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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 21 January 2003
WALES
Buildings Maintenance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his estimate is of the costs of repair and renovation work to the buildings of the Welsh Office in each year from 1999–2000 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [89958]
Mr. Touhig: Repair and renovation costs are not separately recorded but account for most of the Department's capital expenditure which was: £8,000 in 1999–2000; £299,000 in 2000–01; £21,000 in 2001–02; and has been £5,000 in 2002–03 to date.
Entertainment
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the estimate is of the total spending of his Department in all forms of entertainment in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92410]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office came into existence in July 1999. It spent some £21,000 on hospitality in 2000–01 and some £8,000 in 2001–02. In the current year to date it has spent some £6,000. Figures for 1999–2000 are not readily available.
Fraud and Theft
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money has been lost by his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, through (a) fraud and (b) theft in each year since 1996–97. [92489]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office was created on 1 July 1999 and has no NDPBs.
There has been no reported theft or fraud against this office.
Ministers' Tenures
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many Welsh Office Ministers there have been in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [89962]
Peter Hain: From 1993 to 30 June 1999 the Welsh Office had three Ministers. Since 1 July 1999 the Wales Office has had two Ministers.
Press Releases
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many press releases were issued by his Department in each year from 1999–2000 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [89955]
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Peter Hain: The figures for press releases issued by the Wales Office since 1999 are as follows:
| Number of press releases | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 30 |
| 2000–01 | 100 |
| 2001–02 | 86 |
| 2002–03 | 129 |
Publicity and Advertising
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much (a) his Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department spent on (i) publicity and (ii) advertising in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (estimated); and if he will make a statement. [92245]
Mr. Touhig: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 15 April 2002, Official Report, column 749W.
Special Advisers/Press Officers
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers have been employed by his Department in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and at what cost in each year. [92488]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office came into being on 1 July 1999. It employs two special advisers and three press officers. Special advisers are paid in accordance with the national pay scales for special advisers. Costs of the press office are not separately recorded.
St. David's Day
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to introduce a bank holiday for Wales on St. David's Day. [90247]
Mr. Touhig: The Government have carefully considered the case for the designation of St. David's Day as a bank holiday in Wales, but does not currently believe that an economic case has been made for any additional bank holidays throughout the UK.
Theft and Fraud
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in 2002. [89898]
University Research Funding
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the level of central Government funding for university research was for the current year in Wales, per head of population. [86465]
Mr. Touhig: Funding for university research in Wales is delivered largely by research councils and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).
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Research councils are sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology (OST) on a UK-wide basis. Figures are not yet available for the academic year 2002–03. The latest available figures are for 2000–01 when the total amount provided by the research councils to Welsh higher education institutes was £23,007,000.
HEFCW's budget is provided by the National Assembly for Wales out of the Welsh block voted by Parliament, but it is a matter for the National Assembly how much funding it allocates to HEFCW. HEFCW contributed £54.6 million in 2000–01 towards university research.
Using the latest population estimates for Wales provided by the Office for National Statistics of around 2,903,200 people, Central Government funding can be estimated at approximately £7.93 per head of population for 2000–01. If both central Government (research councils) and HEFCW funding are taken into account, this rises to £26.76.
In addition, Government Departments fund individual research projects. However, a total figure is not available.
TRANSPORT
Freight Facilities Grant
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much Freight Facilities Grant was paid in each year since 1997; and how much is planned to be paid in each year under the 10 year plan (a) at current prices and (b) at outturn prices, broken down by organisations in receipt of such grants. [91647]
Mr. Jamieson: The following table shows UK Freight Facilities Grants for the five years from 1997 and the next three years at current and outturn prices:
| Current | Outturn | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 9.3 | 8.4 |
| 1998–99 | 10.3 | 9.6 |
| 1999–2000 | 12.7 | 12.1 |
| 2000–01 | 20.4 | 19.9 |
| 2001–02 | 59.5 | (1)59.5 |
| 2002–03 | 56.5 | (2)57.9 |
| 2003–04 | 63.9 | (2)67 |
| 2004–05 | 62.6 | (2)67.2 |
| 2005–06 | 61.8 | (2)68 |
(1) 2001–02 and 2002–03 include some rephasing for change to resource accounting.
(2) Indicative budgets.
Note:
GDP deflator 2001–02 applied.
The FFG scheme is demand led and it is not therefore possible to say how much will be paid to individual organisations over the period of the 10 year plan.
Track Access Grant
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much track access grant aid was paid to freight operators, broken down by company, in each year since 1992 (a) at current prices and (b) at outturn prices. [91646]
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Mr. Jamieson: The first track access grant to a freight operator was awarded in 1995 and paid the following year. The following table shows annual payments of track access grant. Details of awards to specific companies are commercially confidential.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 12.2 |
| 1997–98 | 21.3 |
| 1998–99 | 19.3 |
| 1999–2000 | 17.2 |
| 2000–01 | 13.9 |
| 2001–02 | 19.9 |
DEFENCE
Armoured Vehicles
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) Warrior, (b) Challenger II, (c) Challenger I, (d) AS90, (e) FV430 series and (f) MLRS armoured vehicles have been written off in accidents in the past five years. [91035]
Mr. Ingram: Over the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2002, two AS90 self propelled artillery systems and one FV 430 Armoured Fighting Vehicle have been written off in accidents.
Civilian Victims (Compensation)
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provisions exist for compensating (a) injured civilian victims and (b) the surviving families of civilians killed as a result of military action taken against another sovereign state; and what his policy is on compensating civilian victims of military action taken to enforce the no-fly zones over Iraq. [90235]
Mr. Hoon: Article 91 of the First Protocol to the Geneva Conventions 1949 provides that a party to an international armed conflict which violates the provisions of the Conventions or the Protocol "shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation."
Coalition aircraft monitoring the no fly zones over Iraq respond in self-defence only to the sustained efforts of Iraq's defences to shoot them down. They do so, in accordance with international law, only against targets posing a threat to the safety of our forces. No liability to pay compensation arises.
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