Lords Hansard text for 20 Jul 200620 July 2006 (pt 0005)

Tourism: Northern Ireland

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

What grant applications are still outstanding from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board for which the application was made more than one year ago; what is the value of each grant; what is the cause of each delay; and what steps they are taking to speed up the process.[HL6827]

Lord Rooker: There are four outstanding applications for grants, received more than one year ago that are still pending; that is, have not either received a letter of offer, been withdrawn or been rejected.The following table shows the projects involved.

Project	Value of grant	Cause of delay	Steps taken to speed process
Carrick Son et Lumière	£93,750	Project promoters need to address issues raised by economic appraisal in connection with funding of the project.	Correspondence issued to promoter explaining the position and asking them to respond to the issues.
Glenarm Harbour	£155,250	Awaiting business plans and other information from project promoters.	Ongoing communications with project promoters.
Benburb Valley Heritage Centre	£76,600	Project promoter has to provide information regarding the project's viability.	Ongoing communications with the project promoters.
Shankill Local Information Office	£167,202	Delays occurred during economic appraisal and statutory approvals.	Delays now overcome and project should receive letter of offer shortly.

Transport: Very Tall People

The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:

To what extent their transport policy in the United Kingdom has taken account of the needs of very tall people in the past five years; whether such people have been consulted as a user group; and what improvements there have been in the design of new trains and buses in particular.[HL6958]

Lord Davies of Oldham: The department aims to obtain the views of the widest range of stakeholders during its consultations. However, we are not aware of any specific consultation with user groups representing people of very tall stature.

Regulations specifying minimum gangway height and seat spacing for buses and on trains have existed for a number of years, to ensure that the majority of passengers can travel in safety and in reasonable comfort.

The regulations necessarily represent a compromise between providing safety and access for a broad range of passengers, while ensuring that the vehicles are compatible with the road and rail infrastructure and remain viable for the manufacturing and operating industries.

Ulster-Scots Agency

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

What were the first indicatory budgets given to the Ulster-Scots Agency by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in each year since 2000.[HL6825]

20 July 2006 : Column WA217

Lord Rooker: The agency's budgets, approved by Ministers, include an indicative budget for the following year. Indicative budgets are included purely for forward planning purposes and on the clear understanding that they are liable to change. Indicative budgets are shown below.

Indicative budget 2001	none
Indicative budget 2002	£1.43 million
Indicative budget 2003	£1.57 million
Indicative budget 2004	£1.38 million
Indicative budget 2005	£1.769 million
Indicative budget 2006	£1.82 million
Indicative budget 2007	£2.177 million

20 July 2006 : Column WA218

Water Supply: Consumption

Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the average total consumption of water in cubic metres of the average household in England and Wales in each of the past five years.[HL6921]

The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Ofwat provides the Government with water consumption figures for England and Wales via the annual Security of supply, leakage and the efficient use of water report. Household water consumption is expressed in litres per head per day.

The table below provides company estimates of average household consumption for the past five years.

Water and sewerage companies (WaSC)	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Anglian	138	137	143	146	143
Dwr Cymru	146	150	150	149	151
Northumbrian North	147	147	145	150	146
Northumbrian South	157	161	155	164	158
Severn Trent	139	139	130	136	132
South West	150	151	153	160	161
Southern	155	161	159	162	157
Thames	165	159	162	162	159
United Utilities	140	142	146	148	142
Wessex	140	143	142	151	146
Yorkshire	139	147	144	147	145
WaSC Average	147	147	147	150	147
Water only Companies (W0C)
Bournemouth & W Hampshire	161	161	160	169	167
Bristol	147	151	151	158	153
Cambridge	139	141	142	151	148
Dee Valley	143	143	147	151	145
Folkestone & Dover	157	163	158	167	159
Mid Kent	162	160	162	173	167
Portsmouth	157	159	157	162	159
South East	160	163	166	178	173
South Staffordshire	143	145	146	151	146
Sutton & East Surrey	162	172	172	185	173
Tendring Hundred	124	127	128	129	125
Three Valleys	174	178	174	185	178
WoC Average	159	163	162	171	165
Industry Average	149	150	150	154	150
Notes: Averages are weighted by population of unmeasured households. Excludes underground supply pipe leakage

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