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TRANSPORT

Aircraft Seats

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to implement the recommendation of the ICE Ergonomics Ltd. Report of July 2001 commissioned by the Joint Aviation Authorities concerning the seat pitch on British passenger aircraft. [177147]

Mr. McNulty: On 28 September 2003 the European Safety Agency (EASA) assumed responsibility for the design standards of most aircraft manufactured and operated in the European Union. This includes standards for airline seat spacing. At the suggestion of
 
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the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), an investigation of all seat pitch issues has been added to the EASA rulemaking programme for 2005 onwards. It is expected that the EASA investigation will take full account of the ICE Ergonomics Ltd. report of July 2001.

Crime (Public Transport)

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many crimes were committed on London Underground in each year since 1997; and how many were (a) assaults, (b) of a sexual nature and (c) robberies. [175461]

Mr. McNulty [pursuant to the reply, 7 June 2004, Official Report, c. 69–70W]: The British Transport Police (BTP) have provided corrected information on
 
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crimes recorded on London Underground in each year since 1998; information is not readily available for earlier than 1998.

	Assaults	Sexual offences	Robberies	Passenger trips (million)
1998–99	1,302	425	597	866
1999–2000	1,424	362	643	927
2000–01	1,234	393	591	970
2001–02	1,168	336	783	953
2002–03	1,543	340	535	942
2003–04	1,834	357	502	947

Departmental Administration Budget

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards the five per cent. reduction in real terms in his Department's administration budget by 2008 announced by the Chancellor in the House on 17 March 2004, Official Report, column 331. [176509]

Mr. McNulty: The real terms reduction of 5 per cent. or more will be a central feature of the public spending settlements for 2006–08 to be announced in detail later this year.

Race Equality Scheme

Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will report progress on each of the bullet points on page 20 of the Department's Race Equality Scheme 2003–05. [176820]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 7 June 2004]: In complying with the specific duties of Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 relating to employment, the Department has some monitoring systems in place, and where they are not, we are setting them up for any areas where monitoring has lapsed. We are monitoring by ethnic group applicants seeking employment by:

the number of applications for employment;

the numbers dropping out at different stages of the recruitment process;

the numbers selected;

the numbers successful and unsuccessful at different stages of selection; and

the numbers accepting job offers.

We also ask applicants to let us know where they found out about our vacancies.

As regards staff working within the Department, we monitor by ethnic group, and gender:

the numbers of staff in post;

applicants for training;

numbers receiving training;

applicants for promotion, numbers selected, and numbers successful and unsuccessful at different stages of the process;

appraisal mark distributions;

distribution of performance-related pay or bonuses;

harassment and discrimination complaints;

those involved in grievances and disciplinary procedures; and

ceased employment.

 
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Where analysis of this monitoring reveals any disparities, we will take appropriate action to address concerns. The results of monitoring, and impact of action taken to address issues identified will be reported to the Departmental Management Board.

The Department reviewed its recruitment processes between November 2003 to January 2004. The findings are yet to be analysed, however, once analysis has taken place we will carry out implementation as appropriate.

We have delivered training events on race awareness for staff involved interviewing and chairing for recruitment and promotions. In addition to this, we have held race equality impact assessment training for key staff, and race equality is featured in our Valuing Diversity programme of events being run throughout 2004.

In 2003, we delivered diversity awareness workshops for untrained staff. The workshops were designed to challenge some of the stereotypes and misconceptions some managers might have about the ability of minority ethnic staff. We set up a Steering Group, with representation from the trade unions and our minority ethnic staff support network, to develop a career development programme for minority ethnic staff. It is hoped that the programme, to be launched early in 2005, might have some impact in helping to address their under-representation in more senior grades.

The Department conducted a staff survey in November 2003. Among the outcomes were that 64 per cent. of black staff felt that they were treated with dignity and respect, compared to 76 per cent. of white employees although these differences are not statistically significant. Compared to benchmarking data on race, the Department for Transport performs well against other public sector organisations in those who claimed to have been unfairly treated on account of their race. The departmental figure is 3 per cent. below the benchmark.

The survey also showed that black and Asian staff seem to be more likely to agree that they like working in the Department, but would prefer an alternative job within it (40 per cent. black staff and 47 per cent. Asian staff compared to 23 per cent. of white staff).

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Computer File Formats

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's policy is in respect of the computer file formats used for the (a) distribution and (b) archiving of publicly available documents. [173359]

Alun Michael: Defra's main method for placing documents in the public domain is our online Publication Scheme, which can be found on the Defra website at http://defraweb/corporate/opengov/pubscheme/index.htm. A range of standard web file formats are used for these
 
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documents; primarily Portable Document Format (.pdf), Hypertext Markup Language (.html) and Active Server Pages (.asp).

Documents that are created electronically but are distributed to the public via other methods are stored in their native file format. Typically this will be one of the Microsoft Office formats such as Word (.doc) Excel (.xls) or PowerPoint (.ppt).

These documents are placed on a registered file, in hard copy, to form part of our official public record, as mandated by The National Archive. Currently Defra does not have an accredited electronic archive, although plans are in development for a future implementation.

Departmental Administration Budget

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) staffing and (b) staff costs for the Environment Agency are for 2004–05 in respect of its activities on (i) central administration, (ii) flood defence, (iii) water resources, (iv) environmental protection, licensing activities, (v) environmental protection, non-licensing activities, (vi) fisheries, (vii) recreation and conservations (viii) navigation and (ix) other activities. [176407]

Alun Michael: The Environment Agency's current staff numbers and costs for each function are set out in the following table.

Environment Agency	Full time equivalent staff	Annual staff costs (£000)
Central Administration	279	8,841
Flood Defence	4,071	126,450
Water Resources	1,233	39,078
Environmental Protection	3,752	118,176
Fisheries	499	15,823
Recreation and Conservation	189	4,174
Navigation	109	4,685
Other Activities	928	41,654
Total	11,060	358,881

The Agency is not able to distinguish between environmental protection staff working on licensing activities and those working on non-licensing activities. Most staff in Environmental Protection functions undertake both duties depending on need.

"Central Administration" is defined as Head Office Finance, Human Resources, Facilities, Operational Co-ordination, Payroll and other exchequer services and Audit.

"Other Activities" comprise mainly Corporate Information Systems, National Laboratory Service, Legal, Estates and Procurement.

Staff costs include travel and subsistence.
 
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