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Public Order Offences and Assaults

Mr. Luff: To ask the Attorney-General if the Director of Public Prosecutions proposes to issue further guidance on charging standards relating to public order offences and assaults. [31053]

The Attorney-General: The Director of Public Prosecutions has agreed with the Association of Chief Police Officers guidance to assist police and prosecutors select the right charge for people alleged to have

22 May 1996 : Column: 230

committed public order offences. The charging standard will be implemented with effect from Monday 3 June 1996.

The main offences covered by the standard are those contained in part I and part III of the Public Order Act 1986. Those provisions penalise individuals or groups who use violence and/or intimidating behaviour. Special guidance is given in dealing with racially motivated conduct. Violent and/or intimidating behaviour which is directed at particular individuals or groups of individuals as the result of racial motive is liable to be dealt with under part I of the Act or other provisions of the general law with the motive being drawn to the attention of the court as an aggravating feature. On the other hand, conduct intended or likely to incite racial hatred is liable to be dealt with under part III of the Act.

The previous charging standard relating to offences against the person has been revised and will also be implemented with effect from Monday 3 June 1996. The revised standard contains guidance on the handling of cases of assault where the allegation is made by a person who was, at the material time, himself engaged in criminal activity, such as a burglar alleged to have been assaulted by the occupier of the premises concerned. Police and prosecutors must examine such cases by reference to all the surrounding circumstances including the suspect's state of mind and the common law and statutory provisions which permit the use of reasonable force in self-defence, the defence of another, the defence of property, the prevention of crime and the effecting of a lawful arrest. The difficulties facing someone confronted by an intruder or defending himself against attack must always be taken carefully into account but excessive force may not be used.

Copies of the charging standard relating to public order offences and the revised charging standard relating to offences against the person have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

TRANSPORT

Airport Development

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 19 March, Official Report, column 103, what are the time scale and programme for the BAA investigation into less environmentally damaging options for runway development. [29569]

Mr. Norris: The study of options for a close parallel runway at Gatwick, initiated by BAA in April 1995, is expected to take two to three years to complete. The study is being conducted in three phases, examining in turn the technical feasibility of a close parallel runway, the supporting airport infrastructure that would be required, and finally the impacts of any options which have survived the first two stages.

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Aircraft Movements

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 27 March, Official Report, column 594, on whom the responsibility falls to collate statistics on information concerning aircraft taking off or landing without an allocated runway slot. [30006]

Mr. Norris: The co-ordinator for the major UK airports, Airport Co-ordination Ltd., is required under the EC legislation to monitor the use of slots at the airports for which it is responsible. The ACL therefore maintains records of aircraft landing or taking off without a slot, by comparing slots it has allocated with data supplied by the airport operator on actual aircraft movements operated.

British Rail (Political Donations)

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list, for each of the last five years, the amount paid by British Rail's Sapphire accounts system in respect of political donations, under its G/L code 686200.[30044]

Mr. Watts: Sapphire is a proprietary accountancy system used by all the British Railways Board-owned train operating companies, together with those in the private sector. The G/L code 686200 is a specific accounting code relating to donations to political parties. It was part of the original package bought from the manufacturer.

As a nationalised industry, British Rail is prevented by statute from making donations to political parties.

Market Testing

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list, for each of his Department's agencies, what market testing has been carried out into the services they provide and what were the results.[30130]

Mr. Norris: Between October 1992 and January 1996, the following services of the Department's agencies have been market tested, with the following results:

	Results
The Coastguard Agency
Property Management	Contracted out
Messengers	Contracted out
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Personnel	Restructured
Accommodation	Restructured
Training	Restructured
Micrographics	Restructured
VED refunds	Restructured
Legal services	Restructured
Procurement	Restructured
Security	In house win
Stores and Waste Management	In house win
Messengers	In house win
Reproduction	In house win
Despatch	In house win
Telesales	Contracted out
Forms despatch	Contracted out
Internal Audit	Contracted out
Waste Collection	Contracted out
The Driving Standards Agency
Driver test booking (subsequent restructuring)	In house win
Regional Property Management	Contracted out
Property Maintenance	Contracted out
The Highways Agency
Graphics	Restructured
Winter maintenance operations	Restructured
Valuation Office Agency	In house win (trial area only)
Government Property Lawyers	In house win/contracted out
The Vehicle Certification Agency
Microfilming	Contracted out
The Vehicle Inspectorate
Training Finance and Management IS	Restructured
Roller brake maintenance	Contracted out
Weighbridge maintenance	Contracted out
Workshop	Contracted out
Building and Estate Management	Contracted out
IT Strategy	Contracted out
Library	Contracted out
Operational legal and casework	In house win

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Bristol-Plymouth-Penzance Line

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made on the trans-European networks feasibility funding application for the Bristol-Plymouth-Penzance line; and if he will make a statement. [30400]

Mr. Watts: A bid for TENs funding support for a study into options for enhancing the main lines from Paddington to the west country was included in the UK's bid for 1996 TENs funding. The European Commission is currently considering the bids made by the UK and other member states, to draw up a proposed allocation for member states' consideration at the next meeting of the TENs financial committee, currently planned for 10 July.

