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8 May 2003 : Column 825W—continued

Cycling

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on the use of the revenue from parking meters and parking permits for improved cycle networks and cycle parking facilities. [111848]

Mr. Jamieson: We have had no discussions with authorities on this specific matter. Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 provides that surplus on-street parking income may be used for provision and maintenance of off-street parking facilities, the provision and operation of public passenger transport services and highway improvements. In addition, London local authorities may use surplus on-street parking income for purposes specified in the London transport strategy, which include on-street measures to promote cycling.

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many documents are held by his Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification. [107353]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr Alexander) on Wednesday 7 May 2003, Official Report, column 696W.

EU Committees

Mr. John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list (a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU advisory committee for the application of legislation on the development of the Community railways, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110299]

Mr. Jamieson: The information is as follows:

(a) The official currently sitting on the Developing European Railways Committee is the Grade 7 Head of Economic Regulation Branch, in the Department's Railways Directorate.

(b) The Committee met on 21 July 2002 and 31 January 2003.

(c) The agenda comprised mainly reports from the regulatory bodies working group and other working groups dealing with particular topics.

(d) The Committee proposed for adoption by the Commission an amendment to Annex III of Directive 2001/14, which concerns the process for allocating train slots in the annual timetable.

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(e) This amendment will be reflected in regulations that are in preparation to transpose the directives.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list (a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU committee on the development of trans-European transport networks, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110300]

Mr. Jamieson: The information is as follows:

(a) The official currently sitting on the trans-European transport network Committee is the Grade 7 Head of the Department's European Transport Policy Branch or the SEO deputy.

(b) The Committee met on 16 May and 26 November 2002, and on 4 March 2003.

(c) The meetings discussed progress towards completion of the transport network, and preparatory work in connection with a forthcoming proposal to revise to the guidelines governing its development. There were also information updates on a number of other network related issues.

(d) and (e) The Committee functions in an advisory capacity only.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list (a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU committee on the transfer of ships from one register to another within the Community, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110298]

Mr. Jamieson: Since January 2002, this committee has met once—on 16 December 2002. The UK was represented by a Principal Surveyor from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Permanent Representatives were invited by the European Commission to attend a consultation meeting, to consider a possible revision to regulations. No decisions were taken at the meeting.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU committee on the development of trans-European transport networks, the number of times and the dates on which it has met since January 2002, the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, the decisions it has made since January 2002 and the means used to communicate these decisions to the House. [110490]

Mr. Jamieson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given today [ref 110300], at column 829W.

Fatalities

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the assessment costs per fatality are for passengers

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by (a) road, (b) rail and (c) air in terms of the capital expenditure allocated to try to prevent this from occurring. [111867]

Mr. Jamieson: My Department recommend that investment for both road and rail aimed at avoiding fatalities is appraised using the value set out in the Departments 'Highways Economic Note No. 1:2001' a copy of which is in the Library.

The Department does not have a formal value for appraising safety related investment in aviation.

London Underground

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the timetable is for Metronet's planned upgrade and refurbishment of their London Underground lines; [110810]

(2) when the proposed refurbishment of the Bakerloo line will commence. [110808]

Mr. Jamieson: Under the contracts drawn up between Metronet and London Underground the work to upgrade and refurbish parts of the London Underground will be carried out as a rolling programme across the network. Metronet have already announced that in the first year of the contracts, enabling works will start on the upgrading of the Victoria Line, and the design for the new trains to be introduced on that line will also begin. Metronet will be spending around £1 billion on maintenance and capital projects in each of the first three years. I understand that initiatives to improve asset availability are expected to improve the overall reliability of all assets by 10 per cent. by the end of the first year, and by around 30 per cent. on the sub-surface lines and 20 per cent. on their deep tube lines by the end of the third year. Metronet is committed to increasing the number of trains available for service on the Central Line in 2004 and again in 2005, and on the Bakerloo and Victoria Lines in 2005. Around 36 stations will have been refurbished and a further 10 modernised by the end of the third year of the contracts.

The contracts set out the latest date by which the upgrading work can be completed for each line as follows:

Line	Latest completion date
Bakerloo	31 March 2020
Central	4 March 2006
Victoria	17 August 2013
Waterloo and City	3 March 2007
Subsurface Lines	3 March 2018 Southern Section,28 February 2015 Northern Section

However, London Underground and Metronet are committed to upgrading these lines well before these deadlines.

Rail Safety

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the recent occasions on which a train protection and warning system has been disabled. [111866]

Mr. Jamieson: The Health and Safety Executive advise that, since April 2001, the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) has correctly operated and brought the

8 May 2003 : Column 828W

train to a stop on 157 occasions. In none of these instances was the TPWS system disabled. However, on eight occasions the driver took action to reset the TPWS and continued forward without first contacting the signaller for authorisation, which is a contravention of the Rule Book. Action is being taken by the rail industry to rectify this type of driver behaviour.

Thameslink

Mr. Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has (a) to ensure speedy commencement of the Thameslink re-franchising process and (b) to enable further investment in rolling stock to be made in the Bedford to Brighton service. [111401]

Mr. Jamieson: The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) currently plans to negotiate an extension of the existing franchise while the Thameslink 2000 programme is taken forward. A tendering process for the revised Thameslink 2000 franchise would follow. The SRA are reviewing rolling stock deployment and investment in the South East which could include Thameslink services.

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