HC Deb 21 October 2002 vol 391 cc21-3W
Mr. Robathan

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment was made of the cost of using(a) Omega, (b) other private distribution companies and (c) the Royal Mail to deliver The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: A National Consultation Document; and what assesment has been made of the reliability of the service provided. [74904]

Mr. Jamieson

All consultation documents are being sent out by the Department's distribution contractor, using either the Royal Mail or their sub-contracted courier service, Securicor Omega. The decision on which carrier is used depends on which is most cost-effective for the weight of each individual consignment, and to a lesser extent on its size. Omega is used to deliver heavier items as they offer the best rates to our contractor.

Securicor make available national service level reports which the contractor monitors, as well as any individual complaints. There are no reliability figures available from Royal Mail. The Department monitors the performance of its distribution contractor, and resolves any complaints as they are reported.

Mr. Robathan

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many copies of, The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: A National Consultation Document—Midlands, have been distributed; [74907]

(2) how many requests there have been for, The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: A National Consultation—Midlands.[74908]

Mr. Jamieson

As of today around 108,063 copies of The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: A National Consultation Document—Midlands have been requested and distributed or accessed as set out in the table below.

Midlands Main Document Summary Document Total
Hard Copies Issued 20,997 30,563 51,560
Downloads from website 31,115 25,388 56,503
Total 52,112 55,951 108,063

John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many responses have been received in response to the Future Development of Air Transport consultation document, broken down by region. [75047]

Mr. Jamieson

We have received to date around 6,065 responses to the NOP questionnaire and 15,728 letters. This is set out by region in the table below.

Region: NOP Paper Q're Returns NOP Web Responses Total to Date Letters Received
Scotland 292 128 420 29
South East 1956 1311 3267 5121
Midlands 527 657 1184 10500
North England 430 219 649 39
South West 415 61 476 24
Wales 14 11 25 7
N. Ireland 19 15 44 8
Total 3663 2402 6065 15728

John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration was given to the evaluation of RAF Turnhouse by the Home Office for an asylum seeker accommodation centre in the formulation of options for the expansion of Edinburgh Airport as outlined in the Future Development of Air Transport consulation document. [75063]

Mr. Jamieson

The consultation document for Scotland sets out, factually and neutrally. a wide range of options for more runway capacity at both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. We have not come to any view on the way forward and want to have the views of consultees before we address this. In preparing this document we liaised with many departments including the Home Office and were aware of each other's plans and their potential implications.

John Barrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many copies of the consultation documents, Future Development of Air transport in the United Kingdom-Scotland, were requested by(a) telephone, (b) e-mail and (c) letter; and how many such documents were issued in total. [75061]

Mr. Jamieson

As of today around 37,122 copies of The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: A National Consultation Document—Scotland have been distributed or accessed as set out in the table below. We do not have a breakdown on how the requests for hard copies were received.

Scotland Main Document Summary Document Total
Hard Copies Issued 4,890 10,014 14,904
Downloads from website 9,425 12,793 22,218
Total 14,315 22,807 37,122