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WaterVoice Office (Exeter)

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether it is Government policy to close the WaterVoice office in Exeter; and if she will make a statement. [185276]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 20 July 2004]: The Government's policy in relation to WaterVoice regional offices is to take forward the recommendations made by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in its report on the organisational and regional structure of the Consumer Council for Water that was published in January 2004, and for an Implementation Steering Group, which includes representatives from Defra, WaterVoice and Ofwat, to decide on the location of merged regional offices for the new Consumer Council for Water.

PwC recommended that the offices in Exeter and Bristol currently serving the South West and Wessex should be merged into one office and located either in Exeter, Bristol or at a new site in Taunton. Following consultation with staff in Exeter and Bristol, the Steering Group agreed that the merged office should be located in Bristol.

Waterways

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans does she have to ensure that the programme of investment on waterway infrastructure will meet the target of seven million tonnes of freight being transported on British Waterways navigations by 2010; and if she will make a statement. [183684]

Alun Michael: The target referred to is one set by British Waterways itself, rather than the Government. It is an ambitious target but that is greatly to the credit of British Waterways.

We encourage British Waterways to facilitate waterway transport by encouraging the transfer of freight from roads to water where this is practical, economic and environmentally desirable. The Government will continue to provide grant in aid to support British Waterways' Corporate Plan and in
 
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particular to help it address its backlog of maintenance and so enable it to meet its freight and other objectives. British Waterways is also eligible for grants from the Department of Transport's freight facilities grant programme towards infrastructure investments that will lead to identifiable transfer of lorry movements from roads.

TRANSPORT

Aviation (State Aids)

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations his Department has made to the US Administration about state aid for the US aviation industry; and if he will make a statement. [183294]

Mr. McNulty: The issue of state aid has been raised in the negotiations between the European Community and the United States over a transatlantic Open Aviation Area. The new EU regulation on protection against subsidisation and unfair pricing practices by third country carriers, which has recently entered force, is designed to address unfair competition arising from subsidies to non-EU airlines.

Canteen Facilities

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of running the Department's canteen facilities was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [185244]

Mr. McNulty: In 1996–97 the Department's restaurant services were provided by an outside contractor and the contract attracted a subsidy of £25,000. The Department also paid the accommodation and utilities costs. These were borne within the overall costs for the building (so separate figures are not available). The contract was re-let in 2000, it was let on a self-financing basis. This gave the contractor freedom to operate commercially and it obviated the requirement for a cash subsidy. The Department still pays the accommodation and utilities costs. Another contract has recently been let still under the same self-financing principle.

Civil Aircraft (Safety)

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) incidents and (b) complaints regarding the safety of civil aircraft the UK aviation authorities received in (i) 2004 to date, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2002, broken down by (A) airline, (B) aircraft type and (C) country of registration. [184129]

Mr. McNulty: Neither we nor the CAA maintain a central record of complaints about the safety of particular airlines. We receive very few complaints from the public about the safety of airlines and these are dealt with as they arise. Appropriate action is taken if a complaint reveals any non-compliance with required standards.

Article 117 of the Air Navigation Order establishes a Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) scheme for safety related incidents. The purpose of the scheme is to
 
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ensure that the CAA is advised of hazardous or potentially hazardous incidents and defects, and that knowledge of these occurrences is disseminated so that other persons and organisations may learn from them. This enables an assessment to be made by those concerned of the safety implications of each occurrence.

Occurrence reports are an important part of our open reporting culture and the fact that an occurrence report has been made is not necessarily an adverse indication about the safety standards of an airline. The MOR scheme aims to ensure the safety of the UK industry but some reports, mainly relating to occurrences en route in UK airspace, do involve foreign aircraft.

The tables, which have been placed in the Libraries of the House, set out the number of aircraft the subject of mandatory occurrence reports by state of registry and aircraft type for the years 2002 to 2004. Slight discrepancies exist between the figures because of the way data is recorded. Section 23 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 constrains the Civil Aviation Authority's ability to release information relating to individual companies that it receives under the MOR scheme. I therefore consider that it would be inappropriate for me to undermine those constraints by publishing a list of airlines whose aircraft have been the subject of mandatory occurrence reports.

Diabetic Retinopathy (Driving Licences)

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the minutes of the Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Visual Disorders' special forum on progressive and non-progressive retinopathy. [184634]

Mr. Jamieson: The minutes of the meetings of the Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Visual Disorders are published regularly on the DVLA website. At the last meeting the Panel suggested that a useful area of research would be a workshop on retinopathy. We are currently considering whether this initiative should be included in the Department's research programme.

If approved the results of the workshop will be published.

Headed Notepaper

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total cost of printing departmental headed notepaper was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the last year for which figures are available. [185235]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 July 2004]: The Department does not retain records of the former Department of Transport's expenditure, and to investigate the costs of printing its headed notepaper in 1996–97 could be done only at disproportionate cost.

The Department for Transport's expenditure on headed notepaper for 2003–04 was £1,424.

Network Rail

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how, under his proposals of 15 July, the borrowing of Network Rail is guaranteed. [185425]

 
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Mr. McNulty [holding answer 20 July 2004]: Network Rail's borrowing benefits from support arrangements provided by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). As announced to the House by the Secretary of State for Transport on 15 July 2004, the SRA is to be closed. Its financial obligations, including those in support of Network Rail's borrowing, will be transferred to the Department for Transport, subject to the passage of the necessary legislation. In the meantime, the existing SRA support arrangements will continue.

Pay Systems

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library the most recent review of (a) his Department's pay systems, (b) the pay systems of the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible and (c) the departmental equal pay action plan. [181356]

Mr. McNulty: A copy of the Department's equal pay action plan will be placed in the Libraries of the House once it is finalised.

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