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Deaf-blind People

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what training providers of public transport services and their employees receive in communicating and making contact with deaf-blind people. [9470]

Mr. Bowis: We do not have details of the training programmes provided by individual transport operators. Many run disability awareness training covering many issues, including the particular needs of deaf-blind people.

The Department has worked with Bus and Coach Training Ltd., the training arm of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, on a disability awareness training programme for bus drivers. It is intended that this will form part of the national vocational qualification training programme for the bus industry. The programme covers a wide range of disability issues, including those relevant to deaf-blind people.

Airbags

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many injuries have been caused by airbags in cars inflating too slowly on collision. [11015]

Mr. Bowis: The Department has not heard of any injuries caused by airbags inflating too slowly.

Mr. Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what safety checks are required by his Department on airbags in cars. [11014]

Mr. Bowis: Airbags are not compulsory and there are no performance standards governing their performance. The vehicle manufacturer is considered to be best placed to specify the airbag characteristics to complement the vehicle's other crash protection systems.

Marine Safety Agency (Fees)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if Marine Safety Agency fees are to be increased. [11799]

Mr. Bowis: Some of the Marine Safety Agency's fees will change on 1 February 1997. The most significant change is an increase in the hourly rate for merchant ship and fishing vessel surveys from £45 to £60. This increase is required to comply with our aim of full cost recovery for services provided by the Government. We believe that

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the new fee is still competitive when compared with private sector rates for similar work, and this is the first significant increase for some years.

Air Traffic Control Services

Mr. Channon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he accepts the Civil Aviation Authority's recommendations on the future provision of air traffic control services, following the review of its two-centre strategy; and if he will make a statement. [11897]

Sir George Young: The Civil Aviation Authority reported to me shortly before Christmas that its review had validated the strategy of providing air traffic control services through two centres based respectively at Fareham in Hampshire and Prestwick in Scotland. The Government are minded to accept this recommendation, but would wish the airlines and other interested parties to be consulted before a final decision is taken. I am now asking the chairman of the CAA to initiate this consultation and hope that it will be possible to announce the outcome in March.

National Bus Company

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a dated copy of his response to the pensions ombudsman's provisional determination in respect of the former National Bus Company. [10880]

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Mr. Watts: My Department made no comments to the pensions ombudsman on his provisional determination. The pensions ombudsman has not carried out any investigation or made any determination with respect to the Department or the former National Bus Company.

Heathrow-Plymouth Flights

Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Airways regarding the slots into Heathrow from Plymouth. [8781]

Sir George Young [pursuant to his oral answer of 13 January, Official Report, c. 6]: I have now received a reply to my letter to the chief executive of British Airways in which he informs me that, as from 30 March, Brymon Airways will switch its London to Plymouth and Newquay service from Heathrow to Gatwick. At the same time, flights will be increased to five daily on weekdays and four daily at weekends, in both directions. I have placed a copy of the letter in the Library.

PRIME MINISTER

Lord-Lieutenants

Mr. William Powell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the Lord-Lieutenants together with their date of appointment and current date of expected retirement.[11070]

The Prime Minister: A list of Lord-Lieutenants, together with the dates of their appointment and expected retirement, at the age of 75, is set out in the table.

