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5 Nov 2009 : Column 1102W—continued
Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation: Finance
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much his Department has contributed to the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation in each of the last 12 years. [297455]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport's records show that payments to the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation Ltd started in 2000 when the company was incorporated. It became ITSO Ltd. in 2004. Up to the end of the last financial year, the total payments to the organisation were as follows:
| Total spend (£) exc. VAT | |
The payments cover contracts for developing the ITSO specification and environment, providing technical advice, support for developing schemes, attendance at international standards meetings and annual membership fees.
In 1999, the Department awarded a contract to Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive that contributed £104,000 to a project carried out by the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (prior to its incorporation as a limited company) to develop common specifications for contactless smartcard applications.
Railways: Franchises
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport on which occasions his Department and its predecessors have, following the decision of the Secretary of State, reimbursed or ameliorated net losses of franchising operators arising from industrial action in accordance with the relevant clauses in each rail franchise agreement. [297415]
Chris Mole: Prior to July 2005 the Strategic Rail Authority was responsible for making decisions about payments associated with net losses of franchising operators arising from industrial action. Since then the Department for Transport has made one payment, which was in October 2006.
Roads: Safety
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment his Department has made of levels of road safety in (a) County Durham, (b) North Yorkshire, (c) Swindon and (d) Barnet in comparison with similar areas. [297840]
Paul Clark: A key comparison between local areas has been the percentage reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSIs) achieved since the 1994 to 1998 period. This measure corresponds to the headline target in the 2000 national road safety strategy.
The table shows the percentage change from the 1994 to 1998 annual average number of KSIs to the 2006 to 2008 annual average number in each of the four areas. It also shows the averages for the regions they are within:
| Percentage change in KSIs from 1994-98 average to 2006-08 average | ||
| Local authority | Region LA is within | |
Speed Limits: Cameras
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport which fixed speed camera led to the largest number of speeding tickets being issued in the latest 12-month period for which information is available; and how much was paid in fines as a result of those tickets. [297833]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport holds only information about speed and red light cameras operating under the National Safety Camera Programme which started in 2001 and ended on 31 March 2007. The number of fixed penalty notices issued per fixed camera were not collected. Neither were details of the fines paid.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the average cost is of (a) installing and (b) operating an average speed camera for a year. [297834]
Paul Clark: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. Since 1 April 2007 the deployment of safety cameras has been the responsibility of individual local road safety partnerships. The partnerships are responsible for the purchase, installation and operation of cameras within their areas.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport in what urban areas trials of the use of average speed cameras are planned to start in the next six months. [297835]
Paul Clark: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. The deployment of safety cameras is the responsibility of individual local road safety partnerships. There is no requirement for local road safety partnerships to inform the Department when they propose to introduce average speed cameras. The Department is not itself sponsoring any trials of average speed cameras in urban areas.
Sustrans: Finance
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much his Department has given Sustrans for (a) capital expenditure on and (b) maintenance of the walkway between Fallowfield and Audenshaw. [297015]
Mr. Khan: The Fallowfield Path has been funded from a number of sources including the New Opportunities Fund grant to Sustrans from the Lottery, Manchester City Council Planning and Local Transport Plan (LTP) money via the Greater Manchester Metropolitan Area funding, and Sustrans' own resources.
The Department for Transport has given no money for the maintenance of the Path over the last five years as this has been carried out by Sustrans at its own expense.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Information and Communications Technology
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with which organisations his Department has had exclusivity agreements relating to information technology (a) hardware and (b) software in each of the last five years. [298329]
Mr. Simon: My Department does not have any exclusivity agreements in place for (a) hardware or (b) software.
Film
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Prime Minister and (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for a national film centre. [297869]
Mr. Simon: I have regular discussions about matters of departmental interest with Cabinet colleagues.
As the Prime Minister announced on 16 October 2009, the Government have committed £45 million to the British Film Institute (BFI) National Film Centre to be built on London's south bank.
Local Press: Government Assistance
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he plans to introduce to provide assistance to regional newspapers. [294299]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply
The measures the Government have taken during and following the development of the Digital Britain White Paper to help regional newspapers include:
1. An OFT review of the merger regime for newspapers. This concluded that the existing merger framework as it applies to media in general and local and regional newspapers in particular, is sufficiently robust and flexible to take into account the various considerations that need to be brought to bear;
2. An Audit Commission study of the prevalence and value for money of local authority publicity; and
3. The introduction of independently funded news consortia initially on a pilot basis in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Government are committed to a strong, viable and diverse news media in the nations, locally and in the regions. Ministers continue to welcome meetings from representatives from all parts of the press to discuss their issues at first hand.
Playing Fields
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many playing fields have been (a) created and (b) lost in each local authority in each year since 1997; in how many cases Sport England was consulted; and what the outcome of that consultation was in each case. [297910]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England's role as a statutory consultant on playing fields only extends to those planning applications for developments affecting existing playing fields. They are not therefore consulted on all planning applications for new playing fields and this data are not held centrally.
Sport England's statistics for the total number of playing field consultations and outcomes since 2001 can be found on their website at:
Work and Pensions
Attendance Allowance: Appeals
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps she is taking to reduce the length of time it takes to process an appeal against an attendance allowance decision for those cases affected by the European Court of Justice decision in Commission of the European Communities v. the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, C-299/05, of 18 October 2007. [297133]
Jonathan Shaw: In order to improve and reduce the length of time for processing all cases for these customers, we have identified and submitted a small number of lead cases for tribunal hearings. We have approached the Tribunal Chair requesting staying of appeal on other "linked cases" until the lead cases are finally determined by either the First-tier Tribunal or on further appeal to the Upper Tribunal or a further appellate court, where applicable.
Around 500 customers have currently submitted appeals relating to the past presence test and/or our approach to requests for reinstatement of benefit.
Incapacity Benefit
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the number of incapacity benefit claims which will be terminated in each of the next 10 years due to the death of the claimant. [293596]
Jonathan Shaw: Current forecasting models do not distinguish between different reasons for people exiting benefit.
However, historic data can be used to give an indication of the number of benefit claims that might be terminated due to death of the claimant. These indicate that approximately 5 per cent. of off-flows are due to the death of the claimant, or between 8,000 and 9,000 per year.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency were receiving in each of the last 24 months. [297392]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated October 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency were receiving jobseeker's allowance in each of the last 24 months. (297392)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. Table 1 shows the number of persons claiming JSA resident in the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency for each of the last 24 months.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
| Table 1: Persons claiming Jobseeker's Allowance resident in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency | |
| Number | |
| Note: Data rounded to the nearest five. Source: Jobcentreplus Administrative System | |
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