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4 July 2006 : Column 918W—continued
Urban Regeneration
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment she has made of the role of culture in urban regeneration. [81483]
Mr. Lammy: Responses to the Department's consultation document “Culture at the Heart of Regeneration”, published in June 2004, made clear the huge interest there is in culturally-driven regeneration in a variety of contexts, both urban and rural.
We know, therefore, that culture can be a driving force in achieving urban regeneration. Examples of where this has happened can be found right across the country, from the iconic cultural buildings of Newcastle-Gateshead and Salford Quays to the Eden Centre in Cornwall. We are working across Government and with our cultural bodies to ensure that the value of culture is understood by planners, developers and others, and supports regeneration.
Welsh Language TV
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the Government provided to support the production of television programmes in the Welsh language in each year since 1997. [82296]
Mr. Woodward: Government funding for the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority, S4C, for each calendar year since 1997, was:
| £ million | |
S4C also receives a minimum of 10 hours of Welsh language programmes each week from the BBC, free of charge.
Transport
Aviation
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what date airlines using UK airports will be required to comply with EU legislation on the rights of passengers with disabilities travelling by air. [78988]
Gillian Merron:
The European Commission's proposal for a regulation on air passenger rights for people with reduced mobility has been agreed by the European Parliament and was adopted at a meeting of the Council on 9 June. The majority of the provisions will enter into force two years after adoption, although
a ban on discrimination against disabled persons and those with reduced mobility will enter into force after one year.
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the Access to Air Travel for Disabled People Code of Practice following the treatment by Iberia Airlines of a group of deaf passengers on their flight from London Heathrow in July 2004. [79006]
Gillian Merron: As a Spanish carrier, Iberian Airlines are not subject to the UK voluntary code “Access to Air Travel for Disabled People Code of Practice”.
The European Commission's proposal for a regulation on air passenger rights for people with reduced mobility has been agreed by the European Parliament, and was adopted at a meeting of the Council on 9 June.
The Government is looking to publish the findings of a research project shortly, which assessed the UK aviation industry's adherence to the voluntary code “Access to Air Travel for Disabled People Code of Practice”. These findings will be used to determine whether to bring UK aviation within the scope of domestic disability legislation, having regard to the forthcoming EU Regulation.
Concessionary Parking
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities provide (a) wholly free parking and (b) a concessionary parking scheme for (i) disabled blue badge holders and (ii) senior citizens. [81199]
Gillian Merron: This information is not collected centrally and an estimate could be made only at disproportionate cost
Correspondence
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average cost to his Department was of replying to a letter written (a) by an hon. Member and (b) by a member of the public in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much of that sum was accounted for by (i) officials’ time, (ii) cost of stationery and (iii) postage costs. [80491]
Gillian Merron: The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members/Peers correspondence. The report for 2005 was published on 30 March 2006, Official Report, columns 76-78WS.
The information requested is not recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Credit Unions
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if his Department will provide information and membership forms for credit unions to its employees. [79936]
Gillian Merron: The Government welcome the contribution made by the various savings institutions in providing for greater choice and diversity in the financial services sector.
The Government’s guiding principles are to ensure impartiality and to help create a level playing field for all providers of financial services in order that their specific attributes can be properly harnessed.
It would therefore be inconsistent for a Government Department to favour credit unions above other financial institutions. Employees are of course free to join credit unions if they meet the relevant membership criteria and Departments may provide appropriate levels of support if employees wish to set up a credit union.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list in date order the (a) Green and (b) White Papers produced by his Department since October 2005. [81639]
Gillian Merron: There have been no Green or White Papers published by the Department since October 2005.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many successful applications for the release of information from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency vehicle register were made in each year since 2002; and how many such applications were made by (a) the police, (b) local authorities, (c) motor manufacturers, (d) housing associations, (e) the Environment Agency and (f) organisations enforcing parking restrictions on private land in each year. [81426]
Dr. Ladyman: The approximate number of requests for information from the police since 2002 is:
| Million | |
DVLA does not maintain separate figures on the total number of requests made by local authorities, motor manufacturers, housing associations or organisations enforcing parking restrictions on private land. The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department expects to publish its conclusions relating to its recent review of regulations governing the release of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency information. [81427]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) of 15 June 2006, Official Report, column 1416W.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many requests were made to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for the release of information from the vehicle register under Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicles Regulations 2002 in each year since 2002; and how many were successful in each year. [81428]
Dr. Ladyman: The agency does not record how many requests were received and subsequently approved or declined under each individual piece of legislation. Consequently the agency does not have a record of how many requests were received, approved or declined under Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002.
