§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the public information telephone inquiry lines operated by his Department, in each case indicating the costs of establishing, operating, and publicising these lines and the number of calls made to them up until this point; when they were established; and what assessment his Department has made of their effectiveness. [17450]
§ Mr. NorrisMy Department set up a public inquiry unit in 1990. It has six staff and annual running costs of £105,000. It has received 487,000 calls since it was set up. Robin Verney and Associates have completed a review of the service and improvements will be made when we move to Great Minster house later this year. My Department does not monitor central inquiry services provided by its executive agencies.