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Air Travel (Financial Protection)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library the Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Protection Group's July advice to Government on Financial Protection for Air Travellers and Package Holidaymakers; and if he will make a statement. [197183]

Charlotte Atkins: The advice from the Civil Aviation Authority on Financial Protection for Air Travellers and Package Holidaymakers in the Future can be found on the CAA website. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

In a joint statement with the CAA issued on 27 October, the Government announced that they had asked the CAA to carry out more detailed work on other options to address the decline in the proportion of people covered by the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing scheme. This work is expected to be completed early next year.

In the meantime, the Government will continue work with the CAA and industry on putting in place a range of interim voluntary measures to improve consumer protection.

Bus Lanes

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many bus lanes have been created within the Greater London area in each of the last three years. [197122]

Mr. McNulty: The Mayor and the boroughs are responsible for the introduction of bus lanes in Greater London. The number of bus lanes introduced in the Greater London area in each of the last three years is shown in the following table:

	Bus lanes
2001–02	77
2002–03	100
2003–04	51

Buses

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been given in bus subsidy since 1997. [197221]

Mr. Darling: The totals for bus subsidy in England for each year for the period 1997–98 to 2002–03—the last year for which figure are currently available—are shown in the following table.

	£ million
1997–98	762
1998–99	846
1999–2000	917
2000–01	1,056
2001–02	1,188
2002–03	1,440

 
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Totals comprise Bus Service Operators Grant (formerly called Fuel Duty Rebate), support and grants for buses by local authorities and by Transport for London, and local authority expenditure on bus concessionary fares.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans the Government have to encourage bus use outside of London. [197233]

Mr. Darling: In "The Future of Transport" White Paper, which I published in the summer, I outlined a range of Government action to encourage the use of buses. These include funding of bus priority measures to reduce journey times, rural bus subsidy grant, real time information systems and regulations to facilitate demand-responsive bus services. The White Paper also encourages local authorities and bus operators to work together in partnership, and offers the opportunity for additional funding for authorities who wish to radically enhance bus services, perhaps through quality contracts, where the enhancement is combined with plans to tackle congestion.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of carbon dioxide emissions from road traffic in (a) 1990, (b) 1997, (c) 2003, (d) 2010, (e) 2015 and (f) 2020. [196810]

Mr. Jamieson: Estimates of carbon emissions from road traffic are set out in the table below. The data is taken from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) and is for the UK. The NAEI will not have 2003 emissions data available until early next year.

	UK—million tonnes carbon
1990	29.7
1997	31.7
2002	31.9

The latest DfT projections of carbon emissions are produced by the National Transport Model (NTM). Projections for 2010, 2015 and 2025 are shown in the following table.

	GB—million tonnes carbon
2010	32.0—32.6
2015	30.5—31.5
2025	28.6—30.2

The NTM operates at the Great Britain level. The National Environmental Technology Centre (NETCEN) estimates for 2001 suggest that UK emissions were around 3.8 per cent. higher than emissions for Great Britain. A good deal of uncertainty is attached to all forecasts and the numbers should be treated as indicative, illustrating possible trends. The range reflects uncertainty about several important factors that influence travel demand, e.g. economic growth and how people will respond in future to changes in the costs of travel.
 
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Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the level of carbon emissions from rail haulage in each year since 1990. [196844]

Mr. McNulty: Carbon dioxide emissions attributable to rail for years between 1990 and 2002, expressed as a percentage of total UK carbon dioxide emissions, are:

	Percentage
1990	0.4
1991	0.4
1992	0.4
1993	0.4
1994	0.4
1995	0.4
1996	0.4
1997	0.3
1998	0.3
1999	0.3
2000	0.3
2001	0.3
2002	0.2

Figures for years since 2002 are not yet available. The figures include direct emissions from diesel rail vehicles; those associated with electricity generation for the rail industry, most of which is used to power electric trains; and refinery emissions associated with the refining of fuel used by the industry. The last two categories between them make up around 14 per cent. of the total.

Container Security Initiative

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which UK ports are fully operational as far as the Container Security Initiative is concerned; which other ports will become part of the initiative; and for ports that are to become part of the initiative, how long their procedural development (testing) phase will last before they become operational. [196312]

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.

The ports of Southampton, Felixstowe, Liverpool, Tilbury and Thamesport are fully operational. No other UK ports are scheduled to be included in the initiative.

Drink Driving

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents were caused by drink driving in the Greater London area in each of the last three years. [197120]

Mr. Jamieson: Whether an accident was caused by drink driving is not recorded as part of the Department's personal injury accident database. However, the following table shows the number and severity of accidents in Greater London where at least one of the drivers involved provided a positive breath test or refused to provide a breath test.
Accidents involving positive breath tests in Greater London

	Fatal or serious	Slight	Total
2001	192	830	1,022
2002	202	734	936
2003	181	676	857

 
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Rail Services (Punctuality Statistics)

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he has taken to prevent train operating companies setting artificially late arrival times at London terminals in order to avoid incurring penalties for late arrivals. [196831]

Mr. McNulty: Franchise agreements between train operating companies and the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) include minimum service requirements which specify the maximum permissible journey times. Train operators may only change these times with the permission of the SRA. The avoidance of penalties for lateness would not be acceptable grounds for such a change.

Rail Travel Demand

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy to constrain demand for rail passenger travel by allowing an increase in travel costs above the rate of inflation. [196830]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 8 November 2004]: No. Last year's fares review concluded that regulated fares should move from RPI -1 per cent. to RPI +1 per cent. This move was made in order to help redress the balance of funding between the fare payer and the general tax payer and to recognise the fact that the travelling public is now seeing the benefits of a significant increase in investment in the railway.

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