| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
14 Jun 2007 : Column 1263W—continued
East Riding
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Prime Minister how many times he has visited the East Riding of Yorkshire on official Government business in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [142146]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on 2 May 2006, Official Report, columns 1385-87W.
Information on visits made in the UK during 2006-07 will be published by means of an annual list before the summer recess.
European Constitutional Changes
Mr. Hague: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Macclesfield of 6 June 2007, Official Report, column 257W, on European constitutional changes, where the red lines have been set out before; what those red lines are; and if he will make a statement. [142647]
The Prime Minister: I have nothing further to add to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton) on 6 June 2007, Official Report, columns 256-7W.
Libya
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish the Memorandum of Understanding with Libya signed on 28 May 2007. [142752]
The Prime Minister: The Memorandum of Understanding is publicly available, and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Ministers: Pay
Mr. Heald: To ask the Prime Minister whether he expects to receive a ministerial severance payment when he leaves office. [141389]
The Prime Minister: No. Severance pay is payable in accordance with section 4 of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Prime Minister which Ministers have not been remunerated for their ministerial service since May 1997; and what the duration was of unpaid ministerial service in each case. [142858]
The Prime Minister: Details of all Ministers since 1997 are contained in editions of the “List of Ministerial Responsibilities”, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House. In addition, the press notices of ministerial appointments issued by my Office, note whether a particular appointment is unpaid.
Official Spokesman
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Prime Minister what the responsibilities of his official spokesman will be after June 2007. [141913]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Davies) on 8 February 2007, Official Report, column 1096W.
Rendition
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Prime Minister what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with (i) President Bush and (ii) US officials on UK
assistance in relation to rendition flights since 1 May 1997; and if he will make a statement. [141836]
The Prime Minister: It is not the practice of the Government to make public details of all discussions with foreign Governments.
Scotland
Departments: Carbon Emissions
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what methodology is used by his Department to account for its carbon emissions. [140795]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office subscribes to the principles of environmental performance and accounting methodology adopted by the Ministry of Justice.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many of his Department’s special advisers were on (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave in order to assist with party political matters under section 22 (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers on Wednesday 16 May 2007; and how many days' leave each adviser was granted. [140129]
David Cairns: Special advisers’ involvement in party political matters is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, including section 22 (iii), and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Secretary in December 2006 and May 2007, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.
Departments: Official Residences
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the official ministerial residences allocated to Ministers in his Department; and what the total annual cost is of running each. [141971]
David Cairns: No Ministers in the Scotland Office are allocated a ministerial residence.
Departments: Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent estimate has been made of the value of the Department's property portfolio. [139370]
David Cairns: All Scotland Office property is rented and therefore the property portfolio value is nil. However, Dover House, which is held as an historic leasehold, is independently re-valued by the Valuation Office Agency, on the basis of existing use value, in accordance with the appraisal and valuation manual of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The most recent valuation undertaken in 2005-06 valued the building at £1,085,000.
Departments: Sovereign Strategy
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Office held with Sovereign Strategy in each year between 1997 and 2006. [136865]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office was formed on 1 July 1999. Since then, there have been no ministerial or official meetings with Sovereign Strategy.
Trade and Industry
Auctions: Internet
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Office of Fair Trading (a) is investigating and (b) plans to investigate the online money transfer marketplace used by internet auction sites. [140752]
Mr. McCartney: I understand that the OFT are not investigating the online money transfer marketplace and have no current plans to do so. The use by the OFT of their powers under the Enterprise Act to conduct market investigations is a matter for the OFT.
Clothing: Fire Prevention
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to review the legislation governing the safety of children’s nightwear. [132117]
Mr. McCartney: The Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985, which govern the fire safety of children’s nightwear, are already the most stringent in Europe—most member states have no legislation in this area. There are no current plans, therefore, to review these regulations. In addition, manufacturers of clothing, including pyjamas, that do not meet the flammability standard of the regulations have a responsibility to ensure their products are safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the cost of improving the safety of nightwear; and what assessment he has made of the affordability of such improvements. [132118]
Mr. McCartney: My Department commissioned research into nightwear safety in 1994, which included looking at the costs of extending the scope of the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations to include cotton nightwear garments, e.g. pyjamas. It was found that, as well as the cost of testing a finished product adding up to £3 per garment, making it from chemically flame retardant cotton would add another £3-£4 per garment. The research did not assess affordability but any such assessment must also take into account that flame retardant chemicals can affect the feel and comfortability of cotton fabric, and could pose problems for allergy sufferers.
