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15 Mar 2004 : Column 50W—continued

Wind Farms

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on the holding of low flying military exercises near renewable wind developments; [160259]

Mr. Caplin: The presence of wind farms in most areas of the UK presents no difficulty to low flying training providing pilots are aware of the existence and position of the developments. They are treated the same as any other obstruction; displayed on military low flying charts and published in the Military Aeronautical Planning Document Volume 3 Part 1. They are then taken into account during route planning and avoided by standard separation criteria, these vary according to the type of aircraft.

The Tactical Training Areas and the Electronic Warfare Training Range at Spadeadam in the English/Scottish border region are critical to low flying training because aircraft are allowed to fly at much lower levels. Within these areas an accumulation of wind turbines, particularly if combined with other obstacles, could give rise to concerns and could affect our ability to conduct operational flying training effectively. We are therefore more likely to raise objections to proposals for developments in these areas.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Census Returns

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the financial consequences of reducing the 100-year closure period for decennial population census records for England. [160430]

Mr. Leslie: Under Lord Chancellor's Instrument no.12 of 1966 the decennial census returns are closed for 100 years, on the grounds that they contain information

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supplied in confidence. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to estimate the financial impact of earlier release dates.

Departmental Communications

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many staff are employed in the Department to work in the communications field, broken down by (a) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (b) other staff, broken down by (i) press officers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) others. [158173]

Mr. Lammy: The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), which includes its agencies—the Court Service and the Public Guardianship Office (PGO)—employs 60 staff in communications work. This figure comprises 24 staff of the Government Information and Communication Service (GICS) and 36 others.

Number
Department for Constitutional Affairs HQ:
(a) GICS staff:
(i) Press Officers13
(ii) Special Advisers0
(iii) Others11
(b) Other staff:
(i) Press Officers1
(ii) Special Advisers2
(iii) Others10
Court Service:
(a) GICS staff:
(i) Press Officers0
(ii) Special Advisers0
(iii) Others0
(b) Other staff:
(i) Press Officers0
(ii) Special Advisers0
(iii) Others20
Public Guardianship Office:
(a) GICS staff:
(i) Press Officers0
(ii) Special Advisers0
(iii) Others0
(b) Other staff:
(i) Press Officers1
(ii) Special Advisers0
(iii) Others2

Note:

'Others' includes staff working on publications, publicity, internal communications, websites and administration.

Court Buildings (Disabled Access)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the court buildings that are not yet compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and, for each such court, when his Department plans to comply with the Act. [160473]

Mr. Leslie: Taking the 1 April of 2004 as a baseline, the court buildings scheduled in the list will not be compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 on that date. A plan of works is in hand to ensure that, with one exception, all these buildings will comply with the Act, in so far as is reasonable, by 30 September 2004.

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The one exception is the Crown court at Cardiff where it is not anticipated that the necessary works will be completed until 30 November 2004.
























































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The magistrates courts have been excluded from the answer as they are presently the responsibility of the local Magistrates Courts Committees and no central records of this data are held.

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