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Departmental Electricity Use

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has come from renewable sources in each year since 1997. [185724]

Mr. McNulty: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002, and as a result, the information provided relates to the period from then.

The latest year for which we have information available is 2002–03 when 93 per cent. of the Department for Transport Central and 43 per cent. of its
 
22 Jul 2004 : Column 655W
 
agencies electrical use came from renewable sources. The information for 2003–04 is still being collected and will be published in due course in the Sustainable Development in Government Report and on the Department's website.

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much (a) his Department and (b) agencies of his Department have spent on electricity use in each year since 1997. [185725]

Mr. McNulty: The Department for Transport was formed in May 2002 and as a result the information provided relates to the period from then.

We do not have full details of spend on electricity across the Department estate but in 2002–03 the information we do have shows spend on electricity of £308,502 for the central Department and £1,554,527 for the agencies. The information for 2003–04 is still being collected.

Departmental Special Advisers

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the salary bill was for special advisers in his Department in 2003–04; and what it is expected to be in 2004–05. [180908]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, to the hon. Member for St. Helens, North (Dave Watts).

Departmental Staff (Upper Age Limits)

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether (a) his Department and (b) agencies for which it is responsible (i) have a set retirement age which applies to all or most personnel and (ii) have a maximum age beyond which applications for employment will not be considered; and what the age is in each case. [186094]

Mr. McNulty: The normal retirement age for all staff in DfT and its agencies is 60. However, staff outside the Senior Civil Service have a contractual right to work until age 65 if they wish. Staff who opt to work beyond 60 can choose to retire at any time up to their 65th birthday. Beyond those restrictions, there is no maximum age beyond which applications for employment will not be considered.

Departmental Vehicles

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road vehicles are operated by the Department and its agencies; how many personal injury accidents involving road vehicles operated by the Department have occurred within each of the last five years; and what the Department's policy is for managing work-related road safety. [185924]

Mr. Jamieson: The numbers of road vehicles operated by the Department and its agencies are not recorded centrally and neither is the number of personal injury accidents.

The Department's policy for central staff is contained within the Risk Assessment Procedures for Staff Working out of the Office Environment. It includes
 
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advice for staff and line managers on vehicle roadworthiness, alcohol/drugs, driver tiredness and illness, mobile phones, weather, driver competence and the availability of driver training. The policy is presently being reviewed and updated.

In the Department's agencies, responsibility for occupational health and safety management arrangements is delegated to agency Chief Executives. The agencies either have their own policy to suit their specific business needs or they follow the central policy.

The Government Car and Despatch Agency will provide an answer covering its ministerial and other vehicles that it provides to Government Departments.

Departmental Water and Sewerage

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much (a) his Department and (b) agencies of his Department have spent on water and sewerage services in each year since 1997. [185726]

Mr. McNulty: No figures are readily available and to obtain them across the estate for some 1,170 properties would involve disproportionate cost.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many names and addresses of vehicle owners or keepers have been disclosed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to third parties by virtue of that party showing reasonable cause for the disclosure over the last 12 months, broken down by category of reasonable cause; in how many cases disclosure has been subsequently shown not to be for a reasonable cause; what action was taken in each case; and if he will make a statement. [185951]

Mr. Jamieson: The DVLA vehicle register is a record of vehicle keepers. It does not contain details of the person who actually owns the vehicle.

The number of 'reasonable cause' enquiries resulting in the disclosure of keeper details for the year 2003/04 is 1,014,309. The majority of requests are from insurance companies and finance houses in respect of insurance claims and vehicle-related loan arrangements. The remainder are from solicitors, car parking enforcement companies and members of the public.

The Information Commissioner has powers under the Data Protection Act to prosecute anyone who knowingly obtains information without consent. Any disclosure subsequently used for a purpose other that stated in the application is referred to the Commissioner to investigate. Two such cases were referred in the past year.

East Coast Main Line

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Department's future plans are for the East Coast Main Line. [185417]

Dr. Howells: The current East Coast Main Line franchise is due to expire in April 2005. SRA announced on 7 May that four companies had pre-qualified to bid for the franchise. The franchise replacement process is continuing.
 
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Employment Tribunals

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cases against his Department and the agencies for which it is responsible have been brought to employment tribunals in each year since 1997 in relation to (a) equal pay, (b) sex discrimination, (c) race discrimination, (d) disability discrimination and (e) unfair dismissal; how many cost awards were made against (i) respondents and (ii) applicants; and how much has been spent (A) settling and (B) contesting claims. [181465]

Mr. McNulty: The Department was formed in May 2002. The table as follows sets out details of cases brought against the Department since that date and the costs involved in settling the claim(s) outside of the Tribunal along with the legal costs incurred with processing of these claims.

	2002	2003	2004
Number of cases brought in Employment Tribunals claiming:
Equal Pay	0	13	8
Sex Discrimination	2	3	0
Race Discrimination	1	9	3
Disability Discrimination	3	3	2
Unfair Dismissal	7	3	4
Cost Awards made against Respondents (£)	0	0	0
Costs Awards made against Applicant (£)	0	0	1,200
Money spent settling Employment Tribunal	0	0	0
Claims (£)	5,500	20,727	10,000
Money spent contesting Employment Tribunal Claims (£)	61,712.39	113,911.36	33,191.40

Green Minister

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the activities of the Green Minister in the Department in financial year 2003–04. [185125]

Mr. McNulty: In my capacity as Green Minister, I have been actively involved in the work of both ENV(G) Cabinet sub-committee and the Sustainable Development Task Force.

In my wider role as Green Minister, I have overseen the publication of the Department's Sustainable Development Policy Statement which was published on the DfT website in March of this year. This outlines how DfT is integrating the principles of sustainable development into decision-making.

I met with a number of stakeholders during 2003–04 to discuss a range of sustainable development issues of mutual concern.

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