Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 9 July 2008
Scotland
Devolution
8. Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister on the further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament. [216431]
David Cairns: This Government remains totally committed to maintaining the United Kingdom and rejects the separatists' proposals to take Scotland out of the UK, which the clear majority of Scots do not want.
National Minimum Wage
9. Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the national minimum wage upon working people in Scotland. [216432]
David Cairns: The national minimum wage is a key component of the Government's strategy to make work pay and to help people into employment. 87,000 people in Scotland will benefit from the increase to national minimum wage that will come into force on 1 October 2008.
Travellers
12. Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps the Government is taking together with the Scottish Executive on cross-border issues in relation to Travellers. [216435]
David Cairns: Both the Scottish Executive and the Department for Communities and Local Government have programmes of work to address issues relating to Gypsy and Traveller communities, the majority of which, such as site provision, are devolved in Scotland.
Broadcasting
13. Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with Scottish broadcasters on the future of the industry in Scotland. [216436]
David Cairns: I have convened recent productive discussions with Scotland's broadcasters. I chaired an event in this House on 25 June, which was well attended by a number of cross-party politicians and key representatives of Scotland's broadcasting industry. I hosted a cross-party event on behalf of Ofcom (Scotland) on their Public Service Broadcasting review on 30 April.
I met with representatives from BBC Scotland, SMG, Channel 4 and a number of representatives from the independent sector during a series of meetings in Glasgow alongside my right hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on 12 June.
Barnett Formula
14. Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on auditing the Barnett consequentials received by Scotland under the Barnett formula. [216438]
David Cairns: The Scottish Executive is provided with Barnett consequentials of comparable changes in provision of UK Government Departments calculated in the terms set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
House of Commons Commission
Internet
Jo Swinson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the Commission’s policy is on what (a) documents, (b) information and (c) database access to provide online. [217448]
Nick Harvey: The House of Commons Commission has adopted the policy of making the work of the House of Commons and information about that work widely accessible to the general public, including online. A project to update and modernise the parliamentary website is under way which seeks to provide the maximum level of online transparency and openness consistent with these objectives and the decisions of the House and the House of Commons Commission.
Jo Swinson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what funding was allocated for development and maintenance of the parliament.uk website in each of the last five years. [217447]
Nick Harvey: The parliamentary website operates across both Houses of Parliament and is made up of contributions from a number of different individual sites. Not all costs are separately identifiable, as many staff contribute material to the site as part of their normal duties and these costs are not quantified. The figures that are available are as follows:
| £000 | |||||
| Website | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Figures for the Internet Redesign project include staff costs for the Web Centre, the team responsible for managing the website and the parliamentary intranet.
The Internet Redesign Project was initiated in 2006 following a resolution of the House supporting the recommendation of the Modernisation Committee for a radical upgrade of the parliamentary website. In the last two years, it has implemented a series of enhancements,
including: improved design and navigation, an online calendar of parliamentary business, a new section of the site explaining the role of Parliament and their procedures, a simpler presentation of information relating to Bills before Parliament, updated committee pages including the ability to conduct online consultations, the publication of deposited papers online and a greatly improved search facility.
Wales
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many ( a) apprenticeships and (b) advanced apprenticeships there were in his Department in the most recent year for which figures are available. [216606]
Transport
East Coast Main Line
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will support the recent section 17 application to the Office of the Rail Regulator for enhanced route utilisation by National Express East Coast in respect of the East Coast Main Line; and if she will make a statement. [217144]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Government welcome initiatives by train operating companies to explore opportunities to expand their services, and to provide even more benefits to their passengers than those to which they are committed by their franchise agreements.
The decision as to whether or not to grant this application lies with the independent Office of Rail Regulation. However, the Department has no plans to object to the application.
East Coast Railway Line
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she plans to introduce a high speed rail network on the East Coast. [217154]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Secretary of State invited Network Rail to begin work to develop longer-term options for the railway network. As part of this, on 23 June 2008 Network Rail announced a strategic review of the case for new rail lines. It will consider five of Network Rail’s strategic routes, north and west of London: Chiltern, East Coast, West Coast, Great Western and Midland Main Lines. It is too early to say what the results of this study will be or where any potential new lines might go. The study is expected to be complete in July 2009.
Electric Vehicles: Police
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will bring forward proposals for a police trial of electric personal assistive mobility devices as part of the roadmap process to regulatory approval. [216921]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Lembit Öpik) on 2 July 2008, Official Report, column 921W.
