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23 Jun 2010 : Column 245W—continued
Motorcycles: Driving Tests
Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) multi-purpose test centres, (b) Vehicle and Operator Services Agency sites and (c) casual test sites are available to run module one of the motorcycle test in each region. [3898]
Mike Penning: The number of multi-purpose test centres (MPTC), Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) sites and casual sites available to deliver module one practical motorcycling tests in the three nations in Great Britain are as follows:
| England | Scotland | Wales | |
| (1) Includes module 1 tests being delivered from Driving Standards Agency's Training and Development Centre at Cardington, Bedfordshire. | |||
Network Rail
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which options he is considering to increase the accountability of Network Rail to passengers; what consultation he plans to undertake on these options; and whether he plans to consider the introduction of a co-operative structure for Network Rail. [2811]
Mrs Villiers: The Government have a commitment to reform Network Rail to make it more accountable to its customers. We are in the process of considering a number of options to implement this, including options relating to consultation. No decisions on specific measures have yet been made.
Private Roads
Mrs Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of unadopted roads in (a) St Albans, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England. [2259]
Norman Baker: We are not aware of any up to date information which is held centrally on how many unadopted streets there are. The last recorded figures, based on a 1972 survey, suggested there were around 40,000 such streets in the UK.
Railways: West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester
Simon Reevell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of train passengers in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [3332]
Mrs Villiers: The information requested is currently published annually in aggregated form by the Office for Rail Regulation within its 'National Rail Trends Yearbook'. The latest published data relate to passenger journeys in 2008-09.
Chapter 7 of the latest update of 'National Rail Trends' contains these data and is available on the Office of Rail Regulation website at:
River Mersey: Bridges
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has received a report from officials of his Department on the decision of the Planning Inspectorate in respect of the proposed Mersey Gateway bridge. [3761]
Mike Penning:
No. The Secretary of State announced on 10 June 2010, Official Report, column 35WS, that Ministers are postponing decisions on orders for local authority schemes requiring funding from this Department until after the autumn spending review. Until the position on funding for the Mersey Gateway Bridge scheme
becomes clearer, it would be premature for officials to report to Ministers with their recommendations on the statutory orders sought by Halton borough council.
Rolling Stock: Procurement
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to (a) receive the report from Sir Andrew Foster on the value for money and credibility of alternative options for the Inter City Express Programme and (b) inform the House of the findings of that report. [2749]
Mrs Villiers: The Government expect to receive the report on the value for money of the Intercity Express Programme imminently.
The report-and the Government's response to it-will be published shortly afterwards.
Runcorn-Widnes Road Bridge
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department and its predecessors paid in grant support for ongoing maintenance to the Runcorn-Widnes road bridge in each year since 1992; and how much has been so allocated for the financial year 2010-11. [3762]
Norman Baker: Halton borough council received specific funding allocations for the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 to assist them with maintenance work on the Silver Jubilee Bridge. The allocations were:
| £ million | |
The council was able to use its annual capital highway maintenance allocation from the Department for Transport for repairs to this bridge or other priorities. The Department holds records of those allocations from 1998. These show the following allocations to Halton borough council.
| £ million | |
Halton borough council also have approval to take forward a major maintenance scheme for the Silver Jubilee Bridge. The Department for Transport's confirmed contribution for this major maintenance scheme is £18.639 million.
Southeastern: Finance
Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what annual public subsidy is paid to Southeastern Railways for each route it operates; and what factors are taken into account in calculating that subsidy. [3222]
Mrs Villiers: The Department for Transport contracts an overall payment for each franchise as a whole, rather than on a route by route basis. This is done through a bidding process which takes into account the costs and revenues of the franchise over its contract period. Subsidy details for the Southeastern (Integrated Kent Franchise) are set out on our website and can be found at:
Woodhead Tunnel
Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department plans to continue negotiations with Network Rail and the National Grid on the availability and use of all three Woodhead tunnels according to the timescales previously agreed. [3144]
Mrs Villiers: Should rail use of the Woodhead tunnels become necessary in the future, the Government would be open to working with Network Rail, National Grid and local stakeholder groups to consider how best to bring this about.
Energy and Climate Change
Departmental Pay
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much was paid in bonuses to civil servants in his Department in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [2173]
Gregory Barker: A close and effective link between pay and performance and increased use of variable pay is a key element of the reward arrangements for the civil service-and the senior civil service in particular.
Non-consolidated performance payments are an integral element of the reward package for staff. Non-consolidated performance pay has a number of key advantages:
it encourages continuous high attainment because the payments are dependent upon continuing strong performance;
it prevents a permanent rise in salary and an increase in pension on the basis of one off performances while still allowing good performance to be rewarded;
it has no long-term costs, in particular it does not increase future pension payments;
it focuses the work of employees more directly on the priority goals of the organisation;
it motivates employees by linking an element of compensation to the achievement of departmental objectives rather than offering payment for time served; and
it targets money at those who make the biggest contribution.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in 3 October 2008.
The total expenditure on such bonuses was: (a) £469,555 for 2008-09 and (b) £825,986 for 2009-10.
Radioactive Waste: Waste Management
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been spent on research and development for long-term nuclear waste management, site radiological remediation and facility decommissioning through (a) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, (b) NIREX, (c) the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management and (d) British Nuclear Fuels Ltd in the last 10 years. [2343]
Charles Hendry: The information is as follows:
(a) The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's civil public sector nuclear sites and directly commissions research in support of this mission. Since it was set up in 2005, annual research and development (R and D) expenditure has been approximately:
| Spend (£ million) | |
NDA figures do not include indirect R and D expenditure by NDA's contractors carried out in support of its mission across the NDA's estate. For example, that work carried out by the site licence companies who manage nuclear licensed sites on the NDA's behalf. Site license company expenditure on R and D for 2008-09 is estimated to be in the order of £90 million.
(b) Prior to being incorporated into the NDA on 31 March 2007, the role of United Kingdom Nirex Ltd was to examine aspects of long-term management and disposal of radioactive waste. Up until that point, Nirex's research and development expenditure over the last decade had been approximately:
| Spend (£ million) | |
(c) CoRWM's role was initially to advise Government on the best options for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste and its remit now is to provide independent scrutiny and advice on the long-term management, including storage and disposal, of radioactive waste. As such it does not undertake specific research and development. Further information about the Committee, including costs, is available from its website at:
(d) British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) is a private company owned by UK Government which previously operated a number of nuclear sites and businesses with operations in the UK and oversees. The decommissioning
assets and liabilities previously owned by BNFL were transferred to the NDA with its creation in 2005. It sold its main American business, Westinghouse in 2006 for $5.4 billion, and dismantled its UK clean-up subsidiary, British Nuclear Group, over the period 2006-2009. BNFL has no remaining operational activities or businesses but its approximate research and development expenditure up until 2007 is set out as follows:
| Spend (£ million) | |
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