Previous Section Index Home Page


Rail Regulator

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to meet the Rail Regulator. [21495]

Mr. Jamieson: My right hon. Friend maintains regular contact with the Rail Regulator.

Road Safety

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what road safety awareness schemes he plans in the next 12 months; and if he will estimate their cost. [21499]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department's major effort in the area of raising the awareness of road safety is the "Think!" publicity campaign. My Department launched this campaign in June 2000, with the aim of encouraging

11 Dec 2001 : Column: 790W

all road users to think about their own and others' safety. The generic "Think!" message enables us to link the promotion of a range of specific road safety messages that can help to make our roads safer for all. The campaign also links the promotion of road safety messages by a range of supporters in the public, private and voluntary sectors. The long-term campaign is a key commitment in the 10 year strategy, launched by the Prime Minister in March 2000, for reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent. (and 50 per cent. for children) by the year 2010.

In the campaign to date we have given priority to addressing those behaviours that are most likely to put road users at risk, eg driving too fast, driving after drinking, driving while tired, passenger seat belt wearing, unsafe child pedestrian behaviour. Over the coming year we shall continue to address safety in these areas, particularly the safety of children. But in addition we shall be preparing a major effort to address the growing number of powered two wheeler casualties (almost one in six of the deaths on our roads last year were riders of these vehicles). The outline programme of forward activity is available on the "Think!" website at www.think.dtlr.gov.uk.

The estimate of expenditure for the next 12 months is £13 million.

A1

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans his Department has to upgrade the A1. [21605]

Mr. Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from David York to John Mann, dated 11 December 2001:






11 Dec 2001 : Column: 791W




John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what further plans he has to improve the A1 motorway. [21758]

Mr. Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Tim Matthews, to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from David York to John Mann, dated 11 December 2001







11 Dec 2001 : Column: 792W


Unitary Authorities

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what was the average cost associated with (a) job losses, (b) removal costs, (c) informing the resident population of the change, (d) changes to records, (e) administration costs and (f) election costs incurred by the establishment of the new unitary authorities in 1996; [21634]

Dr. Whitehead: These costs were met by the local authorities concerned and this information is not held centrally. The Government expected local authorities being reorganised to take the opportunity to cut costs and improve efficiency. So supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) were given for authorities to borrow money to meet the one-off indirect costs of reorganisation until the savings and receipts arising from the process were realised. The SCAs provide a rough proxy for the transitional cost of reorganisation, though they do not necessarily capture all local authorities' expenditure. The total for the 1995–96 authorities was £143.8 million.

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) how many unitary authorities are buying in services from neighbouring authorities; and what the net effect is on expenditure for each authority of this action; [21411]

Dr. Whitehead: The Government do not collect any local authority trading information centrally.

However, we recently commissioned research for the Byatt Review of Local Government procurement which showed that 42 per cent. of authorities overall have joint contract arrangements with other authorities, that is 98 authorities. 17 of the 30 unitary authorities responding to this question have joint arrangements with other local authorities. Many of these joint arrangements are facilitated through buying consortia.

We believe that a truly mixed economy of service provision is the best way to ensure genuine innovation and true competition. We want to see partnerships that are public-public, public-voluntary and public-private. This could involve the best in-house providers using their expertise in wider markets within the public service.

We envisage laying orders before Parliament in the new year to allow local authorities to be able to use the new trading powers proposed in the consultation paper "Working With Others To Achieve Best Value".

11 Dec 2001 : Column: 793W

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish the total amount of Government funding to the unitary authority of Torbay since its creation. [21697]

11 Dec 2001 : Column: 794W

Dr. Whitehead: Torbay unitary authority has reported the following government funding:

Revenue grants paid into general fund revenue account (GFRA) and capital grants
£000

1998–991999–20002000–012001–02
OutturnOutturnOutturnBudget
Specific grants inside AEF4,2153,880(13)11,59710,664
Revenue support grant45,48946,70046,20948,886
Redistributed non-domestic rates29,08731,36635,41634,910
Revenue grants paid into GFRA78,79181,94693,22294,460
Capital grants1,1591,670(13)5,7981,682
Total79,95083,61699,02096,142

(13) Includes extra funds to support a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project.



Next Section Index Home Page