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Motorway Service Areas
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many motorway service areas have been closed since the financial year 1991-92. [39289]
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each agency within his Department and the central transport group, broken down by grade, the number of (a) male staff and (b) female staff. [38138]
Mr. Bowis: I have placed the information obtained from my Department's personnel systems in the Library of the House.
Traffic Area Office, Manchester
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals have been put to the traffic area network unit within his Department for reducing accommodation costs at the traffic area office in Manchester; and what action was taken to following up these proposals. [38139]
Mr. Bowis: The traffic area office in Manchester, in consultation with the local representatives of Property Holdings, put to the traffic area network unit three possible proposals in September 1994:
Stay in Portcullis house until the lease expired and await re-location to Ashburner house.
Give notice to Property Holdings and move to another property on the Government estate.
Look for alternative accommodation within the commercial market.
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taken to follow up the other two proposals and the second option was overtaken by the timetable for the transfer of Property Holdings responsibilities to Departments.
Drivers' Hours
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to provide enforcement officers with powers to issue prohibition notices to United Kingdom drivers who have exceeded their drivers' hours regulations. [38147]
Mr. Bowis: None at present. We are keeping the situation under review but the change proposed would require primary legislation.
Heavy Goods Vehicles
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to carry out an annual survey into the unlicensed operation of heavy goods vehicles. [38144]
Mr. Bowis: We have no current plans to repeat the survey of illegal goods vehicle operators which was carried out in October last year.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of heavy goods vehicles divided by weight involved in road accidents which have resulted in (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) slight injuries during 1995. [38202]
Mr. Bowis: The number of HGVs involved in injury road accidents, by gross weight and accident severity in Great Britain in 1995 was as follows:
| Accident severity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross weight | Fatal | Serious | Slight | Total |
| 3,501-16,000 | 126 | 735 | 3,164 | 4,017 |
| 16,001-24,000 | 107 | 495 | 1,899 | 2,501 |
| 24,001-33,000 | 134 | 599 | 2,256 | 2,990 |
| 33,001-38,000 | 247 | 883 | 3,119 | 4,258 |
| Total | 614 | 2,713 | 10,438 | 13,765 |
1. The weight distributions are estimated from road accidents data submitted by the police. Differences in totals are due to rounding.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what budgets were allocated to the enforcement of heavy goods and public service safety regulations for each of the last 10 years. [38146]
Mr. Bowis: Figures for years before 1991-92 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Figures for the last five years are as follows:
| Year | HGV traffic and roadworthiness enforcement budgets (£) | PSV traffic and roadworthiness enforcement budgets (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 11,223,746 | 2,268,680 |
| 1992-93 | 11,303,161 | 2,347,610 |
| 1993-94 | 11,112,988 | 2,116,650 |
| 1994-95 | 10,921,773 | 2,186,787 |
| 1995-96 | 11,063,032 | 2,281,217 |
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to commit further funds into
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front-line enforcement of heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicles safety regulations by Vehicle Inspectorate enforcement officers. [38212]
Mr. Bowis: We have no such plans at present.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to use laden heavy goods vehicles in heavy goods vehicle driving tests. [38206]
Mr. Bowis: We are currently looking at the case for requiring learner lorry drivers to use ballasted vehicles when taking a lorry driving test. It could have significant implication for the cost of training and testing new lorry drivers, and there would need to be detailed consultation with the parties affected before the necessary regulations could be put before Parliament.
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents (a) in total, (b) involving serious injuries and (c) involving fatalities involved heavy goods vehicles in each of the years 1979 to 1996. [39285]
Mr. Bowis: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Accident severity | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Fatal | Serious | Total |
| 1979 | 940 | 4,690 | 16,471 |
| 1980 | 782 | 4,051 | 14,117 |
| 1981 | 761 | 3,859 | 13,283 |
| 1982 | 786 | 3,808 | 13,307 |
| 1983 | 722 | 3,387 | 12,328 |
| 1984 | 777 | 3,570 | 12,950 |
| 1985 | 728 | 3,457 | 13,073 |
| 1986 | 794 | 3,503 | 13,435 |
| 1987 | 776 | 3,509 | 13,642 |
| 1988 | 802 | 3,737 | 14,775 |
| 1989 | 878 | 3,795 | 16,107 |
| 1990 | 791 | 3,387 | 15,063 |
| 1991 | 683 | 2,885 | 13,616 |
| 1992 | 650 | 2,706 | 13,016 |
| 1993 | 608 | 2,520 | 13,173 |
| 1994 | 540 | 2,598 | 13,178 |
| 1995 | 530 | 2,445 | 12,613 |
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the amount of revenue lost due to the illegal operation of heavy goods and public service vehicles. [38143]
Mr. Bowis: No estimate of lost income has been made.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to apply the income raised from heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicle operator licences for the enforcement of heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicle regulations. [38142]
Mr. Bowis: Income raised from both heavy goods and public service vehicle operators is part of general taxation and as such is paid into the central Exchequer funds and not ring fenced. The Department is, however, required to set fees at such a level as to recover from operators the total sums spent both on enforcement and on running the traffic area offices.
24 Jul 1996 : Column: 358
Public Service Vehicles
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the number of public service vehicles involved in road accidents resulting in (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) slight injuries during 1995. [38203]
Mr. Bowis: In 1995, there were 134 public service vehicles involved in fatal accidents, 1,487 serious accidents and 9,359 in slight injury accidents.
British Rail
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was British Rail's external finance limit for 1992-93. [39295]
Mr. Watts: The British Railways Board's external finance limit for 1992-93 was set at £2,096 million. The outturn for the board's external finance requirement for that year was £2,064 million.
New Roads and Rail
Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of (a) new trunk roads were constructed and (b) new railway track were electrified between (i) 1979 and 1992 and (ii) 1992 and 1996. [39293]
Mr. Watts: The length of new trunk roads completed in England between 1979 and 1992 was 842.4 miles and between 1992 and 1996, 268.5 miles. The length of newly electrified railway track between 1979 and 1992 was 725.3 miles and between 1992 and March 1995, 52.2 miles. There are no figures yet for 1995-96.
Staff Annual Reports
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will publish a table showing separately for each grade in the central transport group the numbers of staff who received (a) a fitted, (b) a well fitted and (c) not fitted marking in their 1995 annual staff report broken down by gender and ethnic grouping; [38134]
- (2) if he will list for each traffic area office the annual staff reporting performance and promotion markings received for the various grades in the offices, broken down by gender and ethnic grouping. [38135]
Mr. Bowis: The information cannot be provided in the form requested without identifying individual members of staff.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each of the last five years the annual staff performance and promotion markings obtained for grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the central transport group. [38136]
Mr. Bowis: I have placed a table containing the information requested in the Library of the House.
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