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1 Jul 2004 : Column 368W—continued
TRANSPORT
Irish-registered Vehicles
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many prosecutions there were of drivers of Irish-registered vehicles that did not have current Irish road tax in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04. [181612]
Mr. Jamieson: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency successfully prosecuted 264,764 cases in 2002–03, and 274,348 cases in 2003–04, for vehicle excise duty and vehicle registration offences in Great Britain. Separate statistics are not kept for foreign registered vehicles.
Civil Service Relocation
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many civil servants and what percentage of the total Civil Service workforce in his Department will be relocated over the next five years (a) outside the M25, (b) to the West Midlands and (c) to Staffordshire. [180172]
Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 22 June 2004, Official Report, columns 1292–3W.
Cycling
Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the Departmental budget was allocated to cycling in each of the last 10 years. [180668]
Dr. Howells: Many strands of my Department's funding, for example, that provided for road maintenance, will be of benefit to cyclists. It is therefore not possible to provide a meaningful assessment of the proportion of Departmental funding allocated to cycling.
Nevertheless, there are conspicuous examples of funding which target cycling alone. Greatest among these is funding through the Local Transport Planning (LTP) process. Local authorities (outside of London) fund cycling capital schemes from the Integrated Transport (IT) Block grant made by my Department as part of the Local Transport Planning (LTP) process. Allocation of funds from the IT block is a matter for the individual local authority. The LTP regime has been in operation since 2001–02 and only since its inception has the Department collected returns specifically on local authority spend on capital schemes for cycling. The tables sets out spend or forecast spend, on cycling schemes derived from returns from local highway authorities (outside of London), as compared with total spend on schemes under the IT block and funds allocated by the Department under the IT block.
| (2)2001–02 | (3)2002–03 | (4)2003–04 | (4)2004–05 | (4)2005–06 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spend/forecast—cycle schemes | 29,583 | 39,457 | 36,127 | 39,422 | 40,734 |
| Spend/forecast—IT block schemes | 438,036 | 661,949 | 669,940 | 717,121 | 691,260 |
| Cycle spend as percentage of IT block | 6.8 | 6.0 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.9 |
(2) Spend
(3) Forecast Outturn Spend
(4) Forecast
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| Allocation— IT block | Cycle spend as percentage of IT block allocation | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 529,045 | 5.6 |
| 2002–03 | 564,768 | 7.0 |
| 2003–04 | 621,321 | 5.8 |
| 2004–05 | 659,183 | 6.0 |
Since 2000, funding for cycling initiatives in London has been the responsibility of Transport for London which is funded through a block grant from my Department. Under the direction of the Mayor for London, TfL is free to allocate this grant in accordance with its priorities for transport in the capital. It spent £13.6 million on cycling measures in 2003–04.
Additionally, the Department awarded direct funding of £2.18 million for local cycling projects through its Cycling Projects Fund in 2002–03, In 2003–04 it provided a further £2.2 million through the fund.
Finally, in 2002–03 and 2003–04, the Department funded the English Regions Cycling Development Team to assess and improve local authority performance on cycling at a cost of £3.18 million including VAT.
DVLA
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how long it has taken on average for the DVLA to (a) update its register following notification of a change of address and (b) issue a new document following notification of change of address in the most recent period for which figures are available. [180114]
Mr. Jamieson: For 2003–04 DVLA handled in excess of 13 million notifications of change affecting vehicle records and 3 million affecting driver records. DVLA issued 95 per cent. of new documents following a notification of change within 12 days for vehicle Registration Certificates. Actual performance attained in May 2004 for Registration Certificates was 96.29 per cent. DVLA aims to issue driving licences 15 working days following receipt at the Centre of an application complete in all respects. This may take longer if checks need to be made on health or personal details.
Ministerial Visits
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list the travel costs incurred by (a) his Department and its predecessors and (b) each Minister within his Department, for each of the last 10 years; [175659]
(2) how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) car, (b) train, (c) aeroplane and (d) helicopter, in each of the last 10 years. [175664]
Dr. Howells:
In respect of overseas travel by Ministers, since 1999 the Government has published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government has also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. These report information reaching back to 1995–96. Information for earlier years could only be obtained at
1 Jul 2004 : Column 370W
disproportionate cost and in some cases will no longer be held. Information for 2003–04 will be published in due course.
The Department for Transport was formed on 29 May 2002 and gained an additional Minister in July 2003. The travel and subsistence costs incurred by (a) the Department including Ministers and (b) Ministers and their private office staff in each financial year are as follows:
| 29 May 2002- 31 March 2003 | (a) 1,606,589 | (b) 83,518 |
| 1 April 2003- 31 March 2004 | (a) 1,919,678 | (b) 121,567 |
Information concerning costs incurred by Ministers alone could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
My Hon. Friend the Minister of the Cabinet Office has asked Nick Matheson, Chief Executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency to write to the right hon. Member with details of the cost of Ministerial vehicles provided to this Department.
Information about the mode of transport used by Ministers on departmental business is not held centrally. Ministers use a variety of public transport services when undertaking departmental business.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many journeys were made by helicopter by each Minister in his Department and its predecessors in each of the last 10 years; and what the journey length was in each case. [175738]
Dr. Howells: The Department for Transport was formed on 29 May 2002.
The Secretary of State has travelled by helicopter on three occasions: to inspect the route of the M6 toll road; to see the location of airports in the South East (when he was accompanied by Mr Tony McNulty); and during an exercise by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Mr David Jamieson has undertaken two journeys on departmental business using helicopters: to fly over the location of a possible airport in East Kent; and once during a visit to Slovenia.
Details are not held on the length of these journeys.
MOT Test Pad Fee
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the reasons were for the increase in the MOT test pad fee; [180159]
(2) when the increase in MOT test pad fees became effective; and what the percentage increase of the fee was; [180160]
(3) how monies raised as a consequence of the increase to the MOT test pad fee will be used; [180161]
(4) what additional income has been raised as a result of the increase in MOT test pad fees. [180162]
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Mr. Jamieson [holding answer 28 June 2004]: Charges for pads of blank MOT certificates are reviewed each year along with the test fee. There will be no increase in the charge for 2004. The charge will be increased again probably in 2005 after the expected roll-out of MOT computerisation to provide VOSA with additional income to fund a full year's operation of the service.
VOSA's income from sales of pads of MOT certificates covers its costs administering and controlling standards in the MOT testing scheme. Since 2000 the charge has also funded VOSA's costs managing the PFI contract with Siemens Business Services (SBS) to deliver MOT computerisation. The additional income raised as a result of the certificate charge increase of 25p per certificate in August 2003, was £3.99 million. Some income from charges will be used to smooth the transition to the full certificate charge increase that will be necessary to fund the MOT computerised service once all MOT garages are linked to the service from mid-2005.
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