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Air Services (Scotland)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the Government will publish the transportation document on the future of Scotland's air services and airports. [72439]

Mr. Jamieson: We are today publishing the consultation document on the future of air transport in Scotland, which has been prepared jointly with the Scottish Executive.

Aviation White Paper

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to meet the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Association to discuss the forthcoming Aviation White Paper. [71849]

Mr. Jamieson: The Secretary of State has no plans to meet the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Association. The UAVSA will, however, be sent a copy of the Department's consultation paper on development options at airports around the UK, to which the Association may respond. If the Association has other concerns it wishes to raise then it should make representations to the relevant departmental officials.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what forecast he has made of the change in the numbers of unmanned aerial vehicles over the next five years; what assessment he has made of the safety and economic benefits of unmanned aerial vehicles; and what assessment he has made of the civilian and commercial applications of unmanned aerial vehicle systems. [71841]

Mr. Jamieson: It is difficult to forecast the change in numbers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the next five years, but the CAA has established a framework to help ensure that any future UAV operations are integrated safely and with minimal impact on existing airspace users.

The CAA's Directorate of Airspace Policy has published a guidance document, "Guidance for UAV Operations in UK Airspace", designed to provide consolidated information for UAV operators, both military and civil. The CAA is awaiting applications from industry to fly UAVs but to date there has been little interest.

Flight BA 2069

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who invited the Civil Aviation Authority to participate in the investigation of the incident on flight BA 2069; on what date the Civil Aviation Authority began its investigation; and what the brief was of that investigation. [71233]

Mr. Jamieson: British Airways notified the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the incident on the day it occurred, 29 December 2000, and immediately began its own investigation. The CAA has monitored and reviewed

23 Jul 2002 : Column 971W

the British Airways investigation throughout as part of its ongoing regulatory oversight of UK airlines. As a result, 12 new safety requirements were issued to all UK operators on 18 September 2001.

The Government asked the CAA to keep it advised of the progress of its review and the completed review was sent to the then Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on 23 January 2002. An abbreviated version was placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Thameslink

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his predecessor received the report of the inspector following the public inquiry into proposals by Thameslink; and what the earliest and latest dates are which he has set for a decision. [72087]

Mr. McNulty: I have been asked to reply.

The Inspector provided his report on the inquiry into the Thameslink 2000 scheme in January this year. He later provided two addenda reports in May and June. These reports will be published when we make an announcement on this scheme, which we expect to do shortly.

CABINET OFFICE

Government Car and Despatch Agency

Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when he will publish the Government Car and Despatch Agency's annual report and accounts 2001–02. [73104]

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Mr. Alexander: I have today laid the GCDA annual report and accounts 2001–02 before Parliament, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Regulatory Assessment

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the baseline measures for overall compliance with the regulatory assessment process will be published; and if he will make a statement. [69535]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office is currently undertaking work to calculate a baseline measure for overall compliance with the regulatory impact assessment process. Some further work remains to be done to validate the data underlying the baseline. However, it is currently expected that the Cabinet Office will be in a position to publish the baseline measure before the end of the financial year.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Consultation

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since 1997, indicating for each consultation (a) if copies were available online, (b) if copies were available in print, (c) the date the time period given for responses opened and (d) the date the time period given for responses closed. [69794]

Dr. Howells: The Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation applies to all formal national public consultation documents issued by Departments from 1 January 2001 and the information requested is not available before that date. Since 2001, the details are as follows:

Title	Opening date for responses	Closing date for responses
National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery Review: stage one consultation	8 January 2001	30 January 2001
National Heritage Memorial Fund Review: stage one consultation	4 April 2001	25 May 2001
Report of the Gambling Review Body	17 July 2001	31 October 2001
National Museum of Science and Industry Review: stage one consultation	1 August 2001	19 October 2001
Geffrye Museum/Horniman Museum/Museum of London Review: stage one consultation	8 August 2000	12 October 2001
Consultation on the draft Digital Television Action Plan	12 October 2001	2 January 2001
English Heritage Review: stage one consultation	16 October 2001	11 January 2002
Public Lending Right. Quinquennial Performance Review: Consultation Paper	13 November 2001	1 February 2002
Quinquennial Review on the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art	19 November 2001	8 February 2002
National Maritime Museum Quinquennial Performance Review	22 November 2001	8 February 2002
Consultation on Media Ownership Rules	26 November 2001	25 January 2002
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester: Quinquennial Performance Review	5 December 2001	28 February 2002
Spectrum Planning Consultation	11 December 2001	12 April 2002
Council of Europe—Convention on the Protection of Audiovisual Heritage*	20 December 2001	19 March 2002
Review of Progress toward digital switchover	14 February 2002	8 May 2002
Regent's Park Sports Facilities Consultations	18 March 2002	10 May 2002
UK's Open General Export Licensing (OGEL) Limits	19 April 2002	14 June 2002
Changes to Licensing Hours during All New Year's Eves	24 April 2002	19 June 2002
The Draft Communications Bill	7 May 2002	2 August 2002
Prize Competitions	23 May 2002	31 August 2002
National Lottery Licensing and Regulation Consultation	27 June 2002	30 September 2002

Note:

All consultations were available in print and all were available on-line except for those indicated with a *.

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which consultation documents published by her Department in 2001 were not made available as paper copies. [70981]

Dr. Howells: None—all consultation documents were made available as paper copies.

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many complaints her Department has received about its 2001 consultations in electronic or printed form. [70980]

Dr. Howells: The Department received two complaints in electronic or printed form about the consultation process of its 2001 consultations.

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Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how long her Department allowed for consultation on each consultation document it published in 2001 in (a) electronic and (b) printed form. [70976]

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Dr. Howells: The following table indicates the length of time allowed for consultation on each consultation published in 2001.

Document name	Total time allowed for consultation
National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery Review: stage one consultation	3 weeks
National Heritage Memorial Fund Review: stage one consultation	7 weeks and 2 days
Report of the Gambling Review Body	15 weeks
National Museum of Science & Industry Review: stage one consultation	11 weeks and 2 days
Geffrye Museum/Horniman Museum/Museum of London Review: stage one consultation	9 weeks and 2 days
Consultation on the draft Digital Television Action Plan	12 weeks
English Heritage Review: stage one consultation	12 weeks
Public Lending Right. Quinquennial Performance Review: Consultation Paper	11 weeks
Quinquennial Review on the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art	12 weeks
National Maritime Museum Quinquennial Performance Review	11 weeks and 1 day
Consultation on Media Ownership Rules	9 weeks
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester Quinquennial Performance Review	12 weeks
Spectrum Planning Consultation	Extended to 17 weeks
Council of Europe—Convention on the Protection of Audiovisual Heritage*	12 weeks and 5 days
Review of Progress towards digital switchover	12 weeks
Regent's Park Sports Facilities Consultation	8 weeks
UK's Open General Export Licensing (OGEL) Limits	8 weeks
Changes to Licensing Hours during All New Year's Eves	8 weeks
The Draft Communications Bill	12 weeks
Prize Competitions	14 weeks
National Lottery Licensing and Regulations Consultation	13 weeks and 2 days

Note:

All of these were available in both electronic and printed form, except for the one marked with an *, which was available only in printed form.

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