| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 July 2009 : Column 621W—continued
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what his policy is on competition on the rail network; and if he will assess the level of competition between the train operating companies serving Torquay and Paignton stations. [287150]
Chris Mole: The Department for Transport does not have a policy to achieve a defined level of competitive pressure between train operators offering the same journey, and in many parts of the rail network there is a single operator.
The Office of the Rail Regulator has concurrent jurisdiction with the Office of Fair Trading to investigate potential breaches of the Competition Act 1998 in relation to the railways, and is also responsible for determining access rights for any open access train operators who may apply to operate a complementary and competitive rail service.
Roads: Construction
Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much capital expenditure his Department has incurred on constructing new roads in each of the last 20 years. [285598]
Mr. Khan: The following table provides information on net spend on Highways Agency major improvements since 1998-99. Information before this is not readily available due to systems and accounting changes and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
| Funding (£ million) | |
| Note: 1998-99 to 2000-01 are outturns on a cash accounting basis; figures from 2001-02 onwards are on a resource accounting basis. | |
On local major road schemes which are promoted by the respective local highway authority, the Department does not hold information in a format which distinguishes expenditure incurred between local major road schemes and local major public transport schemes and this can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Rolling Stock
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department is taking to increase rolling stock available to the First Great Western franchise. [287148]
Chris Mole: We are in discussion with First Great Western regarding the provision of additional train capacity, and will make an announcement in due course.
Tolls
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what Government (a) studies, (b) trials and (c) pilots have been commissioned on road pricing in each year since 1997; and how much each cost. [284706]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport has commissioned studies and trials since 1997 to increase its understanding of the key challenges of developing robust and reliable road user charging processes, procedures and technologies. These included the Road Pricing Feasibility Study, the DIRECTS trials on interoperability and other systems engineering studies which between them incurred total expenditure of approximately £29 million, between 1997 and 2007. We have no breakdown of this in the form requested. We have not commissioned any pilots on road pricing.
Since 2007 effort has concentrated on the Demonstrations Project, examining the technology and processes that would be needed if any road pricing scheme was to have the ability to charge by time and distance travelled, as well as place. The first phases of this work are under way following the letting of contracts in September 2008, with a value of £10 million. The project has created a research environment to help us understand the feasibility, operational performance and business issues for market delivered services; however, the Government have no plans to introduce national road pricing.
West Coast Railway Line
Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what account was taken of the travelling requirements of people attending the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final in scheduling maintenance work
on the West Coast Main Line on the weekend of 28 and 29 August 2009. [286672]
Chris Mole: The planning and timing of engineering works is an operational matter for Network Rail under the national possessions regime overseen by the independent Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). Under this regime the majority of engineering possessions are specifically planned by industry-wide agreement, often up to 18 months in advance-and well before the identity of the Rugby League Cup Final teams becomes known.
Network Rail advises that on Saturday 29, Sunday 30 and until 6.30 a.m on Monday 31 August it will be taking a number of possessions on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line, meaning this section of the line will be closed to train services. As a result, passengers travelling between Birmingham New Street and London will be on hourly shuttle services which will be diverted via the Chiltern Line, though the southbound services will still terminate at Euston.
Cabinet Office
Advertising Advisory Committee
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on what dates the Advisory Committee on Advertising has met in the last 12 months. [250318]
Tessa Jowell: The Government Strategic Marketing Advisory Board (GSMAB) replaced the Advisory Committee on Advertising (ACA) in January 2008.
The GSMAB has a wider remit than the ACA, not only holding the Central Office for Information (COI) to account but also all Government Departments.
Under the new terms of reference, GSMAB aims to meet at least four times annually at the chairman's discretion.
Over the last 12 months the board has met on the following dates:
4 September 2008
2 December 2008
24 February 2009
10 June 2009
Brain Cancer
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cases of brain cancer were diagnosed in each strategic health authority area in each of the last six years. [286379]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated July 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many cases of brain cancer were diagnosed in each strategic health authority area in each of the last six years. [286379]
The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2006. Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer in each strategic health authority area from 2001 to 2006 are in Table 1.
| Table 1: Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer( 1) , persons: strategic health authorities( 2) in England, 2001 to 2006 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Brain cancer is coded to C71 in the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10). (2) Based on boundaries as of 2006. Source: Office for National Statistics | ||||||
Brain Cancer: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cases of brain cancer were diagnosed in each primary care trust area within the ceremonial county of Hampshire for each of the last six years. [286283]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, July 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many cases of brain cancer were diagnosed in each primary care trust area within the Ceremonial County of Hampshire for each of the last six years. [286283]
The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2006. Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer in each primary care trust area within the Ceremonial County of Hampshire from 2001 to 2006 are in Table 1.
| Table 1: Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer( 1) , persons: Primary Care Trusts( 2) within the Ceremonial County of Hampshire, 2001 to 2006 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Brain cancer is coded to C71 in the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) (2) Based on boundaries as of 2008 Source: Office for National Statistics | ||||||
Civil Servants: Vacancies
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many graduate vacancies in the Civil Service there (a) were in 2008 and (b) are expected to be in 2009. [287777]
Angela E. Smith: Departments and agencies undertake their own recruitment, and the Cabinet Office holds no data on graduate recruitment into the civil service generally.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |