---

Red Ensign

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will ensure that the Red Ensign is flown from public buildings to mark Merchant Navy Day on 3 September. [130559]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 17 July 2000]: The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions will fly the Red Ensign from its headquarter buildings on Merchant Navy Day. The day will be marked by special events to celebrate our merchant navy and to highlight the opportunities of a merchant navy career.

Aggregates

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the Quarry Products Association's proposed preferential scheme for aggregates from quarry operators meeting defined environmental criteria. [131092]

Ms Beverley Hughes: My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning held a number of discussions with my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on the Quarry Products Association's proposals for a voluntary alternative to a levy on primary aggregates, including their scheme for preferential procurement of aggregate by the public sector.

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement about the green purchasing commitments set out in the document entitled, "Building a better quality of life--a strategy for more sustainable construction". [131093]

Ms Beverley Hughes: In "Building a better quality of life--a strategy for more sustainable construction", which I launched during National Construction Week this year, we recognised the Government's responsibilities, as the industry's leading client, to set an example in the sustainable procurement, maintenance and operation of its built assets.

On 10 July my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning launched the sustainability action plan of the Government Construction Clients' Panel--"Achieving sustainability in construction procurement". The plan's framework is based upon the 10 themes for action from

18 Jul 2000 : Column: 137W

"Building a better quality of life". It supports other cross- government initiatives such as "Achieving Excellence", sets milestones, and outlines a collective programme for implementation. The plan also commits Departments, agencies and NDPBs to assess their current situation, and develop their own action plans (or update existing plans). These would be in line with overall objectives, but specific to individual Departments' activities. The Local Government Task Force is developing a similar approach for local authorities to apply to their construction procurement.

Disabled Drivers

Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many disabled drivers are awaiting an on-road assessment; how many have been waiting since November 1998; and when he will amend the regulations to allow the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre to authorise applicants to drive for one day for the purposes of assessing whether they are fit to resume driving. [130562]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 17 July 2000]: There are currently 51 drivers awaiting on-road assessments. Of these, three have been waiting since November 1998. The process of amending the regulations is at an advanced stage and we hope to implement the changes later this year.

Planning Consultations

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many representations have been received to the consultations initiated by GOSE on PPG3 and RP69; how many of these were (a) on the official response form and (b) in other forms; and what weight was given to each such type of response. [131320]

Ms Beverley Hughes: My Department consulted on PPG3 last year and received 620 responses, of which the majority were supportive. Final PPG3 was published in March of this year. The Government Office for the South East led the consultation on draft RPG9 this year and have received 922 responses, all of which are being considered very carefully irrespective of the form in which they were made.

Car Registrations

Mrs. Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many new motor cars were registered at the DVLA in each month from January 1999 to May 2000 using (a) the DVLA form V55/1 and (b) the DVLA form V55/5. [131323]

Mr. Hill: Figures for the first registration of new motor cars categorised by the type of application form used are not readily available. Vehicles registered on form V55/1 include all types of new vehicles. Vehicles first registered on form V55/5 include vehicles that are not new. Many new vehicles are registered by motor dealers using an electronic system, known as AFRL (automated first registration and licensing). These cases do not use a paper form, but would have used the V55/1 form if they had not been processed through the AFRL system. The table

18 Jul 2000 : Column: 138W

shows the number of registrations recorded at DVLA for all vehicles by type of form and the number of AFRL registrations.

	V55/1	V55/5	AFRL	Total
1999
January	101,150	12,372	74,529	188,051
February	93,006	14,491	60,777	168,274
March	173,928	20,944	155,647	350,519
April	152,052	16,718	82,752	251,522
May	126,939	17,233	80,145	224,317
June	128,049	21,522	96,530	246,101
July	124,793	20,949	88,202	233,944
August	89,761	18,399	67,083	175,243
September	141,313	22,529	216,339	380,181
October	117,483	20,060	89,033	226,576
November	77,856	19,203	98,825	195,884
December	58,932	14,655	59,886	133,473
2000
January	68,161	17,654	127,551	213,366
February	55,847	18,768	90,775	165,390
March	118,404	26,142	259,478	404,042
April	82,651	19,657	121,685	223,993
May	80,401	23,166	151,256	254,823

Declaration of Interest

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he made a declaration in relation to the Rail and Maritime Transport Union of his interest in accordance with paragraph 110 of the Ministerial Code, at the meeting he held with the Department of Trade and Industry and unions to discuss ship building on 13 July. [131194]

Ms Beverley Hughes: No declaration was made as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no private interest in the business discussed.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department between 19 October 1999 and 20 April which requested information pursuant to previous answers. [131125]

Ms Beverley Hughes: For the period in question, 48 parliamentary questions were tabled to my Department which requested information pursuant to previous answers out of a total of 2,865 questions.

Mortgages

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 13 July 2000, Official Report, column 567W, what proportion of (a) all mortgages and (b) the total value of mortgages, were new mortgages on (i) fixed, (ii) discounted variable and (iii) other variable rates in each year from 1994 to 1998. [131325]

Mr. Mullin: The proportion of new mortgages that were fixed rate, discounted variable rate and other variable rate is provided in the table.

18 Jul 2000 : Column: 139W

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
	Percentage of new mortgages by number
Fixed	49.4	30.7	20.5	41.2	49.9
Discounted variable	28.5	49.1	47.2	30.3	28.8
Other variable	22.2	20.2	32.3	28.4	21.3
	Percentage of new mortgages by value
Fixed	51.5	33.8	18.2	45.4	53.1
Discounted variable	26.0	45.3	47.9	27.2	26.0
Other variable	22.5	20.9	33.9	27.4	20.9

Note:

Figures may not sum to 100.0 due to rounding

Source:

DETR 5 per cent. Survey of Mortgage Lenders

Most fixed rate mortgages will revert to variable rate mortgages after an agreed period of anything from six months up to 10 years.

House Prices

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what were the average house prices in (a) South East England, (b) London, (c) North East England and (d) the West Midlands, in (i) 1995, (ii) 1996, (iii) 1997, (iv) 1998 and (v) 1999. [131065]

Mr. Mullin: The figures for average house prices are as follows:

				£
	South East	London	North East	West Midlands
1995	83,030	89,528	46,565	62,123
1996	87,644	94,065	51,009	64,320
1997	94,842	105,819	52,824	67,803
1998	106,378	114,760	55,957	71,864
1999	121,654	142,321	61,620	79,757

Source:

DETR five per cent. survey of mortgage lenders

---