currently being reviewed in order to develop a system that is more transparent and fairer to all authorities. To date, the review has not made an assessment of the fairness of the current children's social services SSA formula as it relates specifically to seaside resort authorities. As part of the review, the Department of Health are commissioning research on the children's formula. Such an assessment would be difficult to make until further progress has been made.

Timber

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what guidance he provides for local authorities regarding their

27 Nov 2001 : Column: 755W

procurement of timber and timber products which have been independently certified as originating from well- managed forests. [18009]

Dr. Whitehead: Local authorities are independent and autonomous and responsible within the law for making their own decisions on procurement matters. It is for them to decide whether or not to procure timber and timber products which have been independently certified as originating from well-managed forests. In doing so they will need to have regard to the need to achieve value for money.

Central Government Departments were formally reminded of the Government's policy to procure timber and timber related products from sustainable and legal sources in a note dated 2 January 2001 issued jointly by HM Treasury and the then Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Central Government have not given advice on this subject directly to other parts of the public sector but the Government's advice is widely available and can be adapted or adopted by other organisations.

Parish and Town Councils

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average level of precept was for (a) parish and town councils, (b) parish councils and (c) town councils in England in each of the last five years. [18063]

Dr. Whitehead: The only information on parish and town council precepts collected by the Department is the total amount received by each English billing authority on behalf of parish and town councils in its area. Separate amounts for parish and town councils are not therefore available, nor are precise figures for the number of parish or town councils in England in any particular year. Total precepts for each year from 1997–98 to 2001–02 inclusive are given in the following table:

Financial year	Parish and town council precepts, England total (£ million)	Percentage increase over previous year
1997–98	144	8.3
1998–99	154	6.9
1999–2000	165	7.1
2000–01	181	9.7
2001–02	193	6.6

The Department estimates that there are currently about 8,700 parish or town councils in England, so the average precept in 2001–02 is about £22,000, with precepts for individual councils ranging from zero to several hundred thousand pounds.

Voting Age

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he plans to grant 16-year-olds the vote; and if he will make a statement. [18017]

Dr. Whitehead: We have no plans to propose legislation to lower the voting age. We would, however, welcome a public debate on the issue. It is also open to the Electoral Commission to consider it and make recommendations for future policy.

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Aviation Industry

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assistance he is giving to (a) airports, (b) airlines and (c) other service providers in respect of insurance premiums to cover against acts of war or terrorism. [18453]

Mr. Jamieson: The Government have made available third-party war risk insurance to UK airports, airlines and other service providers in accordance with Community rules and guidance on state aid. In the case of airlines, premiums were waived initially but are now being applied in accordance with guidelines issued by the European Commission on 23 October 2001. Airports and ground service providers have been charged premiums since the inception of assistance on 23 September 2001.

Challenge for Home Zones

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will announce the successful bids under the Government Challenge for Home Zones. [18185]

Ms Keeble [holding answer 26 November 2001]: We hope to announce the winners before Christmas.

A556

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) road fatalities and (b) road accidents there were on the A556 in each of the last 10 years. [18448]

Mr. Jamieson: The numbers of personal injury road accidents and fatalities on the A556 were as shown.

Year	Road accident fatalities	Personal injury accidents
1991	1	96
1992	3	97
1993	2	99
1994	7	100
1995	2	86
1996	4	78
1997	3	101
1998	5	108
1999	1	76
2000	1	46

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