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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 12 November 2003

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Constituency Offices

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Leader of the House how many honourable Members have constituency offices that are registered under the Office, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963; and what advice hon. Members are given about such registration of constituency offices. [137186]

Mr. Hain: This information is not collected centrally. I understand that the House authorities do not provide any such advice, but the Speaker's Advisory Panel on Members' Allowances has been asked to consider how best to ensure that Members are aware of the need to register their offices.

Parliamentary Bills

Mr. Jack: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list, for each bill considered by the House in this session of Parliament, how much time was spent on debate on each clause during (a) committee stage and (b) report stage. [137693]

Mr. Hain: The information requested is a matter of public record, obtainable from Hansard, but could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

ADVOCATE-GENERAL

Partnership Law

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Advocate-General pursuant to her Answer of 9 September, Official Report, column 158, on partnership law in relation to Scottish land law, whether any representations have been made. [136728]

The Advocate-General for Scotland: I am informed that no representations by landowners have been received by the Office of the Advocate-General about the matter of partnership law in relation to Scottish land law.

SCOTLAND

Scottish Agricultural Sector

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (b) the Scottish Executive on the Scottish agricultural sector. [135828]

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Mrs. McGuire: My right hon. Friend has regular discussions with his ministerial colleagues and with the Scottish Executive on a wide range of issues.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations his Department has made to the European Union regarding the Scottish agricultural sector. [135829]

Mrs. McGuire: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs represents the United Kingdom's views on agricultural issues in regular discussions in the European Union. In doing so, it takes account of the views of the Scottish Executive and the other Agriculture Departments.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to her answer of 23 October, Official Report, column 693W, on Iraq, what considerations underpinned the decision to override the convention of non-publication of the Law Officers' advice to Government when the Attorney-General published a summary of his advice on 17 March. [135627]

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General's advice was not disclosed. In view of the high level of public interest in this issue, the Attorney-General, exceptionally, made a written statement in Parliament on 17 March 2003, setting out his view of the legal basis for the use of force against Iraq.

TRANSPORT

Accident Report (Salisbury)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will request a report on the accident on 6 November at Broken Cross Bridge near Salisbury; and if he will make a statement. [137767]

Mr. Jamieson: I understand that investigations into the circumstances surrounding the accident at Broken Cross Bridge, including the condition of the parapet, are on-going.

Given the general concern over highway accidents that result in vehicles ending up on railway tracks, the Government are keen to learn of such incidents as one part of our work to meet road safety targets.

I will therefore request that copies of the accident report are made available to my officials in order to assess whether there are any lessons to be learned. Until then I believe it would be inappropriate to make any further statement.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the dates of meetings of (a) the EU Committee for the implementation of the directive relating to the availability of consumer information on fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions in respect of the marketing of new passenger cars and (b) the EU

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Committee on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances (SEVESO II) during the Danish and Greek presidencies; what items were on each agenda; what representative of the Scottish Executive was present on each occasion; what preparatory meetings were held for each meeting; which officials were present at each preparatory meeting; and if he will make a statement. [132683]

Mr. Jamieson: During the Danish and Greek presidencies the Committee of Directive 99/94/EC met on one occasion, on 13 December 2002. On the agenda were a review of the state of play of legal implementation of the Directive in member states, a draft Directive adapting the base Directive with relation to displaying of CO2 information in car showrooms, a recommendation to extend the Directive to other media, and a discussion of segmentation of the vehicle fleet for CO2 labelling purposes.

Fuel consumption and CO2 labelling are a reserved issue and the Committee meeting was attended by officials of the Department for Transport only. However, UK officials consult widely and the views of the devolved administrations, including the Scottish Executive, are fully reflected at Committee meetings.

Mersey Bridge

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Government's policy is on integrating the new Mersey Bridge with the transport network of (a) St. Helens, (b) Merseyside and (c) the north west region. [137987]

Mr. Jamieson: Halton borough council submitted a detailed proposal to my Department in July 2003 for the funding of a New Mersey Crossing. The implications of such a crossing for the transport networks of St. Helens, Merseyside and the north west region will be considered as part of our assessment of this proposal.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the cost of linking the transport links of St. Helens with the new Mersey Bridge; and what additional resources he will make available for this purpose. [137988]

Mr. Jamieson: Halton borough council submitted a detailed proposal to the Department for Transport in July 2003 for the funding of a New Mersey Crossing. No separate assessment has been carried out by the Department of the cost of linking the transport links of St. Helens with a new crossing. The provision of additional resources for such transport links would be considered in the light of any proposals submitted by the relevant authorities in the context of the Local Transport Plan for Merseyside.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many jobs the Government estimates will be created by the building of the new Mersey Bridge. [138006]

Mr. Jamieson: Halton borough council submitted a detailed proposal to my Department in July 2003 for the funding of a New Mersey Crossing. My Department has not made any separate estimates of the number of jobs that might be created by such a proposal.

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Norwalk Viruses

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers on board UK-registered cruise ships have been affected by Norwalk viruses in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [137850]

Mr. Jamieson: This information is not available.

Planning Inquiries

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many recommendations from planning inquiry inspectors he has (a) accepted and (b) rejected in each year since 1997. [137943]

Mr. McNulty: The Department for Transport was formed on 29 May 2002. Since its formation, the Secretary of State has accepted 44 recommendations made by public inquiry inspectors and rejected none.

Railways

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of trains left (a) London's Kings Cross, (b) Euston, (c) Victoria, (d) Liverpool Street, (e) Marylebone, (f) Paddington, (g) Waterloo and (h) Charing Cross behind schedule in the first week of each month in 2003. [137318]

Mr. McNulty: This information is not collected by the Government or the Strategic Rail Authority. Punctuality is based on time of arrival at final destination stations.

Road Safety

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to make using a hand-held mobile phone while driving an endorsable offence. [137180]

Mr. Jamieson: As announced in the Department's decision letter of 24 June 2003, the Government plans to make the new offence endorsable when a suitable legislative opportunity arises.

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