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10 Mar 2009 : Column 364W—continued
Departmental Conditions of Employment
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the flexible benefits project in the central units of his Department. [261593]
Mr. Hoon: It is estimated that there will be no material cost of introducing a flexible benefits scheme to the Department for Transport.
Departmental Manpower
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many employees of his Department have worked at First Class Partnership in each of the last 24 months; and what the Civil Service pay band of each is. [262299]
Mr. Hoon: No Department for Transport employees have been loaned or seconded to First Capital Partnership nor does the Department have any record of employees leaving to join First Class Partnerships in the last 24 months.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department’s entertainment budget was in each of the last five years. [261107]
Mr. Hoon: The Department for Transport does not have an entertainment budget. However, it does have divisional level hospitality budgets that cover refreshments for meetings, conferences, room bookings and other similar expenditure. To identify these lists centrally would be disproportionately expensive.
The Department adheres to the principles on the management of Public Money as set out in HM Treasury’s handbook on Regularity and Propriety and has strict rules and cost limits on such expenditure. Where it is permissible, expenditure that could be classed as entertainment must be found from within the hospitality budgets.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what payments for (a) polling and (b) other services his Department has made to (i) Deborah Mattinson and (ii) Opinion Leader Research Limited since 31 December 2007; and if he will make a statement. [260988]
Mr. Hoon: No payments have been made by the Department to Deborah Mattinson or Opinion Leader Research Limited between 31 December 2007 and 3 March 2009.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what capital expenditure his Department plans to bring forward in the next 12 months. [261630]
Mr. Hoon: In November 2008 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced, as part of his pre-Budget report, that £700 million of fiscal stimulus funding was being brought forward by the Department for Transport.
£400 million of this will be used by the Highways Agency in 2009-10 to bring forward high value schemes on the strategic roads network. This includes bringing forward by two years the start of construction for the scheme to dual the A46 from Newark to Widmerpool.
In addition the funding will allow us to bring forward work to strengthen hard shoulders in advance of the implementation of hard shoulder running as well as other high value structure and asset renewal projects. The exact schemes that will benefit will be specified in the Highways Agency’s 2009-10 Business Plan.
The remaining £300 million is to be used for the procurement of diesel unit rolling stock as part of the Department’s High Level Output Specification for the British Rail Network.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent by his Department on staff surveys in 2008; and which companies were contracted to carry out the surveys. [260943]
Mr. Hoon: The Department spent £35,805 on its annual staff survey in 2008. ORC were contracted to carry out the survey.
Driving Standards Agency: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2009, Official Report, column 900W, on the Driving Standards Agency: alcoholic drinks, what the cost to his Department was of the wine served at each of the three conferences. [261449]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driving Standards Agency spent the following on wine for each conference.
| Conference | Cost of alcohol provided exclusive of VAT (£) |
Driving Tests
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people (a) took and (b) passed their driving test in (i) Chelmsford, (ii) Essex and (iii) the UK in each of the last five years. [261775]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of practical driving tests taken and passed in Chelmsford in each of the last five years for car, bike, lorry and bus categories are as follows:
| Chelmsford | |||
| Conducted | Passed | Percentage pass | |
The number of practical driving tests taken and passed in Essex in each of the last five years for car, bike, lorry and bus categories are as follows:
| Essex | |||
| Conducted | Passed | Percentage pass | |
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