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17 Dec 2003 : Column 920W—continued

TRANSPORT

Gatwick Airport

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons passengers disembarking flights at Gatwick airport are having their photograph taken; what flights are involved; and how long he expects this measure to last. [140808]

Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.

Following the attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001 and consequential heightened security measures the Department for Transport instructed the British Airports Authority (BAA) to bring forward arrangements for the full segregation of arriving and departing passengers at the south terminal, Gatwick airport and other airports where this was not already in place.

In order to prevent the circumvention of the immigration control under the new arrangements (by passengers arriving on international flights and leaving the airport via the domestic channel without passing through immigration control) the BAA agreed to adopt an IT system whereby barcoded photo-images of all arriving domestic passengers captured on leaving the aircraft were reconciled at the domestic arrivals channel.

This system has been in operation by Gatwick Airport Limited (GAL) since 1 November 2001. There are no plans to change this system while arriving and departing passengers have access to the same secure areas within the airport.

Hindhead Tunnel

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when work will begin on the Hindhead Tunnel; and what the time scale for the project is. [143602]

Dr. Howells: Subject to the satisfactory completion of the Statutory Procedures and the availability of funds the A3 Hindhead scheme should be in a position to start construction in 2005 and the new road open to traffic in 2009.

Pay-as-you-drive

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects of encouraging pay-as-you-drive car insurance. [144612]

Mr. Jamieson: Some companies in the insurance industry are currently studying options for pay-as-you-drive car insurance schemes. At least one insurer plans to launch a trial scheme by spring 2004 and we look forward to hearing about any lessons learnt from their trial.

Speed Cameras

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Treasury expects to receive from each English police authority from safety camera fines in the next financial year. [142533]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 8 December 2003]: The safety camera partnerships are in the process of compiling their operational cases for inclusion in the

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2004–05 programme. The deadline for submitting their operational cases is 31 December 2003. The national safety camera programme board will consider the cases early in 2004. The information requested is therefore not yet available.

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Treasury has received from each English police authority from fines from speed safety cameras in the last 12 months. [142534]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 8 December 2003]: Six partnerships trialed the netting off scheme in England between April 2000 and March 2002. A further six areas joined the scheme in October 2001. The surplus amounts passed from these 12 areas to the Treasury are given in the following table.

Treasury Surplus
2000–01
Cleveland127,059
Essex(1)3,000
Lincolnshire114,279
Nottingham(1)66,011
Northants465,436
Thames Valley413,481
2001–02
Cleveland368,589
Essex520,357
Lincolnshire542,862
Nottingham34,104
Northants719,802
Thames Valley2,055,849
Cambridgeshire21,660
Derbyshire198,341
Lancashire436,163
Norfolk(1)272,960
Staffordshire2,014
Warwickshire(1)150,768

(1) Shortfall recovered during following year.


Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fixed speed cameras there are on the (a) A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton, (b) A534 between Farndon and Nantwich, (c) the A682 between Barrowford and Long Preston, (d) the A54 between Congleton and Buxton and (e) A631 between Gainsborough and Glentham. [142918]

Mr. Jamieson: The information is as follows:


These roads are some of those listed in the Euro RAP 2003 British Roads Results Survey as being "Britain's persistently high risk roads". They are single carriageway roads; some are remote Peak District areas. Where accidents and casualties are spread along lengths of rural roads, fixed location cameras will be of less value than mobile cameras or other traffic engineering and enforcement measures appropriate to the problem.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fixed speed cameras there are on the (a) A134 between Thetford and the A10, (b) M73 between junctions 1 and 3, (c) A682 between the A56

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and the A646 Burnley, (d) A45 between Ryton on Dunsmore and Stonebridge and (e) A6 between Leicester and Derby. [142919]

Mr. Jamieson: This information is as follows:


These roads are some of those listed in the Euro RAP 2003 British Roads Results Survey as being "Britain's most improved roads". They are a mixture of urban and rural roads, single and dual carriageway and one short motorway. Cameras will have been an appropriate casualty reduction technique in some of the cases, combined with other traffic engineering and enforcement measures appropriate to the problem.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what revenue has been received from all safety camera partnerships in each year since the first partnership was set up, net of the funds awarded to those partnerships in each of those years; [142207]

Mr. Jamieson: Seven partnerships trialed the netting off scheme in England and Wales between April 2000 and March 2002. A further seven areas joined the scheme in October 2001. The amounts passed to these 14 areas and the surplus passed to the Treasury are given in the tables.

2000–01

Costs passed to partnerships (£)Surplus passedto Treasury
Cleveland771,901127,059
Essex1,846,480(2)3,000
Lincolnshire512,721114,279
Nottingham622,371(2)66,011
Northants1,702,404465,436
South Wales1,330,277236,723
Thames Valley1,825,639413,481
Total8,611,7931,287,967

(2) Shortfall recovered during following year.


