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Heavy Goods Vehicles
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many HGV drivers were prosecuted in each of the last five years for driving a goods vehicle with maximum loaded weight of over 7.5 tonnes in the offside lane of a motorway with three or more lanes in England and Wales. [17408]
Mr. Denham: The offence of driving a heavy goods vehicle having a maximum laden weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes within the offside lane of a motorway with three or more lanes is contrary to Regulation 12 of the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982.
The Home Office Court Proceedings Database does not identify this specific offence separately from others within the offence category 'motorway offences (other than speeding)', of which there were in total 3,213 offences proceeded against in 2000.
The 'motorway offences (other than speeding)' category includes offences committed under the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984, s17(4) and the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982, Regulations 5–12 and 14.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Civil Service Pensions
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he plans to change the civil service pension scheme to allow widows and widowers to retain their pension after remarrying; and if he will make a statement. [29262]
Mr. Leslie: The civil service will be introducing new pension arrangements with effect from 1 October 2002. New entrants will be given a choice between a new final salary pension scheme and a stakeholder pension with an employer contribution. We are giving active members of the current pension scheme an option to move into the new final salary scheme on 1 October if they wish. The new scheme, which has a higher employee contribution rate than the current scheme, will allow widows and widowers to retain their pension if they remarry. We have no plans to change the arrangements in the current scheme whereby widows and widowers will normally lose their pension entitlement should they remarry.
Civil Service Secondments
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the salary and other costs of a civil servant from one UK Government Department who is on loan to another UK Government Department are met from the budget of the Department of origin of the civil servant or the Department to which the civil servant is transferred on loan. [29520]
Mr. Leslie: There are no central rules on this. It is a matter to be settled between the two Departments involved.
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Ministerial Transport
Bob Russell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he last used the railway service in connection with his official duties; what station he left from and what was the destination; and whether it is his intention to make greater use of the railways in future. [28093]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I last returned from official business in Hull by train on Monday 21 January.
BBC Monitoring
Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reason the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2001–02 included provision to transfer sums from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Office in respect of BBC monitoring. [28330]
Mr. Leslie: Since 1997, funding to support BBC Monitoring's capability to monitor, translate, and report items of interest from foreign broadcasts and media has been provided by four stakeholders: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence, BBC World Service Broadcasting, and the Cabinet Office. Following a review, the four stakeholders agreed in May 2001 to redistribute funding between them in a way which reflected more fully the relative scale of their
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requirements for BBC Monitoring's services. The sums transferred in the winter supplementary estimate give effect to that change.
Lobbying
Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether Government agencies are permitted to incur expenditure on lobbyists where the Government itself is the intended recipient of such lobbying. [28323]
Mr. Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him of 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 97W. Decisions on expenditure will be for individual Government agencies to take in accordance with the guidance on Government accounting.
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many answers to parliamentary questions have not been answered by the Cabinet Office under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in each year since 1994. [29418]
Mr. Leslie: As far as I am aware, only one answer to a parliamentary question has been refused, in this House, under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government information.