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8 Dec 2009 : Column 194W—continued
Sport England does not collect the running costs for sports and leisure facilities in each district and unitary council. This information would have to be requested from each individual local authority.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Tamworth of 16 October 2009. [303774]
Margaret Hodge: A response to your letter was sent out on 6 December 2009.
Museums and Galleries: Yorkshire and Humberside
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people visited each of the national museums in Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 1996-97. [304513]
Margaret Hodge: The number of visits to the national museums which fall within the Yorkshire and Humber region are as follows.
| National Coal Mining Museum For England( 1) | National Media Museum( 2) | National Railway Museum, York | Royal Armouries Leeds | Total | |
| (1) Visit figures for National Coal Mining Museum England for years prior to 2000-01 are not available. (2) The National Media Museum was partially closed in 1997-98 and 1998-99 for refurbishment. | |||||
Tourism: Cumbria
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support (a) his Department and (b) the Regional Development Agency is providing to assist Cumbria's tourism industry to recover from the recent flooding. [305044]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows.
(a) My Department is part of the Government's Flood Recovery group and is monitoring the situation closely. We have been working with our partners to provide assistance for the tourism industry in the area. For example, Cumbria Tourism has set up a helpline to provide advice to visitors (01539 825070) and web pages to detail events going ahead. This will be supported by a pre-Christmas marketing campaign. English Heritage has ensured that one of their Historic Buildings advisors is free to provide specialist advice: it is still too early to know the full extent of the damage or the scale of response required, but this will become clearer over the coming weeks.
(b) The North West Development Agency (NWDA) announced a £1 million Flood Recovery Grants package for small and medium enterprises which includes support for tourism businesses. It was announced that this would be supplemented with an additional £100,000 to support the national marketing campaign, noted above, led by Cumbria Tourism. NWDA has also placed adverts in national papers promoting tourism businesses in the area and the NWDA tourism marketing team is pursuing similar lines to promote tourism in Cumbria. This activity is all in addition to the ongoing funding of Cumbria Tourism which will receive core funding of £1.4 million from NWDA in 2009-10.
Transport
Buses: Safety
Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many buses were subject to (a) pre-notified and (b) un-notified safety inspections by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in each of the last five years; and what proportion of these were issued with (i) immediate and (ii) suspended prohibition notices. [304686]
Paul Clark: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) have conducted the following tests on passenger service vehicles over the last five years:
| Number of checks | Number prohibited | |
| Note: VOSA does not separately record (a) pre-notified and (b) un- notified safety inspections. | ||
These data and further information are available in VOSA's effectiveness report available at:
Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of each report of research projects conducted by (a) his Department, (b) the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency and (c) the Traffic Commissioner on safety risks to the public in respect of the bus industry in the last 10 years. [304783]
Paul Clark: Any research conducted by the Department for Transport concerning safety risks to the public in respect of the bus industry would already be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Any research conducted by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is sponsored by the central Department. VOSA's enforcement figures regarding all public service vehicles are published in its Effectiveness report, a copy of which can be found in the Libraries of the House.
The Traffic Commissioners do not conduct research but may inform VOSA of any specific areas of concern they have. Any reference to safety risks by the bus industry would be found in the Traffic Commissioners Annual Report, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department allocated through the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency for the monitoring of performance in relation to bus services in each of the last three years; and how much funding he plans to allocate for such purposes in each of the next three years. [304784]
Paul Clark:
Funding allocated by the Department to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency for bus punctuality enforcement for the last three
financial years is set out in the following table. Decisions about funding for the next three years are still to be taken.
| Financial year | Funding (£) |
Capita Group
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether any contracts between Capita Group plc and his Department and its predecessors have been cancelled before completion since 1997; and whether Capita Group plc has been liable for any penalties arising from failings in the administration of contracts since 1997. [303091]
Chris Mole: Since the Department for Transport was formed in May 2002, there have been no contracts prematurely terminated with Capita Group plc. During this period Capita Group has been liable for settlements in respect of assorted delays incurred on projects to the aggregated value of £2.738 million.
Departmental Assets
Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assets of his Department are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the (a) description and (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if he will make a statement. [300208]
Chris Mole: The Government have stated their intention to realise £16 billion in disposals over the period 2011-14 and will publish further details of opportunities to commercialise business assets in the coming weeks.
The Department for Transport is considering a number of opportunities for asset sales. However, the timing of any sale is subject to market conditions being right.
Details on value cannot be released due to the need to protect the Department's position in future sale negotiations.
Two high profile examples are Dartford Crossing and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1).
The A282 Dartford Crossing comprises the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which provides four southbound lanes, while two tunnels under the Thames provide a four-lane northbound facility. Use of the crossing is subject to a congestion charge in both directions paid at a plaza located to the south of the Thames.
The Department is working with HM Treasury and the Shareholder Executive to consider the commercial options for realising value for the taxpayer from the Dartford Crossing. No estimate of the saleable value of the Dartford Crossing has been made. Any such valuation would depend on the nature of any commercial agreements for a sale, including, but not exclusively, the length of those arrangements, the level of future charges and forecast future traffic volumes. The Department is planning to provide initial views from the analysis on
future capacity options in early 2010. This will provide a basis for deciding which commercialisation option to pursue.
It is not possible to say when a sale might be finalised.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link-High Speed 1 (HS1)
High Speed 1 (formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) is the high speed line which operates between St. Pancras International Station and the Channel Tunnel. It is operated by HS1 Ltd which is owned by London and Continental Railways (LCR).
The Department is currently engaged in a restructuring of London and Continental Railways. Following this, it is the Department's intention, as market conditions allow, to sell a long-term concession for High Speed 1 in such a way as to maximise value for money for the taxpayer. The Government would not wish to publish its estimate of the expected proceeds at this stage; to do so might condition the competitive sale process and damage value.
It is not possible to say when a sale might be finalised.
London City Airport
James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and (ii) the Civil Aviation Authority on the decision to modify the flight routings of aircraft using London City Airport; and for what reasons such revised routings did not form part of the further public consultation on the NATS Terminal Control North proposal. [303851]
Paul Clark: The revised standard instrument departure (SID) routings at London City airport were implemented in accordance with the independent airspace change process under which it is for the airspace change sponsor to develop and consult upon proposals. It is then for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the independent airspace regulator, to assess the proposals against regulatory requirements and either approve or reject the proposal.
The Terminal Control North (TC North) proposals, of which the London City SID changes originally formed a part, are a package of measures designed to reduce delay whilst maintaining safety and improving environmental performance in one of the most complex areas of airspace in the world. Following the outcome of last year's public consultation, NATS decided to review the TC North design options. However, the London City airport SID change element was aimed at meeting already established International Civil Aviation Organisation design standards. In the circumstances, the London City SID changes were removed from the TC North proposals and progressed as a stand alone proposal. The CAA considered that further consultation on the London City airport SID changes were not needed as they had already been included in the full TC North consultation.
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