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Threshold Status
Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the average length of time it will take a primary school headteacher to assess an application for threshold status from a teacher. [116040]
Ms Estelle Morris: The Department has carried out a number of pilot studies with a variety of schools. These studies showed that the length of time required by a headteacher to assess an application varied depending on a variety of factors. These factors included the nature of the appraisal system in a school, the input provided by other members of staff and the extent to which headteachers used the Department's support materials.
Standards Fund Grant 35 will provide £20 million (at a 60 per cent. grant rate) to assist with the implementation of the new threshold assessment and performance management arrangements. Headteachers can use the Standards Fund grant to cover the costs associated with approved training or support activities. The grant has
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now been supplemented with a further £20 million (at a 100 per cent. grant rate). The intention of this additional support is to allow schools to free up time for key members of staff to participate in the assessment of threshold applications and in the preparations for the new performance management arrangements.
Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the annual expenditure on centrally financed local initiatives in the (a) Northern, (b) Yorkshire and Humberside and (c) North- West Region for each of the last five years. [114905]
Mr. Wills:
Many of the Department's programmes could be considered as centrally financed local initiatives. The following table gives details of planned expenditure in the North-East, Yorkshire and the Humber and North-West Government Office regions on some of the Department's area-based initiatives. None of these programmes were running before 1997-98.
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Accident Reduction Targets
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those local authorities (a) which have met Government accident reduction targets and (b) which on current trends are (i) likely and (ii) unlikely to achieve them. [114889]
Mr. Hill: Earlier road safety targets were not established in such a way that local authorities were required to meet specific targets, so it is not possible to measure local authority performance in this way. The Road Safety Strategy, "Tomorrow's Roads--Safer for Everyone", includes new national casualty reduction targets to be met by 2010, which local authorities must reflect in their local casualty reduction targets. However, authorities have different road traffic casualty records which reflect their local circumstances and how well they have addressed these problems in the past. Those with a poor record should be setting themselves stringent targets, because they must make major improvements, while those with an already good record may not be able to achieve similar levels of casualty reduction. Whatever the local circumstances, local targets should be demanding and reflect the aims of the national targets. We will be monitoring performance and the publication of road safety Best Value Performance Indicators will give local people the ability to compare the performance of their authority with other authorities and to measure how it improves over time.
Road Haulage Companies
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will increase the required deposit to establish financial probity for road haulage companies from £5,000 to £20,000. [115084]
Mr. Hill:
I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 20 March 2000, Official Report, column 391W.
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what improvements to levels of public service have been made in consequence of driving test centre closures. [115779]
Mr. Hill:
Savings achieved from restructuring the test centre estate have helped to pay for £1.8 million invested in test centre improvements during 1999-2000 and the cost of the new driving test booking system.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the driving test centres which have remained open because the Driving Standards Agency has determined the costs of closure to its customers as too high; and if he will place details of the cost analysis in the Library. [115778]
Mr. Hill:
No proposal to close a practical driving test centre has been abandoned on this basis.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the criteria which the Driving Standards Agency applies to the closure of its practical driving test centres, indicating when those criteria were (a) proposed and (b) implemented; and what were the factors which influenced the Driving Standards Agency to use such criteria. [115776]
Mr. Hill:
Practical driving test centres must meet the operational needs of the Driving Standards Agency, including the viability of test routes, and provide a safe environment for staff and customers, all in a cost efficient manner. The criteria that apply to the location of test centres have evolved over time in the light of experience gained from earlier estate rationalisation cases, responses to the Agency's customer surveys, and following advice from independent property advisers.
When reviewing the Agency's property requirement, and considering possible test centre closures, the Agency needs to be assured that: average waiting time targets will continue to be met; if a test centre is to close, there are neighbouring centres with sufficient excess capacity to meet the anticipated demand, within a reasonable travel time; and candidates should not have to travel too far to take their test.
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In denser populated areas of the country the vast majority of candidates will have a centre within a seven-mile radius. In the least densely populated areas of the country the vast majority of candidates will have a centre within a 30-mile radius. And in other areas the practical test centre should be located such that the vast majority of its candidates will have a centre within a 20-mile radius.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the Driving Standards Agency decided to analyse and quantify the costs to its customers of closing a driving test centre; and what methods the Agency uses to determine such costs. [115777]
Mr. Hill:
The Driving Standards Agency normally consult interested parties about a proposal to close a driving test centre, including a cost benefit analysis. It is not, however, practicable to analyse the costs to individual customers of a proposed closure.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans the Driving Standards Agency has to allow driving instructors the right of appeal against the result of a check test. [115780]
Mr. Hill:
The Road Safety Strategy, "Tomorrow's Roads--Safer for Everyone", which was published on 1 March, announced that we intended to reform the supervision and appeals arrangements for driving instructors. The Driving Standards Agency will be consulting interested parties with proposals to ensure instructors cannot offer tuition when there is a risk to public safety. Appeals will be in the hands of an independent tribunal.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the Environment Agency has approved the variation in the operating licence of the Byker Heat Station; and what assessment he has made of the possibility of consequential health effects to the people of Shieldfield, Newcastle Quayside or Lower Heaton. [115502]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 21 March 2000]: The application for variation BH 2596 has not been approved. The local Health Authority has been consulted on this application. Further discussions are planned with the Health Authority regarding studies that could be made to investigate health effects from the operation of this process.
Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what breaches of the present operating license for the Byker Heat Station, Newcastle, have recently been reported to him; and what is the outcome of his investigations. [115501]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 21 March 2000]: The records have been checked back to the beginning of 1995. The operator has reported two breaches of the authorisation.
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On 30 April 1995, a major grid power failure caused the process to run for 15 minutes without controls in place or monitoring facilities operational. A non-quantified release to air was made during that period. The then regulator HMIP took no action.
On 20 February 1997, dry lime powder was released during a road tanker delivery, due to failure of a seal on a hatch. The operator cleaned up the spillage and repaired the seal. No regulatory action was taken by the Environment Agency.
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