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Departmental Contracts

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the 30 largest contracts awarded by his Department between (a) May 2001 and April 2002, (b) May 2002 and April 2003, (c) May 2003 and April 2004 and (d) May 2004 and the latest date for which figures are available, indicating in each case (i) the values of the contracts and (ii) the companies with which the contracts were placed. [196902]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department was formed on 29 May 2002. Three tables showing the information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House. Separate figures for 2001–02 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which non-accounting and non-information technology external organisations have won new contracts with (a) his Department and (b) executive agencies for which he is responsible in each of the past three years. [196904]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department was formed on 29 May 2002. Separate figures for 2001–02 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However these figures are available for the Department's executive agencies. Information relating to all organisations across the Department and its agencies could be provided only at disproportionate cost due to the level of detail it would entail. However, a table has been placed in the Libraries of the House showing this information in respect of the top 30 suppliers.

Departmental Events (Funding)

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the (a) conferences, (b) publications, (c) initiatives, (d) projects and (e) receptions organised by his Department which have received funding from outside commercial bodies since May 1997, broken down by (i) funding body and (ii) amount paid. [196611]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has not received any cash sponsorship. However, many third parties have worked with THINK!, the Department's road safety campaign and carried road safety messages in their own activities. The Department is grateful for this "in kind" support, but has not put a cash value on it. Examples are in the Department's annual reports for 2003 and 2004 which are in the House Libraries.

Information for the financial years 1997–2002, when transport policy formed part of the remit of the former Departments of Environment, Transport and the Regions and Transport, Local Government and the Regions (respectively) is not available centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
 
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Freedom of Information Act

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely costs to his Department in the first quarter of 2005 of compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [199073]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has made an assessment of the likely costs of compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and estimates that the new access rights will result in additional requests for information above and beyond the volumes presently handled but this research suggests that it is not possible to quantify the additional volumes reliably.

The Department has implemented a number of measures which we believe will help to keep down the costs of meeting the requirements of the Act. These include general awareness training for all staff, specialist training sessions for case handlers and new, standardised procedures and systems are being introduced. To test the efficiency and effectiveness of our preparations, managers have been assessing their readiness using a self-diagnostic model and have also used a series of dummy requests. We have followed the Department of Constitutional Affairs model action plan and are making full use of their central guidance to produce material for use by staff in the central department and the Agencies. We have also been looking to publish information that we would expect to be requested and will be doing so routinely in future.

Government Buildings (Disabled Access)

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether all Government buildings in his Department within the Greater London area are fully accessible to disabled people; and if he will make a statement. [199315]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department is taking all reasonable steps to improve accessibility in its London headquarters estate in accordance with Disability Discrimination Act legislation. For example, last year at Great Minster House a project to refurbish the main reception at GMH incorporated some important accessibility improvements, while a start was made on a programme of works to improve accessibility within the building. This included application of non-reflective film to lift doors, improvements to tea points and accessible toilets and alterations to the heavy corridor doors to reduce their weight. The programme of works has continued this year with a trial exercise to hold the corridor doors open on magnetic retainers during the day in certain areas, prior to decisions being taken on rolling out the works to the rest of GMH. In addition work is about to commence on improving the accessibility of all the passenger and goods lifts serving the building. Particular attention was also paid last year to DDA compliance in the fitting out of the Department's new accommodation at Southside.

High Speed Trains (Kent)

Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if his Department will invite open tenders for the Kent route high speed trains on the revised business plan and delivery time scale; [195528]
 
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(2) when his Department first published as part of the initial tendering process details of the original (a) business case and (b) delivery time scale for the Kent route high speed trains; and how many (i) expressions of interest and (ii) actual bids they received; [195529]

(3) when his Department decided to alter the business case and delivery time scale for the Kent route high speed trains; whether they subsequently approached companies that had expressed an interest in the initial bid; and how many (a) expressions of interests and (b) bids they finally received for this revised proposal. [195596]

Mr. McNulty: A business case was not published as part of the tendering process. The OJEU notice placed by the Strategic Rail Authority in January 2003 was for the procurement and financing of rolling stock for delivery from January 2007 onwards. HSBC were appointed as financiers as a result of this competition.

The management of the rolling stock competition was a matter for HSBC, who offered the SRA vehicles from a choice of three manufacturers. It was open to bidders to put in variant bids.

Restarting a competition for the rolling stock or financier would put the planned launch date of the high-speed Kent services in 2009 under severe risk.

Legislation

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what pieces of legislation passed in the last 30 years that the Department is responsible for remain to be brought into force, broken down by year of enactment. [195617]

Charlotte Atkins: I have placed in the Libraries of the House a list of the provisions of Acts passed in the last 30 years for which the Department for Transport has lead responsibility which remain to be brought into force.

M1

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents on the M1 have resulted in the A5 through (a) Dunstable and (b) Hockliffe being used as a relief road in the last three years, broken down by type of incident. [197454]

Mr. Jamieson: The question cannot be answered in absolute terms from records held by the Highways Agency.

The Highways Agency has agreed diversion routes in place for when the Ml in Bedfordshire is closed due to a major incident. However, police officers may, for operational reasons at the time of the incident, choose to depart from the designated diversion route. Drivers with local knowledge of the area may opt to use another route of their own choosing rather than follow the designated diversion route.

In the period 1 January 2002 to 10 November 2004, the Highways Agency has records of 17 major incidents occurring on the Ml motorway in Bedfordshire between Junctions 9 (Markyate) and 13 (Bedford). In all of these recorded cases, a diversion route was put in place and traffic is likely to have been diverted along the A5 trunk
 
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road at Dunstable on 10 occasions. This is because the A5 High Street South at Dunstable is used as a designated diversion route. By contrast, however, it is less likely that the A5 through Hockliffe was used as a diversion route since the A5 at this location is not part of any designated diversion route.

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