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Workplace Smoking

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his plans to implement a code of practice on smoking in the workplace; and what consultation there has been with trade unions, health welfare and medical organisations on this issue. [71177]

Mr. Jamieson: The White Paper on Tobacco, "Smoking Kills", stated that the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) would consult on whether to introduce an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) on passive smoking in the workplace.

HSC has completed that task and announced, in September 2000, that it favoured the introduction of an ACoP. Representatives from trade unions, health welfare and medical organisations were all involved in the consultation.

The Government are giving careful consideration to the Commission's proposals. As part of this process, the Commission has been asked to consider further both the implications of an ACoP on the hospitality sector and small businesses generally, and the role the Public Places Charter could play.

Residential Property Record

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library his Department's departmental-owned residential property record. [70771]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department does not maintain a central residential property record. Nevertheless, two of the Department's agencies own residential property:

(1) the Highways Agency, as the operator of the strategic road network on behalf of the Secretary of State, keeps a database of residential property acquired for road schemes. This contains information restricted under the Data Protection Act 1998 and cannot be released in its current form; and
(2) the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency owns three residential properties: two are official residences and one is currently on the market for sale.

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Travel/Retail Information Report

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place a copy of the final report on research conducted for his predecessor Department by Cap Gemini Ernst and Young on Travel Information and Retailing Policy Information in July 2000. [70737]

Mr. Jamieson: A copy of this report was placed in the House of Commons Library last year. The summary of the report is also available on the DfT website, at http://www.dft.gov.uk/itwp/transdirect/capgem/index.htm

Departmental Press Service

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department intends to establish an e-mail press release service similar to that previously provided by the former Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions. [70657]

Mr. Jamieson: We expect that the Department for Transport will establish a similar service by autumn 2002.

Flight Paths

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what changes have been made to aircraft flight paths and altitudes over London and the south-east in the past five years. [71234]

Mr. Jamieson: There have been numerous minor changes and adjustments to air traffic routes and procedures over London and the south-east during the past five years. The most significant changes have been:

the introduction of a second terminal holding pattern, 'ABBOT', and associated reconfiguration of arrival routes for London Stansted airport in April 1999;


minor changes were made in 2000 and 2001 to the noise preferential routes and standard instrument departure (SID) procedures from London Stansted airport to improve track- keeping and airspace management; and


new SID was introduced in 1998 from London Luton airport to improve traffic flows in the light of the traffic growth at Luton airport.

Airport Construction

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) received on the economic consequences of building new (i) airports and (ii) runways; [70866]

(2) what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) received on the economic consequences of building new (i) airports and (ii) runways. [70867]

Mr. Jamieson: The Appraisal Framework for Airports in the South-East and Eastern Regions of England published in November 2000 sets out the approach that the Department is applying in considering options for the development of airport capacity. This includes the economic benefits to passengers, and the air transport industry as well as wider benefits to the economy. In the regional airport studies that the Department has subsequently commissioned, these economic benefits together with the environmental and other impacts of airport development have been assessed.

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Ten-Year Plan

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the impact of the increased spending announced in the spending review will be on the 10-year plan, in terms of (a) public investment expenditure, (b) public resource expenditure, (c) total public expenditure and (d) private investment in (i) 2002–03, (ii) 2003–04, (iii) 2004–05, and (iv) 2005–06. [71066]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 18 July 2002]: The funding for transport announced in the spending review maintains the 10-year plan public and private spending total at £181.9 billion, as previously announced. In addition, the Settlement takes full account of the Government's guarantee of full funding for the first 7½ years of the tube modernisation plans at an average of £1 billion per annum.

Journey Times

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 221W, on journey times, what research reports have been produced by (a) the Highways Agency and (b) the Department as a result of the research and studies to which he refers; and if he will place copies of these reports in the Library. [70734]

Mr. Jamieson: A report is being prepared for the Highways Agency on the research it commissioned to investigate the feasibility of displaying journey times to selected destinations on variable message signs. The report is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

A paper entitled 'Driver Information On Journey Time Variability Using Automatic Number Plate Recognition Data' was presented to the Eleventh International Conference on Road Transport Information and Control in March 2002. A copy of this report will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

As part of the current Departmental research to provide a better understanding of the causes of journey time variability in congested conditions on motorways, three technical papers on this subject are expected to be presented to the European Transport Conference in Cambridge in September 2002. They are: Understanding and Valuing Journey Time Variability; Supply Models For Use In Modelling The Variability Of Journey Times On The Highway Network; Assessing Measures Which Reduce Incident Related Delays And Travel Time Variability, and will be placed in the Libraries of the House when published.

Transport Direct

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on recent changes to Transport Direct. [70738]

Mr. Jamieson: The Transport Direct team is currently in the process of letting a contract for construction of a web portal, which will be the initial means of distributing Transport Direct. The contract will be let in the autumn with the first stage of the portal to be ready in 2003, in line with the targets set out in the 10-year plan.

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Transport Direct is also extending the number of real time information systems for travellers. £20 million was recently given to 19 local authorities to improve bus real time information; schemes are to be in place by the end of 2003. Transport Direct is working with the rail industry and Strategic Rail Authority to extend rail real time information. Work is also continuing on developing standards and technical details for the extension of real time information systems.

My Department has recently appointed Nick Illsley as Transport Direct Chief Executive to carry the Transport Direct programme forward.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research has been conducted for his Department on Transport Direct; and if he will make a statement. [70736]

Mr. Jamieson: We are currently undertaking a programme of market research to support Transport Direct. This programme is designed to tell us what specific characteristics and features the service should possess in order to satisfy the requirements of its prospective users; what demand there will be for the service; and what it will be used for. The results of this research will be disseminated in due course.

A review of existing travel information systems, and recommendations for Transport Direct, was conducted last year. The report can be viewed on the Department's website at "http://www.dft.gov.uk/itwp/transdirect/travinf/ pdf/travinf.pdf".

Research has also been completed on standards, and standards-like initiatives, likely to be relevant to Transport Direct. The study also considered whether any further standards needed to be developed in order to ensure that Transport Direct is successful. The report can be viewed at: "http://www.dtlr.gov.uk/itwp/transdirect/standards/ index.htm"

We are also researching areas related to the overall Transport Direct vision. For example, we will shortly place a contract for market research to inform us as to the future direction on behalf of the traveline service.

A study is under way into the business case for bus real-time information. This work aims to provide a tool for Local Authorities and transport operators which would quantify the benefits of such systems and thus facilitate their development and adoption. We also hope to publish best practice advice.

We also have some minor contracts which include research into putting cycling into journey planners and preparatory work for the business plan. We hope to publish the cycling study on the DfT website very soon.

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