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M25 (Widening)

Mr. Tim Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will announce his decision on proposals to widen the M25 between junctions 12 and 15.[21515]

Mr. Watts: My right hon. Friend has decided that the proposals for widening the M25 between junctions 12 and 15 should go ahead. A copy of the decision letter is being sent to all those who commented on the environmental statement and copies have also today been placed in the Library.

A36 (Improvements)

Mr. Livingstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the A36 is classified as a strategic route; an what are the current plans for improvements along the A36. [21245]

Mr. Watts: I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Ken Livingstone, dated 20 March 1997:

The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent question about the programme for improvements on and the classification of the A36 route.

The A36, (together with the A46), is an important strategic trunk road route linking Southampton and Bristol. There are two major schemes in the trunk road programme for the A36-the proposed Salisbury Bypass and the proposed Codford-Heytesbury Improvement. There are also two network enhancement projects in the programme for the A36: Phase 2 of the West Wellow traffic calming scheme and the preparation of the third and final phase of the scheme, to include Whinwhistle Road junction.

Departmental Management Plans

Mr. Patrick Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out his Department's management plans for the coming financial year. [21641]

Sir George Young: I have today published my Department's departmental plan 1997. This outlines how my Department will use its administrative and other resources in 1997-98 and the following two years. Copies of this document are available in the Library. It will be supplemented by the business plans to be published by each of my Department's executive agencies.

The transport report 1997, presented to Parliament today, sets out expenditure plans for the Department of Transport, the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising and the Office of the Rail Regulator, for the period 1997-98 to 1999-2000. Copies are available in the Library.

London Underground (Service Objectives)

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has set quality of service objectives for London Underground Ltd. to achieve in 1997-98. [21624]

Mr. Bowis: As is customary at this time of year, I have today written to Peter Ford, the chairman of London Transport, setting London Underground's quality of service objective for the year ahead. The table shows those objectives, London Underground's objectives for 1998-99, which were set last year as part of a package of three-year objectives, and its interim targets for this year and its performance to the beginning of January.

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 755

	Per cent.
Measure	1996-97 to date	1996-97 target	1997-98 target	1998-99 target
Train service regularity (percentage headways achieved)	(47)93.0	95.7	95.9	96.2
Percentage schedule operated	(48)94.2	96.5	96.9	97.2
Ticket purchase (percentage queuing under 3 minutes)	96.0	98.0	98.0	98.0
Escalator availability	92.3	92.0	93.0	94.5
Lift availability	96.8	96.0	96.0	96.0
Train service CSR	76.0	76.0	77.0	78.0
Train and station information CSR	74.0	73.0	75.0	76.0
Customer security and safety CSR	82.0	83.0	83.0	83.0
Staff helpfulness and availability CSR	69.0	69.0	70.0	71.0
Train and station cleanliness CSR	68.0	69.0	69.0	71.0

CSR = customer satisfaction rating.

(47) 95.8 per cent. excluding strike days during summer 1996.

(48) 96.4 per cent. excluding strike days.

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 755

Performance is to be measured using the mean average of the 13 periods of the year in question.

London Transport Finance

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what changed he has made to London Transport's external finance limits for 1996-97. [21638]

Mr. Bowis: The external finance limits for London Transport for 1996-97 has been increased from £939 million to £964 million to reflect arrangements for paying grant in respect of Croydon tramlink. The external finance limit for crossrail has been formally reduced from £14 million to 6 million, reflecting my right hon. Friend's answer of 2 April 1996, Official Report, column 130, about the project.

Electrically Powered Vehicles

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he proposes to take following the public consultation on measures to extend the concessions for electrically assisted pedal cycles to a wider range of electrically powered vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [21625]

Mr. Bowis: None. A significant number of respondents to the consultation exercise were not in favour of amending the existing regulations. After careful consideration of the submissions my Department received and of the implications to road safety should these concessions be extended, I have decided not to amend the present regulations.

Transport Council

Mr. Patrick Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the Transport Council held in Brussels on 11 March. [21639]

Sir George Young: The Transport Council met in Brussels on 11 March. My noble Friend the Minister for Aviation and Shipping represented the United Kingdom.

The Council agreed a common position on a draft directive to continue for another four years the present arrangements harmonising the start and end dates of summer time throughout the Community. The UK asked for a statement to be entered in the Council minutes recording our preference for a recommendation. The Council and Commission agreed a joint declaration on the need for a study of the effects of summer time.

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 756

The Council reached political agreement, by qualified majority, on a draft regulation to continue Community funding for combined transport projects aimed at encouraging the transfer of traffic from road to more environmentally friendly modes of transport. The UK said that it would vote against the text when formally adopted, on the basis that the regulation was not an effective way of achieving this aim. Germany also opposed the measure. This was the only item on which the question of a vote arose.

The Council also reached political agreement on an amendment to directive 92/14 on aircraft noise. Its main effect is to update the list of aircraft from developing nations exempted until 2002 from the phase-out of some noisier aircraft. A provision allowing noisier aircraft to be banned from two of the three Berlin airports--Tempelhof and Tegel--was agreed.

