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27 Jan 2010 : Column 882W—continued
Roads: Royal Mail
Damian Green: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many requests the Highways Agency has received from Royal Mail to clear the roads in (a) Ashford and (b) Kent in the last two years. [313511]
Chris Mole: The Highways Agency is responsible for the Strategic Road Network. It has not received any requests from Royal Mail to clear local authority or strategic roads either in Ashford or Kent in the last two years.
Rolling Stock: Construction
Jim Cousins:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when he expects to announce the location of the facility to assemble the super express Agility
train; what locations are under consideration; and how many such trains he expects to comprise the super express fleet. [313255]
Chris Mole: The location of the manufacturing facility is a matter for Hitachi. The company has a number of locations under consideration, and I understand that it will make an announcement shortly. The super express fleet will comprise up to 1,400 rail vehicles.
Southend Airport
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the expansion of Southend airport on the local community in respect of (a) road traffic and (b) noise in the last three years; and if he will make a statement; [313145]
(2) which (a) individuals and (b) organisations he consulted regarding the expansion of Southend airport; if he will place in the Library copies of the representations he has received to date on this matter; and if he will make a statement; [313146]
(3) what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) departmental officials have had with representatives of BAA plc on proposals for the expansion of Southend airport in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [313151]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has not consulted on the proposals to expand Southend airport, nor has it made any assessment of the effect of the proposed expansion on the local community in respect of road traffic or noise.
There have been no discussions between the Department for Transport and BAA on proposals for the expansion of Southend airport. Southend airport was purchased in December 2008 by Stobart Group Ltd. from Regional Airports Ltd.
"The Future of Air Transport" White Paper identified Southend airport as having a valuable role in meeting local demand and the potential to contribute to regional economic development. The White Paper supported further development in principle, subject to relevant environmental considerations. On 20 January Southend council made a decision to support the planning application for expansion proposals at Southend airport. The council's recommendation has now been submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for him to consider whether to call in the application for his own determination.
Scotland
Departmental Official Engagements
Mr. MacNeil:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland at what speaking events (a) he and (b) his Under-Secretary of State has been represented by (i) a special adviser and (ii) another elected official from the Scotland Office since October 2007; for what reasons John McTernan withdrew from the Reform Scotland debate scheduled for 4 February 2010; on what date his Department informed Reform Scotland that he was unavailable to attend that debate; by what form of
communication his Department informed Reform Scotland that John McTernan would take part in that debate; on what date this communication was sent; and on what date his Department informed Reform Scotland that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State would attend the event. [313580]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (PuSofS) and I have never been represented by a special adviser at a speaking event and the Scotland Office does not have elected officials.
The Scotland Office confirmed with Reform Scotland on 18 January 2010 that PuSofS would attend this debate if timing of parliamentary business allowed for this.
Departmental Publications
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) total, (b) production and (c) staff cost was of the preparation and publication of his Department's White Paper on Scotland's future in the United Kingdom; how many copies were printed; and to whom they were distributed. [313053]
Ann McKechin: The production cost of "Scotland's Future in the United Kingdom", including typesetting, printing, binding, mailing and TSO fees was £5,968.39. The preparation of the White Paper was the work of civil servants employed in the Scotland Office as part of their normal duties and therefore incurred no additional cost. A total of 1,055 copies were printed; these were divided between the Scotland Office, Parliament and TSO. Of these 750 were used by the Scotland Office for laying in Parliament, distribution to stakeholders and internal departmental use.
Fuel: Taxation
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what (a) written correspondence, (b) electronic correspondence, (c) meetings and (d) other communications he had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on (i) the Scottish economy and (ii) road fuel duty taxation between August 2008 and March 2009. [310784]
Ann McKechin: My right hon. Friend is in regular contact with a range of Cabinet Ministers on issues affecting Scotland, and has been since his appointment in October 2008.
