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Bus Services
8. Paddy Tipping (Sherwood): What representations he has received on the cancellation of bus services caused by the lack of availability of trained bus drivers. [138861]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty): We are aware from the Department's monitoring surveys and other sources that unavailability of drivers is a significant cause of bus service cancellations. The bus industry is taking a number of initiatives to tackle that problem, and we will continue to assist where possible. My hon. Friend will know that the difficulties are caused as much by retention as by recruitment.
Paddy Tipping : May I draw the Minister's attention to the case of Nottingham City Transport, which has rightly been told by the traffic commissioner that the lack of drivers is not an excuse for the unavailability of services? In response, it has reduced and withdrawn
services, causing great inconvenience. Is not the solution very simple: that Nottingham City Transport needs to recruit, pay and train its drivers properly?
Mr. McNulty: I am not aware of all the details regarding Nottingham City Transport, but I shall happily take the matter up with it and look at its solutions to the problem—as I shall, in the wider context, take matters further with the Bus Partnership Forum, which I chair. The Department will continue to work with TransFed, the industrial training body, and with GoSkills, the sector skills council's co-ordinating body that comes into operation next year. To underline my hon. Friend's remarks, the crucial fact is that buses get to communities—often deprived communities—and serve them far better than any other mode of transport can.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York): The problem is symptomatic of a wider issue that was identified in a recent report by the Select Committee on Transport—namely, that the Office of Fair Trading is failing correctly to apply the Competition Act 1998 to bus companies and passenger transport executives. Will the Minister address that?
Mr. McNulty: When we recently met representatives of the Office of Fair Trading to discuss its taxi report, we raised some issues about buses. If the hon. Lady feels that the OFT is not carrying out its duties in full, she should write to me and we will happily look into it.
Ormskirk Bypass
9. Mr. Colin Pickthall (West Lancashire): If he will make a statement on the provision of a bypass for Ormskirk. [138862]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson): I fully understand the importance that local people attach to the bypass for Ormskirk, but it is for Lancashire county council to determine the priorities for local road building and to make bids accordingly.
Mr. Pickthall : Is my hon. Friend aware that Ormskirk is one of the worst, if not the worst, bottlenecks in the north-west, because it is built around the crossroads of the A59 and the A570? That applies particularly to traffic heading from the M58 to Southport, which is very heavy in the summer, and sometimes queues up for more than 2 miles outside the town, leading to terrible conditions. The campaign for the bypass has been going on since before the first world war. It featured in the Department's programme until 1998, when it was picked out, and it is now joint second in the Lancashire plan. During my time in Parliament, six Ministers have been to see the problem—I would be delighted if my hon. Friend were to be the seventh. Even more importantly, will he talk to the council and the Highways Agency to get the project moving?
Mr. Jamieson: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his robust campaigning on this issue. I am very aware of the congestion in Ormskirk, and I would happily be the seventh Minister to visit that road. As he knows, it is due
for de-trunking, and should therefore become the responsibility of Lancashire county council. I have asked the Government Office for the North-West to reignite the discussions between the Highways Agency and Lancashire county council with a view to getting the council to take the road over. It will then be able to apply for local transport plan funding for the bypass. Although I cannot give my hon. Friend a guarantee that that will be possible, the very substantial increase that the council has received over the past three years should give him grounds for optimism.
Dr. John Pugh (Southport): A bypass would bring economic benefits to my constituency, as well as to Ormskirk, and the fact that there is no opposition to it makes it all the stranger that it has not gone ahead. Is the Minister aware that recent, highly controversial changes in hospital configuration mean that ambulances going to accident and emergency departments in Ormskirk and Southport will have to criss-cross the busy town centre of Ormskirk? Will he look into that and speed up traffic in Lancashire?
Mr. Jamieson: I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we have already looked into that. I am aware that the reconfiguration of health services in the area has caused potential problems for ambulances on the road. I have asked the Government Office for the North-West to liaise with the health authorities in Southport and Ormskirk and with Lancashire county council about taking short-term traffic management measures to alleviate possible delays to ambulance services travelling along the road.
West Coast Main Line
10. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield): How many delayed train arrivals there were on the west coast main line in each year since 1999–2000; and if he will make a statement. [138863]
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Dr. Kim Howells): The Strategic Rail Authority publishes performance information in its six-monthly "On Track" publication, copies of which are placed in the Library of the House. Information is provided for the services of each operator in aggregate, but not—I am afraid to say—by specific routes.