The Council agreed terms of reference for a high-level group of officials to consider possible Community involvement in the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation--EUROCONTROL--and in a European aviation safety authority. The group will make a progress report to the June Transport Council.

The Council held an orientation debate on proposals for the introduction of a new digital tachograph. The issue was remitted to the Committee of Permanent Representatives--COREPER--for further consideration.

The Council held a further orientation debate on a draft directive on taxation and road user charges for heavy goods vehicles, and received a report from the Commission on proposals aimed at taking forward the Community's negotiations with Switzerland on transport issues. Conclusions were agreed instructing COREPER to pursue discussions on the draft directive, noting that agreement should be reached in conjunction with the conclusion of land transport negotiations with Switzerland.

The Council agreed a resolution calling on member states introducing new electronic fee collection systems for road pricing to use the technical standards developed by CEN--the European standardisation body.

The Council was invited to comment on a draft resolution, to be considered further by the ECOFIN Council, calling on the Commission to study the effects on the transport sector of levying a duty on aviation fuel.

The Commission gave progress reports on transport research, public-private partnerships for trans-European network projects and trans-European rail freight freeways.

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 757

Executive Agencies

Mr. Patrick Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what targets he has set for the executive agencies in his Department. [21640]

Sir George Young: The following key targets have been set for the Department of Transport's executive agencies. The targets are set out in the agencies' business plans, which include management objectives, performance indicators and key tasks, where appropriate to the agencies' business. Copies of the business plans are placed in the Library.

The key targets for the Coastguard agency are to:

discharge the Secretary of State's responsibility for maritime search and rescue, through its own or dedicated assets by:

maintaining a 24 hours SAR co-ordinating capability within, and including the coasts and shoreline of the UK search and rescue region;

arriving on the scene of coastal incidents with 30 minutes of the call, 95 per cent. of the time; and by getting helicopters airborne within 15 minutes of a notification to "scramble" during the daytime and 45 minutes at night;

maintaining a comprehensive radio reception and transmission coverage of the UKSRR which enables SAR co-ordination action for the duration of incidents without interruption or equipment malfunction;

testing contingency plans for major maritime SAR incidents, particularly those involving passenger carrying vessels and merchant shipping and the offshore oil and gas industry by undertaking at least five live exercises, and additionally as required by the shipping industry to exercise passenger vessel emergency plans with SAR services; and by conducting 34 SAR awareness seminars;

maintain a fully operational 24-hours channel navigation information service covering the Dover strait traffic separation scheme, in concert with the appropriate French authorities;

discharge the Secretary of State's responsibility for dealing with marine pollution by the maintenance of a national contingency plan and in particular:

activate the plan within 30 minutes of notification of an incident;


commence action at sea to deal with a spill of dispersible oil within four hours of notification of an incident;


undertake one national and six local exercises in conjunction with local authorities, oil companies and harbour authorities; and


review the national contingency plan by 31 March 1998;


increase the number of prosecutions undertaken for marine pollution offences in conjunction with the Marine Safety Agency;

complete the installation of a computerised SAR incident recording system by 31 July and to report to the Department by the end of October 1997 on suitable targets for effecting a reduction in the number of incidents.

To implement phase 2 of the proposed reorganisation of the HM Coastguard operational structure "Focus for Change" by 31 March 1988.

The key targets for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency are to:

make an efficiency gain (on the basis of an overall efficiency index) of 2.5 per cent.;

complete successfully 495,000 vehicle excise duty enforcement cases by imposition of penalties and to recover, through penalties and duty from licensing, at least £2.85 for every £1.00 full cost spent by DVLA on vehicle excise duty enforcement;

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 758

deliver 95 per cent. of ordinary driving licences to customers within 10 workings days, 95 per cent. of vocational driving licences within nine working days, and 95 per cent. of first provisional driving licences within nine working days.

deliver 95 per cent. of registration documents for new vehicles within 12 days, and 95 per cent. of changes to vehicle registration documents within 13 days;

deliver answers to 96 per cent. of written inquiries within eight working days, and to answer 90 per cent. of telephone inquiries within 30 seconds;

ensure that at least 98 per cent. of driving licences, 98 per cent. of registration documents for new vehicles, and 97 per cent. of changes to registration documents are issued without a DVLA induced error.

The key targets for the Driving Standards Agency are to:

achieve an average annual return on capital employed on statutory activities of 6 per cent. of net assets, over the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2002;

increase the weighted average of fees by no more than the increase in prices as measured by the retail price index over the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2000, and by no more than the retail price index minus 1 per cent. in both 2000-01 and 2001-02;

achieve a national average waiting time for car and practical tests of six weeks and make appointments available within 10 weeks at 99 per cent. of permanent test centres;

aim to keep 99.5 per cent. of all practical test appointments which are in place two days prior to the appointment date;

answer practical test booking office telephones so that:

four of five calls will be answered on their first dialling attempt;

90 per cent. of calls which have been answered by an automatic system will then be answered by a human voice within 30 seconds; and

an average of no more than 4 per cent. of calls in the queue will be abandoned before being answered;

achieve a national average waiting time for theory tests of two weeks;

ensure theory test booking office telephones are answered so that:

incoming lines will not be engaged for more than 30 seconds in any week; and

95 per cent. of all calls which have been answered by an automatic system will be answered within 10 seconds by a human voice.

