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22 Oct 2003 : Column 572W—continued
Vehicle Emissions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many registered vehicles run on hydrogen in the UK. [133704]
Mr. McNulty: At the present time there are only a small number of prototype/demonstration vehicles running on hydrogen, worldwide. Transport for London will shortly begin demonstration trials of hydrogen fuel cell buses on public bus routes, with financial support from the Government's New Vehicle Technology Fund, as part of a European-wide demonstration programme, Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE). Ford will be carrying out trials of hydrogen fuel cell and internal combustion cars next year.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many tonnes of (a) fine particulates and (b) ultrafine particulates were emitted into the atmosphere in the UK by the (i) diesel powered vehicle parc, (ii) petrol powered vehicle parc and (iii) road fuel gas vehicle parc in the latest year for which figures are available. [133705]
Mr. McNulty: The following table, based on data from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, presents emissions of particulate matter by fraction, in kilotonnes, from road transport in 2001.
| Vehicle type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Particulate fraction | Diesel | Petrol | Roadfuel gas | ||
| Coarse | PM10 | 26.9 | 3.17 | 0.02 | |
| Fine | PM2.5 | 25.94 | 3.06 | 0.02 | |
| Ultrafine | PM0.1 | 13.42 | 1.58 | 0.01 | |
| Vehicle kilometrescovered (billion) | 135.4 | 354.8 | 1.7 | ||
PM10 includes all particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10m (likewise PM2.5 includes all particles smaller than 2.5m, and so on), thus the finer particle totals are a subset of the coarser particles.
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Figures for PM2.5, PM1 and PM0.1 are estimated from those for PM10 and the mass fractions in these size ranges available for different emission sources and fuel types. These figures assume the following:
- 100,000 LPG vehicles in parc, travelling the same distance per year as passenger cars (industry source);
emissions from LPG vehicles assumed to be same as average PM factor for petrol vehicles (no PM emissions data available for LPG vehicles); and
850 HDVs running on CNG (industry source), their emissions of PM being 90 per cent. lower than a Euro II HDV running on diesel.
Mr. McNulty: The Government place a high priority on reducing emissions of air pollutants from road transport. Emissions of particles (PM10) from road transport have reduced by some 50 per cent. over the last decade as a result of progressively tighter vehicle and fuel quality standards. Emissions of ultrafine particles from road transport are much harder to measure. The UK has been at the forefront of an international programme to develop appropriate ways of measuring emissions of these small particles. Once this has been completed, the Government will be in a position to take further steps, should the health evidence indicate that this is necessary.
Vehicle Excise Duty
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) untaxed and (b) uninsured vehicles he estimates were on UK roads in each year since 1997. [133727]
Mr. McNulty: Estimates of unlicensed vehicles in use on the road are obtained through periodic roadside surveys. The results in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland for the years in which surveys were undertaken were:
| Great Britain | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 1,559 | — |
| 1996–97 | — | 63 |
| 1999 | 1,522 | 70 |
| 2002 | 1,757 | 77 |
Note:
The figures for Northern Ireland include vehicles in the private light goods, and the heavy goods vehicle categories. The figures for GB include all licence categories.
DfT does not have reliable information on the number of vehicles in use on the road without valid insurance.
Road Building
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance he has issued to the Highways Agency and local authorities to encourage the use of recycled rubber in road building and surfacing. [132669]
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Mr. McNulty: The Code of Practice for Maintenance Management, of which the Department is a co-author, strongly recommends local authorities to maximise the use of products made from recycled materials in order to develop and support local markets for these.
The Government are actively fostering the development of new applications for tyre crumb in both asphalt and concrete roads, through research by the Universities of Dundee, Liverpool, and Nottingham. Additionally, the Highways Agency is supporting a project monitoring the performance of recycled shredded tyre toppings in French drains.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Agriculture and Fisheries Council
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 13 October; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement; [133016]
- (2) what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 13 October; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [133592]
Margaret Beckett: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary represented the United Kingdom at a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Luxembourg on 13 October. No Ministers from the Devolved Administrations or Northern Ireland were present.
The main items for substantive discussion were on Fisheries, the most important of which was agreement of a proposal for a regulation on the management of fishing effort in Western Waters. As you know this proposal had been on the table for some time but its adoption had been held up while the Presidency struggled to find a compromise acceptable to as many of the key member states as possible—the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. In the event the compromise adopted was acceptable to ourselves, France and Portugal but was opposed by Spain and Ireland, with Belgium abstaining.
The agreed regulation makes provision for an effort-based regime with member states' effort allocations to be based on fishing activity in the reference period 1998–2002. Management zones are to be based on ICES sea areas. This means there is no separate management zone for the Irish Sea as we wished but the Council and Commission have made a joint statement to the effect that fishing effort in previously restricted areas will be closely monitored. In other respects the final outcome is one that offers the UK significant improvements over the text originally tabled last December. These include, in particular:
- the exclusion of under 15 metre vessels from the scope of the regime in all areas except in a special biologically sensitive area off the south west coast of Ireland ("the hake box") where it will apply to all vessels over 10 metres;
the list of vessels able to fish in Western waters is not restricted to those with a previous history of doing so;
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except for when entering and exiting the hake box, vessels will no longer have to hail in and out on entry and exit from Western waters zones, so substantially reducing industry's compliance costs;
there are arrangements for adjusting member states' effort allocations to let them take their quotas in full or increase fishing activity on non-quota stocks;
reduction in the number of fisheries from 5 to 3—demersal, scallops and edible/spider crabs.
There was also a brief presentation by the Commission of proposals to manage fishing in the Mediterranean which the Council will return to at a later date.
On agriculture, there was a brief discussion of the Commission's outline ideas for reform of the cotton and olive oil regimes. Producer member states emphasised the importance of both crops to their farming sectors and the need to maintain a significant level of production-linked aid to ensure continued activity in the sectors. The United Kingdom joined other non-producers in arguing for changes in these regimes to follow closely the pattern of reforms agreed in June for others. In particular, a substantial level of decoupling should be the norm, with the option for more if member states wished to move in that direction.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the steps to be taken to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent. by 2050; [131068]
- (2) if she will make a statement on implementation of the energy policy of cutting emissions of carbon dioxide by 60 per cent. by 2050. [131069]
Mr. Morley: The Government has set a domestic goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010. The policy framework for delivering this goal is set out in the UK Climate Change programme.
In the Energy White Paper, we accepted the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's (RCEP) recommendation that the UK should put itself on a path towards a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of some 60 per cent. from current levels by about 2050. The Energy White Paper sets out long-term strategies and shorter-term policies to put us on this path. The Sustainable Energy Policy Network comprising units from Central Government, energy regulators, devolved administrations and key delivery organisations will ensure that these goals and policies are delivered. Part of this is a cross governmental network reporting to a Ministerial Committee co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the
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Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Further details of the implementation plans are set out on SEPN's website http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/index.shtml.
To put ourselves on course to cut the UK's carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent. by 2050, we will need to achieve cuts of around 15–25 million tonnes of carbon (MtC) by 2020 in addition to the carbon savings from existing policies including the Climate Change Programme. The actual measures needed to reach this goal will be shaped by economic and technological developments. However, in reducing carbon dioxide emissions the government's priority is to strengthen renewables and energy efficiency.
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