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17 Mar 2008 : Column 768W—continued
Wind Power
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health to which wind farm proposals his Department lodged objection in each of the last three years; and for what reasons in each case. [191120]
Mr. Bradshaw: No such objections have been lodged.
Leader of the House
Government Bills: Public Participation
Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House which Government Bills introduced to the House in Session 2007-08 have undergone pre-legislative scrutiny in which the public was able to participate electronically. [193693]
Helen Goodman: Four Bills introduced so far in the current session were previously published in draft for pre-legislative scrutiny: the Climate Change Bill, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the Local Transport Bill and the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill.
Parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny was carried out by select committees in respect of three draft bills. The Climate Change Bill and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (then called the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill) were both considered by Joint Committees of both Houses, while the Local Transport Bill was considered by the Transport Select Committee. The Climate Change Bill was also examined by the Efra and Environmental Audit select committees. All these committees provided facilities for outside bodies and individuals to submit evidence electronically. In addition, on-line forums on aspects of the proposed Bills were conducted by the Joint Committees on the Climate Change Bill and the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill. It is the responsibility of individual committees as to how they involve and take evidence from the public.
In all cases the public consultation by departments on the draft bills included opportunity for the public and interested bodies to submit views electronically. In respect of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill, an online discussion space was also provided on the Cabinet Office website.
Transport
Birmingham New Street Station
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many members of departmental staff worked on the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street in each year since 2000. [191689]
Mr. Tom Harris: The numbers of departmental staff who have been involved in the appraisal of proposals for Birmingham New Street as part of their wider job duties include the following: 14 in 2005-06; 24 in 2006-07; and 28 in 2007-08.
Prior to 2005, this was a matter for the Strategic Rail Authority.
Birminghman New Street Station: Consultants
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much her Department has spent on (a) legal advice, (b) banking and financial consultants and (c) other consultants related to the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street in each year since 2000. [191688]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Department for Transport spent the following sums on external advisers: £225,000 in 2005-06; £47,000 in 2006-07; and £5,000 in 2007-08. Prior to 2005, this was a matter for the Strategic Rail Authority.
Bus Services: Concessions
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 6 March 2008, Official Report, column 2753W, on concessions: mentally ill, if she will make it her policy to hold a consultation on broadening the scope of the eligibility criteria for statutory concessionary bus fares. [193732]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Transport Act 2000 (or for those resident in London, the Greater London Authority Act 1999) make provision for concessionary travel to a wide range of disabled people. Categories of disability were drawn up following representation from local government and support from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee. The people eligible are as follows:
is blind or partially sighted;
is profoundly or severely deaf;
is without speech;
has a disability, or has suffered an injury, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his/her ability to walk;
does not have arms or has long-term loss of the use of both arms;
has a learning disability, that is, a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning;
would, if he/she applied for a grant of a licence to drive a motor vehicle under part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988, have his/her application refused pursuant to section 92 of the Act (physical fitness) otherwise than on the ground of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol.
The Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007 does not change the criteria for those eligible for a concessionary pass. The Act retains the discretion of travel concession authorities to offer their residents more than the statutory minimum concession. Any such enhancements are subject to their assessment of local needs and their overall financial priorities.
The Secretary of State issued guidance to local authorities which sets out the statutory minimum requirement which they must observe to satisfy the law, and to which they must have regard in reaching a decision on eligibility.
We have no plans at present to consult on changes to the eligibility criteria for statutory concessionary bus travel to include other groups of people, such as those with mental health illnesses. Our current focus is on the successful implementation of the new all-England off-peak bus travel concession from April this year.
Local authorities retain the ability to offer discretionary concessions over and above the statutory minimum at their own expense. This can include offering concessionary travel to groups of people other than those currently defined in legislation.
Initial analysis suggests that the estimated annual cost of extending the statutory concession to people with a mental impairment would be at least £49 million.
Bus Services: Pensioners
David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been allocated to subsidise national bus travel for pensioners in each of the next three years. [193796]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In England the Government are providing the following through a special grant just to cover the additional cost of the statutory minimum England-wide bus concession from 1 April:
| £ million | |
Funding for the existing statutory concession is provided through revenue support grant. As such it is not possible to precisely determine the total figure for this element for each of the next three years.
In addition, the Government paid a grant of over £31 million in total to travel concession authorities (TCAs) in England outside London in this financial year (2007-08) to cover the cost of issuing concessionary travel passes. The passes grant to each TCA is based on an allowance of £4 for each pass currently in circulation, uplifted by 20 per cent. to recognise that the new concession is likely to be more attractive than the existing one.
