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Network Rail

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his future plans for Network Rail. [166532R]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the Statement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 19 January 2004. He will publish his proposals in the summer.

Speed Cameras

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much revenue has been raised in fines imposed as a result of speed cameras in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough since 1997. [162332]

Mr. Jamieson: Information is not available on the amount of fines paid following speed offences detected by camera, the following table shows the number of fixed penalties and court fines ordered to be paid for the offence of 'speeding detected by camera' in the calendar years 1997 to 2001, for the Metropolitan and City of London police forces combined. It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify each London borough. Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
 
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Fixed penalty and court proceedings data for speeding offences detected bycameras1, 2 within Greater London⁽¹⁰⁸⁾, 1997–2001

	Fixed Penalties		Court Proceedings(109)
	Number of tickets(110)	Estimated fines(111) (£)	Number of fines	Total amount of fine (£)	Average fine(110)
1997	15,300	612,900	2,500	259,600	102
1998	14,200	566,200	2,900	356,800	125
1999	13,000	521,900	2,600	288,400	111
2000	44,100	1,910,700	2,200	256,700	115
2001	52,100	3,128,600	4,500	513,700	114

⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ Automatic cameras until 1998, all camera types from 1999.
⁽¹⁰⁷⁾ Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
⁽¹⁰⁸⁾ The Metropolitan and City of London police combined.
⁽¹⁰⁹⁾ Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court.
⁽¹¹⁰⁾ Paid i.e. no further action.
⁽¹¹¹⁾ Estimate based on £40 fixed penalty charge to October 2000. From November 2000 the penalty was raised to £60.

Home Office information for 2002 will be available in late spring 2004.

Station Improvements

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his answer of 26 January 2004, Official Report, column 41W, on station improvements, what plans the Government have for delivering improvements to the stations not addressed by the Modern Facilities at Stations scheme and which were identified as being in need of improvement in the Strategic Rail Authority's original target to improve 1,000 stations by 2004. [166006]

Mr. McNulty: Any extension of the Modern Facilities at Stations Scheme (MFAS) beyond the 68 stations referred to in my previous answer is a matter for the SRA, which would consider such an extension along with their other priorities.

Transport Services (Birkenhead)

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the percentage change in (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries on the roads of Birkenhead has been since 1997. [166496]

Dr. Howells: The available information relates to local authority areas. For Wirral metropolitan district, which includes the constituency of Birkenhead, the number of deaths in road accidents rose by 20 per cent. from 10 in 1997 to 12 in 2002, the latest year for which information is available; and the number of serious injuries fell by 3 per cent., from 178 in 1997 to 173 in 2002. Estimates on the basis of parliamentary constituencies will become available in the summer. I shall write to my right hon. Friend with figures for Birkenhead and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many rural bus services in Birkenhead are supported by rural bus grants. [166498]

Dr. Howells: Rural Bus Subsidy Grant (RBSG) is paid to local transport authorities, in the case of Birkenhead this is the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (PTE). It is for the authority to decide which services should be supported with the grant. We understand from the PTE that no rural bus services in Birkenhead are provided by RBSG.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the effect of investment in railway improvements over the next 10 years upon residents of Birkenhead. [166500]

 
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Dr. Howells: Merseytravel Passenger Transport Executive (PTE) is responsible for improving services and facilities for passengers on the Merseyrail network. Network Rail is responsible for maintaining and renewing the infrastructure.

The PTE has plans for a number of improvements over the next 10 years. These include refurbishment of Hamilton Square station and enhancement of bus/rail interchange facilities; major rebuild of Bidston, making the station fully accessible and developing a strategic park and ride site served by the station; electrification of the line between Bidston and Woodchurch including upgrade of Upton Station and introduction of associated park and ride facilities; and investigation into making Birkenhead North, Birkenhead Park, Rock Ferry and Green Lane stations fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

A new waiting room and Customer Information Services at Birkenhead Central, together with new Customer Information Services at Green Lane, are being provided through the Strategic Rail Authority's Modern Facilities at Stations Programme. In addition, Merseyrail rolling stock will be fully refurbished by the end of 2004. The refurbishment includes the provision of CCTV, dedicated wheelchair spaces and cycle racks.

Working Time Directive

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many responses he has received to his consultation on the implementation of the Working Time Directive for mobile workers in the transport sector. [165972]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department has received 105 responses to the consultation exercise, from both sides of industry and other interested stakeholders.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

British Coal Corporation

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, following the dissolution of the British Coal Corporation on 26 March, all the corporation's liabilities will be fully met by her Department. [164949]

 
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Mr. Timms: I can confirm that upon the dissolution of the British Coal Corporation on 27 March all its remaining liabilities were transferred to the Department of Industry, which will now have direct responsibility for their timely discharge.

Broadband

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made of the implications for energy demand of the rolling out of the broadband communications programme. [166227]

Mr. Timms: Under the Market Transformation Programme (MTP), which is managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Government has issued a Briefing Note to provide a basic analysis and projections for the energy consumption of Broadband technologies in the UK market.

The Briefing Note (BNBROAD1: Energy requirement implications of broadband communication technology 2003–2010) is published on the MPT website: http://www:mtprog.com/approvedbriefingnotes/EnergyRequire mentImplicationsofBroadbandCommunicationTechnolo gv20032010.aspx?kintUniquelD=254.

Departmental Computers

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to update computer (a) hardware and (b) software standard packages used in her Department. [166371]

Ms Hewitt: Updating the computer hardware and standard software packages in my Department is the responsibility of our ICT Service Provider. My Department has outsourced the provision of ICT services under a PFI contract. This provides for the updating of computer hardware to an agreed schedule, and the updating of standard computer software packages to keep them to a level that is supported by software suppliers.

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