The key targets for the Highways Agency are to:

improve performance against the road user's charter targets set out in annexe C of the agency's business plan where achievement levels were below target in 1996-97 and improve systems for monitoring performance;

implement the six Whitehall standards set out in the citizen's charter fifth anniversary White Paper (As set out in annexe C of the business plan);

achieve 80 per cent. of the milestones relating to national schemes, design build finance and operate projects and other private finance initiatives listed in annex D of the business plan, or other milestones as may be substituted or added by Ministers;

complete 85 per cent. of the network enhancement and network control projects listed in annex E of the business plan;

complete 1,400 lane kilometres of surface renewal, including reconstruction, overlays, resurfacing, inlays and surface dressing (including resin-based surface treatments and retexturing);

assess the structural capacity of all remaining structures by March 1998 to ensure that from 1 January 1999, all vehicles up to and including the new 40-tonne maximum gross weight

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 759

standard can use all structures supporting trunk roads and other important routes over trunk roads; and complete 4,400 general inspections and 2,150 principal inspections;

safeguard 126 structures for use by 40-tonne vehicles;

contribute to the Government's target of reducing road casualties by one third by 2000 (compared to the annual average for 1981-85) by ensuring that accident rates between 1996 and 1998 on the motorway and all-purpose trunk road network do not exceed 21 accidents involving personal injury for every 100 million vehicle kilometres of travel and by completing 180 local safety schemes;

publish congestion monitoring information, including national road network assessment system maps and TrafficMaster data;

publish, as part of the agency's annual report, information about and activities covered by the agency's environmental strategy, for new schemes and network management and maintenance activities, demonstrating that the agency has given full weight to environmental issues. The information will quantify specific environmental effects and will detail measures taken to reduce the impact of roads on the environment, as indicated in annex F of the business plan;

develop revised efficiency indicator(s) by 30 June 1997;

ensure applications to the national roads scheme committee in 1997-98 to increase the cost of schemes are not to exceed 2 per cent. of the total programme value;

complete a risk analysis, and obtain client agreement to the risk estimate and referral points for those national schemes listed under the preferred route announcement;

Order publication, public inquiry and award of contract milestones in Annex D of the business plan.

The key targets for the Marine Safety Agency are to:

reduce the accident rate of UK merchant ships on a three-year rolling average;

reduce the number of deaths of crew and passengers on UK merchant ships on a three-year rolling average;

reduce the accident rate of UK registered fishing vessels on a three-year rolling average;

reduce the number of deaths on UK registered fishing vessels on a three-year rolling average;

ensure that the rate of merchant ship losses in the Red Ensign fleet remains below the world fleet rate on a three-year rolling average;

reduce the number of Red Ensign registered vessels detailed by other flag states as a percentage of the number inspected under port state control arrangements on a three-year rolling average;

undertake port state control inspections of 25 to 30 per cent. of foreign-registered ships visiting UK ports;

increase the number of prosecutions undertaken for Marine Pollution Convention offences, in conjunction with the Coastguard Agency;

ensure that at least 60 per cent. of available time is spent on core activities.

The key targets for the Vehicle Certification Agency are to:

achieve a net unit cost target of £74.96;

have at least 98 per cent. of approval certificates issued error free;

ensure that where errors do occur in certificates, corrected documents are issued within three working days in 95 per cent. of cases;

have at least 98 per cent. of invoices issued error free;

ensure that where errors do occur in invoices, corrected documents are issued within three working days in 95 per cent. of cases;

audit at least 50 per cent. of VCA's approved quality procedures.

20 Mar 1997 : Column: 760

receive a satisfactory appraisal report on the agency's technical performance from the Department of Transport's chief mechanical engineer.

The key targets for the Vehicle Inspectorate are to:

meet the requirements on levels and types of activity laid down in the memorandum of agreement on each road enforcement transport scheme;

develop a target for the 1998-99 financial year that will reflect effective provision of a statutory testing service to the industry, taking account of customer survey feedback; for 1997-98, to continue to achieve current test measures, as specified in the business plan;

meet the quality and general effectiveness levels as specified in the business plan measures;

devise a comprehensive and qualitative system for assessing customer satisfaction against which the performance of the agency can be judged;

make an efficiency gain (on the basis on an aggregated cost efficiency index) of 2 per cent;

break even while achieving an average 6 per cent. rate of return on capital, over the period 1 April 1991 to 31 March 1998;

improve staff awareness and satisfaction as measured through the annual survey;

secure the long-term development of the organisation through working for the investors in people award, implementation of an information systems strategy, and commencement of the MOT computerisation project.

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