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Departmental Decisions (Appeals)
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those administrative decisions of his Department affecting (a) United Kingdom citizens and (b) non-citizens where there is no right of appeal. [6036]
Mr. Bowis: I am not aware of any.
In some cases, legislation provides for a specific right of appeal. Otherwise administrative decisions made by or on behalf of the Secretary of State in matters of public law are subject to judicial review at the instance of the affected party, whether or not a UK citizen.
A27 (Worthing)
Sir Terence Higgins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to make an announcement on the report of the inspector into the future route of the A27 in the Worthing area. [4021]
Mr. Watts: An announcement on the scheme will be made as soon as possible.
Air Services (Liberalisation)
Sir Alan Haselhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been achieved in talks between the United Kingdom and United States Governments on the liberalisation of air services. [4018]
Sir George Young: Formal negotiations with the US Government on the liberalisation of air services will resume in London on 4 to 6 December.
Regional Traffic Control Centres
Sir Michael Shersby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what role the police would have in the proposed regional traffic control centres; and if he will make a statement. [6120]
Mr. Watts: The general principles underpinning the development of RTCCs have been discussed with the police at national and local level, and the Highways Agency is continuing to work with the Association of Chief Police Officers on all aspects of the proposals. There are no plans to change the role of the police. They will continue to perform their present functions, and will remain responsible for policing the network and for managing traffic in the vicinity of accidents and other incidents.
The centres will complement existing local traffic control and communications systems provided by the agency to enable the police to deal with accidents and other incidents on the network.
Regional traffic control centres will provide a facility for the Highways Agency to manage traffic across the motorway and trunk road network, and improve the co-ordination and dissemination of traffic information.
Mr. Luff:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what allowance he makes for environmental and road safety benefits accruing to villages arising out of the construction of new bypasses when considering proposed bypasses for transport supplementary grant. [5365]
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Mr. Watts
[holding answer 21 November 1996]: Environmental and road safety benefits are taken into account in considering whether to accept road schemes for transport supplementary grant. The Department's cost- benefit analysis formula includes a monetary value for road safety improvements. There is no established method of valuing environmental benefits in monetary terms but the environmental impact of a scheme is part of the overall assessment framework.
Mr. David Marshall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to increase the volume of air freight travelling to and from Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [5459]
Mr. Bowis
[holding answer 21 November 1996]: Cargo services by UK and US airlines between Scotland and the US and by European Economic Area airlines between Scotland and EEA countries are already fully open. It is for the airlines of those countries to decide whether they wish to take up the opportunities available to them. We have also given exceptional permission to Cargolux, Air France and Lufthansa--all non-UK airlines--to operate services between Prestwick and the USA.
Talks with the US Government on aviation issues, including cargo services, are continuing.
In general, we consider sympathetically any request from a foreign airline to operate services to Scotland which are not currently permitted, provided that the UK receives reciprocal treatment from the foreign Government.
Mr. Wilson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the occasions on which the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mr. Norris) met the Road Haulage Association in his ministerial capacity; and if he will list the principal issues under discussion on each occasion. [5409]
Mr. Bowis
[holding answer 21 November 1996]: Following the addition of road safety and local transport to my hon. Friend's ministerial responsibilities in July 1994, he met the association on the following occasions:
| Date | Meeting |
|---|---|
| 2-3 October 1994 | RHA annual conference |
| 9 May 1995 | RHA annual dinner |
| 30 August 1995 | Jointly with the Freight Transport Association and the Confederation of Passenger Transport at the North East traffic area office |
| 27 September 1995 | Meeting with Secretary of State |
| 3-5 October 1995 | RHA annual conference (stood in for the Secretary of State) |
| 12 December 1995 | Launch of FTA/RHA consignor/consignee liability accord |
| 13 February 1996 | Joint meeting with the FTA |
| 3 May 1996 | RHA annual tipper convention |
| 14 May 1996 | RHA annual dinner |
| 4 June 1996 | Launch of good lorry code jointly with the FTA |
A wide range of transport topics of interest to the association and its members would have been discussed at the meetings and events.
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Wyre Piddle Bypass
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the extent to which the proposed Wyre Piddle bypass will act as a bypass for Wyre Piddle and Pershore; and if he will make a statement. [5291]
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Mr. Watts [holding answer 21 November 1996]: I have made no assessment.
