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26 Jan 2006 : Column 2278W—continued
Road Safety
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent by central Government on road safety in relation to (a) speeding, (b) drink driving, (c) seat belts and (d) cyclists' safety in each of the past 20 years. [45671]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 28 November 2005, Official Report, column 152W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody). Detailed information as requested is not available.
Romsey/Chandlers Fore/Eastleigh Railway Line
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will discuss the future of the Romsey/Chandlers Ford/Eastleigh passenger railway line with Hampshire county council before any final decision is made; [43861]
(2) what plans he has to maintain the Romsey/Chandlers Ford/Eastleigh passenger railway; and if he will make a statement. [43867]
Derek Twigg: The South Western franchise replacement consultation document proposed a shuttle service between Romsey and Eastleigh via Chandlers Ford. Meetings to discuss the document were held with stakeholders, including Hampshire county council. The consultation closed on 13 January 2006. Responses will be considered prior to the issue of a core specification for bidders to price as part of the franchise replacement competition.
South West Trains
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his timetable is for publishing the responses to the Rail Franchise and Utilisation consultation for the South West trains area. [43865]
Derek Twigg: A document responding to the comments received on the Department's South Western franchise consultation will be issued once all the comments have been considered fully. This is expected to be before the invitation to tender is issued at the end of March. Timing of the publication of responses to the South West Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy consultation document is a matter for Network Rail.
Thameslink 2000
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the (a) Thameslink 2000 and (b) the East London Line extension projects will be completed. [41709]
Derek Twigg:
The public inquiry into the Thameslink 2000 project re-opened on 6 September 2005 and closed on 7 December 2005. The inspector is expected to present his report to the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister in March 2006. A separate report by London TravelWatch on railway closures in connection with the Thameslink project is expected to be completed around spring 2006. This will also need to be considered by the Secretary of State. Were all the
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various consents and orders required for the project to be approved, and funding made available, construction would be likely to take approximately five years.
Phase 1 of the East London Line extension, which will connect the line to Dalston Junction to the North and Crystal Palace and West Croydon to the South, is on course to be delivered by June 2010. Phase 2 of the extension, which will further extend the line to Highbury and Islington in the North and add a new branch, just south of Surrey Quays, to Clapham Junction, is not included in the Mayor's current five year investment strategy. However, the Mayor has indicated that he intends to take forward construction of this further extension in the future.
Transport Expenditure
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much his Department has spent on (a) reducing crime on public transport, (b) (i) widening and (ii) building (A) roads and (B) motorways, (c) rail safety, (d) transport for school children, (e) ensuring disabled people have access to public transport, (f) concessionary travel for students, (g) building cycle lanes, (h) promoting the use of bicycles, (i) promoting environmentally friendly travel options, (j) investigating new technologies for environmentally friendly travel, (k) road safety (1) initiatives and (2) campaigns, (l) installing new speed cameras, (m) ensuring the safety of level crossings, (n) preventing public access to railway tracks, (o) repairing bridges, (p) refurbishing railway stations, (q) ensuring maritime safety, (r) maintenance of lighthouses, (s) improving ports, (t) ensuring air safety and (u) studies into increasing airport capacity since May 2002; and what projections his Department has for spending on each category of expenditure over the next three years; [43025]
(2) how much his Department has spent on schemes to promote (a) road travel, (b) rail travel, (c) bus travel, (d) cycling and (e) walking in each of the past three years. [43597]
Ms Buck: It is not practical to produce a detailed breakdown under the requested categories. This is due to the following factors:
(a) the identified objectives in many cases constitute a part of the rationale for individual projects that are intended to achieve a range of objectives, with not all spending being targeted only at a single objective;
(b) Department for Transport spending in many cases consists of general funding support for partner organisations, rather than support for particular projects or objectives; and
(c) in other cases, spending towards the objectives is funded by user charges or levies, rather than by taxation, and thereby does not score as part of DfT's public expenditure.
Details of spending since 1999–2000 by the Department for Transport and its predecessor are set out in Tables A1 to A3 of DfT's Annual Report 2005
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(Cm 6527), copies of which were placed in the Library of the House when it was published in June 2005. These tables also set out spending plans for the current year, 2006–07 and 2007–08. Spending plans for 2008–09 will be set as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Antisocial Behaviour
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what progress has been made towards establishing (a) a team of specialist prosecutors and (b) specialist courts to deal with cases of antisocial behaviour. [45203]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) established a team of specialist antisocial behaviour (ASB) prosecutors in March 2004. They are located in 14 CPS areas, and have led the CPS' contribution to the multi-agency drive to reduce antisocial behaviour. In September 2005, those CPS areas without a specialist ASB prosecutor were required to appoint an ASB co-ordinator to lead on ASB work in their CPS area.
Antisocial behaviour response courts, which are magistrates courts having a particular focus on dealing effectively with ASB cases in co-operation with local agencies, were established in 12 areas in summer 2004. These locations were chosen so as to dovetail with the appointment of the CPS specialist prosecutors. There are now 157 ASB response courts located within 31 criminal justice areas across England and Wales. Lesson learned from their operation have been circulated to all courts to promote best practice in the handling of ASB cases.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Child Care
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what consultation events were held with key stakeholders in relation to child care during 2005; what Government representatives attended these events; and what the cost of each event was; [43670]
(2) how many structured discussions were held with parents through local forums about child care during 2005; what Government representatives attended these discussions; and what the cost of each discussion was. [43939]
Beverley Hughes: We have consulted widely with parents and key stakeholders on child care throughout 2005 and details of principal events are given in the following table:
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In addition, the national remodelling team within the Teacher Development Agency has an ongoing programme of events with local authorities, schools and other key stakeholders to consult and support them in the development of extended services, including childcare accessible through schools. Costs vary according to region and the number of attendees but some examples of key events held during 2005 include a national conference with Directors of Children's Services, other senior local authority staff and key stakeholders at a cost of £84,351 and nine regional briefings for local authority delivery managers and stakeholders from the early years, childcare and health sectors at an average cost of £7,538 per event.
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many child care places have closed in each year since 1997; [43798]
(2) what percentage of child care providers closed in each year for which figures are available. [43947]
Beverley Hughes: The Department is unable to provide accurate details of closure rates for child care places and providers before 2003.
Since March 2003 data on closure rates have been available from Ofsted and are shown in the following table:
Closure rates recorded for the first six months of the 2005–06 financial year show that closures are declining. For the year September 2004 to September 2005 the provider closure rate has reduced to 18.3 per cent. with the closure rate for full day care for this period reducing from 14.2 per cent. to 13.1 per cent. Since April 2005, funding for local authorities has focused on sustaining existing good quality provision that meets local needs, rather than creating new places which may not match local demand and may put existing provision at risk.
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From March 2003 to September 2005, despite closures the stock of child care places has continued to grow as follows:
Stock | Number of registered places | Increase since 2003 (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| March 2003 | 967,821 | n/a |
| March 2004 | 1,102,686 | 14 |
| September 2005 | 1,220,607 | 26 |
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many child care places were available in each of the past 10 years in West Lancashire constituency. [45007]
Beverley Hughes: Statistics have been collected by local authority area only since 1999 following the introduction of the National Childcare Strategy for England. We are unable to provide details of places by parliamentary constituency.
The following table details the stock of child care places in Lancashire, each year since 1999.
| As at March: | Stock of child care places |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 17,193 |
| 2000 | 18,072 |
| 2001 | 19,769 |
| 2002 | 22,288 |
| 2003 | 22,538 |
| 2004 | 26,391 |
| 2005 | 29,008 |
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