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20 Nov 2007 : Column 665W—continued
Welsh Grand Committee
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he plans to arrange meetings of the Welsh Grand Committee in Wales. [166234]
Mr. Hain: There are currently no plans to hold a Welsh Grand Committee in Wales but I am happy to consider any proposals to do so.
Work and Pensions
Carers: Forest of Dean
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of people in Forest of Dean constituency that (i) receive and (ii) provide unpaid care. [162802]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I have been asked to reply.
This information is not held centrally.
Disables: Equal Opportunities
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library the report of the meeting of the United Kingdom Advisory Network on Disability Equality held on 12 November. [166311]
Mrs. McGuire: Equality 2025; The United Kingdom Advisory Network on Disability Equality held their first public meeting on the 12 November 2007. The report is currently being written and, when completed, will be available on the Equality 2025 pages of the Office for Disability Issues’ website. A copy will be placed in the Library. Summaries of future meetings will be available on the website:
Transport
A1: Dual Carriageways
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected cost is of the two A1 dualling projects listed as on hold on the Highways Agency website. [163235]
Mr. Tom Harris: The A1 Adderstone to Belford and the A1 Morpeth to Felton dualling schemes are on hold because they were not prioritised for funding by the Interim North East Regional Transport Board within the regional funding allocation for major transport schemes up to 2015-16. The Highways Agency is not progressing any work on these two schemes and there are no current estimates of their cost.
Airports: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which UK airports handling one million or more passengers per annum will be affected by the EU Airports Charges Directive; when the provisions of that Directive will be applied to UK airports; and how many UK airports are affected by existing UK price control regulation. [162910]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The criteria regarding which airports would be affected by the EU airports charges directive have been debated in council working groups and feature in proposed MEP amendments to the directive. The directive is still in the early stages of the co-decision procedure and so it is too early to say what the final position will be on the scope of the directive, or when the directive's provisions will be applied to UK airports. This will depend on when the directive is adopted at EU level and the date that it is subsequently transposed into UK law. Four UK airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester) are currently designated for the purposes of price control. The two concurrent public consultations on the designated status of Manchester and Stansted airports closed on 17 October. The Secretary of State is currently reviewing the evidence.
Aviation: Noise
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much her Department spent on carrying out the Attitudes To Noise From Aviation Sources in England study in each year since 2001; and if she will make a statement. [162125]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 12 November 2007]: The costs for the Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England (ANASE) study are currently:
| £ | |
| (1) Figures for 2007-08 are incomplete. | |
British Transport Police: Assaults on Police
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many reports were received of British Transport police officers being (a) physically assaulted, (b) verbally assaulted and (c) spat at in each of the last five years. [163473]
Mr. Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport police who can be contacted at:
British Transport Police,
25 Camden Road,
London NW1 9LN,
E-mail: general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.
British Waterways Board: Finance
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much in freight facility grants she allocated to British Waterways in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [165478]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport has provided British Waterways (BW) with one Freight Facility Grant (FFG) since 1997. Earlier this year, BW was awarded £1.37 million towards the cost of constructing a lock in the Prescott Channel to enable the transport of construction materials by water to the Olympic site.
BW has applied for an additional £0.5 million of FFG funding for the transport of materials by water to the Stratford City development site. A decision on whether to agree to this additional funding has not yet been made.
As far as I am aware these are the only applications for FFG funding that the Department has received from British Waterways in this period.
Crossrail Line
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when spending figures per head on transport in (a) London and (b) each of the English regions will be recalculated to take into account the decision to fund Crossrail; when she expects to publish the re-calculated figures; and if she will make a statement. [165975]
Mr. Tom Harris [holding answer 19 November 2007]: The regional breakdown of our past spending and future spending plans is produced annually, and published in the Department’s annual report and in the “Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses” produced by the Treasury and the Office for National Statistics. These documents are normally published in April or May.
Departmental Expenditure
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport at what functions between October 2006 and September 2007 her Department incurred expenditure on official hospitality; and how much was incurred at each function. [162222]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Information on the functions at which the Department incurred expenditure on official hospitality is not centrally recorded and this information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
All expenditure incurred by the Department is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, which are based on the principles set out in Government Accounting and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the full-time equivalent headcount in her Department is; what the forecast full-time equivalent headcount for her Department is for (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and if she will make a statement. [163984]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Workforce statistics for the Department for Transport were published by the Office of National Statistics in Table 6 of First Release: Public sector employment, Quarter 2 2007. A copy is available in the Library of the House and at:
The Department has 18,240 full-time equivalent permanent staff. Workforce forward projections for 2008-09 and 2009-10 are not yet completed.