Michael Fabricant : The Minister will know, because the Secretary of State said so a few moments ago, that things are not happening as quickly as they should in terms of punctuality and timing. Can he imagine the frustration of people in Lichfield, who stand at Lichfield Trent Valley railway station and watch trains whizzing by and not stopping? There are only four trains a day to London, although there will soon be five. Lichfield Trent Valley also has no facilities for the disabled. Will the Minister meet the Lichfield commuters club, which I formed and which will meet regularly at the House of Commons, for a drink—or two or three—to discuss the problems that people encounter?
Dr. Howells: I would be delighted to meet the Lichfield commuters club and to have a drink bought for me by the hon. Gentleman.
CABINET OFFICE
The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked—
Civil Service
18. Kevin Brennan (Cardiff, West): What steps are being taken to increase the proportion of disabled people in the senior civil service. [138831]
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Douglas Alexander): My Department undertakes a range of activities to encourage people with disabilities to apply to the civil service and to increase the proportion of disabled people in the senior civil service. For example, the civil service bursary scheme encourages disabled staff with potential to reach the senior civil service. The aim of such activities is to increase the proportion of disabled staff in the senior civil service to 3.2 per cent. from the current level of 1.7 per cent.
Kevin Brennan : I thank the Minister for that answer. I am sure that he is aware of the groundbreaking and innovative work of the Public Administration Committee on developing a draft civil service Bill. Does he think that we should include in that Bill provision to ensure that the civil service provides equality for disabled people, or is the civil service doing well enough under current arrangements? For example, how well are we doing in comparison with the FTSE 100 companies?
Mr. Alexander: My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are awaiting the outcome of work by the Public Administration Committee on the draft civil service Bill and we look forward to it with interest. The Government's commitment to publish a draft Bill thereafter endures. On the substantive point about the level of commitment in the civil service, I was greatly heartened by the words of Sir Andrew Turnbull on his appointment as Cabinet Secretary, when he personally committed himself to the diversity agenda in the civil service. As for comparisons with the private sector, some 12.9 per cent. of the economically active population are disabled, but data from the civil service diversity survey suggest that some 15 per cent. of civil servants have a disability or long-standing illness.
Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire): I welcome the Government's determination to increase the number of people who are disabled who work in the senior civil service. However, I am less convinced by the Government's press release of 16 October, which said that they would achieve that by
- "coordinating interdepartmental action to get better information on disabled staff at senior levels in order to understand better the barriers to progression."
Mr. Alexander: I will happily write to the hon. Gentleman with the specific number. I have looked at
the facts that he elucidated and I would make the following observation. The total number of staff of the Cabinet Office is just below 2,000, and the number of senior civil servants is a significantly smaller proportion. Therefore, the number of staff directly affected is very small. None the less, he raises an important point. The Cabinet Office should lead by example, and that is why I welcome the initiatives that it has taken at a corporate level—in terms of the guidance that was issued, which the hon. Gentleman seemed to dismiss—and in the work that every Department should be doing on the diversity agenda.19. Mr. Wayne David (Caerphilly): What progress the civil service has made since 1997 in the employment of ethnic minorities. [138845]
Mr. Alexander: This Government are strongly committed to diversity in the civil service and to ensuring that it is fully representative of the community that it serves.The latest data, for April 2003, show that ethnic minorities make up 8 per cent. of the civil service, an increase from 4.8 per cent. in April 1997.
Mr. David : I thank my hon. Friend for that reply, but what efforts are being made to encourage ethnic minorities to enter the civil service, especially through the fast stream, which has long been the preserve of people from the white middle class?
Mr. Alexander: My hon. Friend makes an important point, but I have some positive news in relation to the fast stream. The Government promoted the fast stream summer development programme for ethnic minorities, which now provides a training placement of six to eight weeks for 60 undergraduates. There are also grounds for optimism about the further scope for work in the fast stream in years to come. We have initiated work to that effect.
Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst): Can the Minister give an absolute guarantee that appointments and promotion will always be made solely on merit? Will he guarantee to the taxpayer that the best possible quality of public service will be provided?
Mr. Alexander: I am happy to give the undertaking that civil servants are appointed according to merit. However, an important factor that must be borne in mind is that we need to realise the potential of all sectors of the community. I see no contradiction between a diversity agenda that recognises that and also secures and upholds the traditional principle of merit in the senior civil service.
Tony Wright (Cannock Chase): Has not the time come now, through a single equality Act, to lay a duty on all public bodies to promote equality? The Public Administration Committee recommended that recently.
Mr. Alexander: My hon. Friend is the Chairman of the Public Administration Committee, and I take his point very seriously. I know that much work is being done on the matter of a single equalities commission, which will be given clear consideration by the Government.
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