2001–02

Costs passed to partnerships (£)Surplus passedto Treasury
Cleveland486,891368,589
Essex3,003,763520,357
Lincolnshire516,818542,862
Nottingham778,53634,104
Northants2,247,838719,802
South Wales1,749,573126,667
Thames Valley2,617,0312,055,849
Cambridgeshire113,76021,660
Derbyshire455,659198,341
Lancashire761,017436,163
Norfolk433,100(3)272,960
North Wales904,022(3)255,242
Staffordshire629,2462,014
Warwickshire355,068(3)150,768
Total15,052,3224,347,438

(3) Shortfall recovered during following year.


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Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fixed speed cameras are operating outside Safety Camera Partnerships; and where they are located. [142237]

Mr. Jamieson: There are currently five police force areas out of a maximum 51 in Great Britain who are not yet participating in the safety camera netting off scheme. These areas do not recover their camera-related costs from fine income and therefore there is no obligation on them to inform central Government about camera activity or number of cameras in operation in their areas. We expect all but Durham to be part of the netting off programme by July 2004.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people were (a) killed, (b) seriously injured and (c) slightly injured in the location of each fixed speed camera within a Safety Camera Partnership in (i) the year prior to its installation and (ii) each subsequent year. [142265]

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Mr. Jamieson: The Government published information on 11 February 2003 about the performance of the eight areas that trialed the netting off scheme in the report "A cost recovery system for speed and red-light cameras—two year evaluation report." This showed that there had been a 35 per cent. reduction in those killed or seriously injured at camera sites. Partnership performance for 2003 will be detailed in the next report on the netting off programme which is expected to be published in March 2004.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average speed of vehicles was at each fixed speed camera within each Safety Camera Partnership in the year (a) prior to installation and (b) subsequent to installation. [142267]

Mr. Jamieson: The Government published information on 11 February 2003 about the performance of the eight areas that trialed the netting off scheme in the report "A cost recovery system for speed and red-light cameras—two year evaluation report." This showed speeds were affected in the seven areas where fixed site cameras were used in the following way:

Change in average speedChange in 85th percentile speedPercentage change in
MphPercentageMphPercentagePercentage change in vehicles exceeding the speed limitvehicles exceeding the spend limit by more than 15 mph
Lincolnshire-2.7-6.5-9.6-18-73-94
Nottingham-8.0-17.4-4.0-18
Northamptonshire-7.5-22.2-7.6-18-81-98
Essex-5.7-16.3-7.0-17-78-92
Thames Valleyn/an/a-5.7-16-65-98
South Wales-7.9-22.7-7.1-20-56-97
Strathclyde-3.3-10.1-2.3-6-61-61
Average-4.5-12.2-6.8-17-67-96

Partnership performance for 2003 will be detailed in the next report on the netting off programme to be published in March 2004.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each safety camera partnership the number of those (a) killed and (b) seriously injured in the partnership area (i) in the year to July 2003 and (ii) in the year to July 2002. [142498]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 8 December 2003]: The data is not available in the periods requested. The data shown in the table is for the numbers of killed and seriously injured road accident casualties (KSIs) for the latest available calendar year in the eight safety camera partnership areas that were fully operational. For comparison the KSI averages are provided for the three years prior to the start of the netting off trial in March 2000.

Safety camera 1997–99 average2002
partnership areaKilledSeriousKilledSerious
Cleveland2023919234
Essex901,164921,210
Lincolnshire8868091645
Northamptonshire6468062478
Nottinghamshire(4)7897880833
South Wales6034441408
Strathclyde1141,780921,316
Thames Valley1511,1431571,379
Total6657,0086346,503

(4) Nottinghamshire county joined late in 2002, data includes City of Nottingham.


Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the policy of the Government is in relation to the reinvestment by safety camera partnerships of revenue from fines in (a) road safety education and (b) highway engineering improvements to improve road safety. [142499]

Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 8 December 2003]: The rules for netting off allow fine revenue to be used only to fund safety camera activity which includes education about how effective speed management can improve road safety. Other aspects of road safety education and highway engineering improvement are funded separately in the usual way. The rules for netting off were designed to ensure there would be no benefit to the partnership for installing cameras at places where there were no casualty savings.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will (a) publish and (b) place in the Library the business plans of each camera safety partnership; and if he will make a statement. [142917]

Mr. Jamieson: Each safety camera partnership makes available locally for public scrutiny information about its operational case having taken regard to sensitive operational matters such as the speeds at which cameras are triggered to enforce the limit. Operational cases for 2004–05 are to be produced in common format to allow publication without compromising operational sensitivities.

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