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28 Jun 2004 : Column 38W—continued

Multilateral Institutions

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what mechanisms are used to monitor the efficiency of departmental aid channelled through multilateral institutions; and if he will make a statement. [180597]

Hilary Benn: DFID has developed and is using a new objective, evidence based system for assessing and monitoring the effectiveness of multilateral institutions. The approach focuses on the organisational systems that enable multilaterals to achieve results on the ground in poor countries. This includes an assessment of whether multilateral agencies have internal systems to ensure that their own financing and allocation systems are driven by results and achieving the millennium development goals. DFID is applying the system to 26 multilateral organisations.

Zimbabwe

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the impact on food security in Zimbabwe next year of the lack of planting of wheat in the recent planting season. [180667]

Hilary Benn: Estimates indicate that less than 30,000 hectares of wheat have been planted and much of this has been planted late. This might produce a total of 100,000MT compared with a requirement of
 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 39W
 
400,000MT. The balance will have to be imported and could cost upwards of US$75 million depending on world market prices and transport costs.

WALES

NHS Statistics

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the (a) health expenditure, (b) hospital activity and (c) finished consultant episodes in the NHS in Wales in each year since 1999. [175534]

Mr. Touhig: I will answer this question in three parts:

(a) Health expenditure in Wales since 1999, as per the audited Health Authority accounts, are listed in the table below:
£ billion

Financial Year	Amount
1999–2000	2.649
2000–01	2.880
2001–02	3.144
2002–03	3.450

(b) Information on the number of patients treated as inpatients or seen as out patients in Welsh hospitals is recorded in the table below. This data does not include day cases, nor some other types of hospital activity that is undertaken by other professionals such as physiotherapists.

Financial Year	Inpatients	Outpatients
1999–2000	515,103	2,706,183
2000–01	513,757	2,736,811
2001–02	509,355	2,761,906
2002–03	492,971	2,842,526

Source:
Quarterly Statistics, issued by Statistical Directorate, National Assembly for Wales

(c) The figures below relate to a count of Finished Consultancy Episodes for any patient who has been treated in Wales.

Year	Number
1999	702,008
2000	708,447
2001	714,960
2002	688,100
2003	700,795

Source:
Patient Episode Database Wales (PEDW)

TRANSPORT

British Transport Police

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money has been spent on British Transport Police for the North West in each of the last five years. [180721]

 
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Mr. McNulty: The following figures have been provided by the British Transport Police:

	£
1999–2000	11,368,672
2000–01	11,525,353
2001–02	10,688,983
2002–03	10,857,192
2003–04	11,361,600

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many police officers were employed by the British Transport Police on (a) overground policing and (b) underground policing on 31 March; and how many are currently employed. [181005]

Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows.

	Overground	Underground
31 March 2004	1,709	550
24 June 2004	1,713	556

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date the December 2002 revaluation of the British Transport Police Pension Fund was announced; when it was communicated to his Department; and when it was made known to Ministers. [181006]

Mr. McNulty: The draft results of the 31 December 2002 valuation were made known to the corporate pension Trustee, the Fund's Management Committee and the SRA in June 2003. The SRA informed the Department at the same time. The final results were made publicly available after the report was signed off by the Fund's Actuary on 30 December 2003. The Department received a copy of the valuation on 8 January 2004. Ministers have no locus in the SRA's decision taking process on the Fund's valuation results.

Bus Quality Contracts

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he intends to publish for consultation new guidance on the process for applying for bus quality contracts. [179813]

Mr. McNulty: We are preparing guidance for local transport authorities in England on the process for applying for bus quality contracts. We intend to issue draft guidance shortly for formal consultation with local authorities and other stakeholders, including the bus industry. Guidance on bus quality contracts in Scotland was issued by the Scottish Executive in October 2001.

Departmental Websites

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total cost of his Department's websites, including those of its agencies, was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [178789]

Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows.
 
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Department for Transport and Agency web sites £

Web sites	Total cost for 2003–04
Driving Standards Agency (DSA)	1,532,069
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)	1,198,000
Department for Transport (DfT)	675,769
Highways Agency (HA)	356,000
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)	39,688
Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)	25,000
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA)
TAN (Traffic Area Network).	15,600
Vehicle Inspectorate	(19)—;

⁽¹⁹⁾ No figures available
The costs for both DSA and DVLA cover sites which provide information about the Agencies as well as sites which enable electronic transactions.

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA)

The costs of web site development and administration costs for the Vehicle Inspectorate cannot be identified without incurring disproportionate costs. This is because the cost of the service provided by the external contractor incorporates a range of elements over a number of years including provision of the web site, which cannot therefore be identified as a discrete element of the overall costs.

Drivers' Hours Regulations

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many drivers of foreign heavy goods vehicles were found to be breaking the Drivers' Hours Regulations in the UK in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04; how many were prosecuted; and what penalties were imposed. [181002]

Mr. Jamieson: The enforcement of drivers hours and records legislation is carried out by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. Examiners check the tachograph equipment, tachograph charts and record books. The principal sanction imposed on a driver for any infringement of this legislation is that of prohibition. Prohibitions for drivers hours are immediate and prevent the risk to road safety from continuing. However prosecution action may also be instigated. The number of foreign drivers that received a prohibition for breaking drivers hours and tachograph legislation and those prosecuted for drivers hours offences are given as follows:

	2003–04	2002–03
Drivers prohibited	2,282	1,460
Drivers prosecuted	2	5
Penalty imposed	Fine	Fine

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many foreign heavy goods vehicles committed tachograph offences in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04; and what penalties were imposed in each case. [181003]

Mr. Jamieson: The enforcement of drivers hours and records legislation is carried out by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency. Examiners check the tachograph equipment, tachograph charts and record books. The principal sanction for any infringement of this legislation is that of prohibition. However
 
28 Jun 2004 : Column 42W
 
prosecution action may also be instigated. The number of prohibitions issued for breaches of drivers hours and tachograph legislation and prosecutions for tachograph/records offences are given as follows:

	2003–04	2002–03	2001–02
Prohibitions issued (drivers hours and tacho/records)	2,282	1,460	1,618
Number of tacho/record offences prosecuted	0	3	11
Penalties imposed:
Offences fined	n/a	1	6
Offences dismissed	n/a	0	2
No separate penalty awarded	n/a	0	3
Not guilty	n/a	1	0
Withdrawn	n/a	1	0

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