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19 Nov 2003 : Column 916W—continued
Civil Service
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many civil service jobs there were in
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Scotland in each year from 1974 to 1999, broken down by (a) local authority area, (b) Department and (c) agency. [135271]
Mrs. McGuire: Information on civil service numbers is contained in the Cabinet Office publications 'Civil Service Statistics', back copies of which are available from the Library of the House. Electronic copies from 1995 onwards can also be accessed from the web: www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics/css.htm. Specific details relating to location of jobs by local authority area is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Performance Monitoring
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the total cost was of (a) setting, (b) monitoring and (c) measuring the performance targets for his Department in 2002–03; and how many and what grades of civil servants monitor these targets. [137953]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office has no public service agreements. Details of other performance targets are set out in Departmental Reports. Performance management is an integral part of the day to day running of the Department, and as such it is not possible to separate the specific costs. The monitoring of progress towards, and performance against, targets is undertaken by a variety of staff at all levels of the organisation.
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the performance targets that (a) his Department and (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are required to meet; and if he will specify for each target (i) who sets it and (ii) who monitors achievement against it. [137968]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office has no public service agreements. Details of other performance targets are set in Departmental Reports. Monitoring progress toward departmental targets is undertaken by a variety of staff at all levels of the organisation.
Website
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent assessment he has made of the (a) content and (b) design of his Department's website. [139503]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office website is kept under regular review and content is added when required. It is currently being redesigned.
TRANSPORT
Licensed Cabs
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to remove local authority powers to restrict the number of licensed cabs in a local authority area; and if he will make a statement. [138956]
Mr. McNulty: We are currently considering the taxi and private hire vehicle market study report published on 11 November by the Office of Fair Trading which recommended that local authorities' power to control
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taxi numbers (outside London) should be abolished. We are now consulting principal stakeholders and are committed to responding to the recommendations within 120 days of the report's publication.
Traffic Control
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who has statutory authority to direct traffic on a public highway; and if he will make a statement. [139944]
Mr. Jamieson: The police have the prime statutory authority for directing traffic on public highways. Traffic wardens, as part of the Police Service, are empowered to direct traffic in certain circumstances. A limited number of authorised persons, including school crossing patrols, have power to stop vehicles for particular purposes. Vehicle and Operator Services Agency examiners, accredited under the Police Reform Act 2002, have powers to stop vehicles for the purpose of inspecting their roadworthiness.
Air Transport White Paper
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the new Air Transport White Paper. [139356]
Mr. McNulty: The White Paper will be published before the end of the year.
Silent Aeroplanes
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will provide funds to Cambridge University for research into silent aeroplanes. [140078]
Mr. McNulty: The Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) launched its project to design a 'silent' aircraft on 10 November 2003. The project, centred around collaborative research teams at Cambridge University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been established using Government funding.
Ballast UK
Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what contracts Ballast UK has for the renewal of the rail network; and what the value is in each case. [132925]
Mr. McNulty: Decisions on letting contracts for work on the rail infrastructure are an operational matter for Network Rail. Network Rail advises that it has no contracts with Ballast UK.
British Transport Police
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of violence on underground trains have been reported to British Transport Police in the last six years for which figures are available. [139381]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 18 November 2003]: The British Transport Police have provided the following information regarding criminal offences on London Underground trains that have been reported to the force.
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| Offence category | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | April-October 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence against the person | 261 | 409 | 337 | 341 | 405 | 278 |
| Sexual offences | 183 | 287 | 279 | 234 | 208 | 133 |
| Robbery | 224 | 379 | 376 | 497 | 259 | 143 |
| Total | 668 | 1,075 | 992 | 1,072 | 872 | 554 |
Buses
Mr. Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of bus lanes there are in England. [137683]
Mr. McNulty: Allocation of road space is a matter for local highway authorities. The Department does not maintain a central register of the length of bus lanes.
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on re-regulation of buses. [139749]
Mr. McNulty: The current statutory framework for buses is set out in the Transport Act 2000. As with all other legislation, we keep the situation under review. Ministers have discussed these matters with a number of groups and individuals representing both local authorities and bus operators.
Call Centres
Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department plans to outsource call centre work to premises outside the United Kingdom. [132100]
Mr. McNulty: The Department has no call centre plans which specify a location outside the United Kingdom.
Central Railway Project
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reason he is unable to make an immediate decision on the Central Railway project. [138772]
Mr. McNulty: A decision cannot be made until all aspects of Central Railway's proposal have been fully examined.
Climate Change
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has conducted on the effect of climate change on railway infrastructure; what assessment he has made of the likely impact of future climate change upon the transport sector; and if he will place in the Library copies of reports published from research funded by his Department on the effects of climate change on (a) railways, (b) roads, (c) aviation and (d) other transport. [139761]
Mr. McNulty: An assessment into the impact of climate change on transport policies was undertaken by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions in 2001 and is now available from the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/impacts/01.htm.
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The Rail Safety and Standards Board published their own research, entitled 'Safety Implications of Weather, Climate and Climate Change', in April 2003. This is available from their website, www.railwaysafety.org.uk.
The Highways Agency completed a report entitled 'Climate change and the Highways Agency' in January 2001. The report covered both the influence the Agency had on climate change as well as the implications of climate change on the Agency's operations. A copy of all three reports will be placed in the Library of the House.
Computer Games
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what contracts his Department has awarded to external computer game companies, broken down by (a) the company to which the contract was awarded and (b) the date and total cost of the contract; what the purpose of each contract was; and what has been delivered to date on each contract; [139587]
- (2) if he will list the computer games on (a) his Department's website and (b) other websites supported financially by his Department; what the cost to date was of (i) producing and (ii) promoting these; what each game seeks to achieve; and what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of each in meeting its aims. [139588]
Mr. Jamieson: Our THINK! Road Safety web site— www.hedgehogs.gov.uk—which is designed to engage children has a games area:
The contract for the games area was awarded to Draught Associates on 13 February 2001 and cost £13,125 ex vat. The purpose was to design and develop a series of interactive games as a fun and relevant vehicle for communicating important road safety messages to 7–11 year olds. The contract has finished and five interactive games were delivered. This included versions of the games for under 7s, and for 8–11s. The contract cost covered design, production, testing and research.
The site and games were launched as part of the 'Be Safe Be Seen campaign' in October 2001 and the URL has been on advertisements, T-shirts, stickers, etc we have aimed at children since then. We do not incur expenditure promoting the games specifically as Be Safe, Be Seen is itself our promotional message.
For the under 7s there are three games:
- 'Double Up' is a simple matching pairs game where children must find a total of 18 pairs of road safety icons e.g: crash helmet, zebra crossing, lollipop lady, etc.
'Simon' is a game where children have to remember a sequence of coloured cars as they drive past. It becomes increasingly difficult and there is a road safety message after each sequence
'Look Out' is a game where children must scroll through a street scene and, when prompted, identify children being careless in various scenarios eg:
playing with a ball near the road, cycling without a helmet, etc.
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- 'Double Up' is similar as for the under 7s except it uses more advanced icons eg: road signs etc.
'Zebras'—in this game players navigate a zebra through a series of crossings. They must use crossings where the man is green to score points 'Simon' is similar to the under 7s game of the same name except the player follows a cyclist and identifies his arm signals.
'Walkies' is a similar concept to the game where you have to feed a metal loop along a wire without touching the two together. The player has to walk their pet dog along a road and use designated crossings etc to score points.
'Look out' is similar to the under 7s game of the same name but uses scenarios which are more relevant to older children.
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