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Bus Deregulation (Manchester)

Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the effects of bus deregulation in the Greater Manchester area over the last five years. [12301]

Mr. Norris: Deregulation has brought great benefits to bus travellers in Greater Manchester as it has elsewhere in the country. There are now more operators running more bus miles at lower cost, with new buses on many routes, and significantly less public subsidy than previously.

London Transport Staff

Mr. Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 17 January, Official Report, column 615, what were the occupations of the staff who have left London Transport's employment since 12 November 1994; and if he will list them by category. [12759]

Mr. Norris: This is an operational matter for London Transport.

Car Mileages

Sir Timothy Sainsbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the average annual and daily mileage travelled by (a) a car commuter and (b) a car shopper. [12699]

Mr. Norris: The average annual car commuting mileage of a person who normally travels to work in a car was 3,040 miles in 1992-94, consisting of an average of

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348 single-way journeys of 8.7 miles mean length. The average annual car shopping mileage of a driver in a car-owning household was 970 miles in 1992-94, consisting of an average of 186 single-way journeys of 5.2 miles mean length.

Indian Sub-continent (Travellers)

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 24 January, Official Report, columns 270-71, what is his assessment as to the reasons for the increase in arrivals and departures to the Indian sub-continent in the last two years. [12524]

Mr. Norris: The Department of Transport does not make assessments of the sort requested.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of his Department's expenditure on newspapers and magazines in (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95 and (c) 1995-96, to date; and if he will list the publications purchased for the latest year for which information is available. [11462]

Mr. Norris:


Newspapers and magazines bought in 1995-96 include:


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Mr. Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of departmental expenditure on administration for (a) 1979-80, (b) 1989-90, (c) 1991-92, (d) 1993-94, (e) 1994-95, (f) 1995-96 and (g) 1996-97. [11459]

Mr. Norris: Figures of my Department's expenditure on administration for (b) to (g) can be found in the transport report 1995, Cm 2806, which is available in the House of Commons Library. My final outturn figures for (e) and projected outturn figures for (f) will be presented in the transport report 1996, which is due to be published in the latter part of March. My Department's latest budget figure for (g) is £373 million.

Running costs figures for Departments were not calculated on the same basis prior to 1989-90, so comparable figures for (a) are not readily available.

Mr. Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of expenditure on all forms of hospitality and entertainment by (a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies, for (i) 1979-80, (ii) 1989-90, (iii) 1991-92, (iv) 1993-94, (v) 1994-95, (vi) 1995-96 and (vii) 1996-97. [11458]

Mr. Norris: The table represents an estimate of expenditure on hospitality and entertainment by the Department of Transport (central transport group), its agencies, and non-departmental public bodies for the years specified. Figures for 1979-80 and forecasts for 1996-97 are not available. Figures for 1995-96 are forecast outturns based on current expenditure and may include some non-entertainment costs which cannot readily be desegregated.

1989-901991-921993-94
Central Transport Group114,016170,015234,986
Agencies4,58628,14340,718
Non-departmental public bodies5,37533,54237,144

1994-951995-96
Central Transport Group127,248202,524
Agencies91,82897,370
Non Departmental public bodies25,90334,768

Mr. Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the expenditure of his Department, his Department's agencies and non-departmental public

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bodies on all forms of overseas travel, overseas accommodation and other associated expenses for (a) 1979-80, (b) 1989-90, (c) 1991-92, (d) 1993-94, (e) 1994-95, (f) 1995-96 and (g) 1996-97. [11461]

Mr. Norris: Information in the form requested is not available.

Departmental Property

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the annual cost to his Department, his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies of their empty and under-utilised properties for (a) 1979-80, (b) 1989-90, (c) 1991-92, (d) 1993-94, (e)1994-95, (f) 1995-96 and (g) 1996-97. [11460]

Mr. Norris: Prior to 1990, the civil estate was managed by the Property Service Agency. Its archived records can be accessed only at disproportionate cost.

The estimated annual cost of the vacant and under-utilised space on the Department of Transport's civil estate, excluding that for which the Department of the Environment's property holdings division is responsible, is:

Vacant spaceUnder-utilised space
Year££
1991-921,20015,000
1993-941,289,00045,000
1994-952,037,90045,000
1995-962,657,60040,000
1996-973,674,3001,185,200

Rail Stations (Assaults)

Ms Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was (a) the total number of assaults and (b) the number of assaults on women at rail stations in each year since 1990 by local authority area. [10522]

Mr. Watts: The information requested is not available in the format requested. However, the table details the number of notifiable assaults and assaults by gender at rail stations for 1994 and 1995, broken down by British Transport police areas. Similar information for previous years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Recorded assaults 1994 and 1995

BTP area1994 1995
MaleFemaleTotalMaleFemaleTotal
London north1923622816525190
North-east541670281240
Scotland1844122518549234
North-west120281488521106
Midlands43125535237
South-west441054291443
London south2335729023040270
London Underground39411951326165326
Force total1,2643191,5831,0182281,246

Rail Privatisation

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 9 January, Official

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Report, column 32, about British Rail businesses which have been sold, whether he will give in respect of each business (a) the number of people employed by the business at the time of its sale, (b) the number of employees of the business made redundant by british Rail between 1 January 1993 and the date of its sale, (c) the cost to British Rail of these redundancy payments, (d) the name and address of the businesses' new owner and (e) the sum of money paid by the new owner to acquire the business; and what has been the total sum received to date from the sale of British Rail assets and rail franchises since the Railways Act 1993 received Royal Assent, listing all assets and franchises sold which did not appear in the answer. [11736]

Mr. Watts: In relation to the three franchises which have been awarded, the details requested in parts (a) to (c) of the question are matters for the British Railways Board. The details requested in part (d) are: the Great Western Trains franchise was awarded to Great Western Holdings Ltd., Milford house, Milford street, Swindon, SN1 1DW; the LTS Rail franchise was awarded to Enterprise Rail of Central house, Clifftown road, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1AB; and the South West Trains franchise was awarded to Stagecoach Holdings plc of Charlotte house, 20 Charlotte street, Perth, PH1 5LL.

In relation to the sales of BR businesses, the details requested in parts (a) to (d) are matters for the British Railways Board.

In relation to the sales of the three rolling stock leasing companies, the details requested in parts (b) and (c) are for the British Railways Board. The details requested in parts (a) and (d) are:


In relation to the figures requested in part (e) and the final part of the question: the first three franchises were awarded as contracts to run services in return for the payment of grant and will not generate receipts for the Government; gross proceeds from the sales to date of other BR businesses amount to some £266 million. There have been no further sales of such businesses since 9 January. As explained in the Government's response of 14 December 1995 to the Transport Committee's fourth report, on railway finances, it would be contrary to the commercial interests of British Rail and the Government to publish details of individual sales at this stage, as that may prejudice similar sales still in progress. Details of individual sales completed by BR will be made public in due course.

The sale of the three rolling stock leasing companies have generated, or will generate on completion, receipts as follows: Angel Train Leasing Ltd., sale completed 17 January 1996--£696 million; Eversholt Leasing Ltd., sale due to be completed shortly--£580 million, including £80 million deferred and contingent; and Porterbrook Leasing Ltd., sale completed 8 January 1996-- £572 million.

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The proceeds of the sales to date amount to some £2,114 million.

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