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Railway Industry
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the members and/organisations, companies and individuals represented on the Health and Safety Commission Railway Industry Advisory Committee; what the frequency of meetings of the RIAC is; and what recommendations have been (a) made and (b) implemented as an outcome of the meetings and discussions which have taken place. [38971]
Mr. Jamieson: The current membership of the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) Railway Industry Advisory Committee (RIAC) is as follows:
- Margaret Burns—Chair (a member of the HSC)
John Cartledge—London Transport Users Committee, Rail Passengers Council
David Heseldin—Rail Passengers Council
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Vernon Hince, Phil Dee—RMT
Mick Rix, Dave Bennett—ASLEF
John Allen, Alan Tipping—TSSA
Paul Reuter—Amicus (formerly AEEU)
Aidan Nelson—Railway Safety (also chair of RIAC's Human Factors working group)
Chris Leah—Railtrack plc (in railway administration)
Richard Gostling—Railway Industry Association
Terry Worrall—Association of Train Operating Companies (employed by Thames Trains)
Paul Abbott—Railtrack plc (in railway administration) (also chairman of RIAC's Freight working group)
Allen Baker—Rolling Stock Companies (employed by Angel Train Contracts)
David Madden—Heritage Railway Association
Mike Strzelecki—London Underground Ltd.
Andrew Steel—Light Rail representative (employed by Stagecoach Supertram).
RIAC's activities prior to April 2001 were reported in successive editions of the Chief Inspector of Railways' Annual Report, copies of which are in the House Library. Since April 2001, RIAC has considered and provided the HSC with advice on aspects of all the recent public inquiry reports. Following a review of RIAC and the recommendations of Lord Cullen's public inquiry, its role was refocused in November 2001 to provide strategic advice to the HSC. Hence, at its most recent meeting in January 2002, RIAC considered HSE's draft railway regulatory strategy, and a negotiating strategy for the draft railway safety directive, both of which have subsequently been agreed by the HSC.
Business Contacts
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how his Department define the terms (a) independent advice, (b) independent assessment and (c) independent report when (i) awarding contracts for research and (ii) referring to written documentation published for his Department by outside organisations and bodies. [38965]
Mr. Jamieson: My Department seeks and commissions advice from all types of academics, consultants, committees and other public and private sector enterprises. That advice gives rise to reports, independent of the Department's own view, which may be published by the organisation or by the Department.
Research Documents
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list (a) published documentation and (b) unpublished written reports or other documentation which have resulted from research or other contracts awarded since (i) 1 May 1997 and (ii) 1 January 2001 by (A) his Department and (B) the Health and Safety Executive to (1) Balfour Beatty plc, (2) Bombardier Transportation
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(formerly Adtranz), (3) WS Atkins plc, (4) Amey/Amec, (5) Bechtel-Halcrow, (6) Jarvis and (7) AEA Technology; and if he will place copies of related documentation in the Library. [38961]
Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 813W. Information about my Department's research and other contracts is made widely available through publications, websites and events. The exceptions to this policy are work-related to national security or which involve issues of commercial confidentiality. HSE research reports are published in full and free of charge on their website.
The range of expertise of the firms identified is such that they may be commissioned by many areas of my Department. The information requested is not recorded centrally and would require searches throughout the Department, at disproportionate cost.
SSA (Surrey)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the initial assessment of SSA and grant finance to local authorities in the case of district councils in Surrey. [39014]
Dr. Whitehead: The 2002–03 local government finance settlement meant that, taken as a whole, district councils in Surrey received a grant increase of £2.75 million (2.3 per cent.) which translates into an SSA increase of £3.67 million (3.7 per cent.) All of these authorities benefited from our guarantee that districts would get grant increases of at least the rate of inflation.
Highways Agency
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much money the Highways Agency has spent on maintenance of main roads in each of the past 10 years. [39135]
Mr. Jamieson: During the last 10 years the Highways Agency and its predecessor organisations have spent the following amounts on maintenance of motorways and trunk roads:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1991–92 | 482 |
| 1992–93 | 539 |
| 1993–94 | 584 |
| 1994–95 | 595 |
| 1995–96 | 488 |
| 1996–97 | 428 |
| 1997–98 | 499 |
| 1998–99 | 638 |
| 1999–2000 | 726 |
| 2000–01 | 722 |
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much additional public sector investment the Highways Agency will make during the period of the 10 Year Plan over and above spending on routine maintenance. [39137]
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Mr. Jamieson: The 10-year Plan for Transport provided for expenditure of £22.5 billion. This is broken down as follows:
| £ billion | |
|---|---|
| Investment | |
| Major schemes over £5 million | 7.2 |
| Expenditure on small scale improvements to the network | 3.3 |
| Structural maintenance—renewal of carriageways and bridges | 4.3 |
| Sub total | 14.8 |
| Payments to the private sector for privately financed investment | 3.9 |
| Other | |
| HA Administration | 1.0 |
| Routine and winter maintenance | 2.8 |
| Sub total | 3.8 |
| Total 10-year plan funding | 22.5 |
Travel Concessions Eligibility Bill
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of local authorities he estimates will be fully funded for the cost of implementing the Travel Concessions Eligibility Bill; and which local authorities he estimates will not be fully compensated for the cost. [39013]
Ms Keeble: The Government will take into account in setting the spending totals in the Spending Review the additional cost on local government overall of the Travel Concessions (Eligibility) Act 2002. Provision will be included in the 2003–04 general grant for local authorities, and it will be for councils to decide their spending priorities in the light of their responsibilities and the wishes of their electorate. It is not possible to identify provision for a particular responsibility within general grant, and the grant for individual councils will not, in any case, be available until the provisional local government finance settlement is announced at the end of the year.
National Transport Model
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 25 February 2002, Official Report, column 800W, ref 36609, when this model will be completed; and whether there are funds allocated in the 10-year Plan budget which will enable projects to be restructured if the modelling reveals flaws in the initial analysis for the plan. [39157]
Mr. Jamieson: A preliminary version of our enhanced National Transport Model is under test at present. As part of the review of the 10-year Plan, expected to be completed this summer, the enhanced version will be used to provide revised forecasts for the impacts of the plan, although the model itself is subject to constant review.
The 10-year Plan provides an investment framework with indicative funding allocations, with some unallocated moneys in later plan years. This allows flexibility for later years. Projects will emerge from multi-modal studies, from the business plans of the Strategic Rail Authority
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and Highways Agency, and the Local Transport Plan bids of local authorities, and will be subject to detailed appraisal as appropriate.
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