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23 Mar 2010 : Column 179W—continued
Parking Offences: Closed Circuit Television
Robert Neill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 25 January 2010, Official Report, column 528W, on parking offences: closed circuit television, whether a privacy impact assessment was produced in relation to the use of local authority CCTV for parking enforcement; and on what basis CCTV may be used for civil parking enforcement. [323040]
Mr. Khan: The certifications we grant to enable CCTV equipment to be used for civil parking enforcement are concerned only with the security, reliability and integrity of the evidence the equipment produces in accordance with regulations made under the Traffic Management Act 2004. We do not seek any information about privacy impact assessments that local authorities may have undertaken for their CCTV systems.
The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007-SI 2007 No. 3483-and The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Approved Devices) (England) Order 2007-SI 2007 No. 3486-prescribe the statutory basis for the use of CCTV for civil parking enforcement. With regard to other guidance we have issued on the use of CCTV for that purpose, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 6 January 2010, Official Report, column 330W.
Railways: Construction
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport which sites within a 50 mile radius of Amersham have been identified as possible residential sites for workers on High Speed Two. [323711]
Chris Mole: Issues relating to the construction of High Speed Two, were the Government to decide to take it forward following full public consultation in the autumn, would be considered during the more detailed design stages. The Government would expect to seek powers by a Hybrid Bill, so construction and other proposals which required statutory powers would be open to full parliamentary scrutiny.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport (1) if he will publish the hydrogeological risk assessment commissioned by his Department on the effect on the (a) ground water and (b) aquifer in the Chilterns of the construction of High Speed Two;
[323750]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to ensure the protection of boreholes and springs in the Chilterns region against contaminants as a result of the construction of High Speed Two; [323751]
(3) if he will estimate the likely cost of mitigation of any damage to aquifers in the Chilterns resulting from the construction of High Speed Two. [323752]
Chris Mole: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 22 March 2010, Official Report, column 81W.
Railways: Fares
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the availability of Oyster cards at mainline stations; and if he will make a statement. [323599]
Chris Mole: The retail of Oyster Pay-As-You-Go is limited to London, its area of operation. Stations jointly served by London overground and/or London underground and national rail services are able to issue passengers with new Oyster cards. The Southern and Southeastern train operators also sell the cards at their staffed stations in the Pay-As-You-Go area.
Railways: Fixed Penalties
Anne Main: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport on how many occasions financial penalties have been issued to train operating companies for failure to provide enough seats for rail passengers in each of the last four quarters. [321497]
Chris Mole [holding answer 10 March 2010]: A small number of train operators have arrangements in their franchise agreements under which they pay amounts to the Department for Transport in cases where they fail to provide the scheduled number of seats on nominated services. The three operators are Southern (until September 2009), c2c, and Chiltern.
The number of occasions for which a financial penalty has been paid by a train operating company in these circumstances in each of the last four reporting quarters is given in the following table.
| Training operating compan ies | ||||
| 12 weeks ending | ||||
Railways: Freight
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department is taking to encourage the transport of freight by rail. [322628]
Chris Mole:
In September 2008 we announced an additional funding of £67 million to the sustainable distribution fund. £61 million of this is allocated to the capital budget from which the freight facilities grant allocations are made. We also provide £24 million of funding for mode shift grants through the rail environmental
benefit procurement scheme (REPS). The scheme operates until 31 March 2010, when the mode shift revenue support (MSRS) scheme will replace it. And in the last three years the Government have announced record levels of rail freight investment to support continued growth including £200 million towards the development of a strategic freight network and over £150 million of funding towards the provision of infrastructure enhancement for freight through the productivity transport innovation fund.
Railways: Greater London
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the punctuality rating was of each rail route serving London in each year from 2005 to 2010; and which company operated each such route in each year. [323849]
Chris Mole: The Office of Rail Regulation shows quarterly and annual punctuality data (the Public Performance Measure) for each operator in its National Rail Trends publication. A link to the website is as follows:
Information on the punctuality of each route serving London is not held by the Department for Transport. Network Rail is responsible for performance data for the rail industry. The hon. Member may wish to contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for such information:
Iain Coucher
Chief Executive
Network Rail
Kings Place
90 York Way
London, N1 9AG.
Justice
Youth Offending
19. Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of youth offending. [323403]
Maria Eagle: We have made excellent progress in the last 12 years. The national statistics published last week show that the frequency rate of juvenile reoffending has fallen, with a 24.8 per cent. reduction between 2000 and 2008.
This is in addition to a 12.2 per cent. fall in the number of young people entering the criminal justice system between 2000-01 and 2008-09.
