You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Hansard > Commons Debates > Commons Debates by date > Commons Debates - previous sessions > Bound Volume Hansard - Written Answers

16 Jan 2003 : Column 695W

Written Answers to Questions

Thursday 16 January 2003

CABINET OFFICE

Departmental Staff

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many full-time equivalent staff are employed in (a) the Department and (b) each of the agencies it sponsors; and what the figures were for 1997. [90662]

Mr. Alexander: Full-time equivalent numbers for staff in all civil service departments and agencies is released twice-yearly by press notice. The latest data, for April 2002, was published on 31 October 2002. Data for April 1997 appears in the annual publication XCivil Service Statistics". Copies of the press notices and annual publication are available from the Library of the House.

It is not possible to make exact comparisons over time because of changes in the make up of the departments and agencies comprising the civil service. Not only do new organisations appear and old ones disappear, but staff changes may reflect the transfer of work between departments and agencies.

TRANSPORT

Accreditation

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department is doing to support the Government's policy on accreditation. [88090]

Mr. Jamieson: The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is recognised by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry as the sole national body for the accreditation, against international standards, of certification and inspection bodies, testing and calibration laboratories. My Department uses UKAS accreditation services whenever it is appropriate to do so.

Examples include our ISO 14001 environmental management systems and the certification work undertaken by the Vehicle Certification Agency in the motor trade industry and proposed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the shipping industry. The Highways Agency also continues to work closely with UKAS to help establish benchmark standards within the industry for certification purposes.

Central Railway

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to publish the Government's response to the Central Railway's proposals for a freight line; and if he will make a statement. [91027]

16 Jan 2003 : Column 696W

Mr. Jamieson : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 November, Official Report, column 455W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle).

Departmental Staff

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the distribution of his Department's whole-time equivalent staff was, including the staff in agencies and other bodies reporting to him, in each Government office region and nation of the UK (a) in 1996 and (b) at the most recent available period. [90471]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 15 January 2003, Official Report, column 609W.

External Consultants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total cost to his Department was of the use of external consultants in 2002. [90515]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department was formed on 29 May 2002. Expenditure on external consultants by my Department during the remainder of 2002 was #93.1 million.

Freight Facilities Grant

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was paid in freight facilities grant in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [91547]

Mr. Jamieson: The following table shows UK Freight Facilities Grant payments by financial years:

# million
1997–988.4
1998–999.6
1999–200012.1
2000–0119.9
2001–0246.5

I believe this year-on-year increase in the amount of money paid in grant to be clear evidence of our continuing commitment to transferring freight from road to rail or water, wherever it is practical and environmentally beneficial to do so.

Job Sharing

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the extent of job sharing in his Department. [90859]

Mr. Jamieson: Approximately 7 per cent. of staff in DfT Central Units work part time. Information specifically on job sharers is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Job sharing forms just one strand of a range of possible alternative and flexible working arrangements. Under DfT central posting arrangements, all posts are open to part-time workers or job sharers. In very exceptional cases where line managers consider that a post cannot be filled on a

16 Jan 2003 : Column 697W

part- time/job share basis, they must make a case to HR setting out compelling reasons for this. The vast majority of such requests are denied.

The central Department, in conjunction with ODPM, supports a part-time workers network.

The DfT agencies, in almost all cases, also operate a policy of advertising all posts as open to part-time workers or job sharers. All operate a range of flexible working options. Several also support part-time working or carers networks.

Network Rail

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the impact of expenditure by Network Rail on public expenditure commitments; and if he will make a statement. [90613]

Mr. Jamieson: The Rail Regulator is currently conducting an interim review of Network Rail's access charges. This began on 15 November 2002 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2003.

Port Marine Safety Code

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 9 December 2002, Official Report, columns 38–41W, on statutory harbour authorities, which statutory harbour authorities (a) have not completed and (b) have not indicated that they have completed implementation of the Port Marine Safety Code. [90801]

Mr. Jamieson: The following competent harbour authorities have neither (a) completed nor (b) indicated that they have completed implementation of the Port Marine Safety Code because they have not yet issued a formal statement of compliance:


My Department is reviewing the quality of compliance by harbour authorities and will be making further investigations of the above authorities and any others where there is an indication that they may not have given proper consideration to the principles embodied in the Code.

16 Jan 2003 : Column 698W

Portland Search and Rescue Helicopter

Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the risk assessment of the safety implications of moving the Portland search and rescue helicopter to Lee-on-Solent. [90409]

Mr. Jamieson: An operational analysis of the Portland area helicopter was carried out for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) by consultants for internal purposes. The analysis is technical in nature and is considered to be commercially sensitive and is therefore exempt from disclosure under Section 13 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Discussions about the future of the helicopter base are continuing.

Rail Freight

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will require the Strategic Rail Authority to publish regional freight strategies. [90846]

Mr. Jamieson: The SRA's Strategic Plan, due to be published shortly, will provide some area-based information on the current use of the rail network for passenger and freight traffic throughout the country. There is no immediate plan to publish separate regional freight strategies.

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many statutory instruments have been issued by his Department in each calendar year since 1979. [89836]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department for Transport was formed on 29 May 2002. During the remainder of the calendar year 2002 it issued a total of 639 statutory instruments comprising 78 general instruments and 561 local instruments.

Performance Targets

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on progress made to meet his target of (a) an increase of 75 per cent. investment in the transport service through the Transport 2010 programme and (b) a reduction of 15 per cent.in traffic congestion. [90793]

Mr. Jamieson: No such targets were included in the 10 Year Plan for transport. Progress against the objectives in the Plan are set out in 'Delivering Better Transport: Progress Report' which was published 17 December 2002, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Next Section Index Home Page