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County	Name	Appointed	Retirement date at 75
England
Bedfordshire	Mr. Samuel Whitbread	January 1991	February 2012
Berkshire	Mr. Philip Wroughton	May 1995	April 2008
Bristol	Mr. Jay Tidmarsh	April 1996	September 2007
Buckinghamshire	Sir Nigel Mobbs	January 1997	September 2012
Cambridgeshire	Mr. James Crowden	May 1992	November 2002
Cheshire	Mr. William Bromley-Devonport	June 1990	March 2010
Cornwall	The Lady Mary Holborow	September 1994	September 2011
Cumbria	Mr. James Cropper	July 1994	December 2013
Derbyshire	Mr. John Bather	June 1994	May 2009
Devon	The Earl of Morley	May 1982	May 1998
Dorset	The Lord Digby	September 1986	July 1999
Durham(5)	Mr. David Grant	August 1988	January 1997
East Sussex	Admiral Sir Lindsay Bryson	November 1989	January 2000
East Riding of Yorkshire	Mr. Richard Marriott	April 1996	December 2005
Essex	The Lord Braybrooke	August 1992	January 2007
Greater London	Field Marshal The Lord Bramall	January 1986	December 1998
Greater Manchester	Colonel John Timmins	December 1987	June 2007
Hampshire	Mrs. Mary Fagan	January 1994	September 2014
Hereford and Worcester	Sir Thomas Dunne	June 1977	October 2008
Hertfordshire	Mr. Simon Bowes Lyon	January 1986	June 2007
Isle of Wight	Mr. Christopher Bland	December 1995	October 2011
Kent	The right hon. The Lord Kingsdown	July 1982	January 2002
Lancashire	The Lord Shuttleworth	December 1996	August 2023
Leicestershire	Mr. Timothy Brooks	April 1989	March 2004
Lincolnshire	Mrs. Bridget Cracroft-Ely	March 1995	October 2008
Merseyside	Mr. Alan Waterworth	October 1993	September 2006
Norfolk	Sir Timothy Colmon	March 1978	September 2004
Northamptonshire	Sir John Lowther	March 1984	November 1998
Northumberland	The Viscount Ridley	December 1983	July 2000
North Yorkshire	Sir Marcus Worsley	March 1987	April 2000
Nottinghamshire	Sir Andrew Buchanan	February 1991	July 2012
Oxfordshire	Mr. Hugo Brunner	February 1996	August 2010
Shropshire	Mr. Algernon Heber-Percy	February 1996	January 2019
Somerset	Sir John Wills	October 1994	July 2003
South Yorkshire	The Earl of Scarborough	March 1996	December 2007
Staffordshire	Mr. James Hawley	May 1993	March 2012
Suffolk	The right hon. The Lord Belstead	December 1993	September 2007
Surrey	Mr. Richard Thornton	May 1986	October 1997
Tyne and Wear	Sir Ralph Carr-Ellison	May 1984	December 2000
Warwickshire	Mr. Martin Dunne	December 1996	March 2013
West Midlands	Mr. Robert Taylor	November 1993	June 2007
West Sussex	Major General Sir Philip Ward	July 1994	July 1999
West Yorkshire	Mr. John Lyles	August 1992	May 2004
Wiltshire	Lieutenant General Sir Maurice Johnston	June 1996	October 2004
Wales
Clwyd	Sir William Gladstone	August 1985	October 2000
Dyfed	Sir David Mansel Lewis	February 1979	October 2002
Mid Glamorgan	Mr. Murray McLaggan	December 1989	September 2004
South Glamorgan	Captain Norman Lloyd-Edwards	August 1990	June 2008
West Glamorgan	Mr. Robert Hastie	April 1995	May 2008
Gwynedd	Mr. Meuric Rees	December 1989	March 1999
Gwent	Sir Richard Hanbury-Tennison	June 1979	January 2000
Powys	Mr. Mervyn Bourdillon	June 1986	August 1999
Scotland
Aberdeen City	Lord Provost ex-officio
Aberdeenshire	Captain Colin Farquharson of Whitehouse	May 1987	August 1998
Angus	The right hon. The Earl of Airlie	October 1989	May 2001
Argyll and Bute	The Duke of Argyll	January 1996	August 2012
Ayrshire and Arran	Major David Henderson	April 1991	July 2006
Banffshire	Mr. James McPherson	October 1987	November 2002
Berwickshire	Major General Sir John Swinton	September 1989	April 2000
Caithness	Major Graham Dunnett	January 1996	March 2004
Clackmannan	Colonel Robert Stewart	December 1994	August 2001
Dumfries	Captain Ronald Cunningham-Jardine	October 1991	September 2006
Dunbartonshire	Brigadier Donald Hardie	June 1990	January 2011
Dundee	Lord Provost ex-officio
East Lothian	Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple	January 1987	April 2001
Edinburgh	Lord Provost ex-officio
Fife	The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine	October 1987	February 1999
Glasgow City	The Lord Provost ex officio
Inverness	The Right Hon. The Lord Gray of Contin	August 1996	June 2002
Kincardineshire	The Viscount of Arbuthnott	July 1977	October 1999
Lanarkshire	Mr. Hutchison Sneddon	June 1992	April 2002
Midlothian	Captain George Burnet	January 1992	December 2002
Moray	Air Vice Marshal George Chesworth	March 1994	June 2005
Nairn	The Earl of Leven and Melville	June 1969	May 1999
Orkney	Vacant
Perth and Kinross	Sir David Montgomery	March 1995	March 2006
Renfrewshire	The Lord Goold	July 1994	May 2009
Ross and Cromarty	Captain Roderick Stirling of Fairburn	May 1988	June 2007
Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale	The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry	June 1974	September 1998
Shetland	Mr. John Hamilton Scott	February 1994	November 2011
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright	Lieutenant General Sir Norman Arthur	January 1996	March 2006
Stirling and Falkirk	Lieutenant Colonel James Stirling of Garden	December 1983	September 2005
Sutherland	Major General David Houston	November 1991	February 2004
Tweeddale	Captain David Younger	June 1994	May 2013
West Lothian	The Earl of Morton	July 1985	March 2002
West Lothian	The Earl of Morton	July 1985	March 2002
Western Isles	The Viscount Dunrossil	December 1993	May 2001
Wigtown	Major Edward Orr Ewing	September 1989	September 2006
Northern Ireland
Antrim	The Lord O'Neill	April 1994	September 2008
Armagh	The Earl of Caledon	March 1989	May 2030
Belfast	Colonel J. Elliott Wilson	February 1991	May 2000
Down	Major William Hall	October 1996	August 2009
Fermanagh	The Earl of Erne	June 1986	July 2012
County Londonderry	Colonel Sir Michael McCorkell	May 1975	May 2000
County Borough of Londonderry	Mr. James Eaton	August 1986	August 2002
Tyrone	The Duke of Abercorn	December 1986	July 2019

(5)To be succeeded by Sir Paul Nicholson.

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16 Jan 1997 : Column: 321

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