Young Offenders
22. Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Children, Schools and Families on policy to prevent children and young people entering the criminal justice system. [323406]
Maria Eagle: Youth justice is the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Children, Schools and Families and therefore such discussions are routine. Through the Youth Crime Action Plan we made a commitment to reduce the rate of young people entering the criminal justice system by a fifth by 2020. Figures released last November show that this has already been achieved and work continues across both Departments to build on this success.
Witness Protection
23. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps have been taken to improve witness protection arrangements in magistrates courts in the last three years. [323407]
Claire Ward: The Government are committed to ensuring that witnesses who attend court are kept safe and protected. Since 2007, Her Majesty's Courts Service has issued improved guidance which seeks to safeguard the safety of witnesses at court and invested over £825,000 to improve facilities for witnesses. This includes the upgrading and installation of new video link equipment; and provision of in-court witness screens so witnesses are better able to give evidence effectively and safely.
Reoffending
24. Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of prison in reducing reoffending. [323408]
Maria Eagle: Prison plays a crucial role in punishing and reforming the most serious, dangerous and persistent offenders. There is a range of programmes in prisons to help reduce the level of reoffending, and there is considerable international evidence to support their effectiveness.
Jury Selection
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criteria apply to the selection of jury members; and if he will make a statement. [323385]
Claire Ward: Jury members are selected at random. Anyone registered as an elector and aged 18 to 69 who has been ordinarily resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for any period of at least five years is qualified to serve. That is subject to two categories of disqualified people: certain people suffering from mental disorder and those on bail or who have received certain prison or community sentences.
End of Custody Licence Scheme
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effects on the size of the prison population of ending the end of custody licence scheme; and if he will make a statement. [323400]
Mr. Straw:
The end of custody licence scheme was withdrawn on 12 March. This is expected to increase the prison population by an additional 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners by the end of April, as those who would have
been released serve an additional 18 days in custody. Sufficient headroom exists to accommodate these prisoners within existing capacity.
Prisoners: Literacy and Numeracy
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to increase levels of literacy and numeracy among the prison population. [323405]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice works closely in partnership with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who take the lead on offender learning matters. This partnership has helped enable the Learning and Skills Council, through its education providers, to increase and improve the quantity and quality of learning provision in prisons.
Antisocial Behaviour
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding he plans to allocate for the purpose of extending Victim Support services to all victims and witnesses bringing antisocial behaviour cases in magistrates courts. [322842]
Claire Ward: Victim Support has agreed to support victims and witnesses bringing antisocial behaviour cases in magistrates courts as part of their existing witness service at no additional cost.
Courts: Video Conferencing
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has issued guidance in respect of its virtual court pilot scheme on whether a person who appears in court over a video link from a prison or a police station may be held to be in contempt of court. [322862]
Claire Ward: No guidance has been issued in relation to contempt of court in virtual court cases.
The legislative framework for virtual courts is in sections 57A-57D of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as, amended). The legislation provides that the accused is to be treated as present in court when appearing through a live link under those sections. Case law and legislation concerning contempt in the face of the court would therefore apply to such hearings in the same way as it does to hearings where the defendant is present in court.
Departmental Food
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department and its non-departmental bodies are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. [323075]
Maria Eagle:
All products supplied to the Ministry must comply with all current and subsequent relevant UK and EU Legislation, regulations and directives. The suppliers are required to provide products that are sourced in compliance with EC Regulations and from assured providers under animal welfare conditions that
are compatible with the UK animal welfare regulations. There are no plans solely to procure or use meat and dairy products which are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme.
George Kelly
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to respond to the request made on 1 February 2010 by the hon. Member for Torbay under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, on George Kelly, reference FOI/63308/10. [323026]
Mr. Wills: A response was sent to the hon. Member last week. I apologise for the unacceptable delay, and for any inconvenience it has caused.
Lands Tribunal
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) applications for permission to appeal, (b) notices of appeal and (c) final hearings of an appeal in relation to appeals against leasehold valuation tribunal decisions have been dealt with by the Lands Tribunal in each year since 2005-06; what proportion of final hearings of such appeals were successful; what fees were paid to the Lands Tribunal for each type of appeal and hearing in each year; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent figures in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15. [323240]
Bridget Prentice: The information available is shown in the following table. The Ministry of Justice records the total number of leasehold valuation appeals received in a format which includes both requests for leave to appeal and appeals lodged. Figures for (a) and (b) separately could be provided only at disproportionate cost by looking through each case file. In any event, files for cases which have been refused leave by the president are only retained for a year and those which go to hearing are destroyed after three years. The difference between the number of appeals received and heard is accounted for by those which are refused leave to appeal or withdrawn during the appeal process.
| Leasehold valuation a ppeals | |||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10( 1) | |
| (1) Year to date (2) Cases received in one year may be determined in a following year | |||||
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