Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Wales
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which companies are under contract to his Department to provide mail services; and when each such contract expires. [296090]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has mail service contracts with Royal Mail and Government Car and Despatch Agency.
Departmental Visits Abroad
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on overnight accommodation for (a) Ministers and (b) officials while overseas in each of the last three years. [294691]
Mr. Hain: My Department has spent the following on overnight accommodation while overseas in each of the last three years:
| £ | ||
| Ministers | Officials | |
Northern Ireland
Cannabis
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people of each nationality have been charged with cultivating cannabis in Northern Ireland in each of the last 24 months. [297169]
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cannabis factories have been discovered in Northern Ireland in each of the last 24 months. [297170]
Paul Goggins: These are operational matters for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply to the hon. Member directly, and I will arrange for a copies of the letters to be placed in the Library of the House.
Criminal Damage Compensation Scheme
Mr. McGrady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to his answer of 19 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1215-16W, on Criminal Damages Compensation 1997, how many applications
under the Criminal Damages (Compensation) (Northern Ireland) 1977 Order were received from the Gaelic Athletic Association in each of the last five years. [297336]
Paul Goggins: The information is as follows.
| The Gaelic Athletic Association | |
| Number | |
It is possible that there are other claims relating to GAA property within the Compensation Agency's records which could not be identified and which are not included in the above table.
In cases relating to GAA property claims are usually submitted in the name of trustees who are the legal owners of the property which has been damaged. The trustees' name does not always make reference to the GAA and the Compensation Agency's computer database does not therefore identify these as GAA claims. Since 2008-09 the Compensation Agency has kept a separate manual record of claims relating to GAA property.
Inquiries
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what expenditure his Department has incurred to date on (a) the Saville Inquiry, (b) the Robert Hamill Inquiry, (c) the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and (d) the Billy Wright Inquiry. [297117]
Mr. Woodward: Expenditure by the Northern Ireland Office to the end of September 2009 on funding the public inquiries is as follows:
| £ million | |
| (1) In addition, £36 million has been paid by the Ministry of Defence in relation to the inquiry. | |
Prisoners
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average number of prisoners being held in each prison in Northern Ireland was during September (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009. [297124]
Paul Goggins: The average number of prisoners held in each prison is provided in the following table:
| Number | ||||
| September | Maghaberry | Mag i lli gan | Hydebank Wood | Total Average |
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Housing
John Mann: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many Olympic Village flats she expects to have been pre-sold before August 2012. [292516]
Tessa Jowell: As announced in June, agreement has been reached for the sale of 1,379 affordable homes in the Olympic Village development to Triathlon Homes LLP.
Given the current uncertainty in the property market, the sales and marketing strategy for the sale of remaining homes continues to be developed. A precise figure for more pre-2012 sales of homes is therefore not yet available.
Scotland
Departmental Homeworking
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many of the staff seconded to his Department have been authorised to work from home in the last 12 months. [297735]
Ann McKechin: No staff in the Scotland Office formally work from home.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many single payment scheme claims made in (a) 2008, (b) 2007, (c) 2006 and (d) 2005 remain outstanding; and if he will make a statement; [297663]
(2) by what date he expects the Rural Payments Agency to have completed payments against Single Farm Payment Scheme claims made in (a) 2008, (b) 2007, (c) 2006 and (d) 2005; and if he will make a statement. [297664]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table sets out the number of outstanding claims under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) for scheme years 2005 to 2008 inclusive.
| Claims outstanding as at 30 October 2009 | |
| Single Payment Scheme year | Number |
Most of the 157 SPS claims remaining to be paid involve probate or legal issues, for which information is required from external parties. It is therefore not possible to predict when these payments will be made. Some claims may not receive a payment.
Biofuels
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate the Forestry Commission has made of the future availability of biomass from forests managed by the Commission. [296653]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Forestry Commission maintains comprehensive records of the forests it manages including area, species, age, growth rates and intended management. This data is used to create and update its forecasts of future production.
Current estimates are that the public forest estate in England will produce 1.4 million cubic metres of timber per annum over the next 10 years and that to harvest significantly more would not be sustainable.
In addition to this, other wood material, for example, from small sized coppice or harvesting residues, can be chipped and used as biomass. No precise data is available on the quantities involved.
Further information on the production and use of biomass and timber is included in the Commission's Forestry Statistics booklet. The 2009 edition has just been published and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
British Waterways Board: Finance
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what expenditure his Department has incurred on British Waterways in the last 10 years; and what revenue has been generated by British Waterways from projects and programmes supported by such expenditure in that period. [296864]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The grant in aid provided to British Waterways from DEFRA over the past 10 years is summarised as follows:
| £ million | |
| (1) Includes £5 million brought forward from 2010-11. Source: DEFRA internal figures. | |
British Waterways spends DEFRA grant in aid on maintaining and operating the waterways network rather than on specific projects or programmes. British Waterways receives income from maintaining and operating the waterways such as utility wayleaves, boat mooring charges and licence fees. It also receives income from its commercial activities including its property portfolio and funding from third parties for specific restoration and regeneration projects. Total income and funding from third parties over the last 10 years is summarised as follows:
| £ million | ||
| Direct income | Third party funding | |
| Source: British Waterways. | ||
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