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Crash Barriers

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will estimate the annual cost to British industry of delays caused by repairs to corrugated steel barriers for the most recent year for which figures are available. [154474]

Mr. Hill: The information requested is not held centrally.

Resources Redistribution

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what plans he has to divert resources from London and the South East to other parts of the country; [154298]

(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the memorandum written by the Prime Minister's principal private secretary in February concerning movement of resources from London and the South East to other parts of the country. [154296]

Ms Armstrong: There are no plans to divert resources from London and the South East to other parts of the country.

Ministerial Meetings

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many ministerial meetings with hon. Members have been cancelled by Ministers since 1 January. [155237]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: The information requested is not held centrally.

Pollution

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of less- polluting vehicles in major cities. [155461]

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Mr. Hill: My Department sponsors the Energy Saving Trust's "Powershift" programme, providing financial support and other measures to encourage the purchase of new gas and electric vehicles. Powershift has been running since 1996, and my Department is today launching a consultation on proposals for the future direction of the programme, aimed at getting the greatest environmental and health benefits and encouraging the wider uptake of cleaner fuel vehicles in the cities and towns which have the biggest air quality challenges. The consultation document describes new initiatives designed to promote more use of natural gas for heavy public service and delivery lorries, which are cleaner and much quieter than diesel engines; and to encourage more use of electric vehicles, which have zero tailpipe emissions.

Powershift, dealing with new vehicles, is complemented by the Clean Up programme, which provides grants towards existing vehicles being fitted with pollution control measures. Both programmes help local authorities to give their residents a cleaner and healthier environment, using the new powers to set up priority Air Quality Management Areas.

Rail Saver Tickets

Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many reduced price saver-type tickets were purchased (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of all rail tickets sold in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [155734]

Mr. Hill: The information required is not held centrally. Individual train operators would be free to provide this information at their commercial discretion.

Highways Agency

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the expenditure of the Highways Agency was in Hull in each

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of the past five years, indicating the schemes on which it has been spent and the proposals for the next five years; and what the expenditure was for estuarial (a) ports and (b) cities, of a similar size and location to Hull. [155386]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 26 March 2001]: The question relates to operational matters on the Trunk Road in Hull. I have accordingly asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, Mr. Tim Matthews, to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 29 March 2001:

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on expenditure by the Highways Agency in Hull.

In broad terms the Agency has spent £7.631m over the past five years on routine maintenance and small-scale improvements on the A63 and A1033 in Kingston upon Hull including preparation work for the A1033 Hedon Road Improvement. This expenditure is split over the last 5 years as follows:

Financial year	£ million
1996-97	0.177
1997-98	1.134
1998-99	1.551
1999-2000	1.943
2000-01	2.826
Total	7.631

The Agency allocates its resources on the basis of need and in accordance with the objectives laid down in our Business Plan as agreed with Ministers. I regret that since information is not held by the Agency in a format that allows comparison with other estuarial ports and cities of similar size to Hull, I am not able to supply this.
As to the future, the Agency's recently produced Business Plan for 2001/02 places a continuing emphasis on maintenance with an increase in resources over the next 3 years. Also, construction will shortly begin on the Hedon Road Improvement at an estimated cost of £53m. Construction will take place over a 2½ year period.
In addition to this, work is underway on the Hull East-West Corridor Multi-Modal Study. Led by the Government Office Yorkshire and Humberside the study will develop a sustainable and

29 Mar 2001 : Column: 738W

integrated plan to address the problems on the A63/A1033 through Kingston upon Hull and its surrounding area. Amongst the matters being considered are measures that will:
Reduce congestion on the A63/A1033
Improve the economic viability of the Port of Hull and the use of the route as part of the E20 Trans European Corridor
Facilitate, where possible, economic growth and regeneration in Kingston upon Hull and East Riding
Reduce the environmental problems along the route (in particular noise and air quality).
The study is due to report in Autumn 2001 and its findings will be taken forward to the Regional Planning Body for their consideration in the first instance. Any proposals may subsequently go forward as candidates for programme entry.
Should you require any further information, please contact the Area Manager for this part of the Network, John Bagley at our Leeds office, on 0113 283 6495.

Road Signs

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent survey his Department has undertaken on the standards, upkeep and adequacy of road signs in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [155964]

Mr. Hill: My Department is not responsible for roads other than those in England. We have not surveyed English roads for which the Secretary of State is not the highway authority, as these are the responsibility of local government. The Highways Agency carries out regular inspections of the condition of traffic signs on trunk roads and trunk road motorways, in accordance with the departmental standard for sign maintenance, which has recently been updated. The new standard is based more on the actual visual performance and effectiveness of the signs than the previous version, and is less reliant on subjective judgments.

Opinion Polling

Mr. St. Aubyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what (a) quantitative and (b) qualitative analytical work his Department has commissioned from GGC/NOP since 1 May 1997; and what was (i) the cost of the contract and (ii) the specific nature of the work commissioned. [155660]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth [holding answer 28 March 2001]: The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Central) has commissioned the following research projects from NOP Market Research Group Ltd. and NOP Solutions since 1 May 1997:

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Year	Nature of work
1997-98 (from 1 May)	Survey on home composting(18)
	Research on effectiveness of proposed publicity for London Government Referendum(19)
1998-99	None
1999-2000	Research on awareness of abolition of leaded petrol(18)
2000-01 (to date)	Bus passenger satisfaction survey(18)
	DETR (Central) staff attitudes survey(18),(19)

⁽¹⁸⁾ Quantitative

⁽¹⁹⁾ Qualitative

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Total planned expenditure on all these projects will reach £282,974 (excluding VAT) by the end of April 2001. Several projects involve both qualitative and quantitative research and it is not always possible to

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separate out the costs of these two elements. However, £252,624 of the total was spent on mostly quantitative research and £30,350 on mostly qualitative.

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DETR contracts like these are let through competitive tendering, in compliance with Treasury rules.In order to protect DETR's ability to purchase services at best value through the competitive tendering process we do not usually publish costs of individual contracts.

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