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Aviation Industry (Tax Subsidy)

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what subsidy from public funds he estimates the aviation industry receives in terms of favourable taxation policy; and if he will make a statement. [135024]

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.

The aviation industry receives no direct subsidy from public funds.

The Government recently completed a consultation process on the use of economic instruments in the aviation sector, which included examining incentives to encourage better environmental performance.

The Government's views will be set out in the Air Transport White Paper due to be published later this year.

Dealing with Disadvantage Project

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action local highway authorities can take to apply for the Dealing with Disadvantage funding which has not yet been allocated. [134740]

Mr. Jamieson: £16 million of the money identified for Dealing with Disadvantage is available for grants to local authorities. £11.7 million has been allocated to Greater Manchester and Lancashire. Four further authorities have been invited to submit bids for grant

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funding. These are Bradford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Sandwell, which are the next four non-Greater Manchester and Lancashire authorities on the ranked list of places for road safety problems associated with disadvantage. Invitations to bid have been made on the basis of need.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people are funded out of the Dealing with Disadvantage grant; and what cost benefit analysis has been carried out in relation to the expenditure. [134741]

Mr. Jamieson: No specific numbers of staff have been identified for the Grants that are the subject of the Special Grant Report. The Neighbourhood Road Safety Team, which is being hosted by Greater Manchester Police, will have eight members of staff.

All grant allocations have been scrutinised for relevance to the identified problems and the likelihood of success. Because some of the work is generic, such as road safety education, it is not possible to attribute directly what savings may arise, so cost-benefit analysis is not appropriate in this case.

The Government wish to learn from the experience of this initiative and so a monitoring and evaluation contract is presently out to tender and this will provide lessons for future policy development and delivery.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which highway authorities have received a share of the funds allocated for highway improvements under the Dealing with Disadvantage programme; and how much was paid to each one. [134742]

Mr. Jamieson: The 10 authorities that received allocations for improvements to the highway are:

	£
Blackburn with Darwen	120,000
Blackpool	1,256,000
Bolton	425,000
Bury	250,000
Manchester	838,000
Oldham	195,000
Rochdale	230,000
Salford	300,000
Tameside	780,000
Wigan	563,000

In addition, £500,000 was allocated to Tameside to develop and deploy their "Watchman" anti-speeding initiative across all 10 authorities.

£1,000,000 remains unallocated for further developments.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the most recent road safety record in respect of each of the local highway authorities to be allocated a Dealing with Disadvantage grant; and what specific improvements he expects to result from the award of such grants. [134743]

Mr. Jamieson: The 2002 casualty figures in the 10 authorities are as follows.

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Local authority(District)	Fatal	Serious	KSI	Slight	Total
	All casualties 2002
Blackburn with Darwen	3	80	83	701	784
Blackpool	10	94	104	762	866
Bolton	12	85	97	1,461	1,558
Bury	8	53	61	968	1,029
Manchester	15	252	267	3,493	3,760
Oldham	4	57	61	959	1,020
Rochdale	11	84	95	1,180	1,275
Salford	7	80	87	1,169	1,256
Tameside	4	85	89	864	953
Wigan	9	123	132	1,595	1,727
	Child pedestrian casualties—2002
Blackburn with Darwen	0	11	11	74	85
Blackpool	0	19	19	64	83
Bolton	1	9	10	133	143
Bury	0	13	13	70	83
Manchester	1	39	40	170	210
Oldham	0	16	16	104	120
Rochdale	0	15	15	89	104
Salford	1	13	14	60	74
Tameside	0	17	17	88	105
Wigan	0	25	25	127	152

Our objective is to narrow the gap between disadvantaged areas and the rest of the country by reducing casualties in deprived areas at a faster rate than for the country as a whole.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate of the unit cost of staff he has used in determining grants for support staff to individual local authorities for delivering Dealing with Disadvantage projects. [134744]

Mr. Jamieson: The allocation for staff is a nominal sum in recognition of the additional administrative burden being placed on the authorities. In partnering agreements, the authorities will have to demonstrate how the staff costs have been incurred in furtherance of the Dealing with Disadvantage work.

Gatwick Airport

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of non-transfer air passengers at Gatwick use public transport to or from the airport. [135189]

Dr. Howells: In 2002 the mode of travel to Gatwick broke down as follows (numbers rounded):

	Percentage
Private car	53
Hire car	2
Taxi/minicab	15
Bus/coach	8
Rail	22
Other	less than 1

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people around Gatwick airport fell within the 54 leq and 57 leq contours for aircraft noise in 2002; and how many he estimates would fall within these contours in 2030 if a new wide spaced runway were built, assuming no change to aircraft noise standards other than those recently agreed in the International Civil Aviation Organisation. [135190]

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Dr. Howells: The populations within the 54 and 57 dBA daytime leq contours in 2002 were around 8,400 and 3,500 respectively. The Stage Three SERAS report gave figures for Gatwick with an additional wide spaced runway. In 2030, the populations in the 54 and 57 dBA contours were projected to be 39,800 and 20,900 respectively. The noise projections assume no changes to ICAO noise standards beyond those recently agreed, but do not rely solely on the minimum standards required by ICAO. They incorporate realistic assumptions about replacement of older, noisier aircraft by more modern and less noisy types.

Air Travel

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of cars used by air passengers which would travel to Gatwick airport on average each day if a new wide spaced runway were built and used to full capacity, assuming that flights operated for 16 hours each day, the proportion of passengers using public transport was the same as currently and that of the remaining passengers half parked at the airport, and half were delivered and collected. [135188]

Dr. Howells: The information is not available in the form requested. The SERAS Stage 3 report included an assessment of the demands for surface access to the airport in 2030 with the addition of a wide-spaced runway in 2024 (i.e. after expiry of the planning agreement between BAA plc and West Sussex county council). Table 2.10 of the report shows that with passenger demand of 76 million passengers per annum in 2030 (and assuming enhanced rail infrastructure and services), the share of air passenger trips by car would be about 51 per cent. (about 30 million road trips per annum).

M1 (Widening)

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects work will start on the widening of the M1 motorway; and if he will make a statement. [135334]

Dr. Howells: Various Multi-Modal and Road Based Studies have recommended widening the majority of the heavily congested sections of the Ml motorway between M25 (Junction 6A) and M62 (Junction 42).

Widening of sections of the motorway in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire (Junctions 6A-13), and improvements to the M6/M1 junction, have been accepted into the Targeted Programme of Improvements (TPI). The Highways Agency is currently reviewing procurement and programme options for these schemes, but construction work is planned to commence within the timescale of the Ten Year Transport Plan announced in 2000, subject to completion of statutory procedures.

The Secretary of State has announced previously that he is minded to add further schemes for widening other sections of the Ml motorway between Junction 21 (M69) and Junction 42 (M62) to the TPI. Preparation work continues on these sections of the motorway to identify widening options/costs. The Secretary of State intends to make further announcements in due course.

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