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Advantage West Midlands
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what additional resources will be made available to Advantage West Midlands in 2000-01 as a result of his latest Budget. [116706]
Ms Beverley Hughes: In his Budget, the Chancellor announced a new £50 million fund to provide support for business clusters and incubation in the English regions. The £50 million will go to the Regional Development Agencies to invest over the next two financial years; £15 million will be available in 2000-01 and £35 million in 2001-02. Advantage West Midlands will receive an allocation from the new fund of £1.5 million for financial year 2000-01.
Legal Alcohol Limit
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the alcohol limits for road vehicle drivers in each member state of the European Union; and what discussions he has had with the European Commission on the harmonisation of such limits across the EU. [116861]
Mr. Hill: The alcohol limit for drivers in each member state is shown in the table.
| Member state | Milligrammes of alcohol in 100 ml of blood |
|---|---|
| Austria | (7)50 |
| Belgium | 50 |
| Denmark | 50 |
| Finland | 50 |
| France | 50 |
| Germany | 50 |
| Greece | 50 |
| Ireland | 80 |
| Italy | 80 |
| Luxembourg | 80 |
| Netherlands | (8)50 |
| Portugal | 50 |
| Spain | (9)50 |
| Sweden | 20 |
| United Kingdom | 80 |
(7) Austria: 10 mg/100 ml for Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) and Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) drivers and learner drivers
(8) Netherlands: 20 mg/100 ml for learner drivers
(9) Spain: 30 mg/100 ml for HGV and PCV drivers and learner drivers
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 431W
On 17 March the Commission issued a Communication to member states setting out priorities for road safety. This referred to the intention to bring forward a Recommendation on harmonisation of the drink-drive limit. The Council of Ministers had a brief preliminary discussion of the Communication on Tuesday 28 March and is due to discuss it again in June.
Aircraft Seats
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what regulations govern the number of passenger seats that can be accommodated in a civil aircraft. [117228]
Mr. Mullin: The maximum seating capacity of any large passenger aircraft is determined by the aircraft certification standards. Annexe 8 to the Chicago Convention requires that an aircraft may be issued with a Certificate of Airworthiness only if it complies with a comprehensive and detailed airworthiness code established by the State of Registry. Within Europe, the Joint Aviation Authorities agree harmonised aviation safety standards, including airworthiness codes, for their 32 member states. The JAA airworthiness code for new types of large passenger aircraft is contained in Joint Airworthiness Requirement 25, which has also been adopted as the EC standard by Council Regulation 3922/92. JAR 25 requires that in an emergency an aircraft in maximum seating configuration must be capable of being evacuated within 90 seconds.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also set minimum requirements relating to the spacing of passenger seats for aircraft on the UK register. This is because, in the event of an emergency, it is one of a number of factors which can have an effect upon the evacuation of an aircraft. The minimum requirements are contained in Airworthiness Notice 64.
MOT Test
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to extend the list of items inspected in the annual motor vehicle MOT test. [117136]
Mr. Hill: We have no plans at present to introduce any additional items for inspection into the annual roadworthiness test although the whole issue of MOT testing is kept under review.
Motor Vehicles
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many privately owned motor vehicles there were in the United Kingdom on 1 March. [117083]
Mr. Hill:
At the end of June 1999, the latest date for which we have figures, there were 23.34 million motor vehicles registered to private individuals in Great Britain. Of these, 20.92 million were cars. Equivalent information for Northern Ireland is not readily available.
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 432W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will bring forward legislation to classify excessive light as a pollutant; [117085]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
There are already some planning controls over external lighting. Where development proposals require a planning application, the local planning authority can control the lighting installations by imposing conditions to prevent or minimise light pollution. However, the courts have ruled that light itself is not development as understood in planning law, so the creation or use of light in itself does not require planning permission. In 1997, we issued "Lighting in the Countryside: Towards Good Practice" which is also applicable in towns. In our view, such guidance represents the best way forward and we are not proposing to introduce further legislation in this area.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will restrict the sale of domestic floodlight bulbs to a 150 watt maximum. [117088]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
We have no plans to restrict the sale of such goods.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions in what circumstances poorly aimed and over-bright lighting is classified as a statutory nuisance. [117086]
Mr. Hill:
Although light is not a specified statutory nuisance it may be considered as a nuisance in cases where intrusive lighting is so severe as to be prejudicial to health. It is for a local authority environmental health officer to decide whether there is a "statutory nuisance" occurring in a particular situation.
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the report by Town and Country Strategies on the Thameslink 2000 project; and if he will place a copy of the report in the Library. [117217]
Mr. Hill:
Town and Country Strategies have made representations to the Secretary of State on Railtrack's Thameslink 2000 project, in the form of a report which expresses concerns about some aspects of the proposals. They have asked for this report to be treated as their statement of case for the purposes of the public inquiry which will start on 27 June 2000. The Department has forwarded this report to the Inspector who will conduct the inquiry. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the report at this stage. I have placed a copy of it in the Library.
Mr. Hunter:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what reports he has received from the Police and the Health and Safety Executive following their investigation into the accident
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 433W
near Junction 7 on the M3 on 7 March involving a lorry carrying butane gas cylinders; and what implications they have for the amendment of safety regulations. [117223]
Mr. Hill:
Investigations are still in progress.
Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list the information he received concerning the effect on the environment of road haulage movements which gave rise to the increase in vehicle excise duty for 40-tonne trucks in the 1999 Budget; [116865]
(3) if he will list the information he received between March 1999 and March 2000 concerning the effect on the environment of road haulage movements which gave rise to the decrease in vehicle excise duty by £1,800 for 40-tonne trucks in the Budget. [116866]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 30 March 2000]: Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In his 1999 Budget, the Chancellor made clear that a high VED rate had been set for the new 40-tonne, 5-axle vehicle first allowed in the UK from 1 January 1999 in order to discourage its use on UK roads. This was in view of the significant extra road damage caused by lorries running these new 11.5 tonne axle weights.
The Changes the Chancellor made to VED rates for goods vehicles in his recent Budget and the reasons for them are explained in paragraphs 6.69 to 6.72 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, published on 21 March 2000. The VED rate of £5,750 set for the new, road-damaging 40-tonne lorry on 5-axles in Budget 99 has successfully discouraged its use by domestic hauliers. However, now that domestic hauliers who need the highest weight limits have the option to use the less damaging 6-axle 44-tonne lorry within the UK, the only UK hauliers who still need to use the 40-tonne lorry are international operators using continental roads with 40-tonne lorry weight limits.
(2) if he will give local authorities powers to curb excessive lighting. [117087]
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) the environment and (b) the number of road haulage movements of the decrease in vehicle excise duty rates announced in the Budget; [116837]
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