| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Terrorism (Victims)
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what role her Department has in the ongoing establishment of the charitable fund to help British victims of terrorism; and if she will make a statement. [110253]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given to him and my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright) by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Woodward) on 11 December 2006, Official Report, column 816W.
Work on establishing the fund is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell). Officials at both our Departments have worked closely together on the issue, and I look forward to her announcement of its launch during the coming months.
WMD Dossier
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will publish the first draft of the Weapons of Mass Destruction dossier authored by John Williams, then Director of News in her Department, on 9 September 2002. [107884]
Margaret Beckett: There are no plans for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to publish the draft document written by John Williams.
Zimbabwe (Refugees)
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the number of refugees from Zimbabwe entering (a) Botswana, (b) the Republic of South Africa, (c) Mozambique and (d) Zambia in the last 12 months. [109725]
Mr. McCartney: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the then Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Ian Pearson) on 28 February 2006, Official Report, column 636W. It is clear that, as the situation in Zimbabwe declines, the exodus of Zimbabweans into the region continues. It is increasingly a cause of concern for neighbouring countries.
Transport
Car Sharing
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what information he holds on (a) local authority and (b) business car sharing schemes in (i) England, (ii) the North East and (iii) Gateshead East and Washington West; and if he will make a statement; [106931]
(2) what steps are being taken by his Department (a) to encourage the establishment of and (b) to support existing car sharing schemes; and if he will make a statement. [106932]
Gillian Merron: Through the Local Transport Planning system and other initiatives, the Department encourages local authorities to set up authority-wide car share schemes and to promote car sharing as part of site specific workplace travel plans.
The Department also publishes a range of best practice guidance on workplace and school travel planning which cover car share schemes, and in 2005 published specific guidance on car share schemes "Making Car Sharing and Car Clubs Work".
Government initiatives such as requiring travel plans for new developments and the School Travel Initiative are increasing the number of workplaces and schools with travel plans.
The Highways Agency are also promoting workplace travel plans for sites near the strategic road network and are developing proposals to pilot the use of dedicated car share lanes on the M62 and M1.
Car share schemes are being set up nationally by commercial operators, by local authorities for their staff or the wider public and by businesses, schools and other organisations as stand-alone initiatives or as part of a travel plan. The Department does not collect or hold information on the number and location of car sharing schemes, therefore, which are being operated across the country.
Gateshead Council's published material on its travel plan includes car sharing and the MetroCentre in Gateshead run a car share scheme for people employed there.
Consultancy Fees
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which 10 consultancy fees charged to his Department since May 1997 were the most expensive. [107181]
Gillian Merron: Individual fees are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the following table shows the 10 highest value consultancy contracts in place since the Department was created in May 2002.
Darlington
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what approvals his Department has given for expenditure in Darlington since 1997. [108170]
Gillian Merron: Darlington has benefited greatly since 1997 from Government support for its transport needs.
Between 1997 and March 2006 Darlington borough council received around £22.2 million in block grant for capital investment for its local transport plans. An assessment of Darlington's second Local Transport Plan running until 2011 and a further funding package to support was published in a written statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 18 December 2006, Official Report, columns 132-33WS.
In April 2004, Darlington was allocated £3.24 million over five years as a Sustainable Travel Town. In October 2005 the borough was awarded Cycling Demonstration Town status and allocated £1.5 million over three calendar years.
In the whole of the North East region a total of £457 million has been set aside over the next 10 years for local authority major schemes and Highways Agency schemes of regional importance.
In the advice from the North East to Government on the allocation of these funds, a £33 million scheme to improve the bus network across the Tees Valley, including Darlington, was identified as a priority. The Government have not yet approved this scheme but have confirmed that it would expect it to be added to the regional programme subject to the promoters producing a satisfactory business case that demonstrates value for money and deliverability.
Darlington has benefited from rail and trunk road improvements both across the North East and nationally, but funding for these is neither recorded nor allocated on an individual transport authority level.
The borough has also received very substantial central funding through revenue support grant. This is not allocated by the Government between individual council services.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many temporary employees are contracted to work for his Department; what the total annual salary bill is for such employees; and what the figures were in 1997. [107124]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002. The temporary employees currently contracted to work in the Department and its agencies are shown in the following table. Where the information is available the table also shows the annual salary bill for the Department and its agencies for the period 2005-06 for such employees.
Eddington Report
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the compliance of out-of-town grocery shopping with the recent Eddington report on transport. [110240]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 19 December 2006]: Planning Policy Guidance 13 on planning and transport gives a clear preference for locating new retail development in town centre sites first, followed by edge of centre sites and only then out of centre. This is part of a framework of measures aiming to reduce the need to travel and promote more sustainable transport choices, thereby tackling urban congestion. Government policy on out-of-town shopping is therefore consistent with the Eddington study, which identifies this as a priority.
Constitutional Affairs
Contact Orders
Helen Jones: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many orders for supervised contact were made by the courts in the last year for which figures are available; and how many orders named venues run by charitable or voluntary organisations as the point at which contact should take place. [109151]
Ms Harman: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Legal Aid
Mr. Baron: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Court of Appeal case Goodwill v. British Pregnancy Advisory Service (1996) 7 Med LR 129 was legally aided. [109738]
Vera Baird: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. This is because the Legal Aid Board's (LAB) Corporate Information System (CIS) which can confirm whether or not a case was legally aided was introduced in 1997 and this case pre-dates the CIS.
Miscarriages of Justice
Colin Challen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what record has been kept of miscarriages of justice in criminal proceedings ascribed to the absence of qualified interpreters. [109830]
Ms Harman: The Department for Constitutional Affairs does not keep a record of miscarriages of justice in criminal proceedings ascribed to the absence of qualified interpreters.
Public Finance Contracts
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total liability to her Department would be in circumstances of immediate termination of all (a) public-private partnerships and (b) public finance initiative contracts. [109297]
Ms Harman: The detailed information on the total liability to the Department for Constitutional Affairs in the circumstances of immediate termination of
(a) public-private partnerships cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
(b) The total liability on immediate termination of any PFI contracts would be highly speculative as such liabilities would depend on the exact circumstances of termination on a case-by-case basis.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what (a) public-private partnerships and (b) private finance initiative contracts have been entered into by her Department; what assets were transferred to the private sector as part of each deal; what the value of these assets was; what the total cost is of each contract; and what estimate was made of the cost to her Department of traditional procurement over the life of each contract. [109340]
Ms Harman: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on 23 November 2006, Official Report, column 766W. The projected PFI commitments in terms of the sum of unitary charge payments are conditional on the performance of the private sector contractors. Unitary charge payments are more than capital repayment sums and will include provision of services and inflation.
The Private Developer schemes which are within public-private partnership contracts that have been entered into are:
Huntingdon Justice Centre
Manchester Civil Justice Centre
Shoreditch and Clerkenwell County Courts
Loughborough Magistrates Court
Cambridge County Court.
There has been no transfer of assets in any of the contracts as part of a deal. Detailed information requested on the estimate of the cost to my Department of traditional procurement over the life of each contract cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.
Retirement Age
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer from the Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office to the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr. Marsden) of 4 December 2006, Official Report, columns 189-90W, (1) on the retirement age, what her Department's policy is for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior civil service under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992; [108011]
(2) on the retirement age, what her Department's policy is on the application of the national default retirement age to staff below the senior civil service. [109548]
Bridget Prentice: The Normal Retirement Age (NRA) for staff below senior civil service is age 65, which is in line with the default retirement age set out in the Employment Equality (Age) regulations which came into force on 1 October 2006.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |