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Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will answer the question from the hon. Member for Chichester, tabled on 22 May, on the official travel of departmental and non-departmental special advisers. [72683]

Mr. Jamieson: We have no record of such a question being tabled to this Department or its predecessor by the hon. Member.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in his Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information. [72248]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

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Temporary Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many employees under contract from temping agencies worked in his Department; and how much was spent on temporary staff (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [72637]

Mr. Jamieson: The information is not held centrally and is therefore not available.

Travel Concessions

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities grant a 100 per cent. concession for travel by (a) bus, (b) train and (c) bus and train. [72670]

Mr. Jamieson: In England, Crawley, Reading and Redditch provide free concessionary travel for pensioners and disabled people on local bus services only. There are no free concessionary travel schemes that cover only local train travel. Those areas which provide free concessionary travel on local bus services and other transport modes (including travel by local train) for pensioners and disabled people are: the London boroughs (together), Merseyside PTE, West Midlands PTE (pensioners only), and Rutland (disabled people only).

An additional 81 areas in England provide free concessionary travel for blind people on local bus services; of those areas 39 also offer free concessionary travel on other transport modes.

Transport Schemes

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many transport schemes to address demand in rural areas were funded by the Government in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02. [72671]

Mr. Jamieson: Precise information on the number of transport schemes in rural areas is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, funding for transport schemes in rural areas is available through the Government's targeted programme for improvements (TPI) to the trunk road network, the local transport plan (LTP) system and the rural bus challenge.

Of the schemes in the TPI, one rural bypass has been completed and a further 15 rural bypasses and road improvements are under construction. Under the LTP system, local authorities have been allocated ring-fenced capital funds for major schemes costing over £5 million, some of which will benefit rural areas, and block allocations for smaller scale schemes. Authorities have reported in their LTP annual progress reports that capital allocations for local transport are expected to deliver 31 schemes in rural areas in 2000–01 and 55 schemes in 2001–02. This covers rural bypasses on local roads, quiet lane schemes and rural 20-mph zones. The rural bus challenge supported 77 innovative public transport projects in 2000–01 and 85 such projects in 2001–02.

We have also funded improved transport services in rural areas through the rural bus subsidy grant, and the rural transport partnership and parish transport fund schemes administered by the Countryside Agency.

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Parliamentary Answers

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website; [72278]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon. Members' questions. Where it is helpful to refer hon. Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies of documents available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the Department's website.

Minimum requirements for the type of documents which should be published on Government websites are set out in guidance issued by the Office of the E-Envoy, "Guidelines for Government Websites" (Illustrated Handbook for web management teams section 2.2 'What content should be on your website?' and section 2.3 'Cross-government requirements'). In addition to setting out guidelines on documents for inclusion, the guidance explicitly requires Departments to ensure that content of the site as a whole is up to date and current, and where it is necessary to update the content of individual documents, to show the latest date of amendment clearly on the document concerned. Section 1.2.7 deals with the issue of record management and the OeE currently has a consultation paper out on archiving websites. The purpose of this draft annex to the Illustrated Handbook is to provide Government website managers with a framework towards developing, within their website management policy, suitable procedures and systems to assist in the management, appraisal and preservation of electronic records. A copy of this draft is available online at: http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk:/webguidelines.htm

A copy of the guidelines for UK Government websites is available at: http://www.-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm

Thames Gateway

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding is available to develop transport links to the Thames Gateway. [72110]

Mr. Jamieson: Approved transport schemes will be funded from the resources in the 10-year Plan for transport.

Consultations

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what public consultations have been commenced by his Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were. [72067]

Mr. Jamieson: A list of the public consultations by the Department or its predecessors since 1 April 2002 is listed below, including the closing dates for responses and the website address of each document. The list is based on central records and reflects the public consultations undertaken within the areas for which the Department is currently responsible.

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Local Transport


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