Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Transport
Aviation: Security
Mr. Leech: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what work his Department is undertaking to test systems for screening liquids in airports. [321188]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has worked with European partners to establish agreed criteria for the testing of liquids screening systems, and is currently working with manufacturers to share data and consider opportunities for operational trials.
Bus Services: Concessions
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much his Department had spent on concessionary bus travel for pensioners in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Stroud constituency on the latest date for which figures are available. [321039]
Mr. Khan: From April 2008, the Department for Transport has provided additional special grant funding to local authorities to cover the extra cost of providing the extension to the concession; which now guarantees free off-peak local bus travel across England to all eligible older and disabled residents:
(a) A total of £2,468,030 in 2008-09 and £2,526,238 in 2009-10 to all of the travel concession authorities (TCAs) in the county of Gloucestershire (which includes the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire council and Stroud district council);
(b) £237,197 in 2008-09 and £242,791 in 2009-10 to Stroud district council.
(c) Communities and Local Government (CLG) continues to provide the bulk of concessionary travel funding to local authorities through Formula Grant. Before 1 April 2008, funding for the statutory minimum bus concession was provided exclusively through the Formula Grant system.
The Department for Transport did however provide £31 million of grant to England in 2007-08 for the cost of producing and issuing the new England-wide bus passes to all those eligible, of which a total of £539,760 went to the TCAs of Gloucestershire; this includes Stroud's allocation of £40,736.
Geographical Information Systems
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much had been spent on the Galileo Project as at 1 March 2010; and what future funding is planned for the project. [320229]
Mr. Khan: The European Union (EU) and member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) have jointly funded the design and development of Galileo. The deployment and operational phase of the programme and all future costs are the responsibility of the EU.
€1.6 billion is the approximate committed spend on the design and development of the system. The majority of this has been funded by ESA who provided €1.46 billion, with the remainder funded by the EU. The UK share of the ESA contribution is €168.05 million, of which €161.1 million has been paid and the UK is committed to pay the remainder during 2010. UK contributions to ESA funds are for use in all its expenditure and are not calculated on an individual programme basis.
The current phase of the Galileo programme, the deployment and operation of the system (2010-13), will see the Galileo programme achieve full operational capability (FOC) and is currently being procured by ESA on behalf of the European Commission. The EU funding of Galileo between 2007 and 2013 has been capped at €3.4 billion.
The European Commission has estimated a further £6 billion will be needed for operation and maintenance costs from 2013-30. We expect the commission to bring forward, in spring of this year, proposals for how funding after 2013 might be sourced and what elements might come from private and public sources.
Government Car and Despatch Agency: Driving Offences
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many driving offences of each type have been committed by those who drive Ministers whilst on duty for the Government Car and Despatch Agency in each of the last three years. [320792]
Paul Clark: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 1 March 2010, Official Report, column 859W.
Illegal Immigrants
Mr. Syms: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many staff his Department and its agencies have appointed who were later discovered to be illegal immigrants since 2005. [320449]
Chris Mole: In each of the last five years, there have been no illegal immigrants found to be working as a Department for Transport employee.
In December 2008, one illegal immigrant was found to be working at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority as an employee of a contractor and was arrested on 10 December 2008. The contractor carried out all relevant checks prior to employment but was deceived by the forged documentation provided by this individual.
People employed to work in Government Departments and their agencies, either directly or through a contractor, are required to satisfy requirements on identity, nationality and immigration status prior to the offer of employment. On the one occasion within the last five years where compliance checks have found illegal immigrants working for Department for Transport contractors, the individual was kept in detention until his appearance in court on 12 January 2009.
Pilots: Licensing
Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how he will ensure the Civil Aviation Authority fulfils its commitment to maintain the UK Instruments Meteorological Conditions Pilots Licence rating. [321152]
Paul Clark: I am not aware of any such commitment by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA, with the support of the Government, continues to work to influence the development of European requirements with the aim of helping the European Aviation Safety Agency meet its primary objective of ensuring a high uniform level of safety.
Roads: Snow and Ice
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2010, Official Report, column 208W, on roads: snow and ice, how much the Highways Agency has spent on salt from overseas suppliers in each of the last 12 years. [320821]
Mr. Khan: The Highways Agency does not purchase salt directly, as this is the responsibility of their contracted service providers, as part of their requirement to deliver the winter service to keep the strategic network safe and open during severe winter weather. Consequently the Highways Agency has not purchased any overseas salt over the last 12 years, except, as a result of the national salt shortages experienced over the last two winter seasons, the Highways Agency has helped facilitate the importation of overseas salt to its service providers.
