§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what purposes his Department has employed Avia Solutions in connection with plans to expand runway capacity in the South East; what monitoring he has carried out on(a) financial and (b) other links between (i) directors and (ii) employees of Avia Solutions and BAA plc; and if he will make a statement. [113582]
§ Mr. Jamieson[holding answer 15 May 2003]: Avia Solutions have been retained by the Department as part of a team of consultants and civil servants to carry out the analysis of responses to the consultation. As part of their work they will analyse responses on the issue of capacity for the south-east and other parts of the UK. The managing consultants for the south-east study were Halcrow, Avia solutions were not involved with this work. Any final decisions on capacity will, of course, be taken by Ministers.
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§ Mr. John TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will investigate the inability of constituents in Solihull to obtain questionnaires to respond to the Midlands version of the Government's Consultation on Regional Airports; and if he will make a statement. [113443]
§ Mr. JamiesonWe are aware of individual instances in which a small number of people have had difficulty in obtaining hard copies of the questionnaire. Officials have discussed this with the Department's distribution centre as part of the on-going monitoring and development of their performance. Since the launch of the revised South East consultation documents on 27 February, 16,319 new Midlands' questionnaires have been issued, with around 15 per cent, having been completed and returned.
Residents in Solihull, as in the rest of the UK, can respond to the consultation in a number of ways to ensure that their views are taken into account. These include completing the electronic version of the questionnaire on our website and sending letters to our consultation response address.