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Porton Products
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what products manufactured at CAMR and Porton Down were subject to agreements with Porton Products for their marketing and distribution between 1986 and 1994; where these products were (a) marketed and (b) distributed to; and if he will make a statement. [138421]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply
Porton Products Ltd. was purchased by a French company, the Beaufour Ipsen Group, in 1994. I refer the hon. Member to the list of products subject to the marketing agreement with Porton Products Ltd., which has been deposited in the Library. Neither CAMR nor the
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Department has information relating to the locations in which CAMR products were marketed and distributed by Porton Products Ltd. Beaufour Ipsen may be able to provide the hon. Member with such information.
ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
Transport Investment
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what public investment in public transport and road improvement has been made since 1997. [135209]
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Mr. Hill: "Transport 2010: The 10-Year Plan" published by the Government in July contained details of historic and planned future levels of public investment in transport. Between 1997-98 and 1999-2000, DETR funded public capital investment in transport totalling £7.8 billion in cash terms. In the same period DETR funded public expenditure on transport totalling £22.4 billion in cash terms. The table provides a breakdown of these figures by mode of transport and year and illustrates how spending on transport is due to increase as a result of the Spreading Review 2000 settlement announced by the Chancellor in July. Copies of the 10-Year Plan have been placed in the House Libraries.
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| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Investment expenditure | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.5. | 6.8 |
| of which: | |||||||
| Strategic roads | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Rail | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1 | 2.3 |
| Local transport | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| London | 1.2 | 1 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Other transport areas | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Public Resource expenditure | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.9 |
| of which: | |||||||
| Strategic roads | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Rail | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Local transport | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3 |
| London | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Other transport areas | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Total Public expenditure | 7.4 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.8 | 10.2 | 12.1 |
| of which: | |||||||
| Strategic roads | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Rail | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 3.6 |
| Local transport | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| London | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Other transport areas | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
(1) Rounded, outturn prices
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Animal Rendering Plants
Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the implications of the Phillips report for animal rendering plants. [136385]
Mr. Meacher: The Phillips Inquiry report raises a wide range of issues, including some concerning the management, operation and regulation of meat rendering plants. The Government are considering the implications of this extensive and complex report and will publish a response in due course.
Drink Driving
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries between 1 December and 5 January have been attributed to drinking and driving in each of the last 10 years. [136502]
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Mr. Hill [holding answer 6 November 2000]: The estimates of casualties in drink drive related accidents in Great Britain are shown as follows:
| Fatal | Serious | |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 60 | 450 |
| 1990 | 50 | 330 |
| 1991 | 60 | 340 |
| 1992 | 60 | 280 |
| 1993 | 40 | 230 |
| 1994 | 50 | 230 |
| 1995 | 60 | 280 |
| 1996 | 50 | 230 |
| 1997 | 40 | 220 |
| 1998-99(2) | 50 | 210 |
(2) Provisional
These figures are shown rounded to the nearest 10.
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London Underground
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the major breakdowns on the London Underground in the last 12 months. [137380]
Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground (LUL) but they have provided the following information.
LUL keep a range of records of incidents on the London Underground system. They do not use the term "major breakdown" as such, but the most appropriate measure to refer to is the record LUL have of operational or mechanical incidents which give rise to delays to passengers of over one hour. For the purpose of answering this question a "major breakdown" is therefore taken to be an incident which gives rise to delays to passengers of over one hour on the system, and is related to a failure of infrastructure or assets on the system.
The table sets out, by line and by main categories of infrastructure or asset failure, the number of such incidents during the 12 months to 14 October 2000. The incidents are in practice very varied, and categories may inevitably overlap to some extent: for example, track failures may be closely linked to signal problems, and train or track failures may be linked to power problems.
The table excludes incidents which are not related to a failure of infrastructure or assets on the system. These include a wide range of instances: for example delays due to passengers reporting the smell of burning, or water on platforms, or broken glass roof panels at a station.
| Failures | Train/signal/track | Escalator | Lifts | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bakerloo Line | 19 | 8 | 36 | 18 |
| Central Line | 17 | 8 | -- | 8 |
| District Line | 13 | -- | -- | 11 |
| Jubilee and East London Lines | 8 | 3 | -- | 4 |
| Metropolitan and Circle (C and H) | 11 | -- | -- | 2 |
| Metropolitan and Circle (Main) | 8 | 3 | -- | 10 |
| Northern Line | 7 | 48 | 1 | 16 |
| Piccadilly Line | 7 | 10 | 4 | 9 |
| Victoria Line | 9 | 73 | -- | 11 |
| Waterloo and City | 5 | -- | -- | -- |
| Total | 104 | 153 | 41 | 89 |
Rail Services
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he has taken to ensure that better information is made available to the travelling public concerning the cancellation and disruption of train services arising from (a) Railtrack's rail replacement programmes and (b) disruption caused by adverse weather conditions. [138164]
Mr. Hill: On 9 November, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister met senior rail industry representatives to discuss progress with the national track recovery plan, including the need to provide better information to passengers during the current disruption to services. Train operators have, among other things,
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increased staffing on stations and trains by 1,000 and have placed posters on stations and distributed newsletters to passengers setting out service changes. The National Rail Enquiry Service has an extra 200 staff to help at its call centres and the National Rail website ("www.nationalrail.co.uk") is updating travel information three times an hour.
Pesticides
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will discuss with Ofwat proposals to encourage water companies to offer support to farmers who are committed to methods of cultivation and land management which reduce pesticide usage. [138302]
Mr. Mullin: Diffuse sources of pollution, including from the inappropriate use, mis-use or run-off from agricultural pesticides, fertilisers and cultivation (erosion) can increase the cost of purifying drinking water. The regulatory regime provides an incentive for water companies to adopt the most cost-effective way of delivering clean water to their customers. In some cases, there will be scope for innovative approaches to cutting treatment costs by reducing diffuse pollution. This could include supporting farmers in reducing their usage of chemicals, and I very much welcome the efforts of those water companies who have chosen to do this.
However, water companies are not responsible for the environmental quality of water more generally. The Government therefore believe that the principal channel for financial support for environmentally friendly farming practice should continue to be agri-environment measures. Expenditure on these measures will more than double in England over the seven year period of the England Rural Development Programme. The Government have published Codes of Good Agricultural Practice to help farmers protect water, air and soil, and also the Green Code for the safe use of pesticides. We are also encouraging the Environment Agency to focus more regulatory effort on the causes of diffuse pollution, particularly where bathing waters or river water quality objectives are threatened.
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