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Coastal Lifeboats

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on Government funding for coastal lifeboats. [127866]

Mr. Jamieson: In the United Kingdom, 296 coastal lifeboats are provided for front line search and rescue purposes by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) which, as a charity, receives no Government funding. In addition, there are 42 independent rescue boats which are made available for search and rescue purposes. These boats are usually part of local charitable organisations or privately funded and again receive no Government funding.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for the Department in each year since 1996. [126476]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to Table C of the annual publication "Civil Service Statistics", which covers permanent staff numbers for the Department and its agencies from 1995 to 2002. Copies of these are available in the Libraries of the House. Alternatively this information is available from the Cabinet Office website.

There is one special adviser currently in post, a further post is vacant.

There are 16.8 permanent press officers (full-time equivalent) currently employed in the DfT press office.

The job title 'advisers to civil servants' described above does not correspond to any current job titles in this Department.

Network Rail

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has made and intends to make to Network Rail to ensure that disused land is sold at cost value to local authorities to enable flood remedial measures to be implemented. [128211]

Mr. McNulty: None. This is a commercial matter for Network Rail.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail's decision to opt for closure and diversions to allow engineering work. [128640]

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Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority and Network Rail's approach will enable the work to be done more quickly and efficiently and the inevitable disruption will be contained to a much shorter period. Disruption to passengers will be minimised by the use of diversionary routes and alternative services.

GB Railways Group

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he first received reports from the Strategic Rail Authority of the bid by FirstGroup plc for GB Railways Group plc; and if he will make a statement. [127228]

Mr. McNulty: The Department first received a report from the Strategic Rail Authority on this matter on 8 July 2003.

Rail Freight

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals he has to encourage businesses to use rail services as a means of transporting goods; and what assessment his Department has made of methods businesses use to transport products. [128244]

Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority set out its objectives for freight in its revised Strategic Plan, published in January. Copies of this document are available in the Libraries of the House.

Mersey Tunnels

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has received copies of accounts of income and expenditure for the Mersey Tunnels in accordance with section 100 of the County of Merseyside Act 1980. [127963]

Mr. Jamieson: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority (Merseytravel) submitted Outturn forms recording Mersey Tunnels income and expenditure to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in August 2003.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last received a set of accounts of income and expenditure for the Mersey Tunnels prior to 1 January. [127965]

Mr. Jamieson: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority (Merseytravel) submitted Outturn forms recording Mersey Tunnels income and expenditure to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in August 2002.

National Air Consultation

Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings he has had with (a) British Airways, (b) British Airport Authority, (c) other industry bodies, (d) local authorities and (e) environmental groups on the National Air Consultation; what the agenda of each meeting was; and if he will meet representatives of the London Borough of Hounslow to discuss their concerns. [127756]

Mr. McNulty: Ministers and officials attend many meetings with a wide range of organisations including those representing industry, local authorities, and environmental concerns. It is not possible to provide a

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definitive list of those meetings which have included discussions about "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom" consultation.

National Walking Strategy

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish a National Walking Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [128613]

Mr. McNulty: The Department issued a discussion document on walking on 30 June. "On the move: by foot" seeks views from all interests on how we might improve conditions for pedestrians and increase levels of walking. Responses to the document have been requested by 26 September and will help to inform a strategic action plan of measures and initiatives to encourage more journeys on foot and identify any related guidance required.

Operation Bream

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many arrests were made in Merseyside owing to the joint initiative Operation Bream. [128593]

Mr. McNulty: Operation Bream was a high visibility intensive policing operation along a single bus corridor and resulted in 72 arrests.

Rail Transport

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the effect of reduced use of rail transport by business on road and air services; and what assessment has been made on what pollution problems could result. [128248]

Mr. McNulty: Our policies aim to provide safe, reliable and secure transport that supports sustainable economic growth. The use of rail is then a commercial matter for the businesses concerned. Any assessment of pollution problems resulting from any modal shift from rail to road or air would be difficult to undertake, because it would depend on the locations concerned and the time of travel.

Rail Services

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to improve the on-time performance of rail companies. [127842]

Mr. McNulty: Our top priority is to see significant improvement in rail punctuality and reliability. The rail industry, under the leadership of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), is working increasingly closely together to deliver this. The SRA has issued a template performance action plan to all train operators. The plan requires train operators to identify the main causes of delay, and to produce action plans to address them.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much ridership has changed on average over the last two years for rail travel in Merseyside; [128588]

(2) what percentage of trains in Merseyside ran no more than five minutes late in the last year for which figures are available. [128590]

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Mr. McNulty: The number of passenger kilometres travelled on Arriva Trains Merseyside services rose from 255 million in 2001–02 to 275 million in 2002–03 and the number of passenger journeys rose from 23.8 million to 24.9 million in the same period.

For the year to 31 March 2003, 91.5 per cent. of Arriva Trains Merseyside services arrived within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

The Strategic Rail Authority publishes statistics for each train operating company in its Annual Report, and in the quarterly National Rail Trends and six-monthly "On Track" publications, each of which is available through the Libraries of the House.

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received regarding Silverlink's advice to rail passengers to go on holiday during a period of maintenance. [128275]

Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received no representations regarding Silverlink's advice to rail passengers to go on holiday during a period of maintenance.

Reading Station

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the Strategic Rail Authority to provide him with the business case for a major scheme at Reading station; and when he expects to publish the business case. [127123]

Mr. McNulty: The Strategic Rail Authority, in conjunction with Reading Borough Council, is developing a business case for major capacity enhancements at Reading. The project would require a Transport and Works Act Order, an application for which would be made around 2005. The business case will form part of that application.

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