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20 Oct 2006 : Column 1450W—continued

Road Safety

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much central Government funding for road safety improvements has been allocated to (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each year since 1997. [95548]


20 Oct 2006 : Column 1451W

Dr. Ladyman: The following tables show the funding allocated to the local authorities listed in the local transport capital settlements from 1997-98 to 2006-07. From 2000-01 to 2006-07 the figures shown are the
20 Oct 2006 : Column 1452W
total integrated transport block allocation. Typically about a quarter of this is spent on road safety schemes, but it is for local authorities to determine exactly how much in the light of local priorities for transport.

£000
Integrated transport block funding
Local authority area 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02

Bedfordshire

450

396

400

2,400

3,900

Cambridgeshire

1,180

743

850

4,500

8,100

Essex

1,588

990

1,000

5,000

13,000

Hertfordshire(1)

1,042

909

1,000

5,000

12,500

Norfolk(1)

900

825

830

4,000

10,000

Suffolk

872

792

818

4,000

7,500


£000
Integrated transport block funding
Local authority area 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Bedfordshire

3,100

3,000

3,200

3,350

3,572

Cambridgeshire

8,050

9,300

11,814

8,200

8,662

Essex

13,000

13,966

14,250

13,800

13,327

Hertfordshire(1)

12,950

14,170

12,350

12,600

11,422

Norfolk(1)

10,550

11,119

13,213

9,700

11,073

Suffolk

8,150

8,250

7,745

7,350

7,578

(1) Between financial years 2002-03 and 2006-07 Hertfordshire and Norfolk each also received a total of £1 million in specific road safety grants associated with the Mixed Priority Route Road Safety Demonstration Project. These allocations were awarded following a bidding competition.

Payments were also made to local authorities in respect of child pedestrian training schemes as part of the Kerbcraft child pedestrian training pilot project. All local authorities were invited to bid for schemes, which were awarded on the basis of high levels of deprivation and occurrence of child pedestrian casualties. Central Government funding for all these schemes has now ceased.

Kerbcraft funding
£
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

Suffolk

6,566

26,913

23,429

21,356

Essex

6,738

29,998

27,788

25,476

Norfolk

1,504

21,727

25,703

18,830


Supply Chain Security

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely impact on British business of the proposed EU regulation on enhancing supply chain security. [93041]

Gillian Merron: These proposals are still under initial discussion by a presidency-chaired working group of member states. We are aware of UK industry concerns about the European Commission's cost benefit analysis and plan to conduct a full regulatory impact assessment to test its accuracy in the light of these discussions.

Thameslink

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to make a statement on (a) funding for and (b) the operational start date of Thameslink. [95493]

Mr. Tom Harris: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport, announced the decision to grant legal powers and planning consents to Network Rail in respect of the Thameslink Programme on the 18 October 2006.

Thameslink is an important scheme, and will offer real benefits in terms of increased capacity on busy commuter routes to the north and south of London. However, a funding decision cannot be considered in isolation and will be considered over the next few months in the light of the emerging conclusions of the cross-government Comprehensive Spending Review and the development of the new High Level Output Specification for Network Rail.

The timing of the implementation of the project will follow from the conclusion of a decision on project funding.

Transport Finance

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of national income has been spent on public transport in each year since 1997. [92634]

Gillian Merron: Table 3.4 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2006 (Cm 6811) sets out total public expenditure on transport as a percentage of GDP for each year from 1987-88 to 2005-06; no separate identification is made of public transport spending. Table 3.6 of that publication provides a breakdown of total transport spending from 2000-01 to 2005-06 into various sub-functions, which include 'local public transport' and 'railways'.


20 Oct 2006 : Column 1453W

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) technical and (b) administrative staff posts the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) intends to cut as a result of the VOSA Testing Transformation Project, broken down by grade. [95444]

Dr. Ladyman: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) Testing Transformation Project will reduce the number of administrative posts by five. I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 18 October 2006, Official Report, columns 1237-38W, with regard to the technical posts.

The specific grades are currently being analysed site by site.

Communities and Local Government

Business Rates

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 10 May 2006, Official Report, column 370W to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles), on business rates, how many (a) hotels, (b) hostels and (c) bed and breakfast establishments were on the 2005 Rating List for each local authority area in Wales. [94711]

Mr. Hain: I have been asked to reply.

The number of properties described as (a) hotels, (b) hostels and (c) bed and breakfasts, in the 2005 Rating List for Wales, for each local authority area, at April 2005, is shown in the following table.

Local authority Hotels Hostels Guest and boarding houses (B and B)

Anglesey

21

12

24

Blaenau Gwent

?

3

4

Bridgend

16

3

17

Caerphilly

5

5

4

Cardiff

48

9

25

Carmarthenshire

19

12

60

Ceredigion

24

13

69

Conwy

143

49

166

Denbighshire

35

10

33

Flintshire

16

6

5

Gwynedd

88

118

93

Merthyr Tydfil

6

1

1

Monmouthshire

22

3

7

Neath Port Talbot

8

4

6

Newport

25

2

12

Pembrokeshire

86

18

143

Powys

52

42

50

Rhondda Cynon Taff

8

5

3

Swansea

23

16

49

Torfaen

2

?

2

Vale of Glamorgan

14

2

9

Wrexham

17

5

4


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