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Written Answers to Questions

Thursday 1 March 2007

House of Commons Commission

Freedom of Information

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many requests for information relating to hon. Members have been received by the House authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 since the inception of the Act; and of those how many requests have been (a) met in full, (b) met in part and (c) resisted in full, excluding those requests for information already released. [122869]

Nick Harvey: Since the inception of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on 1 January 2005, the House has received 121 requests for information relating to hon. Members. The House’s log of FOI requests contains the following information about requests made up to 21 February 2007.

Solicitor-General

Project Al-Yamamah

Dr. Cable: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the Serious Fraud Office has received requests from representatives of the US Department of Justice for case files in relation to Al-Yamamah contracts. [124356]

The Solicitor-General: The Serious Fraud Office has not received any requests from representatives of the US Department of Justice for case files in relation to Al-Yamamah contracts.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Solicitor-General whether investigations are being undertaken into allegations of false accounting by BAE Systems in connection with the Al-Yamamah contract. [124357]

The Solicitor-General: Investigations are not being undertaken at this point into allegations of false accounting by BAE Systems in connection with the Al-Yamamah contract.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Solicitor-General whether meetings have taken place in the last 12 months between the Serious Fraud Office and representatives of the US Department of Justice concerning investigations into Al-Yamamah contracts. [124359]


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The Solicitor-General: The Serious Fraud Office has met with representatives of the US Department of Justice to discuss case related matters.

Wales

Immigration

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what (a) discussions, (b) correspondence and (c) email exchanges (i) he and (ii) his officials have had with (A) Ministers and (B) officials in the Home Office on immigration matters in North Wales during the past six months; when those exchanges took place; and what the outcome was of those exchanges. [123959]

Mr. Hain: My officials, the Under-Secretary of State and I, have very regular contact with Ministers and officials of the Home Office, on a range of matters which fall within the purview of the Home Secretary, including immigration, as they relate to Wales.

Meetings

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on what dates he has held meetings with Ministers in other Departments to discuss Welsh issues, broken down by Department. [123960]

Mr. Hain: In the course of business I discuss Welsh issues with colleagues on an almost daily basis. At many meetings with ministerial colleagues I discuss both Wales and Northern Ireland issues.

Culture, Media and Sport

Commonwealth Institute

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Government intend to proceed with a bill to give powers to knock down all or part of the Commonwealth Institute. [122677]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 23 February 2007]: We have encouraged the Commonwealth Institute to work with English Heritage on a listed building consent application which we understand they hope to submit to the Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea later this year. We have no plans to introduce a bill that will give powers to demolish all or part of the buildings on the Commonwealth Institute site.

Departments: Databases

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what databases are controlled by her Department and its agencies; and what percentage of the data in each database she estimates are inaccurate or out of date. [124036]


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Mr. Lammy: The only databases controlled by my Department are internal systems used to support standard business processes such as correspondence and public inquiries. My Department also collates national lottery award information from the distributors and publishes an extract on the internet.

I cannot provide information on data accuracy save at disproportionate cost.

Local Broadcasting: Radio

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding her Department makes available to community radio. [124199]

Mr. Woodward: The Department has made £500,000 available for each year from 2004-05 to 2007-08. Decisions beyond this period will be considered as part of the comprehensive spending review. The community radio fund is managed by Ofcom.

Digital Switchover

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what the expected cost to the public purse is of state support to people on benefits for digital switchover.[107905]

(2) What the expected cost is to the public purse of supporting the transfer to digital television; and if she will make a statement.[107950]

Shaun Woodward: [pursuant to his reply, 9 January 2007, Official Report, c. 493W]: I regret that in my previous answer the figure of £228 million given for the cost to the BBC to support Digital UK for the period of digital switchover was incorrect. The correct figure is £216 million. The full correct response to your questions is as follows—

In addition to meeting its costs for the upgrade of the transmission network for digital switchover, the BBC will meet Digital UK’s communication costs and a share of Digital UK’s operational costs. The cost to the BBC to Support Digital UK amounts to £216 million for the period of digital switchover. In addition, the BBC will also fund the digital switchover help scheme for people 75 or over or who have a significant disability. Our best estimate at this stage is that the cost of the scheme will be at or around £600 million over the period of switchover.

There are no central estimates of the overall cost to Government of digital switchover. However, other than the costs of updating television equipment within the Government sector, the only costs will be those incurred for research, communications and other programme support costs for the Digital Switchover Programme.

Transport

Airports: Police

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the shared priorities for policing UK airports between the British Transport Police and geographical forces are; and what consultation he has held with stakeholders on such priorities. [123265]


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Gillian Merron: UK airports are policed by the relevant local force. The British Transport police has no remit or powers for policing UK airports.

Bus Services: Concessions

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the free national off peak bus travel scheme for pensioners to be introduced; how it will be funded; and who will be responsible for administering the scheme. [124192]

Gillian Merron: The Concessionary Bus Travel Bill, which is currently before Parliament, provides for a national bus travel concession for older and disabled people in England. This would be introduced in April 2008, in line with the Chancellor's announcements in the 2006 Budget. For those eligible, it will guarantee free off-peak local bus travel anywhere in England, rather than within the local authority area of residence as at present.

The Government are making available additional money of up to £250 million to fund this improvement. We are confident that this will be sufficient to cover the total additional cost to local authorities.

Local authorities and Passenger Transport Executives will be responsible for administering the new concession when the Concessionary Bus Travel Bill comes into force. The Bill does, however, contain a power allowing the Secretary of State to change the tier of local government which has travel concession authority responsibilities. There is also a power allowing the Secretary of State to administer the scheme centrally. No decision on any use of these powers has yet been taken.

Dartford Crossing

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2006, Official Report, column 37-8W, on the Dartford Crossing, what further modelling and analysis has been carried out on projected usage of the Dartford Crossing and the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge (a) since the evidence which was presented to the Thames Gateway Bridge Inquiry and (b) since the announcement of a public consultation on possible changes to the Dartford Crossing tolling regime. [124094]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department for Transport reassessed the evidence presented at the Thames Gateway Bridge Public Inquiry to help inform funding decisions. Since the inquiry, no further modelling has been carried out by the Department on either the Thames Gateway Bridge or the Dartford Crossing.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Contracts

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the negotiations on the forthcoming Post Office contract renewal with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency are expected to be concluded. [124622]

Dr. Ladyman: The DVLA Commercial team is at an advanced stage of negotiations with the Post Office for the renewal of the motor vehicle licensing (and other services) contract at the Post Office.


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A heads of agreement letter has been exchanged between the two organisations and negotiations are expected to be concluded within the next few weeks.

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the new contract between Post Office Ltd and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to issue car tax discs in post office branches will commence. [124623]

Dr. Ladyman: The new contract between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Post Office Ltd. to issue car tax discs in post office branches will commence on 1 April 2007.

Railways: Accidents

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people were killed in (a) rail crashes and (b) road crashes in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [124646]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested has been published by the Department on its website in (a) table 8.9 for rail crashes and (b) table 8.2 for road crashes of Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2006 edition'. These tables can be found at the following web address:

A copy of this publication is also available in the Libraries of the House.

Railways: Milton Keynes

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria are considered when making a decision about how much spare capacity needs to be available on a Virgin Pendolino train for it to stop at Milton Keynes station. [124292]

Mr. Tom Harris: Many Pendolino trains already call at Milton Keynes Central station and will continue to do so; only those in the core peak period to and from London do not carry London commuter traffic. Any increase in capacity that might be provided to the Pendolino fleet could only be justified with the continued growth of long distance intercity business.

Railways: Thames Valley

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what surveys his Department has undertaken on the views of commuters on the FGW Link services; and if he will publish the results of those surveys. [123549]

Mr. Tom Harris: The Secretary of State for Transport has not undertaken surveys on the views of commuters on the services within the First Great Western franchise formerly operated by First Great Western Link. Passenger surveys are undertaken by Passenger Focus. The results of the latest National Passenger Survey were published on 29 January 2007.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what modelling work (a) has been and (b) continues to be undertaken by his Department on train
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passenger numbers and service usage (i) on commuter services and (ii) on commuter services serving Twyford, Maidenhead and stations on the Henley and Bourne End branch lines. [123552]

Mr. Tom Harris: Demand was assessed in 2004 while preparing the Greater Western franchise specification. Future likely passenger demand is being assessed at a strategic level as part of the work to scope the High Level Output Specification, which is to be published in July.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many deaths of (a) cyclists, (b) motorbike riders and (c) car drivers in 2006 were attributed to the condition of the highway or road on which the accident occurred. [124250]

Dr. Ladyman: 2005 is the most recent year for which the information requested is available.

In 2005, there were (a) seven pedal cyclist fatalities (b) 23 motorcycle rider fatalities (c) 113 car driver fatalities resulting from personal injury road accidents in which “poor or defective road surface”, “deposit on road” or “slippery road” was reported as a contributory factor by the attending police officer.

Tolls

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the timetable is for the UK’s implementation of EU Directive 2004/52/EC. [124351]

Dr. Ladyman: The Road Tolling (Interoperability of Electronic Road User Charging and Road Tolling Systems) Regulations 2007, SI 2007/58, were laid before Parliament on 17 January and came into effect on 12 February. These regulations transpose the technical requirements of article 2(1) of directive 2004/52.

The Government will bring forward any necessary draft legislation to implement the requirements of article 3 of the directive once the appropriate Commission Decisions have been taken in accordance with article 5(2) of the directive. In accordance with article 3(4) of the directive, these Decisions shall have effect three years after the date of the Commission Decisions for goods vehicles and five years after that date for cars.


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