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19 May 2009 : Column 1268W—continued
Paul Clark:
Meetings are held regularly with each train operating company (TOC) during the normal course of business. These include regular formal franchise performance meetings with each TOC every four weeks. There are also a range of meetings about various projects
which impact on operations and working level meetings around specific aspects of franchise delivery.
During the normal course of business TOCs may request contract changes and derogations to the franchise agreement. However, the Department for Transport does not accept changes which amount to renegotiating terms of the franchise agreements.
Railways: Freight
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on rail freight transport; and what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of freight transported by rail. [275517]
Paul Clark: There have been no discussions on rail freight transport with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
To encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail we have recently announced additional funding of £67 million to the Sustainable Distribution Fund. £61 million of this is allocated to the capital budget from which the Freight Facilities Grant allocations are made.
In the last two years the Government have announced record levels of rail freight investment to support continued growth including £200 million towards the development of a Strategic Freight Network and over £150 million of funding towards the provision of infrastructure enhancement for freight through the Productivity Transport Innovation Fund.
Railways: South West
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will assess the effect of the removal of South West Trains services west of Exeter from December 2009 on the economy. [276178]
Paul Clark: Analysis conducted as part of the franchise replacement process recommended the withdrawal of the four South Western services per weekday west of Exeter. From a National Rail perspective loss of revenue is minimal as there are alternative services operated by other train operators, with clear national financial benefit for this change of circa £5.5 million net present value (NPV) over the franchise. This will enable an hourly service to be introduced between Exeter and London Waterloo, a long held local and regional authority ambition, which will have a significant benefit to the Devon economy.
Roads: Accidents
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 8 May 2009, Official Report, columns 488-89W, on roads: accidents, how many of the drivers of (a) heavy goods vehicles, (b) light goods vehicles and (c) cars referred to in the table had (i) foreign and (ii) UK driving licences in (A) 2003, (B) 2004, (C) 2005, (D) 2006 and (E) 2007. [276427]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer my right hon. Friend to my answer of 18 May 2009, Official Report, columns 1129-30W.
Transport: Exhaust Emissions
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will assess the merits of a carbon reduction fund relating to transport. [274291]
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the merits of the establishment of a carbon reduction fund for transport. [275559]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport is currently looking very closely at the best ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport and has received representations from a number of groups advocating a Carbon Reduction Fund.
When making decisions about transport expenditure we aim to do so in a way that delivers across all of our goals as set out in the ‘Delivering a Sustainable Transport System’ consultation. In this context we will set out our policies and proposals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport as part of our Carbon Reduction Strategy in the summer.
Northern Ireland
Crimes of Violence
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many violent crimes were committed in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) Belfast in each of the last three years. [276117]
Paul Goggins: That is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Buildings
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on building maintenance in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [274562]
Paul Goggins: The following table shows expenditure on building maintenance by the Northern Ireland Office, excluding its agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies, in each of the last five years:
| Building maintenance (£000) | |
Building maintenance includes work where the primary aim is routine repair and/or replacement of existing facilities.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) BlackBerry devices and (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [274472]
Paul Goggins: In 2005, two mobiles belonging to civil servants were lost and one belonging to a special adviser was stolen. In 2006 two mobiles belonging to civil servants were lost. In 2007 six mobiles phones belonging to civil servants were lost.
In 2005, one BlackBerry belonging to a special adviser was stolen. No other phones or BlackBerrys were lost by Ministers, special advisers or civil servants.
Departmental Stationery
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on the purchase of (a) recycled office supplies in the last 12 months and (b) printer ink cartridges in each of the last five years. [274574]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) does not record details of expenditure under the descriptions requested therefore it would be possible to extract these costs only at disproportionate cost.
The Northern Ireland Office has a policy on the use of recycled paper for printing and copying which states that 100 per cent. recycled paper is mandatory.
In addition the Northern Ireland Office has a policy of recycling used ink cartridges.
Drugs: Seizures
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many drug seizures were carried out by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in each policing district in each of the last five years. [276224]
Paul Goggins: That is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
House of Commons Commission
Catering
Mr. Burstow: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate the House of Commons Commission has made of the number of (a) styrofoam and (b) plastic food service items used in House of Commons cafeterias in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. [275498]
Nick Harvey: The House of Commons catering service estimates that it has used the following number of (a) Styrofoam and (b) plastic food service items in its cafeterias in each of 12 accounting periods from April 2008-March 2009:
| (b) Plastic food service items | ||||
| (a) Styrofoam | (i) food containers | (ii) cutlery | (iii) lids for drinks cups | |
Styrofoam items were being phased out of use during 2008-09 but were re-introduced briefly during two periods due to technical issues with the replacement products. An estimated 300,000 cardboard cups were used during the year in replacement of Styrofoam cups previously used.
Work has also been done to reduce the environmental impact of plastic food service items used by the catering department. Over 40 per cent. of the plastic food containers listed above were made from recycled plastics and the total number of plastic food containers used in 2008-09 was reduced by an estimated 140,000 by switching to bio-degradable containers manufactured from a by-product of the sugar refining industry. The House of Commons catering service is continuing to test more environmentally-friendly disposable products as new products become available and hopes to reduce even further the remaining usage of oil-based plastics.
ICT
Mr. Burstow: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much has been spent on the provision of air conditioning to cool servers on the House of Commons estate in each of the last three years. [275511]
Nick Harvey: The expenditure associated with the provision of cooling to server rooms has three main components: capital expenditure associated with new equipment, electricity costs, and maintenance costs.
The parliamentary estates directorate (PED) has not carried out any new projects providing cooling for server rooms during the last three years. During this period however PED has provided additional cooling to rooms which house communications and computer equipment associated with servers. The overall cost of this work is estimated to have been approximately £25,000 per year.
Due to fluctuating energy prices and the complexities of the individual buildings' tariff structures it is not possible to estimate accurately the cost of energy used by all of the cooling equipment associated with server rooms. However PED has used an estimated average electrical energy cost of 10p/kWh to calculate an approximate cost associated with electrical energy of £124,000 per year.
PED maintenance engineers routinely carry out cyclical maintenance works and attend call outs involving the repair and replacement of defective cooling plant. The cost of these works is included within general maintenance contracts which cover large items of cooling plant,
some of which serve more than one location. This makes it difficult to accurately assess the cost of maintenance directly attributable to server room cooling alone. PED however estimate the cost of maintenance tasks associated with server cooling equipment to be approximately £9,000 per year(1).
The total estimated annual cost is £158,000.
(1) Estimated using BSRIA rules of thumb BG14/2003 table 7.
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