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Departmental Expenditure (Publications)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his estimate is of the expenditure of his Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in each of the last four years. [30100]

Dr. Whitehead: The expenditure on centrally procured newspapers, magazines and periodicals in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for each of the last four years to the nearest £10,000 is as follows:

£000
1997–98280
1998–99310
1999–2000270
2000–01310

Titles covered by these spending figures include daily newspapers, weekly magazines, trade and technical journal and official publications including Hansard. The figures relate solely to central procurement in the central Department and exclude spend managed in the line as well as expenditure on the part of the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Compiling the corresponding data for non-centrally procured material would involve disproportionate cost.

Transport Infrastructure

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to change the financing of transport infrastructure investment to alter the balance between payment by funders and passengers once it is used and payment up-front. [29794]

Mr. Jamieson: In financing transport infrastructure projects we continually examine and keep under review alternative options, to ensure that we are providing taxpayers with value for money, within public expenditure constraints. These matters will be an important part of our review of our 10-Year Plan for Transport, which is being carried out in parallel with work on Spending Review 2002.

Departmental Sponsorship

Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the financial resources and initiatives sponsored by his Department in the last 12 months for Dorset which are additional to the Government SSA grants. [29895]

29 Jan 2002 : Column 187W

Dr. Whitehead: For the financial year 2001–02 local authorities in the county of Dorset were provided with the following grants and borrowing approvals:

Housing
£

AuthorityMajor repairs allowance (MRA)Annual capital guidelines (ACG)Disability facilities grant (DFG)
Christchurch0291,000126,000
East Dorset0509,000194,000
North Dorset0593,00098,000
Purbeck826,000466,00097,000
West Dorset0866,000199,000
Weymouth and Portland0380,000122,000

Transport

Local Transport allocation to Dorset county council was £8.435 million comprising £2.628 million for integrated transport and £5.807 for maintenance.

Dorset Rural Bus Subsidy Grant allocation for 2001–02 was £739,801 and we also awarded the county £462,000 grant under the Rural Bus Challenge bidding round for a scheme spanning the financial years 2001–02 to 2003–04.

Travel Plan Co-ordinators were allocated £30,000 per year, starting June 2001 going though to March 2004.

Regional Development Agency

The South West of England Regional Development Agency planned spending for Dorset in 2001–02 totals £1,773,260. This includes some spending in Poole and Bournemouth on its Business Recovery Fund and Skills Development Fund which has not been separated out.

Local Authority Policies

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what effort he has made to encourage local authorities to be more (a) family friendly and (b) sensitive to caring responsibilities in order to attract and retain women representatives; and if he will make a statement. [29970]

Dr. Whitehead: It is for local authorities rather than central Government to establish their own terms and conditions for councillors. We would hope that in doing so they will take into account the need to be family friendly and to attract and retain female councillors, as well as members from all sections of society.

The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) Regulations 2001 allow local authorities to pay allowances to members for expenses of arranging for the care of their children or other dependants while carrying out their council duties.

House Fires

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many people died in house fires in each of the last five years for which figures are available in the age groups (a) 0 to 18, (b) 19 to 40, (c) 41 to 65 and (d) over 65 years. [29752]

Dr. Whitehead: The table shows the number of people who have died in dwelling 1 fires attended by local authority fire brigades in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000 2 .

29 Jan 2002 : Column 188W


Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many people died in fires in houses of multiple occupation in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [29753]

Dr. Whitehead: The table shows the number of people who have died in fires in multiple occupancy dwellings 1 attended by local authority fire brigades in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000.


Number of deaths
1996209
1997201
1998204
1999171
2000(6)153

(6) 2000 data are estimated, and are subject to revision as later information from inquests and death certificates confirming cause of death is received.


Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what action he is taking to reduce the number of fires in houses of multiple occupation. [29754]

Dr. Whitehead: The Housing (Fire Safety in Houses in Multiple Occupation) Order 1997 requires that local authorities ensure that adequate means of escape and other fire precaution equipment are provided in all houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) of at least three storeys. Local authorities are encouraged to use their discretionary powers to enforce adequate means of escape and other precautions in other types of HMOs. A local authority will not register an HMO under a control scheme applying to its district unless it is satisfied that adequate means of escape from fire and other precautions have been provided.

