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London Underground

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 12 March 2003, Official Report, columns 254–6, on London Underground, if he will provide figures for each (a) month and (b) week since March 2002 for which figures are available. [103793]

Mr. Jamieson: The information is not readily available in the form requested and could be assembled only at disproportionate cost. Information is, however, available on an annual basis and was set out in my answer of 12 March 2003, Official Report, columns 254–6W.

Ministerial Transport

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list internal flights made by Ministers in his Department in 2002, including in each case the (a) cost, (b) departure location and (c) destination; and of these how many were (i) first class, (ii) business class and (iii) economy class. [103580]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W in response to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) and my response to the hon.Member for West Chelmsford (Mr Burns) on 5 March 2003, Official Report, column 1033W.

Motorway Congestion Charging

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total length of the motorway was that the Commission for Integrated Transport found

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would be the main area of congestion charging as defined on page 35 of 'Paying for Road Use: Technical report February 2002'; if he will list the junctions of the motorway network that would define the main areas of charging; and if he will make a statement. [102874]

Mr. Jamieson: As the technical report prepared for the Commission for Integrated Transport indicates, their consultants' central case, on the modelling assumptions adopted, implies that charging would apply to about 10 per cent. (some 350 kms) of the motorway network. The report indicates the areas where the charge would apply, but does not identify specific junctions. CfiTs reports are produced independently of the Department and do not represent Government policy.

Motorways

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the 10 most congested English motorway stretches; and if he will make a statement. [101524]

Mr. Jamieson: I have asked the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Tim Matthews to Mr. David Laws, dated 25 March 2003:

I have been asked by David Jamieson to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking him to list the ten stretches of motorways in England experiencing the most congestion.

The Department for Transport and the Highways Agency uses long-established modelling techniques to assess road network congestion, and to forecast future congestion depending upon a range of traffic growth and transport infrastructure investment assumptions. A traditional output of this work is a three-banded "stress map" indicating those parts of the network that are experiencing peak and off-peak congestion. The latest available version of the map estimating the effect of congestion was published in the Ten Year Plan for Transport.

This modelling method is not designed to rank individual motorway links within the congestion bandings. To obtain a measure of congestion on individual motorway links consistent with most congestion indicators, it would be necessary to measure journey times and speeds as they vary hour-by-hour and day-by-day. Regular network-wide measurement of journey times at this level of detail has not been carried out in the past, mainly because of the extremely high costs that would be involved. However, the opening of the Traffic Control Centre next year will greatly improve our knowledge of traffic conditions and will lead to comprehensive information on journey times and speeds being made generally available to the travelling public.

No-fly Zones (Scotland)

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what (a) commercial and (b) military no-fly zones have been in operation in Scotland since 15 September 2002; and what are planned for the remainder of 2003; [105034]

(2) if he will amend the no-fly zone status for commercial and military flights over areas in Scotland that contain petro-chemical plants and nuclear facilities; [105032]

(3) what plans there are to amend the no-fly zone status for commercial and military flights over towns in Scotland during the current Gulf conflict. [105033]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 4 February 2003, Official Report, columns 140–41W.

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No further restricted airspace has been imposed in Scotland since 15 September 2002. It is expected that temporary restrictions on flying will be imposed in regard to certain air displays in 2003, but such events are only provisional at the current time.

Rail Links (Edinburgh)

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) financial and (b) other forms of support his Department is providing to the work being carried out by the Scottish Executive in respect of rail links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports. [103650]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department and the Strategic Rail Authority provided support during the economic and engineering study process for the rail link options, which included some financial support and the provision of technical expertise. We will continue to work closely with the Executive on airport issues and the SRA will continue to provide technical expertise as the work on the rail links progresses.

Road Safety

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his letter of 13 December 2002 to the hon. Member for Wycombe, what research his Department has conducted into the effectiveness of various methods of providing conspicuity lighting for vehicles during daylight hours. [104976]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department for Transport has conducted two pieces of research into the effectiveness of daytime conspicuity lighting. In 1991 The Transport Research Laboratory were commissioned to carry out a study into daytime conspicuity lights and in 1998 to assess the report of research into daytime running lamps commissioned by the EU Commission.

Copies of the two TRL reports, "Daytime Conspicuity Lights" and "Review of SWOV Report on Effectiveness of Daytime Running Lights" have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Safety Regulation Group

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of the Safety Regulation Group's total yearly funding is received from the aviation industry. [103993]

Mr. Jamieson: The Civil Aviation Authority's Safety Regulation Group receives 96 per cent. of its yearly funding from the aviation industry. The remainder derives from the CAA's work overseas and work done on behalf of my Department.

Traffic Commission (Licences)

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the criteria used by the Traffic Commission when issuing operator licences to enable the Commissioner to assess the environmental impact of the licensed vehicles on the local communities through which they are likely to be driven; and if he will make a statement. [104987]

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Mr. Jamieson: In deciding applications for goods vehicle operators' licences, Traffic Commissioners are able to take into account the effect on the local environment which may result from the use of land as an operating centre. Factors may include noise, fumes, pollution, vibration and visual intrusion. We have no plans to review these criteria. Local traffic authorities and planning authorities are responsible for dealing with the wider environmental impact of traffic on local communities.

Websites

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total cost of his Department's website was in the last 12 months; and how many hits it received in the same period. [104203]

Mr. Jamieson: The estimated total cost of the DfT website (www.dft.gov.uk) from 1 June 2002 to 31 March 2003 is £752,000. This includes staff costs, development and HTML conversion costs. It also includes the capital costs of developing a new website, which aims to provide my Department with an improved more customer-focused website in terms of design, navigation and information retrieval. The new website, which is under development, accounts for 70 per cent. of total costs.

DfT did not exist as a separate department for the period March-May 2002. Calculation of an accurate transport percentage of costs for that period could be done only at disproportionate cost.

During the period 1 July (when statistics were first available for the DfT website) to 19 March 2003 the total number of page impressions (used as a measure of 'hits') was 13,352,742.

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