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Bus Services (Cambridgeshire)

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy that part of the capital cost of the proposed guided bus scheme should be paid by way of loan money raised by Cambridgeshire county council. [176260]

Mr. McNulty: Yes. The proposed Cambridge to Huntingdon Rapid Transit Guided Busway has been provisionally accepted for funding through Cambridgeshire county council's local transport plan settlement. As is usual with such major schemes (i.e. those costing more than £5 million) the funding will comprise 50 per cent. grant and 50 per cent. supported borrowing.

Car Sharing

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the total reduction in vehicle kilometres that would result from a (a) 10 per cent., (b) 20 per cent. and (c) 50 per cent. increase in average vehicle occupancy. [172336]

Mr. McNulty: It is estimated that the decrease in vehicle kilometres for cars, taxis and vans as a result of an increase in vehicle occupancy would be as follows:

	Percentage increase in vehicle occupancy
	10	20	50
Resultant percentage change in vehicle kilometres	-9	-17	-33
Vehicle kilometres by cars, taxis and vans (billion)
Current (2002)	447	447	447
Following decrease in occupancy	407	373	298
Change	-41	-75	-149

This assumes that the occupancy increase is a result of increased trip sharing and therefore fewer trips, and not, for example, from a shift of passengers from other
 
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modes of transport. It is also assumed that an increase in occupancy does not result in an increase in trip length (i.e. passenger kilometre figures stay fixed).

Child Cyclist Accidents

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many children were (a) injured and (b) killed while riding their bicycles in 2003 in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) England. [175633]

Dr. Howells: The latest year for which information is available is 2002. The numbers of children (0–15) killed or injured in road accidents while riding their pedal cycles in 2002 in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) England, are shown in the following table.

The first release of figures for 2003 will be on 24 June 2004.

	Shrewsbury and Atcham	England
Killed	0	21
Injured	19	4,198

Container Ports

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what factors he takes into account when considering applications for future container port development. [175578]

Mr. Darling: I consider the full range of factors that emerge from the inspector's reports on the public inquiry into each application.

Crossrail

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed ventilation duct due to be built at Stamford Brook Common as part of the Crossrail development on (a) residents and (b) local air quality in Brentford and Isleworth. [176096]

Mr. McNulty: Cross London Rail Links Ltd. (CLRL) is continuing to develop its Crossrail proposals. Assessments of environmental impact form an important part of CLRL's work, and should the section of route affecting Brentford and Isleworth be confirmed, the interests of people living and working there will form part of that assessment.

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on the Crossrail development. [176097]

Mr. McNulty: The Secretary of State has received representations on Crossrail from a number of stakeholders, including in particular the representatives of London's business interests, who have expressed their continuing support for the proposals. He has also received representations from residents along the route proposed by Cross London Rail Links Ltd.

Departmental Annual Report

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many of the new vehicles that came into service on the railways as described on page 10 of
 
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The Department of Transport Annual Report 2004 have since been withdrawn for periods of more than three weeks; [174170]

(2) how many vehicles that have entered service on the railways have subsequently been withdrawn for periods of three weeks or more in each year since 1997. [174171]

Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the form requested. There have been cases where faults on individual trains have led to their removal from service for varying periods. Trains may also be taken out of service for periods of three weeks or more to allow for planned heavy maintenance. Among the new trains introduced since 1997, however, there is no case in which an entire fleet, or a significant part of one, has entered passenger service but is currently out of use.

Driving Licences

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many driving licence applications were returned in 2003 for being incorrectly completed; and what proportion of the total number of applications this represents. [175794]

Mr. McNulty: During the financial year 2003–04, 9.8 per cent. of applications for driving licences were incorrectly completed and returned to customers. 6.6 million driving licences were issued in the same period.

Equal Pay

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the pay gap between men and women employed by his Department and its agencies in (a) Southampton, (b) Eastleigh, (c) Winchester and (d) Romsey. [171621]

Mr. McNulty: The Central Department for Transport and its Agencies with staff in Southampton and the surrounding area individually carried out equal pay reviews in 2003, which included the pay gap between men and women. Although some pay gaps were identified, these can be explained and are justifiable. Action plans are in place to reduce the gaps even further.

Import/Export Costs

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the annual cost of transhipment of (a) consumer goods and raw materials imported into the UK and (b) manufactured goods exported from the UK. [175598]

Mr. Darling: None. Data collected in accordance with the EC Maritime Statistics Directive does not enable us to calculate the volumes transhipped via foreign or other UK ports, nor any extra costs to shippers that might arise.

Light Rail (Blackpool)

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the need for social inclusion benefits in the criteria for assessment of the Blackpool Light Rail bid in the light of the National Audit Office Report, Improving Public Transport in England through light rail. [175509]

 
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Mr. McNulty: Social inclusion benefits are already taken into account in the Department's value for money assessments.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles his Department estimates will be using liquefied petroleum gas fuel by 2008; and what estimate he has made of the contribution these vehicles will make to a reduction in road transport emissions. [172569]

Mr. Darling: The Government directly support the use of more environmentally friendly fuels through reduced fuel duty rates. These fuels include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed or liquefied natural gas, biodiesel and low and zero sulphur petrol and diesel.

Further, the Government encourage the use of cleaner vehicles through reduced vehicle excise duty rates based on vehicle emissions (which are zero for electric vehicles) and reduced levels of company car tax for low emission vehicles. Purchase grants are available under the PowerShift programme for hybrid, electric, LPG and natural gas vehicles. In addition, hydrogen vehicles are supported under the New Vehicle Technology Fund and the fitting of emission abatement equipment is incentivised through the CleanUp programme.

According to the LPG Association, there are currently some 107,000 LPG vehicles licensed in the UK—an increase from around 39,000 LPG vehicles in 2000. We expect this number to continue to rise, but we have no firm estimates for vehicle numbers in 2008.

Good quality LPG vehicles can offer a number of environmental advantages, particularly where they are used in place of diesel vehicles in urban areas. The precise nature of these benefits will depend on where the vehicles are used and what type of vehicles they are replacing and as such we have no firm estimates for emissions reductions resulting from the use of LPG vehicles in 2008.

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