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11 Nov 2004 : Column 829W—continued

British Transport Police

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions his Department has had with the British Transport Police on combating vandalism and anti-social behaviour at railway stations covering the Greater London area. [196533]

Mr. McNulty: Ministers and officials of the Department met the Chairman of the British Transport Police (BTP) Authority, Sir Alistair Graham, on 26 October for a wide ranging discussion on the work of the BTP. I also have regular meetings with the BTP Chief Constable, most recently on 10 November. I discussed with him the steps being taken by the Force to combat vandalism and anti-social behaviour at railway stations in the context of the Force's Annual Policing Plan.

Crossrail

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on funding of the Crossrail project. [197488]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement on Crossrail that the Secretary of State for Transport made on 20 July 2004.
 
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Drivers (Regulations)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the impact of the regulation of drivers of commercial and public vehicles on the jobs available in those areas. [197203]

Mr. Jamieson: The two key pieces of regulation affecting drivers of commercial and public service vehicles are the EU driver's hours rules (3820/85/EEC) and the new EU directive (2002/15/EC) regulating the working time of drivers. The drivers' hours rules were introduced in 1988 and the working time rules need to be implemented by 23 March 2005.

Last year we published a partial regulatory impact assessment on the impact of the new working time legislation. The assessment concluded that an extra 12,300 drivers (just over 2.5 per cent. of the current workforce) would be required.

Great Yarmouth (Outer Harbour)

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he intends to announce his decision on the outer harbour at Great Yarmouth. [197456]

Mr. Jamieson: The Government expect to be making a decision very shortly on whether public funding of the East Port project would be appropriate. The Secretary of State for Transport would then determine the outstanding application for an HRO in the light of that.

Railway Stations (Wheelchair Access)

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment the Department has made of the recent judgment in the High Court in the case of Mr. Keith Rhodes, concerning wheelchair access at rail stations. [197415]

Mr. McNulty: We have been following the progress of this case with interest and will be considering the implications of the recent judgment.

Ship Inspections

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 6W, on ship inspections, whether the Marine Coastguard Agency is targeting ships for inspection in accordance with the criteria set by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control; and whether ships are being targeted on security grounds. [195693]

Mr. Jamieson: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is selecting ships for inspection in accordance with the criteria set by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. The criteria does not include a security factor. Procedures are, however, in place to deploy duly authorised officers where security-related concerns have been identified.

Transport for London

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding his Department has given to Transport for London in each of the last three years. [197121]

 
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Mr. McNulty: The Department has provided Transport for London with the following funding though the GLA Transport Grant over the last three years:

	£ million
2004–05	2,224.536
2003–04	1,681.932
2002–03	1,024.118

The increase in funding between 2002–03 and 2004–05 largely reflects the transfer of London Underground to TfL in July 2003.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

"Fit for the Future"

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made with the "Fit For the Future" programme. [194092]

Ms Hewitt: The "Fit for the Future" programme was, with a number of other best practice programmes, integrated into the new "Achieving best practice in your business" theme released in April. Replacing an array of schemes has allowed my Department to rationalise and simplify its support for the promotion and implementation of best practice, including offering direct grant support to SMEs.

The material in the theme helps provide ideas and insights into how businesses can improve performance in a range of areas, such as leadership, skills and E-Business. The material can be viewed at www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice. There is also a range of free printed brochures that can be ordered from the DTI Publication Orderline on 0870 150 2500. Over 70,000 brochures have been ordered since launch in April. Both the website and brochures contain reports, guides and case studies, as well as a range of self-assessment tools. These have won an award of excellence at this year's "Communications in Business Awards".

Agency Temporary Staff

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally. [196058]

Ms Hewitt: DTI currently has 135 full-time equivalent agency temporary staff. Prior to April 2004 agency temporary staff were aggregated with core service contractors and programme consultants for tracking purposes and so it is not possible to provide estimates of historic agency temporary staff numbers. However, a departmental snapshot in spring 2003 estimated the total number of full-time equivalent agency temporary staff to be approximately 350. Both quoted numbers are based on core DTI HQ and Small Business Service staff and exclude UK Trade and Investment.
 
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Business Support

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry through which business support products her Department provides subsidised consultancy. [197250]

Nigel Griffiths: DTI's nine business support products take a variety of forms including grants, loan guarantees and subsidised consultancy.

Two of the nine business support products use subsidised consultancy as their means of delivering assistance to business. These are Grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea and Support to Implement Best Business Practice.

Departmental Offices

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of (a) decoration and (b) refurbishment of the London offices of the Department was in each of the last four years. [196148]

Ms Hewitt: My Department undertakes a wide variety of projects as part of on-going maintenance and improvements in its current stock. The cost of projects involving significant works to the building services and fabric for the last four complete financial years are as shown in the table. These figures relate only to the DTI headquarters London estate.
£000

Financial year	(a) Decoration	(b) Refurbishment
2000–01	233	1,402
2001–02	Nil	4,321
2002–03	432	1,230
2003–04	79	2,058

Departmental Press Officers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many press officers the Department has employed in each year since 2003. [195408]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 1 November 2004]: The number of press officers employed in DTI in each year since 2003 is as follows:

As at 1 January	Number
2003	23
2004	19

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