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Cornish

Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to complete his Department's assessment of the status of the Cornish language before ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in November this year. [119348]

Ms Beverley Hughes: We will consider carefully the Government's position on Cornish, taking account of the findings of an independent academic study commissioned by the Government Office for the South West and in consultation with other Departments. The Government expect to be in a position to ratify the Charter later this year. The timing of ratification does not depend on the outcome of our consideration of the issue of Cornish.

Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to publish the recently completed study report into the status and usage of the Cornish language in Cornwall. [119347]

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Ms Beverley Hughes: Copies of the report of the independent academic study on Cornish, commissioned by the Government Office for the South West, will be published shortly and copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The report will be available on the Government Office's website www.gosw.gov.uk and on request.

Ministerial Statements

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his Department's letter of 5 April to the right hon. Member for Fylde, signed by the Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, if it is the policy of his Department not to provide explanations of ministerial statements if the source for the facts contained therein is party political briefings. [119594]

Mr. Hill: I understand that this question arises from an exchange during oral questions on 13 April 1999, Official Report, column 13. I assume that my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson) was making reference to Sir Horace Cutler's internal report for the Tory Group on the GLC, which found that the only way the Tube could be privatised would be to reduce off-peak services to no more than two trains an hour.

Motorcycles

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will assess the benefits of reducing vehicle excise duty to zero for motorcycles under 125cc. [119598]

Mr. Hill: In November 1998, the Government consulted on a range of options for the environmental reform of Vehicle Excise Duty, including the creation of a new low VED band for motorcycles with engines up to 125cc. The benefits of motorcycle use are currently being examined in support of the work of the DETR's Advisory Group on Motorcycles. The outcome of those considerations will inform future decisions on Vehicle Excise Duty, which are a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it his policy to encourage more commuters to travel into London by motorcycle. [119597]

Mr. Hill: As London is shortly to have a Mayor, this issue will be for his or her consideration in drawing up an integrated transport strategy. Section 142 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 makes it clear that the Mayor's integrated transport strategy should encompass all forms of transport.

The Government's policy on transport was set in the White Paper "A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone" which, among other things, included a commitment to establish an advisory group on motorcycling. My noble Friend the Minister of State set up this group in May 1999.

The Government have also published guidance, which encourages local authorities to take account of motorcyclists when preparing their local transport plans.

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Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will issue guidance to local authorities on developing their own motorcycle strategy. [119600]

Mr. Hill: Local authorities are due to submit five-year local transport plans (LTPs) to Government by 31 July 2000. LTPs will give local authorities the discretion to devise integrated transport strategies at the local level in partnership with the local community. Last month my Department issued local authorities with guidance on producing LTPs. This encouraged local authorities to take account of the contribution that powered two-wheelers can make in delivering integrated transport--for example their use in congested traffic conditions or as an alternative to the car in remote areas--and the needs of motorcyclists, including parking, interchange facilities and appropriate road maintenance. A copy of the guidance--"Guidance on Full Local Transport Plans"--has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many road accidents (a) involving motorcyclists and (b) in total were caused by spilled diesel fuel in each of the last three years; and if he will revise construction and use Regulations for goods vehicles and PSVs to ensure that spillage from diesel fuel tanks is prevented by tamper-proof physical measures within the tank itself. [119599]

Mr. Hill: In 1999 information on the presence of oil or diesel on the road surface at the site of road accidents was collected for the first time and the data are not yet available. However, early indications are that accidents involving oil or diesel are 0.2 per cent. of all accidents; of which, 30 per cent. involved motorcycles (less than 1 per cent. of motorcycle accidents). Vehicle construction standards are agreed at a European level. A recently agreed amendment to the European fuel tank Directive includes measures to minimise fuel spillage due to missing or insecure fuel caps. We will be implementing all the mandatory provisions of the Directive, and will be considering whether the optional provisions are likely to strengthen our current construction and use requirements.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will encourage local authorities to exempt motorcycles from road user and workplace levy charging schemes. [119601]

Mr. Hill: Our response to our consultation paper, "Breaking the Logjam", which we published on 22 February, set out our policy on exemptions for motorcycles from road user charges and the workplace parking levy.

We intend to leave decisions on exemptions from road user charges to local discretion. Including motorcycles in a road user charging scheme would require practical difficulties to be overcome. We will explore these further with those local authorities that are actively considering a charging scheme as part of our Charging Development Partnership.

As to workplace parking levies, we propose that motorcycles should generally be exempt from counting towards a workplace parking licence total, but we will consider proposals from local authorities on their merits.

