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7 Jun 2010 : Column 31W—continued

Oakington Immigration Removal Centre

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps have been taken to review policy and procedures at the Oakington Immigration Centre; and if she will make a statement. [67]

Damian Green [holding answer 2 June 2010]: All immigration removal centres are governed by the Detention Centre Rules 2001, which are underpinned by a set of operating standards.

Centres are subject to a programme of inspection visits by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, and the UK Border Agency considers carefully any comments about the operation of the Centre. The last inspection report for Oakington was published in December 2008 and has a service improvement plan to address areas where UKBA accepted the recommendations. A copy of the plan is available in the House Library.

Energy and Climate Change

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what percentage of invoices from suppliers to his Department were paid within 10 days of receipt in (a) March and (b) April 2010. [1268]

Gregory Barker: The percentage of invoices from suppliers paid by the Department within 10 days of receipt was 96% in March and 96.2% in April 2010.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many special advisers (a) he and (b) each named Minister in his Department (i) has appointed to date and (ii) plans to appoint. [316]

Gregory Barker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 99W.


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Departmental Public Appointments

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many (a) political appointments and (b) other personal appointments he has made since his appointment; and at what estimated annual cost to the public purse. [373]

Gregory Barker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 99W to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman).

Departmental Public Expenditure

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the (a) implementation of penalty clauses and payments in its contracts and (b) potential legal action arising from the deferral and cancellation of contracts and projects under his Department's plans to achieve cost savings; and whether those estimates are included in the total cost savings to be achieved by his Department. [562]

Gregory Barker: The Department is continuing to assess the possibility of costs arising from penalty clauses or legal action arising from cancellation of contracts to achieve the cost savings. Our current estimate is that no such costs are likely to be incurred.

Transocean

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many oil rigs operating in UK waters (a) are owned by Transocean and (b) were registered in (i) the Marshall Islands, (ii) Panama, (iii) Liberia and (iv) the Bahamas. [1175]

Charles Hendry: The information requested is as follows:

Warm Front Scheme

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the continuation of the Warm Front scheme beyond the 2010-11 financial year; and if he will make a statement. [845]

Gregory Barker: Funding for the scheme is just over £1.1 billion for the current three year spending period to March 2011. This includes a cash provision of £345 million for 2010-11. Funding for future years will be considered as part of the budget and spending review processes.


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Women and Equalities

Departmental Redundancy Pay

Mr Anderson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what her most recent estimate is of the annual cost to the Government Equalities Office of redundancy payments for (a) front line and (b) other staff. [646]

Lynne Featherstone: The Government Equalities Office has not made any redundancy payments since its inception and is not proposing to make any redundancy payments in 2010-11.

Transport

Aviation: Taxation

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to implement his proposal to replace (a) air passenger duty with a per plane duty and what account the proposed new scheme will take of air freight movements and (b) routes for which alternative forms of transport which have less environmental impact are available. [870]

Justine Greening: I have been asked to reply.

The coalition agreement includes a switch from a per passenger to a per plane duty; the Government are considering options for doing so, and welcome the views of interested parties.

Announcements on tax policy will be made in the usual way.

Biofuels

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on encouraging the use of methane from biogas as a transport fuel. [548]

Norman Baker: The coalition agreement included a commitment to

and to

The use of biomethane as a transport fuel will be considered as part of this process.

Crossrail Line

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Government's plans are for the future of Crossrail. [909]

Mrs Villiers: As we made clear in the coalition agreement, the Government support Crossrail. The project will support and enable growth-now, and in the future, in London and across the UK as a whole. At the same time, we need to ensure that every pound invested in the project is well spent and that the scheme remains affordable. Crossrail Ltd is focused on optimising value for money through effective management of risk and best value engineering solutions to achieve this goal.


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Crossrail Line: Finance

Dr Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which private sector organisations have committed financing to Crossrail in (a) 2010-11 and (b) each of the two subsequent financial years; and how much each has committed. [414]

Mrs Villiers: Private sector commitments to Crossrail include a number of commercial agreements with private sector companies to provide contributions to Crossrail, given the benefits which will flow to businesses as a result of the scheme.