Helicopters: Greater London
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether any restrictions are in place on helicopter flights over Lambeth. [216618]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Rules of the Air Regulations and the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Specified Area) Regulations govern flight by helicopters over London. The former regulations specify the minimum height at which a helicopter may operate, the latter regulations prohibit single engine helicopters from the central area of London below such a height as would enable them to alight clear of that area in the event of an engine failure.
Helicopters are required to follow published routes over London subject to an air traffic control clearance. The routes, detailed in the UK Aeronautical Information Publication published by the CAA, are designed to provide maximum safety in respect of single engine helicopter traffic by avoiding built-up areas as much as possible. Twin engine helicopters, such as those operated by the emergency services, may be cleared to fly outside those routes according to their specific requirements and the Rules of the Air.
In addition, an aircraft flying in accordance with the terms of a police air operator’s certificate (PAOC) is exempt from certain parts of the Rules of the Air Regulations, including the low-flying rule, if the aircraft is flown in accordance with the Police Air Operations Manual (CAP 612), published by the Civil Aviation Authority (www.caa.co.uk). In London, the Metropolitan police and the Surrey police have been granted PAOCs and may be permitted to hover above particular locations depending on the operational requirement.
Landing Charges
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information she holds on the level of landing charges to UK flights arriving at (a) Heathrow, (b) Toronto, (c) Newark New Jersey, (d) Athens, (e) Vancouver, (f) New York JFK, (g) Osaka, (h) Mexico City, (i) Amsterdam, (j) Vienna, (k) Moscow, (l) Paris CDG, (m) Zurich, (n) Frankfurt, (o) Sydney, (p) Tokyo, (q) Brussels and (r) Dusseldorf airports. [216322]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport does hold information about landing charges at Heathrow but does not generally hold information about landing charges at airports in other countries. Such information is available through commercial sources to which the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the independent airports regulator, has access, and which forms part of the evidence base for the CAA in carrying out its functions, such as the recent Heathrow and Gatwick price control reviews.
M60: Road Signs and Markings
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) with reference to the answer of 11 June 2008, Official Report, column 727W, on M60: road signs and markings, whether a review of the use of scrolling arrows has been conducted since the consideration referred to in the answer; and if she will make a statement; [217267]
(2) with reference to the answer of 5 July 2007, Official Report, column 1180W, on M60: road signs and markings, what discussions her Department has had on legislative proposals aimed at permitting the use of scrolling arrows to direct traffic on the M60. [217270]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Highways Agency has been working closely with the Department for Transport to identify the circumstances in which scrolling arrows could be used safely and effectively. As a result, the displays have now been specially authorised for use by Highways Agency Traffic Officers on all-purpose and motorway trunk roads in England. The authorisation, under section 64 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, was issued on 2 July 2008.
Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the online vehicle excise duty website was unavailable in each of the last 24 months. [216825]
Jim Fitzpatrick: There have been 482 outages of service during the last 24 months. Of these, 418 were for planned maintenance work, 32 were due to third party failure and a further 32 were unplanned outages.
Peterborough Railway Station
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will hold discussions with Network Rail on the redevelopment of Peterborough railway station in the near future; and if she will make a statement. [217143]
Mr. Tom Harris: While the Secretary of State has no specific plans to discuss the redevelopment of Peterborough station with Network Rail, Peterborough has been identified by the industry as a candidate station for funding from the National Stations Improvement Programme. The final selection of stations will be influenced by, among other things, the extent to which third party funding—from local authorities and the private sector—is secured to supplement the industry’s own proposals.
Railways: Colchester
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations she has received on the effects of the weekend works on the Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea and Colchester to Walton-on-the-Naze line on the number of weekend visitors to the area; and what assessment she has made of the effects of the works on the local economy. [216513]
Mr. Tom Harris: None. The timing of engineering works is an operational matter for Network Rail under the possessions regime overseen by the independent Office of Rail Regulation. Passengers are understandably frustrated by line closures, but there is no easy time to carry out major engineering works. Disruption is an unfortunate but sometimes unavoidable consequence of maintenance work essential for the continuing drive to deliver a safer and more reliable rail network.
Safety Belts
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) front and (b) rear seat belt wearing rates are among (i) males and (ii) females, broken down by age group were in each of the last five years for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [217905]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Seat belt wearing surveys undertaken for the Department include information on seat belt usage rates by seating position, age and gender. The most recent publication, Lf2102 (with results at October 2007) reported relevant wearing rates as follows:
| Table 3: Wearing rates, by sex and age, October 2007 | |||
| Percentage | |||
| Male | Female | Either | |
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