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27 Oct 2009 : Column 216W—continued
RCPO does not identify separately expenditure on restaurant meals.
| Serious Fraud Office | |||||
| £ | |||||
| Financial year | (a) Car hire | (b) Train travel | (c) Air travel | (d) Hotels | (e) Restaurant meals |
| (1) The last date for which figures are available. | |||||
Information is not available in comparable form for 2004-05. The figures for restaurant meals also cover working lunches and refreshments and are thus overstated: a separate breakdown is not readily available.
The Government publish, on an annual basis, the total costs of all ministerial overseas travel costing in excess of £500. The 2008-09 list was published on 16 July and can be viewed at:
Northern Ireland
Causeway Hospital: Prison Escapes
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what changes have been made to the procedures being used by the Prison Service in Northern Ireland following the review into the escape of a prisoner from the Causeway hospital on 15 April 2008. [295927]
Paul Goggins: Following a brief escape of a prisoner awaiting treatment at the Causeway hospital, a senior prison governor carried out a comprehensive investigation.
The investigation identified a number of shortcomings in the management of the escort and made recommendations for staff to be reminded of the correct procedures. It was concluded there was, however, no need to change the procedures themselves.
Prisons: Drugs
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made in reducing the availability of illegal drugs in each prison in Northern Ireland. [295926]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) takes very seriously its responsibility to stop illegal drugs entering establishments. Visitors, staff and others are required to undergo a rub-down search, and items brought into prisons are subject to a Rapiscan search. A passive drugs dog is used to screen visitors to prisoners before admission to the visits room. Prisoners entering or leaving the visits room are subject to either a rub-down or full search; the latter requires removal of clothing. CCTV operates in all visits rooms, and includes the use of new CCTV equipment at Maghaberry. Supervisory staff patrol the visits room with modern, discreet communication links to the CCTV operator. Searching takes place regularly throughout establishments including active search dogs trained to detect secreted drugs.
This year NIPS introduced new procedures for management of prisoners' private cash. Co-operation between NIPS and PSNI has increased with a better flow of intelligence and targeted searching of visitors and accommodation areas. Revised Prison Rules will be introduced by the year end to facilitate mandatory drug testing of all prisoners using new saliva testing procedures to replace the current urine test. Governors will have delegated authority to ban visitors and impose closed visits on prisoners and visitors who abuse the visiting arrangements.
Transport
Airports: Thames Estuary
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether he has received representations from the Mayor of London on the construction of an airport in the Thames Estuary. [293388]
Paul Clark [holding answer 15 October 2009]: Ministers in the Department for Transport have not received any formal or substantive representations on this matter from the Mayor of London, but are familiar with his views on it, which have been widely reported. The Mayor has raised the subject at various meetings with the Secretary of State for Transport and his predecessors, but no substantive or costed proposal has been put forward.
Aviation: Health Hazards
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many UK-based pilots have reported to his Department symptoms of neurological damage alleged to have arisen from aerotoxic syndrome. [295182]
Paul Clark: We have received correspondence from a very small number of pilots who consider they have received neurological damage in the course of their work but the Department for Transport does not operate a reporting system for pilot fitness.
Aviation: Waltham Forest
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what change in the number of aircraft flying over Waltham Forest has resulted from the increased number of flights from City Airport. [295099]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. The air traffic management aspects of implementing the increase in the number of annual flights at London City Airport approved in October 2008 by the London Borough of Newham are an operational matter for NATS, regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, CAA statistics indicate that the number of air traffic movements to and from London City Airport have fallen in recent months compared to the previous year's figures.
| London City: Air transport movements (ATMs) per month (including percentage change over previous year) 2009 | ||
| Number | Percentage change | |
| (1) CAA provisional statistics | ||
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what change there has been to the number of aircraft flying over Waltham Forest which have taken off from or are landing at Heathrow airport in the last 12 month period for which figures are available. [295100]
Paul Clark: According to available Civil Aviation Authority data, in August 2008 there were approximately 41,000 aircraft movements (arrivals and departures) at Heathrow airport, of which approximately 7,600 passed over Waltham Forest. The vast majority of these were arrivals. In August 2009, there were approximately 39,800 aircraft movements at Heathrow airport of which approximately 6,600 passed over Waltham Forest.
Bus Services: Concessions
Natascha Engel: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many people in (a) Derbyshire and (b) North East Derbyshire have received free bus travel under the national concessionary bus fares scheme. [294759]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport is not responsible for issuing passes and so does not maintain records of how many passes individual authorities have issued.
North East Derbyshire is part of the Derbyshire County concessionary travel scheme. The last information held by the Department was that as of 17 April 2009, the Derbyshire County scheme had issued 227,472 of the new smartcard concessionary passes. This includes passes issued to disabled people as well as those aged 60 and over.
Buses: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the percentage change in levels of bus usage in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the City of York was in each year since 1996-97. [295223]
Mr. Khan: Between 1996-97 and 2007-08 (the latest year for which figures are currently available) the number of local bus passenger journeys in England increased by 18 per cent. Over the same period the number of local bus passenger journeys in Yorkshire and the Humber decreased by 13 per cent.
Owing to the small number of bus operators present in the area, figures for the City of York are commercially confidential and therefore cannot be published.
Figures for each year can be found in the following table:
| Passenger journeys( 1) for Yorkshire and Humberside and England, 1996-97 to 2007-08 | ||||||||||||
| Million | ||||||||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| (1) Each boarding of the vehicle is counted as one journey. Source: DFT Survey of Bus Operators | ||||||||||||
Crossrail Line
Mr. Scott: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many of his Department's staff have been allocated to work on Crossrail in each year since 2000. [295161]
Mr. Khan: Records are not kept in the specific format required to derive the answer to this question. However, the following table provides details of the approximate number of departmental staff from the Department for Transport and relevant Departments prior to its establishment in 2002, who worked primarily on Crossrail at some point during each year since 2000 based on best estimates:
| Total number of Department for Transport staff who worked primarily on Crossrail | |
| Number | |
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