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London Mayor

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times he and his predecessors met the Mayor of London in official meetings at the Department in each of the past three years. [122142]

Mr. McNulty: Ministers meet the Mayor of London from time to time to discuss a range of issues.

London Underground

Mr. Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent changes have been made in the risk profile of the London Underground PPP. [124038]

Mr. McNulty: As there has been no changes to the PPP contract terms, which may alter the allocation of risk, there have been no changes in the risk profile.

Network Rail (Tree Felling)

Mr. McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in what circumstances Network Rail carries out routine tree felling; and if he will make a statement. [123845]

Mr. McNulty: This is an operational matter for Network Rail. However, as my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State stated in responding to the adjournment debate of 3 June 2003 called by my hon. Friend, Network Rail's first priority is to operate a safe, reliable railway. Tree clearance plays an important part in achieving that objective and in addressing the significant impact upon train performance arising from leaf fall in the autumn. Network Rail must strike a balance between providing a safe, efficient, reliable and affordable rail network and meeting environmental and community concerns.

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Offshore Windfarms

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of his recent letter to Mr. John Home Robertson MSP, referred to in column 1209 of the Scottish Parliament Official Report of 26 June 2003 regarding his plans to introduce legislation to allow the establishment of safety zones around UK offshore windfarms. [123761]

Mr. Jamieson: A copy has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Oil Spill Contingency Plans

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many coastal local authorities (a) do not have and (b) have oil spill contingency plans that have not been updated since the publication of the National Contingency Plan for dealing with pollution incidents. [123613]

Mr. Jamieson: There are 164 coastal local authorities in the UK. Of these, only one does not have an oil spill contingency plan as yet. Of the 53 coastal local authorities who published contingency plans prior to the National Contingency Plan, all but one has either rewritten, or begun the process of reviewing/rewriting their plans.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to give coastal local authorities a statutory responsibility to prepare and maintain oil spill contingency plans. [123614]

Mr. Jamieson: The question of whether coastal local authorities should have a statutory duty to prepare contingency plans for shoreline pollution incidents was raised in the context of the Emergency Planning Review, and my Department will be commenting on the resulting draft Civil Contingencies Bill, which has recently been published.

Redhill Aerodrome

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of whether the development of a commercial runway at Redhill Aerodrome with a rail line to Gatwick Station would fall within the vicinity of Gatwick as defined in the 1979 agreement between BAA and West Sussex county council; and if he will make a statement. [123846]

Mr. McNulty: The Department for Transport has made no assessment of the type referred to by the hon. Member. We will consider this as part of our appraisal of the proposals submitted by Redhill Aerodrome Ltd.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 1 July 2003, Official Report, column 192W, on Redhill Aerodrome, what future meetings are planned with Redhill Aerodrome Ltd. and associated companies and individuals. [123851]

Mr. McNulty: No further meetings are currently planned with Redhill Aerodrome Ltd. (RAL) or representatives thereof. Their second response to "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom (South East)" was submitted on 30 June 2002.

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Staff Costs

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff the Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which the Department is responsible had in each year since 1997; and what the cost of those staff was in each of those years. [122255]

Mr. McNulty: Data on staffing levels in the Civil Service are collected from the department and its agencies twice-yearly, in April and October. Headline figures are published under National Statistics guidelines via a press notice. Those for October 2002 were published on 27 February 2003.

A copy of the press notice, accompanying media brief and supporting tables is available at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics.

More detailed information on the Civil Service is published annually in 'Civil Service Statistics'. The last edition, based on April 2001 data, was published in June 2002. The next edition, based on April 2002 data, is due to be published at the end of July 2003.

Data on staff in non-departmental public bodies are published by Cabinet Office in its annual publication. The latest edition 'Public Bodies 2002', was published in January 2003.

Staff costs for the Department for Transport can be found in our Annual Report 2003.

Copies of both the Civil Service Statistics and Public Bodies 2002 are available in the Libraries of the House.

Unmanned Level Crossings

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many unmanned level crossings have been closed to public access in each of the last five years; [121005]

(2) what discussions his Department has had with Network Rail since its formation on public access across unmanned level crossings over the rail network. [121006]

Mr. McNulty: This is an operational matter for Network Rail. Network Rail advises that information on the number of public unmanned level crossing closures in each of the last five years is not readily available. Departmental officials have a number of discussions with Network Rail on a number of matters, which include level crossings. More generally, the Health and Safety Executive has on-going discussions with Network Rail at both local and national level about safety and access arrangements at level crossings.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Film Industry

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects the Arts Council of England to transfer funds to the Film Council to fund the accessibility to films initiative announced on 9 December 2002; and if she will make a statement. [123328]

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Estelle Morris: As part of the £176 million Arts Capital Programme, Arts Council England earmarked £15 million for cinema exhibition. Part of that £15 million was the sum of £500,000 to improve accessibility to films for people with sensory disabilities.

In 2002, the Arts Council made the further decision to delegate the earmarked £15 million to the Film Council once their film exhibition strategy was in place. They have recently received details of the scheme from the Film Council and are now in a position to complete delegation.

Tourism (Wales)

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what VisitBritain is doing to promote overseas tourism in Wales. [123338]

Mr. Caborn: VisitBritain works closely in partnership with the Wales Tourist Board in Wales's priority markets abroad, especially US, Germany and the Netherlands, to promote Wales by means of a wide range of marketing activities. In addition, since June last year, VisitBritain has organized some 46 familiarisation visits to Wales for journalists from 10 key markets world-wide. Wales is also featured extensively in a number of VisitBritain's campaigns, both on the web and in print. These include, for example, the Hidden Britain and Royal Heritage campaigns, which highlight Caernarfon Castle.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Appointments

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the people appointed to ad hoc posts within her Department bearing the titles of advocate, Tsar, adviser, champion and comparable titles since May 1997; what their job title is or was; what their role is or was; whether they were or are being paid; what the total cost of each such person was in each financial year, including expenses and benefits; what the expected cost of each such person is in 2003–04; to whom they are accountable; and if she will make a statement. [112469]

Ms Hewitt: At 11 June, my Department had the following special advisers: Jim Godfrey, Deborah Lincoln, Roger Sharp and Kitty Ussher. With the exception of one adviser, all of the above are paid appointments. Under exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, details of individual salaries are not disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned.

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