In 2008-09 season, the Highways Agency helped to import approximately 58,000 tonnes of salt, with a further 127,000 tonnes imported in the 2009-10 winter season. The price paid by the Highways Agency's service providers varies between £50-£95 per tonne, depending on the salt supplier and haulage distances.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2010, Official Report, column 208W, on roads: snow and ice, how much salt was used on the strategic network in each of the last 12 years. [320823]
Mr. Khan: The Highways Agency is responsible for maintaining and operating the strategic trunk road and motorway network in England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport. Actual delivery of the maintenance activities, including winter maintenance, is carried out by the agency's contracted service providers.
As well as delivering precautionary salt treatments and snow ploughing during severe winter weather, the agency's service providers are required to maintain sufficient salt stocks to treat their part of the network. These activities are paid for within lump sum payments and as such, information on individual elements such as salt volume used is not routinely collected and is not therefore readily available.
Following the end of the winter maintenance period, the Highways Agency will examine the levels of salt used during periods of adverse weather to determine best practice for future years.
Snow and Ice
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what estimate he has made of the aggregate cost to local authorities in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England of repairs to local roads as a result of the recent cold weather. [321297]
Mr. Khan: The maintenance of local roads in England is a matter for each local highway authority. It is for each individual authority to assess which parts of its network are in need of repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge.
It will be for local highway authorities to estimate the costs of repairing damage to their roads, including where they consider damage was caused by this winter.
Waterloo Station
Susan Kramer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what consideration he has given to the development of the former Eurostar platforms at Waterloo station for purposes other than for domestic passenger transport. [321399]
Chris Mole: It has always been the Department for Transport's intention to bring the former Eurostar platforms at Waterloo back into use for domestic passenger services.
There are no plans for any other permanent use; although a series of theatrical performances are being staged during summer and autumn 2010 for the benefit of the Railway Children charity before the platforms are brought back into use for domestic services.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund: Nottinghamshire
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information was provided by Nottinghamshire county council to his Department on its mineral plans and aggregates levy sustainability fund (ALSF) spending criteria in reaching devolved ALSF funding agreements with his Department. [321032]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Funding for a number of local authorities, including Nottinghamshire, that are most affected by aggregates extraction is provided direct from DEFRA via the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) on the basis that the authorities themselves will have discretion over where that funding is spent. There are no "devolved funding agreements" in the way suggested.
Information on the individual projects funded through the ALSF has been provided via the project database on the DEFRA website and includes project details, location, cost and match funding.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of minerals extracted from quarries in Nottinghamshire was from the parish of Misson in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much aggregates levy sustainability fund money has been spent in projects in Misson in the last 10 years. [321033]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Nottinghamshire county council has informed us that 6 per cent. of the aggregates extracted from quarries in Nottinghamshire came from the parish of Misson (from most recent (2008) figures from the East Midlands Aggregates Working Party).
Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) money has only been available for community theme ("Objective 5") projects in Nottinghamshire since 2005-06. No ALSF Delivery Partner has recorded money being spent on projects in Misson on the DEFRA ALSF database.
Departmental Disabled Staff
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies for which he is responsible are disabled; and what the average salary in (i) his Department and (ii) the executive agencies is of (A) full-time disabled staff, (B) full-time non-disabled staff, (C) part-time disabled staff and (D) part-time non-disabled staff. [317890]
Dan Norris: The following table shows the number and percentage of staff in DEFRA and its agencies that have declared that they are disabled. The figures are as at 31 January 2010, except for RPA which are as at 31 March 2009.
| Known disabled staff | |||
| Number | Percentage of declared | Percentage of all staff | |
| Key to table : AH-Animal Health CEFAS-Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Agriculture Research FERA-Food and Environment Research Agency MFA-Marine and Fisheries Agency RPA-Rural Payments Agency VLA-Veterinary Laboratories Agency VMD-Veterinary Medicines Directorate. | |||
The following table shows the average (mean) salaries of staff who have declared their disability status. Salaries do not include allowances or bonuses. A breakdown by grade grouping has been included for full-time staff in the table, except for CEFAS for whom the information is not available. No breakdown by grade has been provided for part-time staff as the numbers are too small to provide a meaningful comparison. The figures are as at 31 January 2010, except for RPA which are as at 31 March 2009.
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