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3 Mar 2003 : Column 793W—continued

Railways

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government is taking (a) to ensure better value for public money from the railways and (b) to prevent rail costs increasing; what is being done to limit the number of contactors and sub-contractors working on the railways; and if he will make a statement. [100297]

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Mr. Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority's second Strategic Plan, published in January, sets out the nature of the challenges and the steps underway to control costs and improve value for money. The contractual arrangements for maintaining and renewing the railways are a matter for Network Rail and its customers.

School Transport

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the recommendations to his Department from the School Travel Advisory Group; and what progress has been made towards their implementation in each case. [99768]

Mr. Jamieson: The recommendations of the "School Travel Advisory Group are set out in the "School Travel Advisory Group Report 1998–1999". Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

The recommendations for my Department were for school travel issues to be included in local transport plans; better road safety education; improved enforcement of speed, parking and other traffic regulations; better cycle storage facilities and lockers at schools; affordable bus travel for all children in compulsory education; and special training for bus drivers working with children.

We have asked local authorities to include a school travel strategy, explain how they will work with individual schools to develop school travel plans (STPs) and include targets for reducing the number of children who travel to school by car in their local transport plans. To help local authorities we have provided 57 bursaries to enable them to employ staff to work with schools to develop STPs, and a further 17 for them to employ staff to work jointly with schools and workplaces. Since May 2001 we have been providing up to five days of free site-specific consultancy advice to schools wanting to develop a STP.

We have published free best practice guidance on developing and implementing STPs for both local authorities and schools and a school travel resource pack for schools. (These and other resources are also available on our web site at http://www.localtransport/schooltravel/index.htm). We have held free seminars to disseminate these guidesand to promote partnership working between local highway authorities, Healthy Schools co-ordinators, School Sport co-ordinators, bus operators and others.

To improve child road safety we have published a range of booklets for children and the child road safety pages of our web site include lesson plans for primary and secondary school teachers designed to tie in with the national curriculum; these can be found at http://wuav.databases.dtt.gov.uk/lessonpians/. We are also spending £10 million over five years for local authorities to pilot a network of child pedestrian training schemes in deprived areas.

To reduce child deaths and injuries we have asked local authorities to pay particular attention in preparing their local road safety strategies to roads around schools and the routes children use to get to school; we have asked them to plan specific measures such as 20 mph zones with traffic calming and safe crossing places if traffic calming is not appropriate.

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In recent local transport plan settlements we have allocated increased levels of funding to local authorities for small-scale schemes including road safety and programmes to encourage walking and cycling; these can include the provision of lockers and secure cycle parking. We have also set up the Cycling Projects Fund, to which schools can apply for funding for cycle routes, lockers and secure cycle parking.

We have included best practice guidance on setting up successful operator and local authority discount schemes for children on buses in our best practice guidance for increasing bus use for journeys to school and we also included workshops on how to encourage and work with bus operators successfully in our school travel seminars.

In order to improve relationships between bus drivers and young people we commissioned a training programme for bus drivers. New European standards have been established for the knowledge drivers must have before obtaining a licence to driver a bus or a coach. These include the driver's responsibility in respect of the safety and comfort of passengers including children and the appropriate material has been added to Driving Standards Agency publications.

Secure Stations

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a list of stations which have Secure Station status. [99778]

Mr. Jamieson: The list of the 170 stations currently accredited under the Secure Stations Scheme has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Traffic (East Lancashire)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of likely traffic flows in East Lancashire following completion of the Bingley bypass. [100044]

Mr. Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive, Tim Matthews, of the Highways Agency to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Tim Matthews to Gordon Prentice dated 3 March 2003:

I have been asked by the Transport Minister, David Jamieson, to reply to your recent parliamentary question asking what assessment has been made of likely traffic flows in East Lancashire following completion of the Bingley Bypass.

An assessment was carried out ten years ago to calculate the movement in traffic patterns caused by a series of bypass and improvement schemes on the A650, A629 and A65 which were at that time in the National Roads Programme. This showed that the impact on the East Lancashire network would be small. Clearly this assessment was based on data that is now out of date. Following the 1997–98 Roads Review it was decided not to proceed with many of the schemes, but the A650 Bingley Relief Road scheme remained in the roads programme.

I can confirm that no specific assessments have been carried out which looked at the impact of the completed A650 Bingley Relief Road scheme on traffic flows in East Lancashire.

If you require any further information, please contact Peter Scally, the Highways Agency Project Manager for the A650 Bingley Relief Road scheme. He can be contacted on 0113 283 6488 or you can e-mail him at [e-mail]

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Work Placements

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many university students his Department and associated agencies have supported or sponsored with a work placement in the last year; what his policy is on work placements; what plans he has to develop such schemes; and what his policy is on paying their university fees. [98535]

Mr. Jamieson: In 2002, my Department organised centrally five summer work placements.

Placements arranged are available to individuals through formal schemes:

the Cabinet Office Fast Stream Summer Development programme—aimed at ethnic minority graduates and undergraduates;


Workable—an organisation which arranges work placements for disabled graduates and undergraduates; and


the Windsor Fellowship—aimed at ethnic minority undergraduates.

My Department is keen to offer placement opportunities through these schemes and will continue to work in partnership with the organisations to encourage able individuals to consider the civil service as a career.

For students on work placements, my Department's policy is not to pay university fees. However, whether the organisations with whom we work pay them, is a matter for them.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for Women what discussions she has had with the Home Office and the Department for Health regarding the availability of health care for female asylum seekers and refugees at dispersal areas. [98073]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 24 February 2003]: I have had no discussions with the Home Office and the Department of Health regarding the availability of health care for female asylum seekers and refugees at dispersal areas.

Domestic Violence

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for Women what discussions she has had and plans to have with the Home Office about the central collection of statistics regarding domestic violence. [99047]

Ms Hewitt: Domestic violence is a serious and abhorrent crime accounting for a quarter of all violent crime. Currently, any incidents of this crime are recorded through the British Crime Survey and the Police Crime Statistics.

Within these Police Crime Statistics, domestic violence is not a separate category and incidents are recorded across a range of crimes. As a consequence, it can be difficult to identify the prevalence of this serious crime.

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I am in correspondence with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on this issue.

Public Appointments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for Women how many women have attended regional seminars by the Women and Equality Unit on attracting women to public appointments; and if she will make a statement. [99042]

Ms Hewitt: 848 women attended the eight regional seminars. In addition, five national seminars took place, targeted at specialist female audiences. In total, 1,328 women, from diverse backgrounds, attended the 13 seminars.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for Women if she will make a statement on the publication of the Cabinet Office report, "Public Bodies 2002". [99043]

Ms Hewitt: I welcome the publication of "Public Bodies 2002", as announced by the Cabinet Office on 31 January 2003. Although the number of women holding public appointments has remained static at 34 per cent., the figures published are as at March 2002, and therefore do not reflect any changes due to activity since March 2002. I welcome the news that the proportion of those from minority ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities have increased (from 4.8 per cent. to 6.2 per cent. and from 1.5 per cent. to 3.3 per cent. respectively).

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for Women if she will make a statement on the regional seminar series hosted by the Women and Equality Unit in attracting women to public appointments; and if she will make a statement. [99045]

Ms Hewitt: The national outreach campaign to encourage more women to apply for public appointments included a series of regional seminars and events targeted at specific audiences. The seminars aimed to increase awareness among women, to provide support and to help women realise their potential. On-the-day evaluation showed that 91 per cent. of those attending reported that they were now more likely to apply for an appointment.

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