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Driving Standards Agency
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many chief executives there have been at the Driving Standards Agency in the last five years. [10485]
Mr. Norris: Prior to the current chief executive who joined DSA in April 1995 there have been two substantive DSA chief executives in the last five years.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the salary of the chief executive of the Driving Standards Agency is linked to the performance of the agency. [10486]
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the loss of the Driving Standards Agency's chartermark will affect the chief executive's salary. [10487]
Mr. Norris: The recent loss of the charter mark by DSA was mainly due to the fact that car driving test waiting times were exceeding the DSA service standard, and DSA was also failing to meet certain other customer service targets such as speed of telephone answering.
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The chief executive's salary partly depends on achievement of such standards and targets, and will be reduced as a result of their non-achievement.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what action he is taking to improve service levels at the Driving Standards Agency following the recent loss of the charter mark award; [10490]
- (2) what plans he has to address service problems at the Driving Standards Agency; [10489]
(3) if he will instruct the Driving Standards Agency to improve its telephone system. [10694]
Mr. Norris: I have reviewed the situation at DSA and authorised the following actions to improve service levels.
The recruitment of 25 per cent. additional staff to increase staff numbers on the telephones and the installation of new technology phone systems which distribute calls to the booking clerks more efficiently.
Recruitment and training of additional contract examiners to reduce test waiting times. These are being taken on at an average of 10 per month.
Steps to reduce the number of short notice test cancellations, including measures to achieve reductions in staff sick absence. A new compensation code for candidates whose tests have been cancelled at short notice has been implemented.
Improvement in external communications with the introduction of an external newsletter and a range of other measures.
The implementation of customer satisfaction tracking later this year and other new systems to improve the handling of complaints.
Heavy Vehicles (Testing)
Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many buses in the Greater Manchester area failed safety tests in (a) 1992, (b) 1993 and (c) 1994; [10318]
- (2) how many heavy goods vehicles were tested in the north-west region on emission standards; and how many of them were (a) prohibited and (b) prosecuted. [10319]
Mr. Norris: I have asked the chief executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Mr. Jim Callaghan, dated 22 January 1996:
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The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions on the number of heavy goods vehicles tested on emission standards in the North West and how many were prohibited and prosecuted. Your other question asked how many buses in the Greater Manchester area failed safety tests in 1992, 1993, and 1994.
Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are tested for emissions standard as part of their annual test. Details of the number tested in the North West Region and the percentage of those which failed on smoke emission are shown in Table 1. Vehicles which fail this part of the test would not be prohibited but would be required to rectify the fault before a test certificate was awarded.
Emissions are also checked as part of the HGV spot checks for roadworthiness that are carried out throughout the year. The Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) has no single enforcement area comprising the North West "region", it is covered by 3 VI Enforcement Areas. Smoke emission checks were carried out on a total of 2,968 HGVs of which 73 (2.46%) were issued with prohibitions. Prohibitions can only be removed when the vehicle has been rectified and inspected again by VI to show that it is fit for service. Prosecution for emission offences is reserved for very serious neglect and for serial offenders. Details of the number of prosecutions for emissions as a result of routine spot checks can only be provided at disproportionate cost. There were no prosecutions following last year's "blitz" checks on HGVs in the North West.
Details of the number of buses which failed their annual test in the Greater Manchester area are shown below.
1992-93 1993-94 1994-95
Total number tested 2,861 3,868 4,357
Total number failed 825 756 863
1994-95
VI HGV testing station Tested Percentage failed
Carlisle 3,733 1.7
Milnthorpe 3,065 2.4
Barrow 529 1.7
Kirkham 8,325 1.8
North Manchester 10,604 1.6
South Manchester 12,317 2.0
Simonswood 12,828 0.52
Bromborough 2,651 0.9
Wrexham 5,416 1.9
Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
Mr. Loyden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what were the profits of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company for the years from 1989 to 1995. [10330]
Mr. Norris: These are matters for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company. Details can be found in its annual reports and accounts for the years concerned.
Mr. Loyden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representation Her Majesty's Government have on the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company. [10331]
A1 Gateshead Western Bypass
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of properties compulsorily purchased by the Highways Agency in the Gateshead area from April 1994 to date in connection with the Agency's proposed A1 Gateshead western bypass; and what has been the total cost of the purchases. [10555]
Mr. Watts: Since April 1994, nine properties have been purchased at a cost of £1.6 million. They have been purchased under statutory blight provisions which enables affected owner-occupiers to require the Department to buy their property in advance. The question of compulsory purchase does not arise.
Royal Train
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport where the royal train is kept when it is not in use; and how many times it was used by (a) the Queen, (b) the Prince of Wales and (c) other members of the royal family in the last 12 months. [10639]
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Mr. Watts: The royal train is kept at a secure rail depot in Buckinghamshire when it is not in use. During 1995 the train was used eight times by Her Majesty the Queen, 14 times by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and on 10 other occasions by members of the royal family.
Road Building
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy when road contractors are ahead of schedule and the new work required is dependent on the allocation from the next financial year. [10488]
Mr. Watts: I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Graham Allen, dated 22 January 1996:
The Minister for Railways and Roads, Mr. John Watts, has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what is the policy when road contractors are ahead of schedule and the new work required is dependent on the allocation from the new financial year.
Road building activity is governed by the terms of commercial contracts between the Highways Agency and road contractors. Within this framework, it is incumbent upon the Agency to manage its financial affairs in such a way that requirements arising from the annuality of Government accounting are met.
M62 Relief Road
Mr. Sumberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new tenancies and on what terms have been granted by the Highways Agency or those acting on its behalf in the Bury, South constituency since the announcement of the cancellation of the M62 relief road. [10938]
Mr. Watts: No new tenancies have been granted by the Highways Agency's managing agents following my announcement of the withdrawal of the M62 relief road from the trunk roads programme. Twelve tenancies which had previously been secured by payment of deposits have come into effect since my announcement. In all these cases, the tenants have been granted one-year fixed-term agreements.
Seat Belts and Child Seats
Mr. Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answers of 29 November 1995, Official Report, column 752, what progress he has made on seat belt regulations and child seat concessions. [10925]
Mr. Norris: I intend to lay the regulations before the House in early February.
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