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27 May 2004 : Column 1776W—continued

M6

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) cars, (b) vans and (c) lorries on average use the M6 toll road each day. [175959]

Mr. McNulty: Since the opening of the M6 Toll in December 2003 a monitoring programme has been carried out. An initial report, compiled from surveys carried out on behalf of the Highways Agency, is being prepared and is due to be published in the near future. More comprehensive reports are scheduled for one year and five years after opening.

However, the M6 Toll concessionaire, Midland Expressway Ltd., has published figures showing that the average 24-hour weekday (Monday to Friday) two way traffic flow recorded in April 2004 was 47,247 vehicles per day (vpd). Weekend flows are lower at 39,575 vpd.

Currently, there is no breakdown between cars, vans and lorries available but indications are that traffic flows comprise mainly cars and light vehicles with HGVs continuing to use the original M6 route.
 
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Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total cost of constructing the M6 toll road was. [175960]

Mr. McNulty: The M6 Toll has been privately financed by Midland Expressway Ltd. (MEL) under a 53 year concession agreement awarded by the Government in 1992. The construction costs awarded by MEL to its contractor at tender stage were £485.5 million. The overall costs are a matter for MEL but I understand that the development cost incurred is in the region of £900 million. This includes cost of land, interest on loans, consultancy, management, and legal fees.

Management Consultants (Railways)

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much has been paid by his Department and its predecessors to management consultants in respect of the national railways in each year since 1997; [171214]

(2) which management consultants have worked for his Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997; and what payments were made to each management consultancy for work in connection with the national rail network in each year. [171215]

 
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Mr. McNulty: The information is shown in the following table.
£ million

Consultant	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	Total
Mercer Management Consulting	3.928	0.777	0.539	5.244
KPMG LLP	—	—	1.500	1.500
Jacobs Consultancy UK Ltd.	—	—	0.090	0.090
Total	3.928	0.777	2.129	6.834

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has paid to management consultants in respect of the national railways in each year since the SRA was created; [171216]

(2) which management consultants have worked for the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), and what payments have been made to each for work in connection with the national rail network, in each year since the creation of the SRA. [171217]

Mr. McNulty: The SRA was created in January 2001. The information requested is shown, for each year since the SRA's creation, in the following table:
£

Consultant	2001	2002	2003	2004	Total
Frank Robertson Associates	12,727.40	5,623.40	—	—	18,350.80
Hays Management Consultants	—	—	—	159,495.01	159,495.01
KPMG Consulting	—	143,364.80	—	—	143,364.80
Mantix	83,600.00	69,200.00	—	—	152,800.00
Organisation Consulting Partnership	—	—	55,426.76	—	55,426.76
PJR Ltd.	—	29,250.00	—	5,551.88	34,801.88
Parsons Group International Ltd.	24,920.00	—	—	—	24,920.00
Patricia Sloane Associates	—	4,800.00	—	—	4,800.00
Towers Perrin	—	3,899.00	18,020.00	70,865.44	92,784.44
Total	121,247.40	256,137.20	73,446.76	235,912.33	686,743.69

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much Network Rail has paid to management consultants for work in connection with the national railways in each year since its creation; [171218]

(2)   what payments have been made for work in connection with the national rail network by Network Rail to each management consultancy which has carried out such work, broken down by year. [171219]

Mr. McNulty: These are operational matters for Network Rail. Details of consultancies let by Network Rail are commercially confidential.

Ministerial Meetings

Lawrie Quinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings he has had with Mr. Alan Osborne over the last 12 months. [174812]

Mr. McNulty: The Secretary of State met with Alan Osbourne on 13 May 2003 when he was an employee of the HSE.

Lawrie Quinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has met Mr. Alan Osborne to discuss the rail review. [174811]

Mr. McNulty: The Secretary of State has not met with Alan Osbourne to discuss the rail review.

Lawrie Quinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has met the Health and Safety Commission to discuss the rail review. [174814]

Mr. McNulty: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the HSE to discuss a range of issues and will be meeting with them again shortly.

Official Vehicles

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of official vehicles used by his Department are run on (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) liquid petroleum gas and (d) compressed natural gas. [172777]

Mr. McNulty: The Government as a whole have signed up to various targets for improving the performance of its own vehicle fleet, details of which, together with reports on each Department's progress towards these targets, are available at www.sustainable-development.gov.uk.
 
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The Department for Transport Headquarters has very few departmental vehicles. The Government Car Service (GCS) provides our ministerial cars. For detailed information on the breakdown of the GCS vehicle fleet, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 25 May 2004, Official Report, column 1538W.

Over 1,000 vehicles are currently used by the Department for Transport's various agencies, including a number of specialist vehicles. Precise information is not readily available on the fuels used by all these vehicles, but in 2003 approximately 11 per cent. of the vehicles for which this information was available were LPG vehicles.

Piracy Conference

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) who from his Department will attend the International Maritime Bureau's piracy conference in June; [174607]

(2)   what (a) meetings he has had and (b) correspondence he has exchanged with his counterparts in (i) Malaysia and (ii) elsewhere on tackling piracy in Southern Asia. [174610]

Mr. McNulty: The Department works with other countries in Southern Asia through the IMO on a routine basis to tackle piracy. In the past the Department has raised the topic in bilateral meetings with officials and Ministers from overseas countries (for example Indonesia). The Department's Transport Security Directorate, TRANSEC has in the past participated in and, jointly with the FCO, provided UK financial support for several IMO regional missions and seminars, presenting UK Government actions and chairing working groups and syndicates. These seminars have played an important role in raising awareness of the incidence and impact of piracy and armed robbery at sea. No request for a ministerial meeting has been received, nor has any ministerial correspondence been received.

The Deputy Director of this Department's Transport Security Directorate, will be attending the International Maritime Bureau's piracy conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on June 29–30. This will be a good opportunity for the UK to discuss piracy with the host country of Malaysia as well as other key states in the fight against piracy such as Indonesia and Singapore.

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