Departmental NDPBs
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) budget and (b) remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by her Department; who the chairman is of each; and to what salary, including bonuses and expenses, each chairman is entitled. [163612]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Details of the Department for Transport's non-departmental public bodies and their remits are set out in the Department's annual report for 2007, Cm7095. This can be found online at
http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/publications/apr/ar2007/dftan nualreport2007?page=3#a1014.
The published annual reports and accounts of the non-departmental public bodies set out the remuneration details of each organisation's chairman. Websites are listed at
Financial data for the non-departmental public bodies, including budgetary information, is set out in both the Department's annual report and the published annual reports and accounts of the non-departmental public bodies.
Some information may not have as yet been published, as information is currently being collated and will be published in due course.
Galileo
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the estimated through-life cost of the Galileo satellite system; what other criteria were taken into account in the Government's assessment of the merits of UK involvement; and if she will make a statement. [165570]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 19 November 2007]: The Commission's latest estimates for the costs of Galileo, based on a public procurement, are €3.4 billion (£2.3 billion) over the period to 2013 for deployment and initial operation of the system, with subsequent operation, maintenance and replenishment costs of around €6 billion (£4.16 billion) over the following 17 years to 2030. Approximately €1.6 billion (£1.1 billion) is committed spend on the design and development of the system. The Commission estimates these costs might be offset by a revenue stream from chargeable Galileo services. The Commission estimate these revenues as being in the range of €4.6 billion to €11.7 billion (£3.1 billion to £8.1 billion) to 2030.
In considering the benefits from the deployment of a Community Global Navigational Satellite System the Government believe it is necessary to look at the potential economic benefits to the Community as a whole, as well as the potential opportunities for the UK space industry and for the downstream application providers in the UK, who might benefit from the greater availability and wider services that Galileo should offer.
Great Western Trains: Standards
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment her Department has made of the performance of First Great Western train services; and if she will place in the Library the most recent performance statistics. [165289]
Mr. Tom Harris:
Improving rail performance is a key objective for the Department for Transport. Joint action plans are in place between Network Rail and FGW to address performance issues. Additionally, FGW has implemented a 40-point Recovery Plan. These are
monitored monthly. I recently held a meeting with FGW’s new Chief Operating Officer and Network Rail’s new Route Director.
In the year to 13 October 2007 FGW achieved an average punctuality of 82.6 per cent. across the franchise as a whole and 84.5 per cent. during the preceding four week period.
The most recent FGW performance statistics are not available in the Library, but can be found from the following sources:
Network Rail’s site with most recent four-weekly results by train operator:
FGW’s own site with current performance results information:
ORR national Rail Trends Yearbook 2006-07:
Highways Agency: Finance
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to her answer of 12 September 2007, Official Report, column 2048W, how much was spent by (a) her Department and (b) the Highways Agency on the creation of (i) an eighth Highways Agency regional operating unit in 2005-06 and (ii) a ninth Highways Agency regional operating unit in 2006-07. [163472]
Mr. Tom Harris: The numbers of regional operating units increased in 2005-06 as a result of some restructuring of the internal budgeting and reporting arrangements for Traffic Operations directorate. Existing budgets were redistributed and no additional costs incurred.
In 2006-07 a new division was created in the Major Projects directorate to administer the M25 Design Build Finance Operate project. Again, resources were largely found by reallocation of existing budgets with the exception of approximately £100,000 additional salary and pension costs.
Leominster Railway Station
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to improve access at Leominster railway station; whether Leominster railway station will be included in the next round of access for all funding; and if she will make a statement. [165461]
Mr. Tom Harris: So far we have announced 92 stations in England and Wales and eight in Scotland that will be targeted for Access for All funding up to 2012. We are currently drawing up a list of stations to be included in the programme from 2012 to 2015 which we hope to publish by the end of this year. While I cannot yet give a commitment on which stations will be included, the case for Leominster has been noted and it will be considered for inclusion.
Lorries: Tolls
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Government plan to seek to charge foreign hauliers for their use of UK roads. [164643]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport is currently undertaking a feasibility study to explore ways of delivering better targeted enforcement on foreign heavy goods vehicles. This is looking at a range of potential schemes including a time-based charge for the use of UK roads, which, if pursued, could result in foreign hauliers making a daily, monthly or annual payment. No decisions have been taken on this.
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