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18 Jan 2010 : Column 74W—continued
In 1997 there were no discounts available to local residents and there was no differentiation between day and night time charges. Any vehicle towing a trailer or caravan was charged double the above amount.
Revised charges came into effect on 15 November 2008 and all vehicles became free of charge between 10pm and 6am. In addition, there is no longer a charge for towing a trailer/caravan.
Departmental Advertising
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what advertising campaigns for which his Department is responsible have (a) commenced and (b) continued in 2009-10; and what the cost of each such campaign has been. [309945]
Chris Mole: Estimates of planned advertising expenditure for 2009-10 on campaigns being run by the central Department and its executive agencies are set out in the following table.
| Planned advertising campaign expenditure 2009-10 | ||
| Organisation | Campaign | £000 |
Departmental Buildings
Sarah Teather: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the (a) area and (b) estimated value is of (i) vacant and (ii) occupied office space (A) owned and (B) rented by his Department. [310520]
Chris Mole: The information requested for the Department for Transport and its seven Executive Agencies, is provided in the following table.
| (i) Vacant | (ii) Occupied | ||||
| DfT Organisational Unit | (A) Owned | (B) Rented | (A) Owned | (B) Rented | |
| (1) Data not available. (2) Based on passing rent. Note: Driving Standards Agency response excludes properties shared with other Government Departments-Maritime and Coastguard Agency estate is classified as either "core" or "non-core" and is not divided into "office" or "other". The figures above reflect "core" space. | |||||
Departmental Conferences
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on conferences they organised which were subsequently cancelled in each of the last three years; and what the title was of each such conference. [308835]
Chris Mole: This information is not held centrally and the Department for Transport can provide the detail of the cost of conferences organised which were subsequently cancelled and what they were called in each of the last three years only by incurring disproportionate costs.
Departmental Fines
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what powers (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) have to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such power; and how much (i) his Department and its predecessor and (ii) each of its agencies and NDPBs have recovered in administrative penalties in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [309267]
Chris Mole: The following administrative penalties have been identified as being within the scope of the question.
1. By sections 54, 62 and 75 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 vehicle examiners working within the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) (an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport) have power to issue fixed penalties in respect of certain road traffic offences. An example of an offence for which VOSA may issue a fixed penalty is an offence in relation to drivers' hours (under section 96(11) of the Transport Act 1968).
From May 2009 (when the power was introduced) to December 2009, VOSA issued fixed penalties to the total value of £2.4 million.
2. The Railways Act 1993 provides for certain administrative penalty powers within the scope of the question:
(a) Section 55(7A) allows the Secretary of State to make a final or provisional order against a relevant operator (most obviously a franchisee). The order may contain a requirement to pay the
Secretary of State a specified sum in the event of a specified contravention of the order. The specified sum may not exceed 10 per cent. of the relevant entity's annual turnover.
(b) Section 57A allows the Secretary of State to impose a penalty on a relevant operator (most obviously a franchisee). A penalty imposed under this section may not exceed 10 per cent. of the relevant entity's annual turnover.
The Strategic Rail Authority (from which the Secretary of State took over responsibility for imposing penalties under sections 55(7A) and 57A) imposed one penalty of £2 million in 2002 under section 57A. The Secretary of State has never imposed a penalty under section 55(7A) or 57A and is not aware that the Strategic Rail Authority imposed any further penalties.
The Office of the Rail Regulator (and its predecessor-it was established in its current form in 2004) has also imposed penalties under the Railways Act 1993 but details are not included in this response as it is a separate (non-ministerial) Government Department and not an agency or NDPB of the Department for Transport.
3. Section 7A of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 and regulation 9A of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 operate so that where registered keepers of motor vehicles do not pay their vehicle excise duty on time (and renew their vehicle licence) they are charged a supplement. This supplement may be collected as a debt by the Crown. By regulation 9A(3):
"The supplement shall be £80, except when it is paid to the Secretary of State before the expiry of 28 days beginning with the date on which the registered keeper is notified that a supplement may or has become payable, when it shall be £40."
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport) is responsible for collecting the supplements. It has recovered the following amounts since supplements were introduced in January 2004:
| Financial year | Penalty income (£ million) |
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