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Foot and Mouth

Mr. Collins: To ask the Prime Minister if all papers under his control relating to the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak are being made available to Dr. Iain Anderson as part of his inquiry into lessons learned from the foot and mouth outbreak. [31396]

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The Prime Minister: The Government are committed to full co-operation with the inquiry.

Mr. Collins: To ask the Prime Minister if he (a) has given and (b) will be giving (i) oral and (ii) written evidence to Dr. Iain Anderson's Lessons Learned Inquiry into the foot and mouth outbreak. [31397]

The Prime Minister: I am giving full co-operation to Dr. Anderson in this important inquiry and had an initial meeting with him on 22 January.

National Air Traffic Services

Chris Grayling: To ask the Prime Minister (1) on what recent dates the financial situation of NATS has been discussed by Cabinet Ministers; [31607]

(2) what discussions there have been by Cabinet Ministers on the CAA's representations relating to the ability of the Airlines Group business plan for NATS to withstand a major incident; and on what dates. [31608]

The Prime Minister: Information relating to the proceeding of Cabinet and internal discussions between Ministers is not disclosed under Exemption 2, Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Prime Minister (1) whether he received a copy of the CAA representations on the ability of the Airlines Group business plan for NATS to withstand a major incident; [31651]

(2) what advice he received from the CAA on representations it has made on the ability of the Airlines Group business plan for NATS to withstand a major incident. [31652]

The Prime Minister: The terms of the public-private partnership for National Air Traffic Services were accepted by all the parties involved, including the Civil Aviation Authority. It would not be appropriate to discuss the detail of discussions which led up to the conclusion of this commercial deal.

Hospitality

Chris Grayling: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the people who received official hospitality at No. 10 Downing street in 2001. [31606]

The Prime Minister: It is not my practice to give details of every visitor to 10 Downing street. In 2001, around 4,300 visitors received hospitality.

The programme of events is designed to give people the opportunity to visit No. 10, including for example regular children's tea parties and receptions for a wide-ranging cross section of the community. In 2001 these included receptions for teachers, NHS workers, the police, members of the emergency services and victims of the floods.

I also provided hospitality to visiting world political leaders, and a wide range of other organisations and individuals.

No. 10 has also been used for a large number of charity receptions which were funded by the charities involved, who were also responsible for drawing up the guest lists.

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In addition, I hosted a number of political events funded by the Labour party.

Whittington Hospital

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister what information his officials (a) sought and (b) received from the Whittington hospital on the case of (i) Mrs. Rose Addis, (ii) James Scott-Faulkner, (iii) Mr. Sidney Hockley and (iv) Mr. Tom Grangevision; and if he will publish the verbatim text of briefings offered by his officials to the press on these cases. [31599]

The Prime Minister: My officials obtained copies of the press statements made by the trust after they were published which in themselves were in accordance with the guidance, "The Protection and Use of Patient Information", issued by the Department of Health. All Lobby briefings by my official spokesman are on-the-record. An account of them is published on the No. 10 website.

TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

THE REGIONS

Railtrack

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on what date he told Schroder Salomon Smith Barney that the Chairman of Railtrack had requested further financial support, as indicated in the letter from SSSB to his Department, dated 7 October. [26291]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department first contacted Schroder Salomon Smith Barney on 6 August 2001 to ask for advice in assessing Railtrack's request for additional financial support.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) whether Schroder Salomon Smith Barney advised him that Railtrack was insolvent; [26408]

(2) what advice he received from Schroder Salomon Smith Barney relating to factors other than Government support which would have prevented Railtrack from raising the additional debt finance assumed in its business plan. [26407]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 November 2001, Official Report, column 495W.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether a company limited by guarantee has been established to bid for Railtrack plc. [30241]

Mr. Jamieson: A team to develop a bid based on the concept of a company limited by guarantee has been established and its bid costs are being met by the Strategic Rail Authority. A company limited by guarantee has not yet been established.

Mr. Page: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps are being taken to establish a value of Railtrack shares to allow individual shareholders to complete their financial affairs at the end of the tax year. [30809]

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Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 28 January 2002]: The administrator will be seeking to obtain the best value that he can for the assets of Railtrack plc. Shareholders will receive the value to which they are properly entitled.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2002, Official Report, column 861W, on Railtrack, for what specific purposes the additional public funding of £4.5 billion announced with the SRA strategic plan was allocated. [31540]

Mr. Jamieson: The additional £4.5 billion relates to (i) the October 2000 final conclusions of the Rail Regulator's periodic review of access charges, (ii) the April 2001 agreement between Government and Railtrack, and (iii) provision for further project development work.

Rail Fares

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what has been the percentage increase in unregulated rail fares (a) in the UK, (b) within the South Central franchise and (c) within the Thameslink franchise for each year from 1997; and what has been the largest individual price increase for a journey within the above categories for the same period. [27523]

Mr. Spellar [holding answer 16 January 2002]: The information required is not held centrally. Unregulated fares are a matter for individual train operating companies who set the level of these according to their own commercial criteria.

Commuter Routes (London)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made on how Thameslink 2000, South London Metro and the East London line would use common corridors; and whether this can be achieved in a way consistent with the Strategic Rail Authority's goal of reducing the number of operators on key commuter routes in London. [28566]

Mr. Spellar: The integrated planning of the southern timetable is being carried out by Railtrack for GoVia, with active involvement from the SRA. The work is focused on maximising the use of the network for all relevant operators.

Strategic Rail Authority

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions which investment commitments in the SRA plan have not been announced previously by the SRA or the Government. [28541]

Mr. Jamieson: The SRA Strategic Plan sets out, for the first time in nearly 50 years, a plan to lead to the expansion of Britain's railways. It sets out a series of prioritised measures to improve the rail network and ensure the 10-year plan rail targets are met. Many of the individual projects covered in the plan have been previously identified, including in the strategic agenda of 13 March 2001.

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Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 22 January, Official Report, column 711W, on the Strategic Rail Authority, what proportion of the network will require ERTMS; and if he will list the lines concerned. [31564]

Mr. Jamieson: The plan for the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), incorporating an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) function, on the UK rail network is at present being prepared by a pan-industry team under the direction of the Strategic Rail Authority and Rail Safety Ltd. It is a complex undertaking as there are various levels of ERTMS at present under trial throughout Europe (including a major trial on West Coast Main Line) and the optimum infrastructure and rolling stock approach for the varied UK routes has to be found.

The work of the pan-industry team is progressing very well and it is anticipated that an industry plan defining the recommended extent of ERTMS fitment together with a major route by route strategy and timescale will be available in April. A key input into the team's work has been the recommended priorities and objective defined in the Uff Cullen report, which will, to the extent feasible, be reflected in the plan.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the commitments in the SRA Strategic Plan which are contingent on (a) the completion of franchise negotiations which are running behind schedule and (b) the establishment of special purpose vehicles. [30261]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer to my answer of 8 January 2002, Official Report, columns 601–02W. The Strategic Plan assumes that most large priority infrastructure projects will involve at least some funding through special purpose vehicles whose details and extent will be a matter for commercial negotiation in due course.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of the cost of the proposed South West Trains upgrade outlined in the SRA Strategic Plan is projected to be raised from the private sector; and what total amount that represents. [30250]

Mr. Jamieson: Costs of individual elements of the proposed new South West Trains franchise are a matter for the SRA's current commercial negotiations on the franchise.

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