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1 Sept 2004 : Column 693W—continued
Prime Minister's Delivery Unit
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers work in the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, broken down by salary bracket. [180536]
Mr. Alexander: As at 1 June 2004 31 civil servants and no special advisers were working in the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. The information is based on headcount. The number of civil servants broken down by salary bracket is shown in the table.
| Salary bracket | Number of staff by headcount |
|---|---|
| £15,570-£24,289(4) | 3 |
| £21,268-£32,361(5) | 6 |
| £35,819-£50,035 | 10 |
| £51,250 and above | 12 |
(4) This incorporates two pay ranges.
(5) This incorporates two ranges.
Refurbishment Costs
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the total cost of refurbishments to the fabric of buildings owned by his Office has been since May 1997. [185238]
Mr. Alexander [holding answer 19 July 2004]: Costs of renovation and refurbishment of freehold buildings on the Cabinet Office's estate (excluding the Civil Service College's site at Sunningdale Park) since 1997–98 to 2003–04 are shown in the table:
| Cost (£) | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 2,161,402 |
| 1999–2000 | 15,209,224 |
| 2000–01 | 12,428,647 |
| 2001–02 | 14,817,674 |
| 2002–03 | 12,304,117 |
| 2003–04 | 7,496,154 |
The period from 1998–99 to 2003–04 includes costs associated with the major redevelopment of the previously vacant and highly dilapidated Admiralty Arch, 22 and 26 Whitehall buildings.
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A PFI/PPP partnership in relation to the Civil Service College's Sunningdale Park site commenced on 13 May 2002. From that date, the college's private sector partner has spent around £12 million on an overall investment plan. This has included expenditure on renovation, refurbishment and new build projects.
TRANSPORT
Road Congestion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made with reducing road congestion. [185420]
Mr. Jamieson: Significant progress has been made putting measures in place to tackle congestion. 100 road schemes have been completed since 2000, 22 of these delivered since June 2002. This includes the M6 Toll, which opened in December 2003. A further 12 strategic road schemes are currently under construction, including widening of the M25 between Junctions 12 to 15 around Heathrow. The London congestion charge has delivered significant benefits. Traffic Officers are already being deployed on the motorway network starting in the West Midlands, to improve the clearing of incidents, and new technologies are being introduced to help improve traffic flow. The Traffic Management Act gives new powers to the Traffic Officers, and to local authorities to improve the management of local roads.
Road Schemes
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what European Union financial support has been given for major inter regional road developments in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. [185342]
Mr. Jamieson: The following table shows all the road projects and telematic schemes in the UK that have been awarded Trans-European Network (TENs) funding since the TENs fund was established in 1996.
At the current exchange rate this means that the UK has been awarded €30.618 million (equivalent to £20.413 million at present exchange rates). This is subject to confirmation from the Commission for two 2004 awards.
While TENs projects are awarded funding there can be a number of reasons as to why the payment could be less than the original award, including exchange rate fluctuations, changes in the scope of a project, or the Commission deciding that some costs are ineligible. It is therefore not possible to translate the awards into annual financial support.
(6) Awaiting confirmation from the Commission.
(7) Total subject to confirmation from Commission.
Note:
Exchange rate used £1 equals €1.5.
1 Sept 2004 : Column 695W
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road schemes have been started in (a) the Thames Valley area and (b) Oxfordshire in each year since 1992. [186005]
Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 22 July 2004]: On the strategic road network construction has started on two major road schemes, since April 1998, in the Thames Valley area. These are as follows:
| Scheme | Start of works | Actual/estimated completion |
|---|---|---|
| A41 Aston Clinton Bypass | August 2001 | October 2003 |
| A34 Chieveley/M4 J13 Improvement | March 2003 | 2004–05 |
Work has not started on any major strategic road schemes, Oxfordshire, since 1998. This information is available only for major road schemes costing in excess of £5 million starting after 1998 when the new Targeted Programme of Improvements was introduced.
On local roads there have been no starts on major schemes in the Thames Valley or Oxfordshire since 1998. For these roads the Department only make decisions about schemes over £5 million which are approved individually through the LTP process. Smaller schemes are funded by the local authorities out of their block allocations and the Department does not hold records of how that funding was used. We do not have records on major scheme starts before the new LTP system was introduced in 1999–2000 and getting it would be difficult, particularly since there have been
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changes to local authority structures. Trying to find the information would take time and be at a disproportionate cost.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how his Department measures his target to maintain the strategic road network at optimum level; and what the level of the strategic road network was estimated to be at 1 April. [186166]
Mr. Jamieson: The Department sets the Highways Agency an indicator to measure its performance in maintaining the network in a safe and serviceable condition. A new way of measuring the performance was introduced in the 2004–05 Highways Agency Business Plan, with a target to "achieve a road surface condition index score of 100l".
In consultation with the Department the Agency has developed an index that measures road surface condition. This is a major improvement on the previous indicator that was based on the percentage of the network that required investigation. The measure of road surface condition is based on a wider range of surveys covering rutting, unevenness, cracking and skid resistance. The target takes account of the fact that it is not practical or sustainable to maintain the whole road network in an as-new condition. The condition of the network is established, using the principles of minimising whole life costs taking into account disruption to road users. The condition at which the road network is to be maintained has been equated to a road surface condition index score of 100 and is the target level at which the road network will be
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maintained year-on-year. To allow for variability/uncertainty in annual condition scores, a tolerance of 1 is allowed in the target.
We estimate that the level at 1 April was within the parameters set out i.e. an index of 1001. The actual figure will be calculated and the result audited during 2004–05.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Government is on track to achieve its target of widening 360 miles of strategic road network by 2010; and if he will list the schemes involved in the widening programme indicating the (a) miles of road widened, (b) construction cost, (c) scheduled start of construction, (d) expected completion date and (e) status at 1 April. [186167]
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Mr. Jamieson: The Government are on track to deliver 360 miles of widening of the strategic road network by the end of 2010–11 (within the period of the 10 Year Plan).
The following table provides a list of current and completed major schemes that are expected to contribute 387 route miles of widening by the end of 2010–11. Alongside each scheme is detailed: the miles of route widened; the Stage Reached or 2004–05 Key/Critical Event as at 1 April 2004; the latest estimated outturn cost; and the anticipated dates of completion for those schemes that have already started works, or are expected to start works in 2004–05
Firm decisions have yet to be made on start of works for the remainder of the current programme so no forecast dates of opening are possible.
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Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Government achieved its target of delivering 100 major trunk road junction schemes by 2003. [186169]
Mr. Jamieson: 97 out of 100 small trunk road improvements to tackle safety and congestion, announced in June 2000, have been completed. The remaining three will be completed during 2004–05.
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