Concessions: Schools
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will consider making it her policy to increase the age limit of half-fare school bus passes from aged 15 to aged 18 years if the participation age in education and training is raised to 18 years. [193293]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has no current plans to increase the age limit of half-fare school bus passes from aged 15 to aged 18.
Cycling
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of cycle lanes and tracks there are in England. [191691]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how miles of cycle lanes and tracks are linked to the National Cycle Network. [191693]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what guidance her Department has given to local authorities and Sustrans on the classification of a road as a traffic-free route on the National Cycle Network; [191717]
(2) what guidance her Department has given to local authorities and Sustrans on the classification of on-road routes on the National Cycle Network. [191718]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not provided any guidance to either local authorities or Sustrans on the classification of roads for the National Cycle Network. This is a matter for local highway authorities.
The National Cycle Network was developed by Sustrans with the help of a £43.5 million Millennium Commission Lottery Grant. Sustrans worked with a number of partners, in particular local authorities to develop the network which linked pre-existing routes to new routes to create a UK-wide network.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she intends to publish the results of her Department’s consultation on cycling infrastructure design. [191706]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department received 91 responses to the Cycling Infrastructure Design (CID) consultation, which ended on 5 November 2007. All the responses are currently being analysed and we will be revising the guidance in the light of the comments received. The Department intends to publish a report on the consultation in the next few months together with the final CID guidance.
Cycling: Children
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many children have taken part in Cycling England's Bikeability training scheme since 2006. [191694]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Since 2005-06 the Department has provided funding to enable around 46,000 children to be trained to the Bikeability standard. Estimates are that local authorities fund some form of cycle training for 200,000 children but we do not hold information
centrally on the number of children who have trained to Bikeability standard rather than other local authority run schemes.
In January the Secretary of State for Transport announced a six fold increase in the cycling budget to £140 million for Cycling England to invest in initiatives to encourage cycling, including enabling an extra 500,000 children to have Bikeability training by 2012.
Cycling England: Consultants
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much Cycling England spent on commissioning economic research into the benefits of cycling from SQW consultants. [191695]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Cycling England spent £68,915 on commissioning the economic research ‘Valuing the Benefits of Cycling’ from consultants SQW.
Departmental Data Protection
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2008, Official Report, column 733W, on departmental data protection, what cost audits were conducted by third party partners in each of the last 10 years. [191751]
Jim Fitzpatrick: It is assumed that this question refers to the cost of audits of departmental data protection conducted by third party partners in each of the last 10 years. Records of audits performed by the Department’s internal audit functions, including those involving third party partners and their associated costs, are not maintained centrally but are kept locally by each of those functions. Furthermore, because of the decentralised nature of management responsibility within the Department and its agencies, specific record-keeping arrangements for other similar audits commissioned by line management vary between the Department and individual agencies and are not maintained centrally. Consequently, the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has a single official with overall responsibility for data security. [193944]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Within the Department for Transport, including its seven executive agencies and shared service centre, the overall responsibility for data security rests with the Permanent Secretary, supported by the Department's senior information risk owner, who is also a board member, and the departmental security officer.
The roles and responsibilities relating to data security matters across all Departments will be subject to the recommendations from the current Cabinet Office review of data handling procedures in Government.
Departmental Databases
Adam Price:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether (a) companies based in the United States and (b) UK subsidiaries of US companies have been contracted by her Department and its agencies to provide services involving the use, storage, processing
or analysis of databases of personal information held by the Government on UK citizens in the last five years. [188222]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The Department for Transport including its agencies has contracted with US registered service providers to manage (aspects of) storage, processing or analysis of personal information.
(b) The Department, including its agencies has contracted with UK subsidiaries of US registered service providers to manage (aspects of) storage, processing or analysis of personal information.
The Data Protection Act 1998 includes provisions to ensure that personal data benefits from adequate protection when it is transferred outside the European Economic Area(1) by UK data controllers. Contracts are based on UK contract law with the applicable statutory safeguards.
(1) The 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Great Western Trains: Passengers
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many people have used First Great Western services in each year since their franchise began on 1 April 2006; [191744]
(2) how many people, on average, use First Great Western services each weekday. [191745]
Mr. Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. Rail industry statistics are managed by the Office of Rail Regulation and the hon. Member should consult its website:
Heathrow Airport: Finance
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the likely benefits identified in the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document relate to expected profits for (a) BA, (b) other airlines and (c) BAA. [194565]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 14 March 2008]: The breakdown of the monetised benefits from each option in the ‘Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport’ consultation document’ is given in table 4.3 (p79) of ‘UK Air Passenger and Demand Forecasts report (November 2007)’, available at:
The following table reproduces the figures for the three consultation document options. The ‘producers’ row of this table reports the change in airport operator's profits that could result from additional capacity at Heathrow.
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