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Central Railway Project

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he received the SRA's latest assessment of the Central Railway Project; and when he expects to publish the Government's response. [71680]

Mr. Jamieson: The SRA is expected to provide a report to Ministers by September 2002. We expect to announce our decision about Central Railway's proposal as soon as possible thereafter, after giving it careful and due consideration.

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London Underground

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made as to the change in capacity on London Underground resulting from the PPP proposal; and if he will make a statement. [71387]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 19 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Brake) on 24 June 2002, Official Report, column 660W.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made as to the loss of station capacity resulting from work planned under the proposed PPP; and if he will make a statement. [71497]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 19 July 2002]: Nothing on the scale of the modernisation plans for the Underground has ever been undertaken and some disruption is inevitable while the contractors are maintaining and renewing the entire network. Most of the work will be done at night; the plans have been specifically designed to minimise disruption to passengers.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on what powers (a) he and (b) the London Mayor (i) have and (ii) will have in order to place the Tube Infracos into administration; and under what legislation these powers are in place. [71052]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 19 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given him today [70813].

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out the criteria for assessing journey times on London Underground services for the purposes of judging performance against the PSA targets for transport set out in the 2002 Spending Review. [71618]

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 9 July 2002, Official Report, column 808W, on London Underground, if he will make a statement on the methodology used to determine London Underground's weighted measure. [71482]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 19 July 2002]: Journey times on the Underground are assessed by London Underground using the methodology described in the document "The Journey Time Metric" (published by London Transport in 1999), copies of which I have arranged to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 8 July 2002, Official Report, column 668W, on London Underground, if he will publish (a) the data and (b) the calculations, used in order to produce chart 6j (overcrowding on the London Underground today), on page 67 of the 10-year plan. [71375]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 19 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 9 July 2002, Official Report, column 794W.

EU Committees

(Scottish Executive Representation)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the EU Committee on the movement of air or sea passengers' baggage (principles) is next due to

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meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement. [70912]

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.

This committee has not met in the past five years and has no outstanding items under consideration. No further meetings have been timetabled. One official from HM Customs and Excise attended previous meetings, representing all of the UK.

Chemical/biological Warfare

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will place in the Library copies of guidance provided for (a) the public, (b) local education authorities, (c) local health authorities and (d) other public institutions in the event of deliberate release of (i) chemical and (ii) biological weapons; and where this information is available to the general public. [50856]

Mr. Denham: I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health issued restricted guidance to Directors and Regional Directors of Public Health in March 2000. The Cabinet Office issued guidance to local authorities in October 2001 and a copy of that guidance, which is being revised, has been placed in the Library. General advice is available via the website www.ukresilience.info.

DEFENCE

Private Military Companies

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the checks needed to (a) ensure accountability, (b) avoid human rights violations and (c) avoid legal actions by the private military companies; and if he will make a statement. [38796]

Dr. Moonie: The paper "Private Military Companies: Options for Regulation", which was published on 12 February 2002, examines the various activities of private military companies and sets out options for their regulation. It is a consultation paper, and invites comments from all interested parties by mid-August 2002. A full regulatory impact assessment would be drawn up once final decisions on any legislative proposal have been made.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what private military companies have been granted licences to operate from the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [67841]

Dr. Moonie: Private military companies operating from the United Kingdom are not at present subject to a licensing regime in respect of the provision of military services. One of the options set out in the FCO's Green Paper "Private Military Companies: Options for Regulation", published on 12 February 2002, is for the introduction of a licensing regime.

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Waiting Lists

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British servicemen have been waiting for more than one month for (a) an NHS operation or consultation and (b) admittance to a waiting list. [64817]

Dr. Moonie: Service patients in the United Kingdom are mainly treated in Defence Secondary Care Agency administered Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHUs) situated in NHS Trusts. Service patients can opt to be treated in other NHS hospitals and are referred

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to these where there is a need for specialised care not available in the Defence Medical Services or for geographical reasons.

The MOD only maintains central records on the number of Service patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment or admitted patient treatment (inpatients plus daycase patients) at MDHUs. MDHU waiting list information as at 31 March 2002, the last date for which information is available, is provided in the standard NHS reporting format in the following tables. This excludes outpatient information in respect of MDHU Portsmouth due to the validation of information at that time.

	Waiting time
	0–13 weeks	13+ weeks	0–3 months	3+ months	Total waiting
Outpatients
Number of Service patients waiting(9)	1,916	437	—	—	2,353
Admitted patients(10)
Number of Service patients waiting(11)	—	—	1,464	1,029	2,493

⁽⁹⁾ Number of patients waiting at four MDHUs (Peterborough, Frimley Park, Derriford and Northallerton).

⁽¹⁰⁾ Inpatients plus daycases.

⁽¹¹⁾ Number of patients waiting at all five MDHUs (Portsmouth, Peterborough, Frimley Park, Derriford and Northallerton).

This information is provided by MDHU host NHS Trusts. Patients are normally added to the outpatient waiting lists on receipt of a referral from their GP to a consultant. They are normally added to the admitted patient waiting list when the consultant decides that an admission is required.

Overseas Visits

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the overseas trips on departmental business that have been undertaken in each of the last five years by officials in his Department; and what the (a) cost, (b) purpose and (c) result was in each case. [68724]

Dr. Moonie: All overseas travel by officials is undertaken in accordance with the principles set in Chapter 8 of the Civil Service Management Code, and the detailed rules and guidance set out in the Ministry of Defence Civilian Overseas Travel Manual. The detailed information requested about individual trips is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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