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Rail Strategic Plan

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2002, Ref 30261, Official Report, column 324W, if he will list the infrastructure projects that will not require some funding through special purpose vehicles. [33405]

Mr. Jamieson: This will be a matter for consideration case by case.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions where the development work on the 10-year plan identified 23 per cent. spare capacity on the rail network in forming its assumptions for future growth potential. [33394]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to footnote 7 on page 10 of the 10-year plan background analysis document.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the level of unallocated financial reserves in the total allocation for the 10-year plan on (a) 14 January and (b) 30 January. [32960]

Mr. Spellar: The level of the unallocated provision in the total allocation for the 10-year plan on both (a) 14 January 2002 and (b) 30 January 2002 was £6.7 billion.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2002, Official Report, column 321W, ref 31540, what proportion of the funding relates to each of (i), (ii) and (iii). [33390]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 29 January 2002, Official Report, column 175W, with (i) relating to the transfer from the unallocated budget in the 10-year plan while (ii) and (iii) relate to the funding additional to the original 10-year plan.

Railtrack

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2002, Official Report, column 321W, ref 31541, if he will make a statement on the timetable required to achieve the target dates for the complete opening of the East London line as outlined in the SRA strategic plan. [33392]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 January 2002, Official Report, column 866W.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2002, Official Report,

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column 320W, ref 26291, what took place between the meeting with the Chairman of Railtrack and 6 August that led him to appoint advisers. [33413]

Mr. Jamieson: My officials met with Railtrack's financial advisers between these two dates.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 January 2002, Official Report, column 321W, ref 31540, if he will make a statement on the cost implications of the October 2000 final conclusions of the Rail Regulator's periodic review of access charges. [33391]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to Appendix D of the October 2000 final conclusions.

Multi-modal Studies

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated cost is of multi-modal studies initiated since 1997. [32958]

Mr. Jamieson: The estimated cost of the programme of multi-modal studies is £30 million excluding VAT.

Railways

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in which financial years the additional finance for the railways announced on 29 January will be allocated and spent. [32961]

Mr. Jamieson: The profile of the £33.5 billion of Government funding for the railways was set out in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) on 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 871–72W. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 29 January 2002, Official Report, column 175W, setting out where this increase in funding is to come from.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions by what means he has set a target figure for private investment in rail under the 10 year plan. [32953]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 53 and 54 of the 10-year plan background analysis document.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what additional projects he will bring forward following the additional finance for the railways announced on 29 January. [32962]

Mr. Spellar: The £4.5 billion increase in public funding has been factored into the prioritised investment programme set out in the Strategic Rail Authority's Strategic Plan.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 23 January 2002, Official Report, column 872W, what the annual public investment in railways was in each year since 1978–79, calculated on the same basis. [32082]

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Mr. Jamieson: I refer my hon. Friend to Table 4.2 of the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly national Rail Trends bulletin, and for years before 1986–87 to the British Rail annual report and accounts.

London Underground

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether the PPP scheme for London Underground will deliver additional capacity at a faster rate than projected passenger growth. [32933]

Mr. Spellar: The modernisation plans have been designed to eliminate London Underground's massive investment backlog and ensure that the existing infrastructure is brought up to, and maintained at, modern standards, both now and in the future.

At the same time the plans will deliver improved waiting times, journey times and crowding levels on all underground lines, which will result in increased passenger capacity.

Against this background London Underground believe that capacity increases should keep pace with likely forecast increases in demand.

Investment

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the total public sector investment in transport was between 1987 and 1997; and what the figure is in 2002 prices. [32954]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to Table 4.2 of the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly national Rail Trends bulletin.

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much public money was invested in the railways in each year from 1990. [27695]

Mr. Spellar: I refer the right hon. Member to Table 4.1 of the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly National Rail Trends bulletin for an historic series of Government support to the rail industry.

Rail Projects

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the cost of setting up a special purpose financing vehicle; and from what source funding will be drawn to finance the establishment of such financing vehicles for rail projects. [32931]

Mr. Spellar: Section 4 of the SRA Strategic Plan discusses the issues involved in developing and implementing special purpose vehicles. Funding issues will be addressed as part of this process.

Official Engagements

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list his official engagements since 16 November 2001; and what mode of transport he used to get to engagements outside Westminster. [33059]

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Mr. Byers: My arrangements for official travel are made in line with guidance set out in Chapter 7 of the Ministerial Code and the accompanying guidance document "Travel by Ministers", using the most efficient and cost-effective mode of transport, and bearing in mind security considerations.

I travelled by car to four engagements in London, in the city, Bloomsbury, Dalston and Pall Mall on 20 November, 5 December, 6 December and 11 December, and one in Newcastle on 3 December.

Millennium Dome

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 13 December 2001, Official Report, column 1018W, on the millennium dome, what advice he has received on when the holes in the lining of the two skin roof of the millennium dome will be repaired. [33389]

Ms Keeble: Although the holes in the inner lining of the roof of the dome did not affect the operation and effectiveness of the roof and the lining, the holes were repaired in late December 2001, while carrying out other work near the top of the dome, since this offered a cost-effective opportunity to undertake repair.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 17W, on the Millennium Dome, if he will state for each visitor to the millennium dome since 1 July whether they visited the interior of the millennium dome, indicating the length and purpose of safety training they received; and in how many cases no safety training was received; and for what reason. [33388]

Ms Keeble: The information is not available centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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