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Diamorphine
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what projects have been carried out to evaluate the efficacy of prescribing diamorphine to heroin addicts; and if he will make a statement. [125998]
Ms Stuart: The Department has not carried out any projects on the efficacy of prescribing diamorphine to heroin addicts, which is subject to the Misuse of Drugs Act (Supply to Addicts) Regulations 1997. The Department is funding a £2.4 million research initiative on drug misuse. Over the next four years this will deliver evidence to underpin our 10 year anti-drugs strategy. A major aim of this initiative is to improve knowledge on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatment and care procedures. The initiative includes a trial comparing the efficacy of substitute prescribing of injectable and liquid methadone.
Vaccine Damage
Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements exist to consider cases before vaccine damage tribunals of simultaneous administration of multiple vaccines which have led to vaccine damage to recipients. [125873]
Mr. Bayley: I have been asked to reply.
The Appeals Service tribunals hear appeals in relation to vaccine damage. These tribunals are constituted of an independent legally qualified panel member and one or two independent specialist medically qualified panel members, all appointed by the Lord Chancellor. These arrangements apply to all cases involving the administration of one or more vaccinations against diseases specified in the Vaccine Damage Payment Act 1979.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to reply to the questions tabled by the hon. Member for North Shropshire on 9 May. [125813]
Ms Stuart: I replied to 23 of the hon. Member's 29 questions on 12 and 13 June.
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ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
GM Crops
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the GM crop test sites that are not on his Department's website by (a) type of crop and (b) county. [123916]
Mr. Meacher: The Department's website is updated regularly to include a list of all the sites which have been notified by consent holders for Part B research and development releases (www.environment.detr.gov.uk/acre/trials.htm).
There is no requirement to notify the Department of releases of a GM crop which has a Europe wide Part C marketing consent for cultivation. However, the industry body SCIMAC has agreed to provide location details for the GM maize being grown in the Farm Scale Evaluations under a Part C consent. All Farm Scale Evaluations sites are listed at www.environment.detr.gov.uk/fse/location/index.htm.
We have no information on any other small scale test sites for such crops with Part C consent as they do not have to be notified to the Department. Growing for any purpose other than small scale trials is precluded by the terms of the agreement with SCIMAC on the growing of GM crops finalised last November.
Estate Action Programmes (Westminster)
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the total expenditure by his Department on each estate action programme in the borough of Westminster since 1993; and what this was as a percentage of the total cost of each programme. [125423]
Ms Beverley Hughes: The total expenditure for each of the estate action projects in Westminster since 1993 is as follows:
| Mozart Estate | Lisson Green | |
|---|---|---|
| 1993-94 | 179,000 | -- |
| 1994-95 | 1,500,000 | 1,136,000 |
| 1995-96 | 1,384,000 | 945,000 |
| 1996-97 | 2,180,000 | 1,955,000 |
| 1997-98 | 3,000,600 | 6,000,000 |
| 1998-99 | 3,200,000 | 2,660,000 |
| 1999-2000 | 600,000 | 1,701,400 |
| Total | 12,043,600 | 14,397,400 |
The total expenditure detailed above as a percentage of the total cost of programme is:
| Total cost of programme | Percentage of grant expenditure against total cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Mozart Estate | 37,636,000 | 32 |
| Lisson Green | 63,031,000 | 22.8 |
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Low Bridges
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many accidents arising from strikes on bridges recorded in the last two years have been (a) fatal, (b) minor and (c) serious; and what has been the cost in the last two years of road strikes on low bridges. [125587]
Mr. Hill: The number of injury accidents in Great Britain which involved a road vehicle striking the side or roof of any bridge are given in the following table for the two most recent years for which figures are available.
| Fatal | Serious | Slight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 9 | 69 | 264 |
| 1998 | 14 | 67 | 282 |
Railtrack estimate that the annual cost of road strikes on low railway bridges is of the order of £10 million. This includes both the repair and delay costs, including those in damage-only accidents.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action the Government are taking in conjunction with (a) railway companies and (b) highway authorities to minimise damage to bridges caused by road vehicles striking low bridges. [125590]
Mr. Hill: Guidance has already been published on a range of measures to prevent bridge strikes, and regulations now require the height of the motor vehicle to be displayed in the cab, if the overall travelling height is in excess of three metres. The Department continues to chair the Bridge Strike Prevention Group which meets twice a year to discuss issues related to bridge strikes with the road transport industry, local authorities and bridge owners, to review trends and to encourage the adoption (and where appropriate the development) of new cost-effective measures to reduce the number and severity of bridge strikes.
A436
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what additional information he requires to enable him to approve funding to upgrade the A436 in Gloucestershire; [125540]
- (2) what factors he took into account in deciding not to fund Gloucestershire County Council's priority request to upgrade the A436 between Shipton Solers and Crickley Hill. [125539]
Mr. Hill: The Government Office for the South West wrote to Gloucestershire County Council on 16 December 1999 explaining why my Department was unable to accept the A436 Shipton Solers to Air Balloon scheme for support in the 2000-01 Local Transport Capital Settlement. The County Council has been advised to consider alternative solutions including looking at the feasibility of dealing with the safety issues by a combination of smaller scale schemes.
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Central London Journey Times
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the average speed of a journey through central London in daylight by (a) car, (b) bus and (c) bicycle. [124861]
Mr. Hill [holding answer 9 June 2000]: The average speeds recorded in the 1999 DETR door-to-door journey times survey in central London were:
| Miles per hour | |
|---|---|
| (a) Car | 3.4 |
| (b) Bus | 2.5 |
| (c) Bicycle | 5.4 |
These are door-to-door journey times and so include an element of walking to and from bus stops, car parks etc. All journeys are made within the hours of 7am and 7pm.
The full results of the survey are published in the DETR Transport Statistics Bulletin SB (00) 14, "Journey Times Survey, Inner and Central London: 1999", available in the House of Commons Library.
Railways (Expenditure)
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the increase in capacity on the railways that would result from additional expenditure of (a) £500 million per year and (b) £1 billion per year. [125548]
Mr. Hill: The effect of expenditure on capacity would obviously depend on the nature of the expenditure. I cannot anticipate the conclusions on railway capacity and expenditure which will be reflected in the 10-year Plan for Transport which my right hon. Friend will be publishing next month.
Bus Accidents
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what statistics he collects about bus accidents involving loose wheels. [125737]
Mr. Hill: Currently, all Vehicle Examiners who receive a request from the police to inspect vehicles that have been involved in a road traffic accident are required to complete a comprehensive report to help determine whether defects on the vehicle caused or contributed to the reason for the accident or to the severity of any injuries. Most of the requests are for examinations of heavy vehicles. A copy of the report goes to the police while another is sent to the VI Vehicle Safety Branch in Bristol. The information in the report is entered into the Inspectorate's "accidents" database which contains details of any faults or defects found on the vehicles examined, for example, wheel loss or brake failure.
Vehicle Safety Branch are currently responsible for managing the database, on behalf of DETR's Vehicle Standards and Engineering Division. Since 1991, when the database was last revised, there have been 122 reported incidents of wheel loss on public service or large
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passenger vehicles above 16 passenger seats capacity, and four reported incidents on mini-buses with between nine and 16 passenger seats.
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