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Carlisle Airport

Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the value of the contract between BNFL and Carlisle city council for the use of Carlisle airport.

Mr. Norris : This is a commercial matter between British Nuclear Fuels plc and Carlisle city council.

Research

Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out for each year since 1979 the amount of money allocated for transport research by his Department to (a) the Transport Research Laboratory and (b) to outside consultants.

Mr. Key : The Department's research expenditure is reported in an annual publication by the Cabinet Office. Until this year, the "Annual Review of Government Funded R&D" included the Department's expenditure under a number of categories--intramural, to other Government Departments, private industry, etc. From this year the "Annual Review of Government Funded R&D" has been replaced by the "Forward Look". The "intramural" element shown in both publications very largely reflects the value of work carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory each year.

With the introduction of full economic costing, research commissioned from the Transport Research Laboratory has been costed on a revised basis since 1992-93.

The first Forward Look was published on 27 April and copies of this, and the previous publications, are available in the House of Commons Library.

Traffic Area Offices

Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what guidance is given to members of the public in the draft traffic area office codes of practice for complaining about (a) illegally parked vehicles and (b) unsuitable vehicle operating centres ; (2) if he will list the advice given in the draft traffic area office codes of practice to members of the public on complaining about the operation of local bus services ;

(3) if he will list how many paragraphs of information in the draft codes of practice, issued by the traffic area offices, are applicable to members of the public who are not goods or public service vehicle operators who wish to complain about the holder of an operator's licence ;

(4) if he will list the advice given to members of the public about making complaints about unlicensed vehicle operators, in the draft traffic area office codes of practice.

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Mr. Key : The code of practice for the traffic area offices sets out the standards of service which TAOs aim to meet in administering the operator licensing local bus registration systems. It indicates where complaints can be made if these service standards are not met. The code is not concerned with the actions of operators. Complaints about the illegal operation of heavy goods vehicles or the unsuitability of HGV operating centres can be addressed to the local traffic commissioner.

Complaints about local bus services should normally be made to the operator in the first instance. The Confederation of Passenger Transport United Kingdom, formerly the Bus and Coach Council, with our support, has issued a quality code for operators of local bus services, under which operators are encouraged to direct complaints to the relevant person, which would include, where appropriate, the traffic commissioner.

Railtrack

Mrs. Beckett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if Railtrack has received its safety validation.

Mr. Freeman : Yes.

London Transport (Assaults)

Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 10 May, what was the ethnic origin of each of the employees of London Transport who experienced an assault while on duty (a) for London Buses and (b) for London Underground, in each of the past five years and in the current year to the latest available date.

Mr. Norris [holding answer 13 May 1994] : I regret that the information requested can be supplied only at disproportionate cost.

Vehicle Inspectorate

Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the operational costs on a district basis of the Vehicle Inspectorate and the numbers of people employed within each district on (a) vehicle testing and (b) road transport enforcement, prior to the organisational changes within the Vehicle Inspectorate of 1 November 1993.

Mr. Key : I have asked the Vehicle Inspectorate chief executive to write to the hon. Member with this detailed information.

Letter from Ron Oliver to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 23 February 1994 :

The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent questions about the Vehicle Inspectorate. In all you asked five questions. One of these related to the future status of VI's testing stations and will be answered by Mr. Key.

The information relating to the remaining four questions is attached as follows :

Annex 1 : VI testing stations by region following the Inspectorate's reorganisation on 1 November 1993.

Annex 2 : Staffing and costs by district prior to 1 November 1993 (staffing expressed in whole time equivalents).

Annex 3 : Current test fees.

Annex 4 : Staffing by Vehicle Testing (VT) and Road Traffic Enforcement (RTE) regions.

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Region and Testing Stations

West Scotland

Bishopbriggs

Lochgilphead

Fort William

Inverness

Newton Stewart

Kirkwall

Lairg

Lerwick

Portree

Stornoway

Wick

Kilmarnock

Dumfries

East Scotland

Aberdeen

Livingston

Berwick-upon-Tweed

East Fortune

Charlesfield

Keith

Perth

Kirkcaldy

Montrose

North West

Carlisle

Heywood

Steeton

Workington

Kirkham

Barrow

Milnthorpe

North East

Darlington

Newcastle

Scarborough

Leeds

Walton

Merseyside and North Wales

Wrexham

Caernarvon

Bromborough

Liverpool

Bredbury

North Midlands

Sheffield

Doncaster

Derby

Nottingham

Beverley

West Midlands

Stoke

Shrewsbury

Wolverhampton

Birmingham

East Midlands

Leicester

Peterborough

Grimsby

Grantham

Weedon

East

Chelmsford

Ipswich

Norwich

Crimplesham

Royston

South Wales

Kidderminster

Ammanford

Haverfordwest

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Column 327

Hereford

Llantrisant

Llanrystyd

Llandrindod Wells

Pontypool

South West

Bristol

Calne

Exeter

Taunton

South Molton

Gloucester

Plymouth

St. Austell

Redruth

South Central

Leighton Buzzard

Poole

Salisbury

Bicester

Newbury

Southampton

Cowes

London

Edmonton

Purfleet

Yeading

Mitcham

South East

Canterbury

Guildford

Hastings

Lancing

Gillingham

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