The Wyre Piddle northern bypass is contained within Hereford and Worcester county council's 1997-98 transport policies and programmes submission and the accompanying annexe B sets out the projected traffic flows with and without a bypass. It makes no reference to traffic in Pershore.
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Allowances
Ms Primarolo: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue which would be raised from abolishing the married couples' allowance and increasing the personal allowance to £5,634 per annum. [4469]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 18 November 1996]: The estimated full-year cost at 1996-97 income levels of abolishing the married couples' allowance and increasing the non-aged personal allowance to £5,634 is £7.7 billion. The estimate has been calculated on the basis that the additional personal allowance and widow's bereavement allowance would also be abolished and that the aged personal allowances would be increased by the same amount as the non-aged personal allowance.
Partnership and Closed Company Registrations
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 18 November, Official Report, column 392, what estimate he has made of the total value of the tax relief available to (a) partners in partnerships and (b) directors of non-dormant closed companies. [5431]
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Mr. Jack: No special reliefs are available to individuals in partnerships or to directors or participators in close companies. Information is not available about the total value of reliefs available to these two groups of taxpayers.
Revenue and Expenditure Balance (Scotland)
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list at 1996-97 prices the cumulative public sector balance between revenue and expenditure for Scotland from 1979-80 to 1994-95 after deducting a GDP share of the United Kingdom general government borrowing requirement, a GDP share of privatisation proceeds and allocating 90 per cent. of oil revenues to Scottish revenue. [1382]
Mr. Waldegrave [holding answer 31 October 1996]: The table shows the calculations requested. The method proposed for calculating Scotland's budget balance, by simply assuming that the shares of Scotland in total expenditures and revenues are in proportion to Scotland's share of GDP, is misconceived, since it takes no account of available information of government expenditure and revenue in Scotland. Approximate estimates of these are published in the "Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland" annual report. These show much higher borrowing figures for Scotland in recent years than given by the requested calculations.
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| UK GGBR exc privatisation proceeds (pps) and north sea oil revenues, at current prices | Scotland's share of UK GDP(43) (per cent.) | Scotland's implied share of UK GGBR, at current prices | 90 per cent. of oil revenues, and GDP share of UK pps, at current prices(44) | Scotland's implied GGBR at current prices | Scotland's implied GGBR at 1996-97 prices(45) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979-80 | 13.2 | 8.8 | 1.2 | 2.2 | -1.0 | -2.6 |
| 1980-81 | 17.5 | 8.7 | 1.5 | 3.4 | -1.9 | -4.1 |
| 1981-82 | 13.5 | 8.9 | 1.2 | 4.1 | -2.9 | -5.7 |
| 1982-83 | 15.9 | 8.9 | 1.4 | 4.9 | -3.5 | -6.5 |
| 1983-84 | 19.8 | 8.9 | 1.8 | 8.0 | -6.3 | -11.1 |
| 1984-85 | 23.3 | 8.7 | 2.0 | 11.0 | -9.0 | -15.1 |
| 1985-86 | 20.9 | 8.7 | 1.8 | 10.4 | -8.6 | -13.8 |
| 1986-87 | 14.1 | 8.5 | 1.2 | 4.7 | -3.5 | -5.4 |
| 1987-88 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 0.7 | 4.6 | -3.9 | -5.8 |
| 1988-89 | -1.5 | 8.4 | -0.1 | 3.4 | -3.6 | -4.9 |
| 1989-90 | 0.0 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 2.5 | -2.5 | -3.2 |
| 1990-91 | 7.1 | 8.5 | 0.6 | 2.5 | -1.9 | -2.4 |
| 1991-92 | 22.8 | 8.6 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| 1992-93 | 47.3 | 8.7 | 4.1 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| 1993-94 | 53.5 | 8.7 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
| 1994-95 | 45.8 | 8.8 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 |
| Total | -72.2 |
UK GGBR
Source:
Public Finance Trends, 1996. A negative figure indicates a budget surplus.
(43) Scotland's GDP factor cost (current prices) as a percentage of GDP in the UK less continental shelf, calendar years--Source: Regional Trends, 1996.
(44) Assumes 90 per cent. of north sea oil revenues and Scotland's GDP share of privatisation proceeds.
(45) Based on the summer economic forecast of the GDP deflator in 1996-97. Figures may not add up to totals due to rounding.
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