| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
20 Jan 2003 : Column 41W—continued
London Underground
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on how figures for attributable delays on the London Underground are to be used as (a) a performance measure for the PPP and (b) a basis for payments to the consortium; and who will evaluate the figures. [91068]
Mr. Jamieson: Under the PPP, the payments received by the Infrastructure Companies vary according to their performance. One of the key factors in determining performance is "Lost Customer Hours"—the time wasted by delays and the basic measure of Underground reliability.
The methodology for assessing and attributing delays, and calculating payments to the Infrastructure Companies has been working since September 1999. It is explained in detail in the PPP contracts, which will be published once financial close has been achieved on all three deals.
M25
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 17 December 2002, Official Report, column 684W, on the M25, if he will place in the Library a copy of the full report on the initial assessment by the Transport Research Laboratory of the Controlled Motorway Project on the M25 between junctions 10 and 15. [91883]
Mr. Jamieson: A report of the initial assessment of the M25 Controlled Motorways Project will be placed in the Libraries of the House in due course.
Marinair
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guarantees he has received from the promoters of Marinair that they (a) have secured and (b) are likely to secure the funding necessary to complete the proposed Marinair airport. [91863]
20 Jan 2003 : Column 42W
Mr. Jamieson: The Thames Estuary Airport Company Limited (TEACO) response to "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom (South East)" included a statement about the availability of funding, but this was conditional, not guaranteed.
We will make publicly available in due course all responses to the consultation, except those marked confidential. In the mean time publication is a matter for the authors.
Metropolitan Police
Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to whom the Metropolitan Police must apply to close a road for (a) a period of seven days and (b) a period of more than seven days; and for how many consecutive periods of seven days the Metropolitan Police may close a road. [90556]
Mr. Spellar: I have been asked to reply.
It is open to the Metropolitan Police to apply to the local traffic authority for a temporary road closure order under Section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (as amended by the Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Act 1991). The traffic authority may grant an order for a period up to 18 months. The duration of an order may be extended with the agreement of the Secretary of State for a period of up to six months.
New Communities (Thames Gateway)
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the extra resources required to support the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway area; what discussions he has had with other Government Departments in relation to supporting the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway; and what resources he has allocated to support the growth and development of new communities in the Thames Gateway. [90428]
Mr. Jamieson: My right hon. Friend and noble, the Minister for Housing and Planning (Lord Rooker) chairs the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership, whose membership comprises Ministers from five Government Departments (ODPM, DfT, DFES, DTI and DoH) three Regional Development Agencies, three Regional Assemblies and three sub-regional partnerships (East London, North Kent and South Essex).
The Partnership is now looking at new means of accelerating the regeneration and development of the Gateway.
Thames Gateway development and regeneration is being supported by investment from various Government funding streams and through regional public agencies (for example the RDAs).
Night Flights
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will publish a consultation paper on night flights serving London's airports. [90734]
20 Jan 2003 : Column 43W
Mr. Jamieson: We are currently considering an orderly timetable for this and other environmental consultations, in the light of the decision announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport to extend the consultation on "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East" Official Report, 28 November 2002, columns 474–75. We intend to publish shortly a consultation paper on night restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports.
Rail Subsidies
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much subsidy has been paid to (a) rail freight operations and (b) passenger train operating companies in each year since 1997. [91532]
Mr. Jamieson: The table provides the amounts paid in freight Track Access Grants. Details of the subsidy paid to each train operating company, in each year, are set out in the Strategic Rail Authority's annual report, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 21.3 |
| 1998–99 | 19.3 |
| 1999–2000 | 17.2 |
| 2000–01 | 13.9 |
| 2001–02 | 19.9 |
Road Traffic Accidents
Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents involved buses and coaches in each year since 1991. [91764]
Mr. Jamieson: The table shows the number of accidents resulting in a fatality or injury involving a bus or coach in each year since 1991.
| All | |
|---|---|
| 1991 | 11,235 |
| 1992 | 11,064 |
| 1993 | 10,747 |
| 1994 | 11,186 |
| 1995 | 10,822 |
| 1996 | 10,988 |
| 1997 | 11,051 |
| 1998 | 11,585 |
| 1999 | 11,735 |
| 2000 | 11,524 |
| 2001 | 11,334 |
Roskill Committee
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has carried out a comparison of forecasts made by the Roskill Committee of (a) air travel, (b) plane movements and (c) runway use with actual outcomes since that time. [80710]
Mr. Spellar: The 1971 Roskill report (page 191) projected 123 million passengers at Heathrow, Gatwick, and a third London airport in 1991 and 260 million
20 Jan 2003 : Column 44W
passengers in 2006. Over the period 1969 to 2006, traffic was projected in Roskill to grow over 15 fold. (Forecasts were presented in terms of passengers, rather than air traffic movements and runway utilisation.) Actual passengers through all London airports in 1991, the year before the Gulf war, was 62.8 million passengers (69.5 million passengers in 1992). In 2000, the corresponding actual figure was 117 million passengers. Our consultation documents report an unconstrained forecast of 301 million passengers in 2030, ie a 2.6 fold increase over 2000.
The Roskill report forecasts are one of a number of projections of air traffic growth. Since the early 1970s traffic growth has fallen as the industry has matured. More recent forecasts produced by the Department in the 1990s have tended to under-
estimate future traffic growth.
Teleworking
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the effects of teleworking on (a) current and (b) future transport needs. [91542]
Mr. Jamieson: The information is as follows:
(a) The National Travel Survey suggests that around 7 per cent. of all workers currently work from home at least once in a typical week. But about half of these are
people whose paid job is only carried out at their home, and it is not clear how much of a role is played by communications technology.
Taking the 3 per cent. of workers who travel to work sometimes and work at home sometimes as being representative of teleworkers, it appears that they make
roughly half the number of commuting journeys of non-teleworkers. But that they make around 5 per cent. more trips overall.
The Department will continue to monitor travel behaviour, and will analyse the data in more detail once a larger sample of responses has been accumulated.
(b) A number of the multi-modal studies being carried out have considered "soft" policies such as encouragement of teleworking as potential methods of reducing travel demand. The Secretary of State is aware of a number of research studies which have estimated the likely future impact of increased teleworking, but there is no clear overall picture which emerges. One research study, currently subject to peer review, suggests that teleworking might reduce car commuting by of the
order of 5 per cent. by 2015, but there is considerable uncertainty involved in any such estimate.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |