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13 May 2009 : Column 774W—continued
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what procedures govern the retention by local authorities of unspent funds designated for highway and byway maintenance for use on highway and byway projects in subsequent financial years. [273262]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport provides funding to local authorities for highway maintenance by specific grant, contributions to Area Based Grant and through Supported Capital Expenditure Revenue (SCERs). Local authorities receive support for the borrowing costs of SCERs through formula grant. This is an unhypothecated block grant, not designated for any particular service, and can be used to fund highway maintenance projects or byways, for which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has policy responsibility. Local authorities also receive unhypothecated income through council tax and other sources such as fees and charges.
The amount of money allocated to highways and byways maintenance is for individual local authorities to decide. Where an authority has not fully claimed a specific grant allocation by the year end, they may apply to the Department for the remaining funding to be transferred to a later year. For other funding there are no central restrictions which govern the retention of funds held if authorities do not spend any budget which they set.
Roads: Safety
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of levels of road safety in the Torbay local authority area based on (a) reports from the Government office south-west and (b) the mid-term progress review of the local transport plan; and what assistance his Department is providing to Torbay local authority to reduce road casualties in the area. [274292]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 196W, regarding the progress review of Torbay council's local transport plan conducted with the Government office for the south-west. The progress review covers road safety.
The Department for Transport is providing the following financial support to Torbay council to help them improve their local transport infrastructure and public transport services. This funding will help the authority develop road safety schemes and thereby reduce road casualties.
| Financial year 2008-09—DFT funding to Torbay council | ||
| Funding stream | Purpose | £000 |
This funding is not ring-fenced and Torbay council has discretion to spend allocations in line with their priorities. Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government's formula grant.
The Department also contributes to the sharing of information and good practice via a group of local authority officers in the south-west region. Nationally it is sponsoring a number of demonstration and partnership projects with other local authorities to assist local authorities as a whole in their continued work to reduce road casualties.
Schools: Transport
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the proportion of children travelling to school by car in each local authority area in the South West in the latest period for which figures are available. [274407]
Paul Clark: Data collected by schools in the South West area via the School Census in January 2008 showed the following percentage of children travelled to school by car in each local authority area:
The Government want as many children as possible to walk, cycle or use public transport to travel to school, that is why, in 2003, it launched the Travelling to School project setting out how it wants all schools in England to develop a school travel plan in order to reduce car use for journey to school and allow many more children to take regular exercise. By 2010 more than £140 million will have been committed to support the project through local authority school travel advisers and capital grants to help schools implement their travel plans.
Speed Limits
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the likely effect on the number of road deaths and injuries of raising the speed limit for light goods vehicles on single carriageway A roads by 10 miles per hour. [274353]
Jim Fitzpatrick: No such estimate has been made. We have no plans to raise the national speed limits for light goods vehicles.
Transport: Coventry
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on (a) rail, (b) road and (c) bicycle transport in Coventry. [274578]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport received advice in February 2009 from the west midlands region on its transport priorities in the period up to 2018-19 as part of its regional funding advice to Government. This includes proposals for investment in Coventry through schemes such as a new public transport interchange at Coventry railway station (Connecting Coventry), a Bus Rapid Transit System (SPRINT) and a Nuneaton to Coventry rail line upgrade (NUCKLE). Furthermore, the Highways Agency has prioritised a scheme within the regional funding advice to improve the A45/A46 at Tollbar End, in Coventry.
We expect to be in a position to respond to this advice by the summer.
Also, departmental officials are due to meet with representatives from Coventry city council on their proposed NUCKLE rail upgrade scheme later this month.
Leader of the House
Cabinet: Glasgow
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Leader of the House how many (a) special advisers and (b) officials accompanied her to Glasgow for the Cabinet meeting on 16 April 2009. [273901]
Chris Bryant: One official accompanied my right hon. and learned Friend to Glasgow for the Cabinet meeting on 16 April 2009.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Leader of the House what car journeys she took in attending the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273902]
Chris Bryant: A Government car was used by my right hon. and learned Friend to travel to and from the airport in both London and Glasgow.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Leader of the House how much expenditure was incurred by her Office in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273903]
Chris Bryant: The total expenditure incurred by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009 was £1,115.97.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Leader of the House what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) she and (ii) officials in her Office incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. [273904]
Chris Bryant: The total cost of travel incurred by my right hon. and learned Friend and one official in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009 was £1,115.97. My right hon. Friend and the accompanying official incurred no expenditure on accommodation and food.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Anti-Semitism
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what records his Department holds on anti-Semitism in pre-war Nazi Germany which remain closed to the public; and if he will make a statement. [274026]
Caroline Flint: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office do not hold any records on anti-Semitism in Germany before World War II. We have released all such documents to the Public Records Office.
Burma: USA
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the US Administration on its review of US policy on Burma. [275328]
Bill Rammell: I discussed Burma with US Administration officials and members of Congress when I visited Washington from 3-5 May 2009. We remain in close contact with our US colleagues about the situation in Burma at all levels. We are working with them to ensure that collective international pressure is brought onto the regime to engage with the UN Good Offices mission and to instigate genuine political reforms. We continue to share concerns for the prospects of inclusive elections in 2010 and the grave humanitarian situation. The US Administration have not as yet concluded the work that is under way.
China: Asylum
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had recent discussions with his Chinese counterpart on the recent deportation from China of refugees from North Korea. [274321]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 11 May 2009]: We continue to urge China to observe its obligations under the 1951 convention on the status of refugees and to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees access to the China/Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) border region. This subject was raised with the Chinese at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in January 2009. We urged China not to return those people crossing the border from DPRK to China. China continues to maintain the position that cases are dealt with in line with domestic and international law.
China: Human Rights
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instruct diplomats from the UK mission in Beijing to visit in prison in China those Tibetans sentenced to death for alleged arson attacks in Lhasa in March 2008. [273789]
Bill Rammell: We do not intend to make a request to visit these prisoners, however we do remain concerned about their convictions. The UK is opposed to the death penalty in principle, and as a consequence, working closely with our EU counterparts, we are urging the Chinese authorities not to carry out the sentences imposed on those convicted.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Government of China during the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue in mid-May on the recent death sentencing of six Tibetans for alleged arson attacks in Lhasa in March 2008. [273790]
Bill Rammell: The cases of the Tibetans facing the death penalty will be raised at the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue.
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