The Home Energy Conservation Bill currently before Parliament would provide for a mandatory control scheme for HMOs of certain categories. When parliamentary time allows, all HMOs will be covered by the new housing condition regime, the Housing Health and Safety Ratings System (HHSRS). This risk assessment based system will give greater flexibility to local authorities in dealing with the potential risk of fires in individual HMOs and in enforcing remedies, than under the existing system.

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Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) deaths and (b) injuries were caused by fire in domestic homes by constituency in each of the past five years. [30630]

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Dr. Whitehead: The table shows the number of deaths and injuries in dwelling fires for each local authority brigade area in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2000. Data are not available centrally below brigade area level; therefore separate figures cannot be supplied for each constituency.

Deaths and injuries in dwelling(7) fires by brigade area, United Kingdom, 1996–2000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000(8)
Brigade areaDeathsInjuriesDeathsInjuriesDeathsInjuriesDeathsInjuriesDeathsInjuries
Avon31674174417881894177
Bedfordshire649353471152566
Berkshire129951077963126595
Buckinghamshire49078128541127112
Cambridgeshire91204125213531133108
Cheshire821811170721281896215
Cleveland514110176218931311136
Cornwall186674376366499
Cumbria375495597388376
Derbyshire51847156815271329145
Devon62114279626642327279
Dorset8605581838741110
Durham3118912941219103699
East Sussex71917182815751583136
Essex13200142116234626710292
Gloucestershire591476278176273
Hampshire152395208828391989209
Hereford and Worcester1123613041283106383
Hertfordshire1013610144712941546156
Humberside826172171022952647204
Isle of Wight129118122015022
Kent122397268527852449234
Lancashire1948722538154391549017497
Leicestershire10123414791253934117
Lincolnshire41002847773101478
Norfolk21295144115451728137
North Yorkshire71317126814841122129
Northamptonshire31158144813151463141
Northumberland053344151245162
Nottinghamshire11241163241025782953287
Oxfordshire10125476812151551135
Shropshire172361061160873
Somerset556446177050151
Staffordshire721810233830572418211
Suffolk01086876761103464
Surrey41705104614031026171
Warwickshire151257436257659
West Sussex21255121412371383153
Wiltshire7764810100179077
Greater Manchester241,378291,676241,761291,630221,496
Merseyside197911085621860888421816
South Yorkshire112686262122681123010259
Tyne and Wear1237054281636153245347
West Midlands1974416767197762273726633
West Yorkshire3567824707236522062222611
Greater London701,540921,528661,540651,426451,466
North Wales719751841018751973159
Mid and West Wales813391975189523914261
South Wales183341639415369113808359
Northern Ireland750326488244432743113417
Strathclyde56902421,0114899340951391,050
Highlands and Islands743555865164347
Grampian91437147517341615201
Tayside4132398513251685160
Lothian and Borders6312835123171445312350
Fife811421104921092388
Central667459260386071
Dumfries033330221421032

(7) Dwellings are defined as buildings occupied by households, excluding hotels, hostels and residential institutions. They also include caravans, houseboats and other non-building structures used solely as a permanent dwelling.

(8) 2000 data are estimated, and are subject to revision as later information from inquests and death certificates confirming cause of death is received.


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Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) deaths and (b) injuries were caused by fires in council-owned domestic homes by local authority in each of the past five years. [30631]

Dr. Whitehead: The information requested is not available centrally.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what initiatives are being pursued to promote the use of sprinkler systems in domestic houses; and if he will make a statement. [30632]

Dr. Whitehead: The Government are committed to reducing the number of accidental dwelling fire deaths. To underpin this commitment we have set a target to reduce preventable dwelling fire deaths by 20 per cent. by 31 March 2004. We aim to achieve this reduction through greater efforts in educating householders, by means of publicity campaigns, about what measures they can take to make their home safer from fire.

It has been our policy for some time that smoke alarms have a vital role to play in saving lives as they provide the vital early warning of fire and therefore help people to escape. Since 1987, when the cost of smoke alarms became affordable at around £5, we have conducted, and will continue to run high profile national and regional television campaigns promoting smoke alarms, which have proved very successful.

The Government nevertheless recognise that in some cases more direct protection from fire may be appropriate and therefore provides guidance on a range of other fire protection measures, such as domestic sprinklers. The issue of domestic sprinklers is included in the 'Toolbox' of education and publicity material developed by the National Community Fire Safety Centre for use by fire brigades and others. We also plan to produce later this year a publicity leaflet to inform the general public about domestic sprinklers.


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