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West Coast Main Line

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the expected (a) cost and (b) completion date were of the renewal of the west coast main line when the contract was let; and what his latest estimates of (a) and (b) are. [137939]

Mr. McNulty: The West Coast Route Modernisation project was originally developed by Railtrack in the late 1990s, which claimed that it would be completed by 2005 at a cost of around £2.2 billion. A number of contracts were let with project managers and suppliers for its delivery. However, under Railtrack's management the projected costs eventually escalated to over £13 billion, and it became clear the committed outputs were undeliverable. The Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail have now established a robust framework for delivering the project, based on the SRA's June 2003 'West Coast Main Line Strategy', which indicated that the costs would be kept within a cap of £9.9 billion. Further work is under way to explore the scope for reducing the costs further. The outputs are currently on course to be delivered by 2007–08.

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the West Coast Main Line connection between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street will be fully modernised by 2005. [139285]

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Mr. McNulty: The West Coast Main line Strategy, published by the SRA in June 2003, shows that the upgrading of the line between Crewe—Weaver Junction and Liverpool for higher maximum line speeds is projected to be completed by 2005.

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average speed of trains on the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street will be after the line has been fully modernised. [139286]

Mr. McNulty: Under current timetable proposals for fastest Crewe-Liverpool journey times of some 34 minutes by the end of 2004, average journey speed would be around 60mph, depending on the number of intermediate stops. Timetabling proposals for later years are not yet developed.

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what effect the estimated increase in the costs of modernising will have on the Government's plans for the West Coast Main Line. [139287]

Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority's 'West Coast Main Line Strategy', published in June 2003, established a robust framework for delivering the project. The Strategy indicated a project cost within a cap of £9.9 billion. Further work is under way to explore the scope for reducing costs. The project outputs are currently on course to be delivered fully by 2007–08.

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the estimated train journey time is for services between London and Liverpool using the West Coast Main Line after 2005. [139288]

Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority's 'West Coast Main Line Strategy', published in June 2003, gave an indicative best journey time of 2 hours 12 minutes in 2005 for London to Liverpool services.

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether the whole of the West Coast Main Line will be fully modernised by 2008; [139289]

(2) what the estimated journey time is for trains using the West Coast Main Line between London and Glasgow after 2008. [139290]

Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority's "West Coast Main Line Strategy", published in June 2003, envisages that the modernisation of the line will be complete by 2008 when the fastest journey time from London to Glasgow is projected to fall to some four hours 18 minutes.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Official Residences

Mr. Flight: To ask the Leader of the House how much was spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in his Department in each year since 1997. [134695]

Mr. Hain: No expenditure of this sort has been incurred in respect of officials. Nor has such expenditure, in respect of Ministers, been incurred since

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spring this year. The remaining information sought is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Legislative Scrutiny

Mr. Jack: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list for each Bill with over 150 clauses considered in this session of Parliament, how much debate each clause received at (a) Committee Stage and (b) Report Stage. [138907]

Mr. Hain: Five Bills considered in this session of Parliament have over 150 clauses. How much time was spent debating each clause of these Bills is a matter of public record, obtainable from Hansard, but could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

September Sittings

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to his answer of 6 November, Official Report, columns 773W, on September sittings, whether he has tabulated the representations for and against the September sitting of the House. [139384]

Mr. Hain: No.

Sitting Hours

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to his answer of 6 November, Official Report, columns 773–4W, on sitting hours, whether he has tabulated the representations for and against the present sitting hours of the House. [139383]

Mr. Hain: No.

PRIME MINISTER

Gaia House

Q10. Mr. Steen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Gaia house near Totnes. [139332]

The Prime Minister: I have no current plans to do so.

Guantanamo Bay

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Prime Minister if he will raise the issue of the (a) legality and (b) impartiality of the proposed military tribunals for the Guantanamo Bay detainees with President Bush when he visits the UK next week. [139471]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right, hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness (Mr. Kennedy) at Prime Minister's Questions today.

Iraq

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Prime Minister how many of the sources of information used in the compilation of Government publications referring to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have been interviewed since May of this year to verify the information they provided. [139602]

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The Prime Minister: Many of the sources of information used in the compilation of the Government's publications were intelligence sources. It has been the practice of successive Government not to comment on intelligence matters.

Kyoto/ICC

Mr. Colman: To ask the Prime Minister if he will raise with the US President the decision to secede from (a) the Kyoto agreement and (b) the International Criminal Court. [139903]

The Prime Minister: I expect to cover a range of issues of common interest with President Bush. My regular discussions with him include international issues and climate change.

Mark Henderson

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Prime Minister what steps he has taken towards securing the release of Mr. Mark Henderson, kidnapped by ELN, the national liberation army in Colombia, on 12 September 2003. [139873]

The Prime Minister: The Government have been in regular touch with the Colombian Government about the kidnapping of Mark Henderson. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in conjunction with police experts in London and the British Embassy in Bogota, has been actively involved in this case from the outset.

We are liasing with the Colombian authorities at the highest level and with the Catholic Church in Colombia which is leading the negotiations with the ELN, also known as the National Liberation Army. We are supporting their efforts to obtain the release of Mark Henderson and the other hostages, emphasizing that the safety of the hostages is of paramount importance. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is in regular contact with the Henderson family.

Ministerial Visits

Andrew Selous: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his Oral Answer to the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire of 12 November 2003, Official Report, column. 284, what action he has taken to pass on the hon. Member's request to the Deputy Prime Minister to visit south Bedfordshire. [140071]

The Prime Minister: The Deputy Prime Minister has been made aware of the hon. Member's comments.

Performance Monitoring

Mr. Flight: To ask the Prime Minister what the total cost was of (a) setting, (b) monitoring and (c) measuring the performance targets for his Department in 2002–03; and how many and what grades of civil servants monitor these targets. [137950]

The Prime Minister: Performance targets for my Office form part of the Cabinet Office performance targets and were agreed as part of Spending Review 2002. The monitoring and measurement of Public Service Agreement targets forms part of performance management throughout the Office. Performance management is an integral part of the day to day

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running of my Office, and as such it is not possible to separate the specific costs out. The monitoring of progress towards, and performance against, the Public Service Agreement targets is undertaken by a wide variety of staff at all levels of the organisation.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the performance targets that (a) his Office is required to meet; and if he will specify for each target (i) who sets it and (ii) who monitors achievement against it. [137966]

The Prime Minister: Key performance targets for my Office form part of the Cabinet Office performance targets and are agreed as part of the Spending Review and the latest set were published in Spending Review 2002: Public Service Agreements 2003–06 (Cm 5571). We monitor progress towards the target along with HM Treasury and progress is reported regularly.

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