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16 Jul 2003 : Column 304W—continued
TRANSPORT
Vehicle Excise Duty Evasion
Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the proportion of drivers who avoid paying car tax. [126057]
Mr. Jamieson: A national roadside survey June 2002 showed that some 1.75 million vehicles were evading vehicle excise duty (VED). There are currently over 30 million registered vehicles.
The survey indicated the loss of revenue from evasion at some 4.5 per cent. of that due. This equates to £193 million in 2002–03. This loss was offset by £110 million in fines, penalties and relicensing revenue through enforcement action, brought against 820,000 offenders.
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A further range of measures were announced on 22 May to modernise the vehicle registration system. These are designed to improve the accuracy of the vehicle register, help local authorities tackle abandoned vehicles, reduce VED evasion and vehicle crime generally.
Armed Aircraft Marshals
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether armed marshals are being deployed on British aircraft; and what information is being given to the captain of the aircraft. [126054]
Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend announced on 19 December the development of a capability to place covert armed police on UK registered aircraft, where warranted. For reasons of security, no information about this capability—for example the number of officers involved in the programme, the scale of their deployment, or the nature of their interface with aircraft crew—is made public.
Birmingham Airport
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the implications of postponing the widening of the M42 on Government proposals for a second runway at Birmingham Airport. [126401]
Mr. McNulty: The recent announcements on the roads strategy and West Midlands Multi Modal Study could not take account of any future airport expansion as no decisions have yet been made. However, we announced that between Junctions 3–7 of the M42, Active Traffic Management measures would be trialled from 2004, which would provide additional capacity at peak times on this stretch of the network, and the case for widening would be reviewed in the light of these trials.
If the Air Transport White Paper were to favour a second runway at Birmingham airport then the major surface access enhancements required to accommodate the associated growth will also need to be identified and reflected in the 10 Year Plan for Transport.
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many air passengers used (a) UK airports and (b) Birmingham International Airport in (i) August and (ii) September in each year from 2000 to 2002. [126454]
Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows:
| Birmingham | UK | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | ||
| August | 820.6 | 18,866.5 |
| September | 835.4 | 18,013.2 |
| 2001 | ||
| August | 867.6 | 19,659.5 |
| September | 827.0 | 17,480.9 |
| 2002 | ||
| August | 882.5 | 20,165.0 |
| September | 858.3 | 18,680.0 |
Source:
Civil Aviation Authority
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Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made of the numbers of passengers using (a) UK airports and (b) Birmingham International Airport in (i) August and (ii) September in each year from 2003 to 2030. [126455]
Mr. McNulty: The Department's air traffic forecasts provide annual figures rather than month-by-month projections. The key forecasts for 2015 and 2030 under two scenarios are in the following table, as contained in the consultation document. The RASCO figures include the assumption that significant new capacity is provided in the south-east; SEC assumes no new capacity is provided in the south-east above that already approved through the planning system. All figures are in million passengers per annum (mppa).
| Birmingham | |
|---|---|
| RASCO 2015 | 16–19 |
| RASCO 2030 | 28–38 |
| SEC 2015 | 18 |
| SEC 2030 | 41 |
The national forecast range for 2030 is 400–601 mppa from a base in 2000 of 180 mppa.
British Overseas Territories
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what responsibilities his Department undertakes in connection with British Overseas Territories. [123993]
Mr. McNulty: While the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has general responsibility for the overseas territories, this Department takes the lead on international transport issues.
The Secretary of State is responsible for:
- the general superintendence of all matters relating to merchant shipping under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, which includes ships registered under the law of an overseas territory;
ensuring that overseas territories implement the IMO International Ship and Port Facility Security Code;
ensuring that the overseas territories implement international standards relating to aviation safety and security;
issuing permits to foreign airlines wishing to operate scheduled or programmed charter services to or from the overseas territories;
negotiations on EC legislative proposals on transport matters which will apply in Gibraltar.
European Roads Project
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the Department's involvement in the Managing Speeds of Traffic on European Roads project. [126263]
Mr. Jamieson: The MASTER project was part of the EU Fourth Framework Programme of research. It was a collaborative project part funded by the European Commission with a numberof European and UK partners. It was completed at the end of 1998. The Department provided financial support to the
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Transport Research Laboratory that enabled its participation in the project and sharing experience with the other partners
London Underground
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the performance statistics are for each London Underground line for the last year, broken down by London Underground's monthly units, for (a) track, (b) signals and (c) trains; and what the (i) lost customer hours and (ii) excess journey times were for each monthly unit. [125768]
Mr. McNulty: This is an operational matter for London Underground, who have provided the information requested. However, it is very detailed and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
Road Speeds
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 14 July, Official Report, column 27W; if he will place in the Library the assessment his Department has made of the environmental impact of increasing motorway speed limits to 80 miles per hour. [126495]
Mr. Jamieson: New Directions in Speed Management—A Review of Policy, published in March 2000 and available in the Libraries of the House, provides information on the environmental impact of increased speeds on all roads. This information was included in the internal review and helped support the Department's conclusion that the current motorway speed limit should be retained.
National Air Traffic Services Ltd.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent meetings he has had with airline companies to discuss the performance of the National Air Traffic Services. [126488]
Mr. McNulty: There have been no such meetings recently. National Air Traffic Services Ltd. is a private sector body. I would expect airlines to address themselves in the first instance to the company itself or to its regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority.
Vehicle Emissions
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what pollutants, broken down by volume, are emitted by (a) an average 2003 saloon car with a petrol engine travelling with average fuel consumption, (b) a 10-year-old double-decker service bus, (c) a diesel multiple unit train and (d) bendy-buses. [125762]
Mr. Jamieson: The emissions of some of the key pollutants (carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter) from the vehicles in question are shown in tabular form below. The data is from the 2001 National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.
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| Grammes per vehicle km | CO2 | NOx | PM10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 urban car (petrol) | 155 | 0.14 | 0.001 |
| 1993 urban bus | 1003 | 10.93 | 0.528 |
| Average DMU train | 1712 | 22.06 | 0.122 |
| Bendy bus | n/a | n/a | n/a |
The car emissions are average figures for Euro III petrol vehicles operating at an urban speed. The bus emissions are average figures for Euro I vehicles also at an urban speed. It should be noted, however, that in practice many 10-year-old buses have been retrofitted with newer engines meeting tighter (ie Euro II or Euro III) emissions limits, or with pollution reducing equipment such as particulate traps. In these cases, emissions of NOx and PM10 would be much lower. Specific data for a bendy-bus is not currently available: much would depend on the age of the bus and the emissions standards it was required to meet at the time of purchase. The train emissions are average figures for diesel multiple unit trains used on regional networks. The majority of commuting by train is in London and the South East, where most of the trains are electric and so have zero local emissions. A full environmental comparison would need to incorporate occupancy figures but comparative data per passenger km is not available in the form requested.
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