Solicitor-General
Arrest Warrants
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will lift the European Arrest Warrant which has led to the detention of Wansanatha Bulugah Aitya in Frankfurt. [312772]
The Solicitor-General: The European Arrest Warrant was executed on 27 December 2009 and the extradition process is under way in Germany.
A decision in an individual case not to pursue an extradition request would in any event be made by the relevant prosecuting agency, not by me or any other Minister.
Royal Family: Wills
Norman Baker: To ask the Solicitor-General in which official capacity the then Attorney-General acted in discussions with (a) Buckingham Palace, (b) the then Senior President of the Family Division and (c) Farrers in respect of the creation of a practice for the sealing of royal wills. [312448]
The Solicitor-General: In discussing the practice for the sealing of royal wills, the Attorney-General acts in his capacity as Attorney-General, acting in the public interest.
Olympics
Departmental Sick Leave
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many working days were lost due to (a) illness and (b) stress of employees within her Office in each of the last three years. [309918]
Tessa Jowell: My office is staffed by employees of the Cabinet Office. departmental reports are published quarterly giving details of sickness absences, and these are available at:
Copies are also available in the Libraries of the House.
Information for absences from my office can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Olympic Games 2012: Contracts
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many businesses based in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) locations outside the UK have (i) registered with the London 2012 Business Network and (ii) secured Olympic contracts at each location. [312401]
Ian Lucas: I have been asked to reply.
The answer to the question is as follows:
The London 2012 Business Network hosts CompeteFor. CompeteFor is the chosen website of London 2012 for the publication of Games-related contract opportunities. Numbers of companies registered on CompeteFor and contracts awarded to CompeteFor suppliers are as follows;
| Region | Registrations | Contracts awarded to CompeteFor suppliers |
It is important to note that these are the number of awarded contracts that have been recorded on the site by buyers and there will be other contracts that have been awarded, but not yet recorded. In total 4,700 contracts have been placed on CompeteFor.
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what the cost has been of maintaining the London 2012 Business Network in each year since its establishment. [312402]
Ian Lucas: I have been asked to reply.
( a) CompeteFor cost £3.633 million to develop, which included concept development, specification, implementation and testing, and establishing the support structure.
(b) Running costs are as follows:
| £ | |
Olympic Games 2012: Illegal Immigrants
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister for the Olympics (1) how many arrests have been made of illegal immigrants working on the Olympic site since construction began; [305745]
(2) what checks the Government makes to ensure that employees working on the Olympic site are entitled to work in the UK; [305746]
(3) whether any companies working on the Olympic site have been fined for the employment of illegal immigrants since construction began. [305747]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
Between 1 April 2009 and 10 December 2009, 49 people have been arrested attempting to gain employment, or working specifically at the Olympic park and athletes' village sites, 40 of these were never actually employed at the sites.
Prior to April 2009, no data exclusively for arrests on the Olympic park site are available. Arrest figures collected between April 2008 and March 2009 are for projects in Stratford and the surrounding area, and include the Olympic park and Olympic village. Only an aggregate figure is available for this period and a total of 138 foreign nationals seeking to gain employment or working at these locations (including the Stratford City Westfield development) were arrested on suspicion of working in the UK without permission or presenting false documentation during this time.
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional and subject to change.
The responsibility for ensuring employees have the right to work in the UK rests with the employer. Since April 2008, UKBA staff have been working with the Olympic Delivery Authority and contractors to support the site security process of checking that people employed on the Olympic park and athletes village hold genuine identity documents and are legally entitled to work in the UK.
Three employers have been issued with Notices of Potential Liability for employing illegal workers and failing to carry out the appropriate checks to confirm that their employees are entitled to work in the UK. Two have been fined, one was found not to be liable.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) mobile telephones and (b) BlackBerrys were provided to (i) Ministers and (ii) special advisers in his Department since March 2009; and at what cost to the public purse. [313171]
Mr. Simon: The information is as follows:
(a) Mobile phones-three for our Ministers only.
(i) Three for the Ministers
(ii) Two for special advisers
The total cost is £2361.02
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