Local Transport Budgets
Mr. Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what formula is used for calculating how much local transport authorities receive for their annual transport budget; and what factors were included in compiling this formula. [81768]
Gillian Merron: Two formulae influence different parts of local authorities' transport capital allocations from the Department for Transport.
Firstly a formula is used to distribute the vast majority of the funding support provided for capital highways maintenance. The factors currently considered in this formula relate to roads and bridges. For roads, they are the lengths and conditions of an authority's principal, classified non-principal and unclassified roads. For bridges, they are the size of the bridge stock and the numbers of bridges requiring strengthening or major maintenance. A minimum amount for bridges per authority of £100,000 is applied. The combined roads and bridges allocations are adjusted to ensure an authority's total allocation does not vary by more than 25 per cent. from the previous year.
Secondly, a formula is being introduced to influence the distribution of the integrated transport block (which is for improvements to local roads and public transport, each of which generally costs less than £5 million). The factors considered in this formula are related directly or indirectly to the transport shared priorities, as agreed between Government and the Local Government Association in 2002. The priorities and variables are shown in the following table. In addition, the formulaic distribution of funding takes into account previous ministerial commitments, European Union objective one designations and South East growth areas.
| Transport shared priority | Formula variable (More = more funding) |
A further formula related to highways maintenance is used within the calculations for the distribution of revenue support grant. This grant supports local authority transport budgets, but it is not allocated by the Government between individual council services.
London Underground
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much Government subsidy was paid to London Underground in each year between 1997 and responsibility passing to Transport for London. [81743]
Gillian Merron: London Underground Limited (LUL) was transferred from central Government to Transport for London (TfL) on 15 July 2003. The following table sets out the grant paid to London Regional Transport (LRT), the subsequent amount provided to LUL from that grant including funding for the Jubilee line extension.
| £ million (cash) | |||
| London Regional Transport Grant( 1,2) | Of which for London Underground capital and operations( 1) | Of which for Jubilee Line extension construction | |
| (1) Up to July 2000 (when TfL was established) a single grant was paid to LRT to support LUL, London Buses, Croydon Tramlink etc. LUL grant was not recorded separately by the Department and figures for LUL are provided by their accounts. (2) Between July 2000 and July 2003 the grant provided to LRT was primarily for LUL, but see (3) as follows. (3 )In 2001-02 LRT spent £24 million and in 2002-03 £25 million on restructuring and re-organising LT Group, principally on LUL prior to the implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP). (4 )In 2003-04 the grant for LUL was paid to LRT until July 2003 when LUL transferred to TfL. The remaining balance of £351 million for LUL in 2003-04 was paid as part of the GLA Transport Grant from August 2003 and is not included in the LRT Grant total for that year. (5 )LRT Grant for 2003-04 included £182 million deferred payment from 2002-03 due to the delayed start of the PPP contracts. | |||
Motorways
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the estimated (a) book cost, (b) renewal cost and (c) market value is of the (i) motorway and (ii) trunk road network. [81066]
Dr. Ladyman:
The Highways Agency values the motorway and trunk road network in England at
depreciated replacement cost and the values at 31 March 2006 were (i) £42.471 billion for motorways and (ii) £33.726 billion for trunk roads.
Due to the specialised nature of this asset an open market value cannot be determined for the motorway and trunk road network.
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