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29 Oct 2007 : Column 859W—continued
Since 2001, sponsorship of BW and its core funding has rested with DEFRA. However, earlier this year, DfT provided BW with a Freight Facility Grant (FFG) of £1.37 million towards the cost of constructing the lock in the Prescott Channel. When complete, the lock will enable the transport of construction materials by water to the Olympic site. The grants provided by DEFRA, and the Scottish Executive since 2001 are set out as follows:
| Amount (£ million)( 1) | |
| (1) DEFRA grant. (2 )Post Devolution. Note: Table excludes contributions to National Loans Fund | |
Cycleways: East Midlands
Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cycle routes have been established in the East Midlands since 1997. [161054]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We do not collect centrally information on cycle routes from local authorities.
A cycle route is often a combination of different highways such as cycle tracks (off road), cycle lanes (on road) and the local road network. Cycle routes are signed as advisory routes for cyclists often taking them away from the more heavily trafficked roads.
We have encouraged all local highway authorities to develop local cycle networks as part of their local cycling strategy within their local transport plans and more and more are doing so. Most authorities produce local cycle network maps for cyclists.
Departments: Accountancy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what departmental budget items have been reclassified, under Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, following Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 decisions; and what the (a) former and (b) new (i) classification and (ii) sum budgeted is in each case. [160409]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Comprehensive spending review decisions have not led to the reclassification of any of the Department for Transport’s spending.
Departments: Civil Proceedings
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many civil law suits have been brought against her Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many were settled out of court, before a court judgment was delivered; and how much settlements cost the public purse since 1998. [160694]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Consultants
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which private consultancy firms (a) her Department and (b) agencies which report to her Department engaged in each of the last three years; which programmes or projects each firm worked on; and what the approximate cost to the Department or agency concerned was of each engagement. [155876]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Lists have been placed in the Libraries of the House for commissions recorded within the Department and its agencies accounting systems as consultancy for financial years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Departments: Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will place in the Library a breakdown of her Department’s efficiency savings in relation to its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets, including (a) the efficiency projects in the Department, (b) the date on which they were initiated and (c) how much each was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [160541]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department’s Efficiency Technical Note (ETN) sets out the projects that have been set up to deliver the Department’s efficiency target of £785 million by the end of 2007-08 and create an adequate contingency margin. The ETN is published on the Department’s website and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. All of these projects were initiated either during 2004-05 or earlier. An update on progress against efficiency targets was published in the Department’s 2007 Annual Report which has been placed in the Library of the House, and a further update, showing strong progress towards the target, will be contained within the Department’s Autumn Performance Report which will be placed in the House Library when it is published later in the year.
Departments: Manpower
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people were employed by her Department on 1 January in each of the last five years; and how many of these staff were (a) permanent employees, (b) temporary staff and (c) contractors. [158327]
Jim Fitzpatrick: A breakdown of permanent and temporary/casual employees by Department is published by the Office for National Statistics in Table 6 of the Quarterly Public Sector Employment First Release. For the latest year (31 March 2007) the figures for the Department for Transport are:
| Permanent e mployees | Temporary/Casual e mployees | |
Prior to this, this information has been collected from the Mandate survey and published in the Civil Service Statistics publication. Statistics have not been collected or published for the reference date 1 January. The reference date of the statistics published for each year is given.
| Permanent employees | Temporary/Casual employees | |
Statistics on the number of contractors employed by departments are not published. The civil service statistics represent those employees paid directly from the Department’s payroll. Any contractors employed via agencies and so not paid directly by the Department are not included.
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and what percentage of employees in (a) her Department and (b) each (i) executive agency and (ii) non-departmental public body funded by her Department are above state retirement age. [158948]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number and percentage of staff that are above state retirement age in the Department for Transport and its Executive agencies are as follows:
| Agency | Number of employees above state retirement age | Percentage of work force |
Departments: Official Visits
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions she has visited each region in an official capacity in the last 12 months. [158924]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Since joining the Department in June 2007, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport has made official visits to London, the South East, West Midlands and North West regions of England. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Departments: Policy
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what policy changes her Department has implemented since 27 June 2007. [159288]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has implemented a number of new and changed policies since 27 June 2007. We have kept Parliament fully informed of these changes.
the publication of the interim report on the Ports Policy Review on 19 July, about which I made a written statement to the House;
substantial improvements to the railway as set out in the Rail White Paper (“Delivering a Sustainable Railway”) on 24 July, which was the subject of an oral statement in the Commons by the Secretary of State on the same day; and
the Prime Minister gave Crossrail the go-ahead when he announced a £16 billion funding deal had been secured to allow for its construction; the details of which were set out in the comprehensive spending review on 9 October.
Departments: Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what dates her Department breached its (a) resource, (b) near-cash, (c) administration and (d) capital budgets since 2001; what the value of each breach was; and what the reason was for each breach. [160322]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport was created in 2002 and since then has not breached its resource, near-cash, administration or capital budgets.
Departments: Public Participation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many citizens’ juries were arranged by her Department since June 2007; which organisations have been commissioned to conduct each citizens’ jury; and what the estimated cost is of each exercise. [159499]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport and its agencies have not commissioned a citizens’ jury since June 2007.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many citizens’ juries were arranged for (a) her Department and (b) her Department’s agencies in each year since 1997; which organisations were commissioned to conduct each citizens’ jury; and what the cost was of each. [160008]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002, since then the Department and its agencies have not commissioned a citizens’ jury.
Departments: Research
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much her Department spent on its rolling programme of customer research in each of the last five years; how much of that was spent on procurement of skills from (a) external consultants, (b) polling companies and (c) other service providers; and what areas were covered in the last year's rolling programme of customer research. [159126]
Jim Fitzpatrick: An estimate of the total amount spent on customer research by the Department and its agencies in each of the last five financial years is:
| Amount (£) | |
Almost all customer research commissioned by the Department and its agencies is conducted externally by consultants, polling companies and other service providers. However, data on the precise breakdown of spending on each of these groups are not available.
Areas covered by customer research commissioned in 2007-08 include: service user/customer satisfaction research, public attitude and opinion research in relation to specific departmental policies and communication campaigns, and exploratory research with targeted population groups.
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