Departments: Official Residences
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the official ministerial
residences allocated to Ministers in his Department; and what the total annual cost is of running each. [141957]
Mr. Darling: The DTI does not have any official ministerial residences.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many civil servants, and of what pay grade, work on the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. [142176]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The microgeneration team has responsibility for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 1 and 2, along with a range of other policy and delivery activities relating to microgeneration. There are currently five Civil Servants (two Range 10s and three Range 8s) working in that team.
Official Cars: Ministers
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department’s policy is on the vehicle excise duty bands of Ministerial cars; and into which bands cars presently allocated to Ministers fall. [141340]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 11 June 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for Transport on 11 June 2007, Official Report, column 728W.
Seals: Animal Products
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will implement a national ban on the trade in seal products; [141581]
(2) what assessment he has made of the European Commission's position on the EU-wide ban on the import of seal products; and if he will make a statement. [141582]
Mr. McCartney: The European Commission is currently conducting a study of the Canadian seal hunt in order to assess the need for EU-wide action.
The Government decided to pursue EU-wide measures because national measures would be impossible to enforce under EU single market rules.
However we continue to believe that EU wide measures are the only effective way of banning seal products from the UK. The EU is a single trading market and therefore national bans could not prevent seal products being imported via other member states, such as Denmark and Finland. The UK does not intend to introduce a measure that could be so easily circumvented, as it would not prevent the cruelty that the public is concerned about. For these reasons the Government considered national ban and rejected it.
Transport
Airports: Noise
Chris Grayling:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the Government are tackling problems
of blight in respect of those living (a) in the vicinity and (b) under the flight paths of regional airports. [141861]
Gillian Merron: The Government’s “The Future of Air Transport” White Paper invited airport operators to bring forward voluntary schemes to address generalised blight where runways are supported by the White Paper or where land is safeguarded for future development. Voluntary blight schemes have been introduced at Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. Home-owners directly and indirectly affected by airport development will also have access in due course to statutory blight provisions.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many airports in the UK have implemented voluntary plans to tackle noise pollution. [141862]
Gillian Merron: There are over 140 licensed aerodromes in the United Kingdom and the information about voluntary plans to tackle noise pollution is not collected or held centrally by the Department.
In the “Future of Air Transport” White Paper, we encouraged airport operators to have voluntary schemes to mitigate the impact of aircraft noise. We have therefore introduced statutory powers to strengthen the airport operators' powers to introduce noise control schemes and fine aircraft that breach noise controls. We hope that this will encourage larger airports to establish schemes where they do not already exist. We have recommended that airport consultative committees monitor how well these new powers are being implemented by airports. We propose to consult the committees in 2008 on progress made by airport operators.
Under the environmental noise directive, all airports with over 50,000 movements per year are required to produce strategic noise maps by 30 June 2007. The completion of these maps will need to be followed by action plans aimed at managing and reducing environmental noise. These action plans are required to be completed by 18 July 2008.
BAA: Secondment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people are seconded to his Department from BAA plc; what the roles are of such secondees; and if he will make a statement. [142882]
Gillian Merron: There are no BAA staff seconded into the Department for Transport.
Departments: Official Cars
Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what make and model of car (a) he and (b) each Minister in his Department selected as their official ministerial car; and what criteria were used when making the decision in each case. [141990]
Dr. Ladyman: The Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) is responsible for providing ministerial cars in line with the ministerial code and the Prime Minister's guidance Travel by Ministers'.
GCDA advises the Prime Minister on the suitability of cars for inclusion in his guidance, taking into account a number of criteria when assessing suitable cars including their environmental impact, running and maintenance costs and overall suitability as a ministerial car.
It is for individual ministers to account for their travel arrangements. Ministers in the Department for Transport are provided with three Toyota Prius and one Ford Mondeo for their official use.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |