---

19 Apr 2004 : Column 54W—continued

A38

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the final cost of the remedial work undertaken on the A38 Saltash tunnel; and how the work is to be funded. [165714]

Mr. Jamieson: The estimated cost of the refurbishment works being undertaken on the A38 Saltash tunnel is £8,250,000. The work is being funded by the Highways Agency.

Some remedial works will need to be completed satisfactorily before the completion of the refurbishment contract; they will be undertaken at the contractor's expense.

Air Travel Trust Fund

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will make a statement on the financial status of the Air Travel Trust Fund; which types of air tickets are covered by the Air Travel Trust Fund; and how many and what value of tickets were sold in each category in each year from 1997; [164645]

(2) what the current deficit of the Air Travel Trust Fund is at present as covered by the Government guaranteed overdraft facility; and how this is projected to change over the next few years. [164646]

Mr. McNulty: The Air Travel Trust Fund (ATTF) is currently £9.6 million in deficit but has overdraft facilities guaranteed by the Government. In the event of any failure passengers would not therefore lose out. It is not possible to predict how the deficit will change over
 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 55W
 
the next few years. As soon as parliamentary time permits, we will introduce a Bill to enable the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to levy a charge on the industry to eliminate the deficit and make provision for future calls on the fund.The Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) scheme protects air travellers against insolvency of tour organisers. In the event of a company failure, the cost of refunds and repatriations is met by the bond, and if it is insufficient then ATTF provides the remaining funds required.

Companies holding ATOLs may sell any type of air ticket, but the CAA does not collect data on the type of ticket sold. In 2003 ATOL holders made 23 million sales of package holidays and flights on charter airlines without accommodation, and 5 million sales of flights on scheduled airlines, making a total of 28 million protected tickets.

The following table compares the number of ATOL protected tickets with total tickets for journeys originating in the UK.
UK originating return trips

	ATOL protected		Total
	Million trips	£ billion	Million trips
1997	23.5	9.5	30.3
1998	25.0	10.4	34.3
1999	26.4	11.1	37.5
2000	28.0	12.4	41.4
2001	29.1	13.0	43.0
2002	27.9	12.9	44.0
2003(41)	27.9	12.9	(42)—

⁽⁴¹⁾ Provisional
⁽⁴²⁾ Not available
Source:
CAA, ONS

Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what resources have been made available to the British Transport Police to meet their additional responsibilities under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [162624]

Mr. McNulty: The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 provides officers of the British Transport Police (BTP) with jurisdiction outside the railways in certain, specified circumstances. The number of incidents where BTP officers respond in such circumstances accounts for some 1 per cent. of their activities each year. The costs are absorbed within BTP's budget and are offset by the assistance provided to BTP by local police forces for which BTP are not charged. Between 2000–01 and 2004–05 BTP's budget has increased as follows:

	£ million	Percentage
2000–01	120.5	—
2001–02	121.9	+1.2
2002–03	126.4	+3.7
2003–04	136.7	+8.2
2004–05	161.0	+18

 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 56W
 

Birmingham Airport

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects Birmingham International Airport to announce a scheme of compensation for Solihull constituents adversely affected by the proposed second runway. [165566]

Mr. McNulty: I understand that Birmingham Airport are currently finalising the details of their draft compensation and mitigation scheme. They intend to consult key stakeholders after Easter and begin a full public consultation before the end of May.

Computerised MOT Test

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2004, Official Report, column 1237W, on computerised MOT test, if he will make it his policy to set a final date for the   implementation of a computerised MOT test by Siemens Business Services, failing which he will appoint a new contractor. [165796]

Mr. Jamieson: No, at this stage we do not see it as appropriate to set such a date.

Cycle Lanes

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of new cycle lanes have been provided in the Ribble Valley and Fulwood since 1997; and at what cost. [165512]

Mr. McNulty: Since 1997, 10.5 km of on-road cycle lanes and 4.3 km of off-road cycle lanes have been constructed in the Ribble Valley and Fulwood; their exact cost is not available.

Driving Licences

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether people from EU accession countries will be permitted to drive in the UK using their national licence after 1 May. [165052]

Mr. Jamieson: The UK's implementation of the second EC directive on driving licences (91/439/EEC) on 1 January 1997 brought about the mutual recognition of   all Community licences. This obligation will be extended to include recognition of all licences in circulation in the new member states from their date of accession, 1 May 2004.

Department-sponsored Bodies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for   Transport what the (a) resource budget, (b) administration costs and (c) staff numbers were for 2003 of the (i) Northern Lighthouse Board, (ii) Trinity House Lighthouse Service, (iii) Rail Passengers Committee Eastern England, (iv) Rail Passengers Committee Midlands, (v) Rail Passengers Committee North Eastern England, (vi) Rail Passengers Committee North Western England, (vii) Rail Passengers Committee Scotland, (viii) Rail Passengers Committee Southern England, (ix) Rail Passengers Committee Wales, (x) Rail Passengers Committee Western England, (xi) Rail Passengers Council and (xii) Shipping Task Force. [165124]

 
19 Apr 2004 : Column 57W
 

Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows:

For Financial Year 2003–04	Resource Budget (£)	Administration Costs (£)	Staff Numbers
RPC Eastern England	274,200	49,000	5
RPC Midlands	279,000	69,400	5
RPC North Eastern	275,700	89,400	5
RPC North Western	275,500	72,500	5
RPC Scotland	302,000	90,900	5
RPC Southern	287,500	106,000	5
RPC Wales	262,500	62,400	5
RPC Western	283,200	64,900	5
Rail Passengers' Council	1,446,800	758,300	22
Northern Lighthouse Board	22,791	4,904	206 (does not include part time staff; such as commissioners (5) or attendants/boatmen (106)
Trinity House Lighthouse Service	33,434	1,777	409
Shipping Task Force	49,500	453 (catering for meetings only)	No staff

Disability Discrimination Act

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what impact he expects the provisions of the draft Disability Discrimination Bill to have on the measures contained in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 regarding specifications of hackney carriages; and what the timetable is for consultation and implementation. [165456]

Mr. McNulty: The provisions in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill have no impact on the existing provisions of Part 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) that give the Secretary of State powers to make accessibility regulations for hackney carriages (taxis). I announced on 28 October last year our policy proposals fro taking forward those provisions. We are currently working on the technical requirements and we will be consulting in due course on draft regulations that will include a proposed timeframe for implementation.

The transport provision in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill would allow us to lift the exemption for transport vehicles in Part 3 of the DDA that deals with access to goods, services and facilities. We are committed to doing so in respect of public transport services, including taxis, to ensure that in future operators of those services take reasonable steps to ensure that they do not discriminate against disabled people. We do not, however, intend to bring in the duties under Part 3 that would require physical alterations to vehicles.

---