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9 July 2009 : Column 931W—continued

Members: Correspondence

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he plans to reply to the letters of 7 May and 15 June 2009 from the hon. Member for Forest of Dean on the Friends of Kempley Churches, reference FD3057. [285073]

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Barbara Follett [holding answer 8 July 2009]: I replied to the hon. Member on 7 July 2009.

National Skills Academies: Thurrock

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the contribution of the proposed National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills in Thurrock to the London 2012 Olympic events including training and technical support; and if he will make a statement. [282467]

Mr. Simon [holding answer 29 June 2009]: The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills regarding the Creative and Cultural National Skills Academy (NSA).

London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games' Culture and Ceremonies teams have had informal discussions with the NSA as part of the organising committee's initial work on workforce needs for 2012, but no decisions have been made on the academy's involvement.

However, the NSA offers a great opportunity to engage with Olympic events as a training and technical support venue for the opening, closing and medal ceremonies. Regional involvement in the development of a cultural Olympic legacy is paramount to raising the aspirations for young people in the region.

Tourism: Disabled

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps are being taken to make tourist attractions more accessible to disabled people. [284372]

Barbara Follett: My Department works closely with the tourism industry to ensure that there is good access for disabled people at attractions throughout the United Kingdom. As part of the quality assessment scheme, tourism business in the UK are required to prepare an access statement describing their current services and facilities so that disabled people can decide if they meet their particular needs. Accessibility best practice is now incorporated into the new Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS) criteria and its quality guidance booklet.

In addition the DCMS has set up the Accessible Tourism Stakeholders Forum to help to deliver improvements in this area which was a central theme in our Tourism Strategy for 2012. VisitEngland has recently published “Easy Does It”, a guide for setting out how tourism businesses can achieve simple, low cost changes to benefit themselves and their disabled customers.

Most recently DCMS, along with VisitEngland, VisitScotland, VisitWales, and other public bodies, has supported the launch of Open Britain, a definitive guide book and website for people with disabilities and special access requirements.

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Justice

British Constitution: Ministerial Statements

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Prime Minister’s statement of 10 June 2009, Official Report, columns 795-99, on constitutional renewal, when he will set out further plans to look at broadening the application of freedom of information to include additional bodies; and if he will make a statement. [285555]

Mr. Wills: We will publish our full response to the consultation on designating additional public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act through a section 5 order by the summer.

Driving: Convictions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many drivers were convicted of driving while exceeding the blood alcohol limit with levels of alcohol of (a) 80 to 90, (b) 91 to 100, (c) 101 to 110, (d) 111 to 120, (e) 121 to 130, (f) 131 to 140, (g) 141 to 150, (h) 151 to 160, (i) 161 to 170, (j) 171 to 180,
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(k) 181 to 190, (l) 191 to 200 and (m) over 200mg per 100ml of blood in the last year for which figures are available; [284803]

(2) how many drivers have been convicted of (a) driving under the influence of alcohol with a level of alcohol in excess of 80mg per 100ml of blood and (b) failing to provide a specimen of blood in each year since 1980.[284805]

Claire Ward: Available information on the number of findings of guilt at all courts for offences of driving etc after consuming alcohol or taking drugs, by offence type, in England and Wales for the years 1994 to 2007 (latest available) is given in the table. Data held centrally on the Court Proceedings Database by the Ministry of Justice do not identify the amount by which the prescribed limit was exceeded.

Information for the years prior to 1994 can be found on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics website under “Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary Tables”. See following link:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/motor1.html

Number of findings of guilt for offences of driving etc . after consuming alcohol or taking drugs, by offence type, 1994 to 2007( 1) , England and Wales
Number of offences
Offence type	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment)	1,899	1,809	1,865	1,930	1,939	2,005	1,826
Driving with alcohol in the blood above the prescribed limit	73,733	77,115	81,046	84,929	78,799	74,427	71,214
Driving and failing to provide specimen for analysis (breath, blood or urine)	8,192	8,068	7,712	8,112	7,359	8,091	8,232
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs (impairment)	368	365	376	408	416	415	388
In charge of motor vehicle with alcohol in the blood above the prescribed limit	1,670	1,827	1,887	2,120	2,340	2,108	1,938
In charge of motor vehicle and failing to provide specimen for analysis (breath, blood or urine)	666	501	472	489	517	592	741
Failing to provide specimen for initial breath test	3,172	2,821	2,348	2,214	1,746	1,724	1,490
Failing to allow specimens of blood to be subjected to laboratory test	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Unfit to drive through drink (impairment)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Unfit to drive through drugs (impairment)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink (impairment)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drugs (impairment)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Total	89,700	92,505	95,705	100,202	93,116	89,361	85,829

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Offence type	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment)	1,937	2,129	2,261	1,552	1,093	918	845
Driving with alcohol in the blood above the prescribed limit	70,091	74,499	77,712	80,383	78,108	78,027	74,885
Driving and failing to provide specimen for analysis (breath, blood or urine)	8,208	8,900	9,185	9,188	9,361	8,991	9,096
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs (impairment)	404	487	449	457	301	226	213
In charge of motor vehicle with alcohol in the blood above the prescribed limit	2,134	2,280	1,886	1,779	1,882	1,760	1,585
In charge of motor vehicle and failing to provide specimen for analysis (breath, blood or urine)	658	891	967	1,070	985	914	921
Failing to provide specimen for initial breath test	1,310	1,302	1,240	1,182	932	770	572
Failing to allow specimens of blood to be subjected to laboratory test	n/a	n/a	(2)2	5	13	12	12
Unfit to drive through drink (impairment)	n/a	n/a	(3)n/a	348	530	479	473
Unfit to drive through drugs (impairment)	n/a	n/a	(3)n/a	203	363	414	383
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink (impairment)	n/a	n/a	(3)n/a	56	120	134	209
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drugs (impairment)	n/a	n/a	(3)n/a	15	29	26	29
Total	84,472	90,488	93,702	96,238	93,717	92,671	89,223
n/a = Not available (1) 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 the courts and 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. (2) Authorised under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s.7A as added by the Police Reform Act 2002, s.56 and Transport and Works Act 1992 as added by the Police Reform Act 2002 s.52 which came into force in July 2002. (3) Prior to 2004 data were published covering both drink and drugs offences combined as they could not reliably be distinguished separately. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.

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