There are specific agreements with Canary Wharf Group (for £150 million), City of London (for £350 million), BAA (for £230 million), and Berkeley Homes Group (to construct the Woolwich Station box) as well as wider contributions being made through Business Rate Supplements, the planned Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 developer contributions.

Construction of the Canary Wharf Crossrail station is currently under way and good progress is being made. It is envisaged, on the current rate of construction, that the £150 million Canary Wharf Group contribution to Crossrail will have been put in to the project by June 2011.

The other contributions are not due within the next three financial years and are subject to conditions being met which are set out in the specific agreements.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Road Traffic Control

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to reduce traffic congestion at the Dartford Crossing. [154]

Mike Penning [holding answer 2 June 2010]: The Highways Agency is developing a package of technology measures to improve journey times and hence reduce congestion at the Dartford Crossing. These include:

The Department for Transport is investigating further measures to improve performance at the existing crossing in the medium-term. The potential options for additional crossing capacity are also being considered.

Departmental Electronic Equipment

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) plasma and (b) LCD televisions there are in Ministerial offices in his Department. [397]

Norman Baker: There are no plasma televisions and four LCD televisions in the ministerial offices in the Department for Transport. These were all purchased prior to May 2010.


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Departmental Public Expenditure

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when and in what form he plans to publish a list of all items of expenditure by his Department over £25,000. [283]

Norman Baker: The Prime Minister has written to Cabinet Ministers

reiterating transparency commitments made in the Coalition Programme for Government, and setting out a timetable for achieving them. In particular, all new items of central Government spending over £25,000 will be published online in an open format from November 2010.

Departmental Redundancy Pay

Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his most recent estimate is of the annual cost to his Department of redundancy payments for (a) front line and (b) other staff employed by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [644]

Mr Philip Hammond: The Department for Transport has introduced restrictions on recruitment in order to reduce the numbers of staff in non-front line roles, with exceptions for front line staff and business critical positions with appropriate control measures.

There are no departmental or agency specific redundancy programmes and the cost of capturing this information for individual cases is available only at disproportionate cost.

The cost to the Department of redundancy and other exit payments this year will be disclosed in our Annual Report and Resource Accounts for 2010-11.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the number of people who drive without insurance; and how many vehicles were seized for being driven without insurance in the most recent year for which figures are available. [702]

Mike Penning: We are working in collaboration with the insurance industry to implement continuous insurance enforcement early in 2011. This will involve regularly comparing the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's vehicle database with the Motor Insurance Database to identify uninsured vehicles and to follow up with enforcement action against their keepers. In 2009, 178,000 uninsured vehicles were seized by the police.

Guided Bus Projects

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will hold a public inquiry into the Cambridge Guided Bus project; and for what reasons his Department decided to allocate funding to the Luton and Dunstable Guided Bus project. [66]


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Norman Baker [holding answer 2 June 2010]: The issue of how best to assess the delivery of the Cambridgeshire Guided Bus scheme, and how the contract for the scheme has worked, is a matter for the scheme promoter, Cambridgeshire county council. However, I have asked my officials to begin investigating options for a review of guided bus policy, which will draw on the Cambridgeshire experience, among others. I will write to my hon. Friend shortly to confirm details of this review.

Funding for the Luton Dunstable Busway scheme was approved by the previous Government under the arrangements at that time for assessing and approval of local major transport schemes.

Midland Main Railway Line

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the timetable is for electrification of the Midland Main Line rail route. [1296]

Mrs Villiers: We are in the early stages of the new Government and Ministers are considering the full range of transport policy. The Government support rail electrification as it helps to reduce carbon emissions and cut running costs. No decisions have been made on the electrification of the Midland Main Line.

Network Rail

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he plans to take to ensure that Network Rail (a) is more accountable to its customers and (b) puts the interests of passengers first; and when he plans to publish his proposals. [867]

Mrs Villiers: The Government have a commitment to make Network Rail more accountable to its customers. We are investigating options for implementing this and no final decisions on specific measures have yet been taken. At the same time, we are also investigating options for turning the Office of Rail Regulation into a powerful passenger champion.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to implement his proposal to specify Network Rail as a body to which the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies. [869]

Mrs Villiers: The Government are considering a range of options for delivering its commitment to increase the accountability and transparency of Network Rail.


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