Funds cannot be disbursed, however, until guidelines for the development of transport TENs have been adopted by the Council and the European Parliament. The draft guidelines are presently at the conciliation stage and an agreed text is expected to be available in mid-June and will then require separate approval by the Council and Parliament.

Traffic Area Offices

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to make an announcement on the proposed closure of traffic area offices; and if he will make a statement. [30464]

Mr. Norris: I expect to make an announcement shortly on the future structure of the traffic area network.

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the redundancy costs involved in closing the traffic area office in (a) Leeds, (b) Manchester, (c) Birmingham and (d) Cardiff. [30466]

Mr. Norris: It is not possible to give reliable estimates, as it would depend on how many and which staff were located.

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Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those organisations or individuals who have made representations following the publication of the Curtis review, indicating those that were in favour of closing one or more traffic area offices. [30488]

Mr. Norris: Representations were received from those listed in the following table, following the publication of the Curtis efficiency scrutiny of the traffic area network. Of those who commented on proposals to restructure the traffic area network, no organisation specifically supported the closure of one or more offices. However, some supported moves towards a more centralised administrative system.

Representations received from
Association of Chief Police Officers	Passenger Transport Executive Group
Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland)	Road Haulage Association
Association of District Councils	Mr. Peter Snape MP
Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers	Trade Union Side
Association of Transport COs (Scotland)	Transport 2000
BRAKE	Transport Tribunal
Cabinet Office	Traffic Commissioners
Confederation of Passenger Transport UK	Welsh Office
Council on Tribunals
Freight Transport Association
Lancashire County Council
Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards

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Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of his Department's overall budget is allocated to the traffic area office network. [30491]

Mr. Norris: Some 3.98 per cent. of the Central Transport Group's running cost budget net of VAT receipts.

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list by traffic area office (a) the current number of staff in post, (b) the total running costs, (c) the accommodation costs, (d) the unit costs, (e) the service standard achievements, (f) the expiry date for the building lease and (g) the number of goods and public service vehicle operator licences held in that area. [30465]

Mr. Norris: The figures requested, for the financial year 1995-96, are in the tables:

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TAO	Staff	Total running costs	Accommodation costs	Lease expiry date(8)	Goods licences	PSV licences
		£	£
North Eastern	49.5	1,165,387	230,401	December 2006	18,600	1,260
North Western	57	1,353,055	302,371	June 1999	20,000	1,180
West Midland	36.5	1,053,446	306,980	September 2004	13,100	720
Eastern	43.8	1,282,071	341,054	June 1997	19,250	990
South Wales	24	609,025	191,280	2020	5,900	470
Western	49.3	1,185,500	269,897	2015	16,050	1,170
South Eastern and Metropolitan	46	1,154,923	218,794	March 1998	14,500	940
Scottish	45	1,115,746	267,802	2012	10,100	990

(8) In some cases there is provision to terminate the lease earlier.

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Unit costs

TAO	Unit cost goods vehicle operator licensing £	Unit cost public service vehicle operator licensing £	Unit cost bus registration £
North Eastern	10.79	12.97	5.45
North Western	11.19	24.66	6.27
West Midland	13.26	26.27	6.81
Eastern	10.31	12.60	4.86
South Wales	14.64	26.69	6.25
Western	13.12	24.66	6.16
South Eastern and Metropolitan	11.70	21.74	5.07
Scottish	17.15	21.54	7.27

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22 May 1996 : Column: 233

Percentage

Service standards	North eastern	North western	West midland	Eastern	South Wales	Western	South Eastern and Metropolitan	Scottish
Goods vehicle operator licensing
New, replacement and major variation without Public Inquiry within deadline	96	91	87	84	98	91	82	97
New, replacement and major variation with Public Inquiry within deadline	89	78	72	37	70	58	59	87
Non-publishable variations within deadline	98	95	95	93	96	96	61	96
Refunds issued within deadline	100	90	97	85	98	96	86	99
Public service vehicle operator licensing
New and Continuous applications without Public Inquiry within deadline	100	99	99	98	97	98	93	100
Variations without PI within deadline	100	99	98	100	98	94	82	100
New and Continuous applications with Public Inquiry within deadline	100	100	100	77	100	100	96	n/a
Variations to licences with Public Inquiry within deadline	100	n/a	100	n/a	100	n/a	100	n/a
Refunds issued within deadline	100	99	84	99	98	99	96	100
Bus registration
Registrations processed within deadline	100	96	76	95	100	96	91	92

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22 May 1996 : Column: 235

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