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12 May 2004 : Column 399W—continued

Car Sharing

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding has been given by his Department, and its predecessors, in each year since 1997 towards the (a) development and (b) promotion of (i) car clubs, (ii) car sharing and (iii) the Carplus scheme. [172292]

Mr. McNulty: Car sharing was featured as part of the Government's sustainable development campaign, 'Are Your Doing You Bit' prior to 2000. For example, as part of the programme, the Department's predecessor DETR contributed setting up costs of £150,000 to establish the Edinburgh City Car Club in 1999.

Building on this the Department has been promoting car sharing through its published guidance and initiatives on work place and schools travel plans and by funding bursary schemes.

Since 1999 the Department has been supporting the Carplus car club advisory service with the following annual grants:

1999—£37,000

2000—£38,000

2001—£103,000

2002—£53,000

2003—£60,000

2003—£60,000

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the average occupancy of motor vehicles for each year since 1997. [172335]

Mr. McNulty: Occupancy figures for cars and light vans for Great Britain from the National Travel Survey are as follows:

1997—1.60

1998—1.59

1999—1.59

2000—1.59

2001—1.59

2002—1.58

Figures for 2003 are not yet available.

Crime Prevention

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on progress of the Government's strategy for crime prevention on public transport. [171889]

Mr. McNulty: The Government are raising the profile of public transport crime as an issue which needs to be addressed by a partnership approach between operators, local authorities, the police, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), and other interested parties.

Examples of effective partnership working include the work of the National Route Crime Group to reduce the risks posed by acts of trespass on railway property and associated acts of vandalism. This and other local and national initiatives have led to a 32 Per cent. reduction of vandalism on the railways in 2002–03. The Secure Stations Scheme encourages train operators to work with other organisations to improve the 'whole journey'
 
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experience of rail passengers. Currently approximately two thirds of all overground rail journeys and one half of all London Underground journeys involve passengers starting or finishing their journey at a Secure Station. The Safer Travel on Buses and Coaches Panel is looking at ways to combat assaults, anti-social behaviour and vandalism on vehicles and property. The Panel has recently produced practical guides to protect bus and coach crews.

The British Transport Police (BTP) also play a vital role in keeping Britain's railways safe and secure, and pleasant to use. The Force works closely in partnership with those who manage the railway, staff and tenants, and local police forces. BTP covers crime from serious violent and sexual offences to pick-pocketing and car crime. It also takes a lead in combating the anti-social behaviour that can impact so much on those who use and work on the railway. Other examples of the spreading of crime prevention good practice include a toolkit on reducing crime on public transport, and good practice case studies to improve personal security in bus travel. Department for Transport guidance (to be issued this summer) to local transport authorities on giving greater emphasis to accessibility issues within Local Transport Plans will encourage authorities to adopt a partnership approach with CDRPs, local partners in the health, education and welfare to work sectors, and the local community to address crime and the fear of crime issues as one way of improving people's ability to access jobs and key services.

Delegated Examiner Tests

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the inspection and supervisory regime is for (a) institutions and organisations and (b) individuals who carry out delegated examiner tests; [171939]

(2) which institutions and organisations carry out delegated examiner tests on behalf of the Driving Standards Agency; and how many candidates (a) entered tests and (b) were successful, broken down by institution and organisation; [171940]

(3) what the procedure is for permission to be given for delegated examiner tests to take place. [171971]

Mr. Jamieson: A number of organisations are authorised to carry out driving tests for their staff. The organisations are fire brigades, police forces, the Ministry of Defence and some bus companies. The bus companies have to hold a Public Service Vehicles operator's licence.

The Secretary of State for Transport has to be satisfied that these organisations make proper arrangements for conducting tests and keeping proper records, before granting his approval to the appointment of the examiners who may conduct the tests.

Before being appointed, the examiners have to successfully complete the same four week training course that examiners employed by the Driving Standards Agency are required to undertake.
 
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The Agency is responsible for the subsequent supervision of the standards of the examiners, which involves quarterly supervision visits to the organisations to check that tests are conducted and assessed to the required standard.

The number of tests conducted by the fire and police authorities and bus companies last year, and the pass rates have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Equivalent figures for the Ministry of Defence are not available.

Driving Test Centres

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) which driving test centres have refused to accept candidates because of a lack of capacity at the centre within (a) nine weeks, (b) 12 weeks and (c) more than 12 weeks of a practical test appointment being requested; [171967]

(2) what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who will seek a driving test in 2004–05; [171968]

(3) what the average waiting time is for practical driving tests for (a) cars, (b) motorcycles, (c) large goods vehicles and (d) passenger carrying vehicles, broken down by test centre. [171970]

Mr. Jamieson: Candidates are able to book driving tests with the Driving Standards Agency by phone, by post or online via the internet. They can also amend their appointment by phone or post to seek an earlier or later date, so appointment availability at individual test centres continually varies. No applicant for a driving test is refused an appointment.

The Agency has a national target for the average annual waiting time for a practical car driving test in England, Scotland and Wales of six weeks. The national average waiting time at the end of April for car tests was 9.2 weeks. Against the national average waiting time target for a motorcycling test of four weeks, the waiting time was 4.6 weeks. Against the national average waiting time target for a lorry or bus driving test of three weeks, the waiting time was 4.9 weeks.

The latest information about appointment availability for each type of test, at each test centre has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

In order to reduce the current high waiting times for tests in Great Britain the Agency recruited 283 new driving examiners in the last financial year and plans to recruit a further 330 in the coming year. An extra 7.30 am test slot is being added to weekday programmes in some test centres and tests are now offered on Sundays. The Agency is deploying as many driving examiners as possible from Scotland to the London and South East area to tackle the problem of high waiting times there. In the context of its Business Plan for 2004–05, I have set the Agency a target to bring national waiting times for a car driving test down to six weeks by January 2005.

The Agency estimates that it will handle 1,563,000 applications for practical car driving tests in 2004–05. The current pass rate for the practical car driving test is 43 per cent., so the applications will include a number from candidates who have been unsuccessful at a previous test attempt—some of whom will delay
 
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reapplying for a further test for over a year. Taking these factors together suggests that between 670,000 and 940,000 people will be making applications in the coming year.

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