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Cargo (Gibraltar)

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what regional or international treaties and conventions on environmental protection against pollution of the Mediterranean sea apply to cargoes (a) delivered to and from Gibraltar and (b) shipped through the straits of Gibraltar; and if he will make a statement on their application. [13852]

Mr. Bowis: Sea-going vessels are subject to international or regional treaties and conventions to which the vessel's flag state is party and also to generally accepted international rules and standards. Morocco, Spain, and the UK, in respect of Gibraltar, enforce the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships 1973-78, which is the principal international convention on the protection of the marine environment from ships, including those carrying potentially polluting cargoes.

Royal Train

Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what has been the cost of upkeep, maintenance and operation of the royal train in each of the last three years; [13689]

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Mr. Watts [holding answer 31 January 1997]: The total cost to the Exchequer of royal travel by train, including train maintenance, preparation, operational and British Transport police security, was the following:


Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times in each of the past five years the royal train has been used on (a) official and (b) private journeys. [13688]

Mr. Watts [holding answer 31 January 1997]: The royal train is used only on official business. It has been used on the following numbers of occasions in the last five years:


Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those members of the royal family who have made (a) public use and (b) private use of the royal train in each of the past five years. [13670]

Mr. Watts [holding answer 31 January 1997:]: I understand that the following members of the royal family have made public use of the royal train, as listed, and that members of the royal family have not made private use of the train:


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Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the cost per passenger mile of the royal train and how this compares with commercial charges for equivalent journeys. [13690]

Mr. Watts [holding answer 31 January 1997]: No figures are readily available for the cost per passenger mile of the royal train because the numbers travelling on the train vary. If an estimate were made, the cost would not be comparable with commercial charges for equivalent journeys.

Mr. Corbett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff are employed (a) full-time and (b) part-time to support, staff and operate the royal train. [13691]

Mr. Watts [holding answer 31 January 1997]: This is a matter for the companies which own and operate the royal train--Railtrack and English, Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd.

Driving Examiners

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the new contracts of employment the Driving Standards Agency is introducing for driving examiners; and what involvement Ministers have had in the decision to introduce the new contracts of employment. [14155]

Mr. Bowis: The Driving Standards Agency is introducing new conditions of service in the contract of permanent employment for the 40 driving examiners whom the agency proposes to recruit to fill current vacancies. The revised conditions will provide the agency with more flexibility concerning the location of examiners and their working hours to help meet fluctuations in patterns of demand for driving tests. There are currently no plans to apply these new conditions to existing permanent staff. While I approve overall DSA staffing levels in the context of the agency's business plan, it is for the chief executive to set appropriate conditions of employment.

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many driving examiners are employed by the Driving Standards Agency; how many have been asked to accept new contracts of employment; how many have been restricted to contracts offering them one day's work a month; and how many driving examiners have been dismissed for refusing to accept new contracts of employment. [14156]

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Mr. Bowis: The Driving Standards Agency currently employs 1,153 driving examiners grade staff, 831 of whom are permanent civil servants and 322 of whom have three-year contracts. The DSA is recruiting 40 new permanent driving examiners with revised conditions of service. Examiners on fixed-period contracts have been given six months notice of a contract variation to allow the DSA to terminate on one month's notice in the future. All 322 staff on fixed-period contracts are guaranteed at least one day's work a month once they have completed their probationary period; 307 of these staff are guaranteed of a minimum of 120 days per year for the duration of their contracts. No examiners have been dismissed.

Freight Aircraft

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many operating freight aircraft Channel Express has registered in the United Kingdom; and how many of those aircraft have type approval; [14351]

Mr. Bowis: The number of British-registered freight aircraft which each of these airlines operates under its air operator's certificate is shown in the table. All these aircraft have type approval.

Number/aircraft
Channel Express6 Handley Page Herald
5 Fokker F27
3 Lockheed Electra
Hunting Cargo Airlines3 Lockheed Electra
Heavylift Cargo Airlines2 Shorts Belfast
Air Foyle8 BAe 146

Channel Express is also in the process of registering an A300 freighter in the UK.

In addition, Channel Express and Hunting Cargo currently have permission to use one leased foreign registered cargo aircraft each, and Heavylift has permission to use eight leased foreign registered aircraft.

Hammersmith Bridge

Mr. Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if his Department will assist in the funding of repairs to Hammersmith bridge; and if he will make a statement. [13708]

Mr. Bowis: The Government are providing funding for bridge assessment and strengthening in London for allocation on a prioritisation basis by the London boroughs bridge engineering group. In due course, this

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group will determine what proportion of the allocated funds should be used for works at Hammersmith bridge based on data provided by the borough.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Public Disturbances

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide a breakdown of the costs of public disturbances in summer 1996 in Northern Ireland. [10977]

Sir John Wheeler: It is not possible to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the costs of public disturbances over the summer of 1996 in Northern Ireland. Clearly the widespread unrest and the many instances of rioting and other violence have had a profound effect on all communities in Northern Ireland both politically and emotionally as well as financially.

However, it is possible to estimate the financial costs in some areas of public expenditure where the public order situation led to additional expenditure over what might normally have been expected. In particular, it is a matter of public record that the additional costs arising from policing parades and other demonstrations in July and August amounted to approximately £13 million. In addition, the Compensation Agency has calculated the cost of potential criminal damage claims to be approximately £20 million. Not all of these claims have been settled and the figure given is an estimate as to the possible final cost of compensating the public and industry vehicles, assessed from claims received by the agency.

These figures do not take into account other areas of unquantifiable costs such as personal injury claims, the cost of repairing damage to roads, etc., nor the loss of potential investment or tourism during this period.

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