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Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the United Kingdom's contribution to global carbon dioxide emissions has been for each of the past three years, (a) by volume and (b) in percentage terms. [145590]
Mr. Meacher: We estimate that the UK has contributed the following to global carbon dioxide emissions for the years 1996, 1997 and 1998, which
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represent the latest available data, expressed as million tonnes of carbon:
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global emissions(20) | 7,856 | 7,925 | 7,834 |
| UK emissions | 162.0 | 154.8 | 155.5 |
| Percentage UK of global | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
(20) Includes an estimate of global emissions from land use change of 1,636 MtC per year
Children's Seatbelts
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the outcome of the 5 December 2000 meeting with the Motor Trade Liaison Group, with reference to children's seatbelts. [144700]
Mr. Hill: The question of testing child restraints in the MOT test was discussed with trade representatives at the 5 December meeting.
The consensus view of the meeting was that it would be impractical to include child restraints as a formal item of test. It was agreed instead that MOT testers would, in future, give advice to vehicle presenters about the fitment of child restraints whenever they noticed an apparent problem. The Department will also be running a major publicity campaign about child restraints towards the end of January and also during February. This will give 'best practice' advice on both the radio and in the 'Mother and Baby' magazine, and will include the distribution of reminder cards for people to keep.
Railway Accidents
Mr. Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the annual average figure was of serious injuries and deaths on the railways per passenger mile travelled in the two decades preceding privatisation; and what has been the annual average figure since privatisation. [144823]
Mr. Hill: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Death and injury rates for passengers on Britain's railways can be found in the Chief Inspector of Railways' Annual Reports on railway safety, copies of which are held in both Libraries of the House. The tables list these rates, which were first published in the 1994-95 Annual Report and date back to 1989. But due to the various changes in accident reporting arrangements over the years, comprehensive data on serious injury rates have not been available since 1996-97.
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| Train accidents per billion passenger miles | Movement accidents per billion passenger miles | Non-movement accidents per billion passenger journeys | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Killed | Major | Minor | Killed | Major | Minor | Killed | Major | Minor |
| 1989 | 0.24 | 1.58 | 11.03 | 1.01 | 3.93 | 105.4 | 1.25 | 82.55 | 2,687 |
| 1990 | 0 | 0.53 | 5.88 | 1.43 | 4.37 | 104.1 | 1.29 | 67.31 | 2,294 |
| 1991-92 | 0.8 | 0.75 | 12.01 | 1.16 | 3.03 | 90.65 | 0.63 | 63.64 | 2,091 |
| 1992-93 | 0 | 0.13 | 2.67 | 0.68 | 3.35 | 98.93 | 1.29 | 100.26 | 2,395 |
| 1993-94 | 0 | 0.22 | 5.67 | 0.62 | 1.8 | 95.37 | 1.3 | 103.05 | 2,793 |
| 1994-95 | 0.14 | 0.5 | 8.17 | 0.55 | 2.65 | 98.41 | 1.26 | 85.28 | 2,685 |
| 1995-96 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 2.24 | 0.29 | 1.91 | 102.91 | 1.23 | 98.65 | 2,819 |
Notes:
1. The introduction of the Reporting of Injuries and Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) in 1996-97 resulted in a change of injury class for members of the pubic including passengers. There is now no distinction between a major and minor injury, the reporting trigger being that the injured person is removed from the site of the accident to hospital immediately.
2. The rates shown in the tables are for injuries to passengers on all railways in Great Britain broken down into train accidents, movement accidents and non-movement accidents. Train and movement accident rates are related to billions of passenger miles. Non-movement accidents are shown per billion passenger journeys as that figure relates more closely to the use of stations.
3. Train accidents are--collisions, derailments, trains running into obstructions, fires on board trains and missile damage to drivers cab windows. Movement accidents are injuries caused by the train but not falling in the category of train accidents, e.g. passengers falling out of a train door while the train is travelling between stations. Non-movement accidents do not involve trains, e.g. passengers falling on platforms at stations.
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Left-hand Drive Vehicles
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his most recent estimate is of (a) the percentage of left-hand drive vehicles on British roads and (b) the proportion of road accidents involving left-hand drive vehicles in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [144840]
Mr. Hill: The data requested are not available.
Litter Bins
Mr. Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2001, Official Report, column 418W, from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what advice he has issued on the security implications of the provision of litter bins at railway stations. [145182]
Mr. Hill: The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions provides advice on a range of security measures at Railway Stations, including the provision of litter bins. The current advice is that there should be no litter bins on stations.
This advice is currently under review. The DETR is working with the Home Office (Police Scientific and Development Branch) and other Government agencies with a view to providing safe and affordable litter bins at stations where this is judged appropriate.
Road Gritting
Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to include in the standard spending allowance an additional dedicated sum for gritting and treatment to roads and paths. [144913]
Ms Beverley Hughes: There is already a 'winter maintenance' element within the existing Highway Maintenance Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) calculation. Since SSAs are not ring-fenced, Sefton may choose to spend more or less on winter maintenance depending on local decisions on priorities. We have no plans to add any additional element or to ring fence the existing amount.
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North West Development Agency
Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many jobs have been created as a result of the activities of the North West Development Agency. [145303]
Ms Armstrong: Measuring project outputs from the Land and Property, Single Regeneration Budget, Rural and Inward Investment programmes, the number of jobs created or attracted as a result of the activities of the North West Development Agency since 1 April 1999 is approximately 32,500.
Wolverhampton Railway Station
Mr. Purchase: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what quantitative evidence he has to show that the benefits of the planned multi-modal interchange at Wolverhampton Railway Station will exceed the costs; and if he will publish his evidence. [144930]
Mr. Hill: The Wolverhampton Town Centre Access scheme was proposed as part of the West Midlands Local Transport Plan in July 2000. The scheme was provisionally accepted for funding in the recently announced local transport capital settlement on the basis of the appraisal information provided with the Plan. We have indicated that the appraisal requires some more work. However, it demonstrates that the present value of benefits that can be expressed in monetary terms are of the order of £22 million compared with present value costs of £9 million. There are other benefits that have not been expressed in monetary terms. I have made arrangements for a copy of the appraisal to be placed in Library.
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