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Road Schemes (Norfolk)

16. Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on major road schemes in Norfolk. [16825]

Dr. Ladyman: We announced in December 2004 a programme of major transport schemes which we propose to take forward in the East of England. These include a number of road improvement schemes that will benefit Norfolk.

Nexus Passenger Transport Executive

17. Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on the funding of the Nexus Passenger Transport Executive in Tyne and Wear; and if he will make a statement. [16826]

Ms Buck: In July, Nexus delivered to the Secretary of State their 20-year strategy for capital reinvestment in the Tyne and Wear Metro. DfT officials are considering requests by Nexus for a contribution to development costs for the strategy, for continuing revenue support for the Metro, and for the funding of a quality bus corridor scheme.

Regional Airports

18. Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government are taking to support small regional airports. [16827]

Ms Buck: The White Paper "The Future of Air Transport" acknowledged the important role played by regional airports and supported their growth to serve regional and local demand. It recognised that limited public funding may be appropriate to support small airports owned by local authorities and those in
 
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Objective 1 and 2 areas, and facilitated the use of Route Development Funds to provide start-up aid for new routes from regional airports.

Crossrail/Thameslink

20. Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely impact of Crossrail on links between Gloucestershire and London; and if he will make a statement. [16829]

Derek Twigg: The numbers and speed of current services between Gloucestershire and London are not expected to be affected by Crossrail during normal operation. The Crossrail project includes significant upgrading of the GWML which will cause some disruption, but not out of line with major upgrading work done elsewhere on the national network.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what studies his Department has undertaken on the impact of Crossrail construction on road safety in the Spitalfields area. [15919]

Derek Twigg: The safety of road users, during both the construction and operation of Crossrail, was considered as part of the Crossrail Transport Assessment, which forms part of the Crossrail Environmental Statement published in February 2005.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what health and safety impact studies his Department has undertaken on (a) Crossrail and (b) Thameslink options. [15916]

Derek Twigg: Cross London Rail Links Limited (CLRLL) has reviewed the health and safety impacts of each element of the Crossrail design and compiled a risk register. This register lists all identified hazards during the construction, operation and maintenance phases of the project and outlines the safety measures envisaged. CLRLL is also carrying out a health impact assessment for the project, which will be published later in the year.

Responsibility for Thameslink 2000 is a matter for Network Rail. Health and safety studies were undertaken by the project team and were presented to the Thameslink 2000 public inquiry in 2000–01.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what environmental impact studies his Department has undertaken on (a) Crossrail and (b) Thameslink options. [15917]

Derek Twigg: The impacts on the environment arising from the Crossrail project are reported in the Crossrail Environmental Statement (ES) published in February 2005. Additional environmental impact information is provided in the Crossrail Supplementary ES published in May 2005.

Thameslink 2000 is a matter for Network Rail. Thameslink 2000 was subject to a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 1997 and again in 1999 resulting in the production of an ES in each of those years, accompanied by the appropriate supporting documentation. A further EIA was undertaken in 2004 the results of which were documented in an ES published in June 2004 (ES2004). Additional EIA work was undertaken in 2005 to update parts of ES2004 and
 
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to assess specific potential cumulative effects of concurrent construction of Thameslink 2000 and Crossrail at Farringdon, should this occur. This later work was documented in the Thameslink 2000 ES Addendum 2005. ES2004 and the 2005 Addendum are part of the documentation informing the Thameslink 2000 public inquiry, which re-opened on 6 September 2005.

Departmental Websites

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what websites come under his Department's responsibility; and what the (a) cost and (b) number of visitors to those sites was in the last year for which figures are available. [16026]

Ms Buck: The following websites are the Department's responsibility and include the Department for Transport (DfT) website, associated DfT websites as well as DfT Agency sites. Figures are provided for the financial year 2004–05.

The 'Number of visitors' information provided refers to the number of unique users who have visited each site. This information is not provided for all sites where statistics software used does not provide such data and is listed as 'Not Available' where relevant.

Website	Cost for 2004–05 (£)	Unique users
www.dft.gov.uk	290,035	1,302,705
www.cfit.gov.uk	5,608.87	n/a
www.dptac.gov.uk	14,137	n/a
www.highwaycode.gov.uk	4,143.35	n/a
www.utmc.gov.uk	2,340	n/a
www.webtag.org.uk	8,546.75	n/a
www.transportdirect.info	15.5 million	712,058
www.cyclesense.net	0	n/a
www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk	14,237	n/a
www.hedgehogs.gov.uk	0	n/a
www.databases.dft.gov.uk/primary	563	n/a
www.databases.dft.gov.uk/secondary	563	n/a
www.thinkseatbelts.com	1,100	n/a
www.databases.dft.gov.uk/roadsafety	0	n/a
www.databases.dft.gov.uk/schools	0	n/a
www.drugdrive.com	1,050	n/a
www.cyclesmart.org	33,200	n/a
www.mcga.gov.uk	16,717	n/a
www.highways.gov.uk	726,900	804,181
Highways Agency research compendium site	75,478	82,275
Highways Traffic Map	227,176	193,201
www.dvlaregistrations.co.uk	45,566.32	n/a
www.dvla.gov.uk	27,930	4,282,548
www.dvlaonline.gov.uk	62,000	1703
www.dvla.gov.uk/vehiclelicence	2,493,061.64	n/a
www.homezoneschallenge.com	2768.16	n/a
www.dsa.gov.uk	50,000	5,324,743
www.passplus.org.uk	2,000	238,443
www.arrive-alive.info	2,000	16,880
www.ask-what-if.com	2,000	25,579
www.theory-tests.co.uk	5,000	1,240,148
www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk	4,089	n/a
www.vca.gov.uk	4,589	n/a
www.vosa.gov.uk	n/a	112,211

n/a = not available.

Rail Franchises

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the timescale is for key decisions relating to the new South West Trains franchise in 2007. [16830]

 
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Derek Twigg: An Official Journal of the European Union Notice was issued on 22 September inviting Expressions of Interest to run the South Western franchise; responses are due back on 11 November. Those short-listed will be announced in January 2006, and an invitation to tender issued in March 2006. Bids must be returned during June 2006, and it is expected to announce the successful bidder in autumn 2006.

TREASURY

Charities

Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was raised in taxation on charities in 2004. [16848]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Charities are exempt from tax on most income and gains provided they are applied charitably. Charities are not normally exempt from tax on income and gains derived from non-charitable activities. Tax on income and gains raised from charities in 2004–05 with respect to non-charitable activities, or funds applied to non-charitable purposes amounted to less than £10 million.

HM Revenue and Customs do not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services. A figure for revenue from VAT on charities is therefore unavailable.

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