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24 Jun 2009 : Column 911W—continued
Public Transport: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what funding his Department has allocated to the development of public transport in Peterborough in 2009-10. [281684]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport allocates integrated transport block funding to local transport authorities for capital investment in transport. Funding provided by the Department to local authorities is not generally ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, such as the provision of public transport. The Department provided £2.289 million to Peterborough in 2009-10.
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government's formula grant.
The Department allocates money for rail projects in England but funding information is not available on the basis of local authority boundaries. The same applies for bus service operators grant, which is given direct to bus operators.
In 2008-09 and 2009-10 special grant funding is being provided by the Department for Transport to meet the additional cost of the new, England-wide concessionary bus travel—Peterborough's allocation in 2009-10 was £0.733 million. Peterborough has also been allocated £0.181 million in rural bus subsidy grant for 2009-10.
Royal Family: Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2009, Official Report, column 15W, on Royal Family: travel, what steps his Department takes to assess whether travel arrangements proposed by the Royal Travel Office and Royal Household (a) achieve value for money and (b) minimise environmental impact before providing funding for them. [281735]
Paul Clark: Decisions on air and rail travel arrangements for members of the royal family are taken by the royal travel office with regard to agreed criteria, including the need to achieve value for money and minimise the environmental impact.
The royal household seeks to contract in the most economic and efficient way for the supply of air and rail services, consistent with the safety and security of members of the royal family and other key requirements of royal travel. The royal household ensures it takes financial considerations fully into account when framing, reaching, or giving effect to decisions which bear upon the royal travel grant in aid budget.
Southern: Railway Stations
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much (a) his Department and (b) Transport for London plans to spend on deep cleaning stations along the South Central franchise route. [280378]
Chris Mole: Overall the bidder proposes to spend at least £5.1 million on a deep clean and minor fault rectification package on stations within the Greater London Authority boundary and a further £2.7 million on a similar package outside London. This package of works however will generate additional revenues through enhanced station environments, and as such the net cost to Department for Transport of the package will be significantly below this.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Consultants
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years. [281630]
Paul Clark: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency has spent the following amount on external consultants in each of the last five years:
| £ million | |
| (1) Figures for 2008-09 are draft as they are not yet audited and published. | |
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Manpower
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many (a) directors, (b) senior managers, (c) specialist and delivery managers and (d) executive support and administration staff there were in each Vehicle and Operator Services Agency office in each of the last five years. [280614]
Paul Clark: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency employed the following number of staff in the categories requested:
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
Figures as at 31 March of each year.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Pay
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much was paid in bonuses to (a) directors, (b) senior managers, (c) specialist and delivery managers and (d) executive support and administration staff in the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in each of the last five years. [280324]
Paul Clark: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has paid the following amount in bonuses:
| £ | ||||
| (a) Directors( 1) | (b) Senior managers | (c) Specialist and delivery managers | (d) Ex and admin support | |
| (1) Directors’ bonuses include senior civil servants performance bonuses that are set centrally within the Department for Transport. (2) VOSA’s 2008 pay award has not been implemented yet. Note: Figures are based on special performance bonuses. To establish performance related pay (PRP) figures in the manner requested would result in disproportionate cost being incurred. | ||||
Justice
Arson: Greater London
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for arson there were in each London borough in the latest year for which figures are available. [280847]
Mr. Straw: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences relating to arson in the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas for 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
It is not possible to break down further the data to individual borough level, thus police force area data for Metropolitan and City of London police force areas have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| The number of defendants who were found guilty at all courts for offences relating to arson in the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas, 2007( 1, 2) | |||
| Statute | Offence description | Metropolitan police force area | City of London police force area |
| (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice. | |||
Community Legal Advice: Telephone Services
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how much was spent on the Community Legal Advice telephone service in each year since 2004; [280845]
(2) how many calls have been made to the Community Legal Advice telephone service in each year since 2004. [280846]
Mr. Straw: The Community Legal Advice telephone service was launched on 14 July 2004. The total cost of expenditure on the Community Legal Advice telephone service in each year since 2004 is shown in the following table. All figures are inclusive of VAT.
Since 2006 all calls are routed through an initial triage service. The triage service diagnoses problems, assesses eligibility for legal aid and refers people onto alternative sources of help. This service costs approximately £6 per call. Only those eligible for legal aid are then passed through to specialist advisors. These providers won competitive tenders to carry out telephone work and their average hourly rate is approximately £46.
The service started from scratch in 2004 and has evolved since then (for example, family calls were dealt with for the first time in 2008). It is not possible to make meaningful comparisons between the cost per case in 2004 and that in 2009.
| Total cost (£ million) | |
The number of calls made to the Community Legal Advice telephone service since its inception is shown in the following table.
| Number of calls made | |
Departmental Energy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's estate and (ii) by his Department’s agencies in each year from its inception to 2008-09. [280512]
Mr. Wills: The tables show the quantity of electricity and gas used in the financial year April 2007 to March 2008, although the Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007 and therefore the figures for the core estate provided include the energy consumption of the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ core estate between 1 April and 9 May. Similarly, the figures for the National Offender Management Service’s (NOMS) custodial property include the period from 1 April to 9 May when NOMS was part of the Home Office’s estate.
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of collating data for 2008-09. This will be made available in the Sustainable Development in Government Report later this year.
| MoJ HQ core estate | |
| Energy type | Annual consumption kWh |
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