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North Wales Main Line

Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what assessment he has made of the reliability of the private commercial study produced by Virgin trains on the electrification of the North Wales main line; [119612]

(2) if he will commission an independent public study on the viability of the electrification of the North Wales main line. [119611]

Mr. Hill: There are no plans to commission an independent public study as the former Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, now the shadow Strategic Rail Authority, had no reason to doubt the reliability of the study produced by Virgin Trains in March 1999.

Road Schemes

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list the (a) deferred road schemes by authority featured in the Local Transport Settlement for 2000-01 and (b) road schemes contained in the provisional local transport plans for 2001-02 to 2004-05; [119716]

(2) if he will ensure that road schemes costing more than £5 million contained in full local transport plans will not be accepted by the Government unless there is clear evidence that alternative solutions to traffic problems have been considered first, along with a statement of why such solutions have been rejected. [119717]

Mr. Hill: A decision to defer consideration of the following major road schemes until the Full Local Transport Plans are received this year was announced last December in the Provisional Local Transport Settlement for 2000-01:

Area	Scheme
Barnsley	Cudworth Bypass
Birmingham	Northfield Regeneration
Birmingham	Selly Oak Access Road
Bristol	A4 Bath Road to Callington Road Link
Cheshire	A34 Alderley Edge Environmental Bypass
Cumbria	Carlisle Northern Development Route
Darlington	Darlington Cross Town Route Eastern Section
Derby	Derby Spur Extension
Derbyshire	Markham Employment Growth Zone
Devon	Barnstaple Western Bypass
Dorset	Weymouth Transportation and Regeneration Project
East Sussex	Newhaven Port Access Road
Kent	East Kent Access (Phase 1)
Kent	East Kent Access (Phase 2)
Leeds	East Leeds Link Road
Leeds	Leeds Inner Ring Road (Stage 7)
Lincolnshire	Future Major Economic Regeneration Scheme
Liverpool	Hall Lane Area Improvement
Medway	A228 Chattenden to Ropers Lane
Middlesbrough	East Middlesbrough Transport Corridor
North East Lincolnshire	South Humber Bank Link Road (Stage 2)
Rotherham	West Bawtry Road Improvement
Rutland	Oakham/(Langham) Bypass
Sandwell	Cradley Heath Town Centre Strategy (A4100)
Sheffield	Inner Relief Road--Stages II and III
Staffordshire	Biddulph Bypass
Staffordshire	Rugeley Eastern Bypass Stage 2
Stoke-on-Trent	Hanley Bentilee Link
Suffolk	South Lowestoft Relief Road
Surrey	A244 Cross Thames Transport Corridor
Wiltshire	Western Wiltshire Regeneration Corridor
Wirral	Birkenhead Town Link Division
Worcestershire	Wyre Piddle Bypass

The following decisions were reached on the remaining major road schemes contained in the Provisional Local Transport Plans:

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Area	Scheme
Accepted:
Essex	A131 Great Leighs Bypass
Leicestershire	Ashby Bypass Stage 2
Norfolk	Broome and Ellingham Bypass
Nottingham (G.N.)	A6002/A6007 Coventry Lane Improvement
Shropshire	A53 Hodnet Bypass
Somerset	Bridgewater Northern Distributor
Staffordshire	Burntwood Bypass
Stockton-on-Tees	South Stockton Link
	Provisionally accepted:
Barnsley	Coalfields Link Road Phases 2 and 3
Bedfordshire	A507 Ridgmont Bypass and Woburn Link
Bedfordshire	Bedford Western Bypass
Buckinghamshire	A4146 Stoke Hammond and Linsdale Western Bypass
Cambridgeshire	A142 Fordham Bypass
Doncaster	A6023 Denaby Main Division
Hertfordshire	Baldock Bypass
Manchester, Salford	Manchester/Salford Inner Relief Road (Regent Road/Gore Street)
North Yorkshire	Scarborough Integrated Transport Scheme
Nottinghamshire	A617 Mansfield Ashfield Regeneration Route
Suffolk	Stowmarket B1115 Relief Road
	Rejected:
Birmingham	Dudley Road Traffic Management Phase 2
Cornwall	Grampound Bypass
East Sussex	Bexhill and Hastings Link Road
Norfolk	Great Yarmouth A47/A149 Link Road
Reading	Cow Lane Bridges/Oxford Road Relief Road
Rotherham	A57(T) Todwick Crossroads to M1 J31
Stoke-on-Trent	Tunstall Northern Bypass
Stoke-on-Trent	City Centre Link
Warwickshire	Barford Bypass
West Sussex	Angmering Bypass

The "Guidance on Full Local Transport Plans" which was published in March of this year makes it clear that before major road schemes can be accepted for funding if bid for in the Full Local Transport Plans, local authorities will need to demonstrate that there is a problem that needs addressing and that they have looked for alternative solutions, in accordance with the principles of New Approach to Appraisal.

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