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20 July 2009 : Column 744W—continued
Water: Meters
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water meters were installed by water supply companies in homes in (a) north-west Cambridgeshire, (b) Huntingdonshire, (c) Peterborough and (d) Cambridgeshire in each of the last five years. [287201]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Ofwat, the economic regulator of the water and sewerage industry, holds information by water company area only.
Tabled as follows are the figures showing how many water meters Anglian Water and Cambridge Water installed in each of the last five years. Anglian Water and Cambridge Water are the companies that supply the areas listed in the question.
The Anglian Water figures also include Hartlepool Water (HPL) as Anglian Water took over Hartlepool Water in 1998 and they now report their figures together.
| Total household meters | |||||
| Number | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water meters were installed in homes in Castle Point by water supply companies in each of the last five years. [287503]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Ofwat, the economic regulator of the water and sewerage industry, does not hold data on how many meters are installed in individual constituencies.
The following figures show how many water meters Essex and Suffolk Water has installed in each of the last five years. Essex and Suffolk Water is the company that serves Castle Point.
| Essex and Suffolk | |
| Total household meters | |
House of Commons Commission
East of England Grand Committee
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what (a) broadcasting and (b) other facilities will be available at the venue for the meeting of the East of England Regional Grand Committee at Bedford on 8 September 2009; and if he will make a statement. [287559]
Nick Harvey: The broadcasting of Committees meeting away from Westminster is usually undertaken by local broadcasters themselves, if they wish to do so. The coverage is pooled and they provide copies to the parliamentary recording unit for archive purposes. Guidelines for broadcasters undertaking coverage is available to ensure that compliance with the rules of coverage is maintained. Audio coverage of the meeting will be supplied by Westminster Sound. This will be webcast live on the
and Parliament websites, and will be available for 12 months in the searchable audio-visual archive.
Facilities for Members and for members of the public attending the meeting will be provided in the Borough hall, Bedford, by arrangement with Bedford borough council. I understand that the Clerks of the East of England Regional Grand Committee will be writing to members of the Committee shortly with information about the arrangements, and the hon. Member may wish to address any further enquiries to them.
Members: Allowances
Mr. Steen: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many editions of the Green Book have been issued since 2000; in which year each edition was published; how many copies of each edition were printed; what the cost was of publishing each edition; what consultation there was with hon. Members in respect of the changes made in the edition; by what processes such consultation were held; and which editions were distributed in hard copy to all hon. Members automatically. [287929]
Nick Harvey: Since 2000, revised editions of the Green Book were published as follows. Where known, information is included on the number of copies produced and the cost of production.
| Copies | Cost (£) | |
| (1) Intranet only | ||
All copies except the two intranet only editions shown were sent direct to Members.
Since 2004 the Members Estimate Committee has been responsible for the Green Book and given authority for each edition. Since January 2009, responsibility for advising the MEC of changes to the Green Book has rested with the Members' Allowances Committee.
In respect of the Green Book agreed by the House published in March 2009, this was prepared by the then Advisory Panel on Members' Allowances in consultation with independent advisers and other hon. Members. It was approved by the MEC and agreed by the House in January 2009 prior to publication.
Robert Neill: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission for what reasons the council tax banding of hon. Members' properties was redacted before publication of information relating to hon. Members' expenses. [288259]
Nick Harvey: In July 2008, by order, Parliament agreed an amendment to the FOIA to the effect that any information that relates to the residential address of a member of either House of Parliament fell outside of the scope of that Act.
Taking account of this, editing of the claims-based allowances was done on the principle that the following information would be made available and all other information would be removed:
Name of Member
Allowance type
Date of claim
Value of claim
Goods or services purchased
Identity of supplier providing goods or services to offices (subject to certain rules).
Members: Offices
John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the House of Commons Commission will discuss with the appropriate authorities in the House of Lords the compilation of information on the number of (a) offices occupied by and (b) computers provided for members of each House in the Palace of Westminster. [286951]
Nick Harvey: No. Information on House of Lords accommodation and computers is a matter for that House.
Parliament: Internet
Mr. Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission (a) is taking and (b) plans to take over the next two years to provide greater electronic access for the public to parliamentary material; and if he will make a statement. [287824]
Nick Harvey: There are a number of strands of work under way as part of the parliamentary Web and Intranet Programme that will provide greater electronic access for the public to parliamentary material. These include changes to the format of information on the website so that it conforms to accessible data standards and can be accessed and reused by the public, as well as improvements to the presentation to make the information more user friendly and an improved search engine that will enable website visitors to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.
Portcullis House: Fire Alarms
Simon Hughes: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commissions how many times the fire alarm in Portcullis house has been activated (a) for fire drill purposes, (b) for testing, (c) because of a fire or smoke, (d) because of a defect in the system and (e) for other reasons in (i) each year since 2005 and (ii) 2009 to date. [288030]
Nick Harvey: The information requested is as follows:
| Cause of evacuation alarm actuation | May 2005 to December 2007 | January to December 2008 | January to June 2009 |
| (1) Includes operation of manual call points for no obvious reason, construction (hot) works and contractors and staff disturbing detection beams. | |||
Fire alarm activation records for 2005 to 2007 are archived off site and it has not been possible to break down the figures for that period by year.
Standing Committees: Internet
Mr. Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is (a) taking and (b) plans to take over the next two years to make available on the Parliamentary website the transcript of Standing Committee debates held prior to 1997; and if he will make a statement. [287823]
Nick Harvey:
421 volumes of Standing Committee debates, covering the period 1919 to 2004-05, have been digitised. The data will now go through a process of
quality assurance with the aim of making them available online in January 2010. They will be published alongside the digitised Hansard.
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2009, Official Report, column 841W, on trade unions, what steps the Commission takes to ensure that facilities given to trade unions are not used for political activity or political campaigning. [287288]
Nick Harvey: Political impartiality is a requirement for the majority of House of Commons employees. The staff handbook requires that staff seek permission from their manager before engaging in political activity and that if permission is granted, the activity must not be undertaken in circumstances where it could be reasonably be assumed that they were acting as a representative of the House of Commons. This restriction applies to employees who are accredited representatives or members of unions recognised by the House of Commons service when using facilities provided to them on the parliamentary estate.
The House of Commons service does not directly monitor the use of facilities made available to employees who are accredited representatives or members of recognised unions. If evidence of misuse of facilities is presented, it will be investigated.
Transport
A127: Speed Limits
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many fines have been issued to motorists for exceeding the new speed limits on the A127 in each of the last six months; and how many of those fines resulted in prosecution. [288110]
Paul Clark: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. The speed limit on the A127 is enforced by average speed cameras. Since 1 April 2007 the deployment of safety cameras has been the responsibility of individual local partnerships. The number of fines issued and prosecutions will therefore be a matter for the Essex road safety partnership.
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