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21 Feb 2005 : Column 197W—continued

Bridgwater Station

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with Wessex Trains with regard to parking facilities at Bridgwater station. [217410]

Mr. McNulty: None. The provision of car parking facilities at stations is a matter for individual train operating companies.

British Transport Police (Westminster Station)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the strategy of the British Transport Police is for responding to calls for assistance from Westminster tube station; and if he will make a statement. [216445]

Mr. McNulty: Westminster London Underground station is one of the more heavily policed stations in London due to its significant location. Both BTP and the Metropolitan police regularly police the station. This includes community support officers on daily security patrols in Whitehall.

The BTP at Stockwell have a dedicated priority policing team. These officers are responsible for policing Westminster tube station. In addition there is a 24-hour response team operating from Tottenham Court Road BTP station with patrol cars that both attend calls for assistance and also carry out patrols at stations.
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 198W
 

Since 1 January this year there have been a total of 12 calls recorded by BTP regarding a variety of offences including disorder, criminal damage and drunkenness with an average police response time of 10 minutes. London Underground has direct telephone links with the BTP force control room.

As Westminster tube station is within the Government security zone area it is subject to additional police deployments and counter terrorist measures, carried out in close partnership with London Underground.

Bus Routes (Lancashire)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on funding for new bus routes in Lancashire. [216209]

Charlotte Atkins: Local authorities obtain the majority of their funding for local bus service support from the Government's revenue support grant (RSG). Decisions on the amount of RSG that is used for bus services are a matter for each individual authority. Lancashire county council's RSG settlement for 2005–06 is £779.54 million, an overall increase in grant of 5.3 per cent. over the current year.

Local authorities have since 1998 also received significant Government support for rural bus services in the form of rural bus subsidy grant (RBSG). Lancashire have been allocated a total of £6.67 million in RBSG over the period 1998–99 to 2004–05. Their RBSG allocation for 2005–06 is £1.286 million. Lancashire
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 199W
 
have also been awarded a total of £5.9 million for 11 projects in our rural and urban bus challenge competitions between 1998 and 2003.

In addition the Department's local transport plan funding supports capital expenditure on local transport, including new infrastructure used by bus services.

Correspondence

Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East dated 29 September 2004, regarding Mr. R. Boyd of EDPA, Reference MC/CA/014501/04. [216592]

Charlotte Atkins: I replied to the hon. Member's letter on 21 October 2004.

Cycle Helmets

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received regarding the wearing by young people of cycle helmets; and if he will make a statement. [216088]

Mr. Jamieson: We have received representations from a range of organisations and individuals who support the promotion and compulsion of cycle helmets for children and similar representations from those who believe they should be voluntary.

Research has found that cycle helmets can be effective in reducing the severity of head injury for users of all ages, though particularly for children. Our policy is to persuade cyclists to protect themselves by wearing helmets.
 
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Our position on compulsion has been that at current wearing rates it would cause enforcement difficulties and could have an effect on cycling levels. But the Government will keep its policies in this as in all areas under review in the light of discussion in Parliament and elsewhere.

Departmental Policies

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as closely as possible to the constituency, the effect of his Department's actions and policies on Blackpool, South constituency since (a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [215617]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has put in place a considerable programme of improvements across a wide range of transport policy areas since 1997. I am confident that the Blackpool, South constituency will have benefited from these. For example, the injury totals for all road causalities in Great Britain fell from 327,803 in 1997 to 290,607 in 2003, and the numbers of children aged under 16 years killed or seriously injured on our roads fell from 6,452 in 1997 to 4,100 in 2003. On our railways, passenger kilometres have increased from 32.1billion in 1996–97 to 40.9 billion in 2003–04, a rise of 27 per cent. In terms of improvements to air quality, emissions of the UK's two main pollutants—nitrous oxides and particles—fell by 31 per cent. and 27 per cent. respectively between 1997 and 2002.

The funding provided directly to Blackpool borough council since 1997 is shown in the table below ¹ . It has been Blackpool borough council to determine how that allocation has been spent, in line with their local transport plan and their priorities.
£ million

Blackpool—Nature of funding	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Capital maintenance	0.132	0.268	0.468	0.952	0.991	0.744	0.867
Integrated block	0.251	0.594	0.700	2.000	2.384	2.632	1.600
Targeted bus grants(64)	0	0	0	0.81	0.87	0	0
Total	0.383	0.862	1.168	3.762	4.245	3.376	2.467

⁽⁶³⁾Funding allocations for 1997–98 not included since they cover a period proceeding May 1997 and announcements concerning the 1997–98 allocations were made in 1996.
⁽⁶⁴⁾Includes Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and Rural Bus challenge funding.

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Havant constituency, the effects on Havant of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [215984]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has put in place a considerable programme of improvements across a wide range of transport policy areas since 1997. I am confident that the Havant constituency will have benefited from these. For example, the injury totals for all road causalities in Great Britain fell from 327,803 in 1997 to 290,607 in 2003, and the number of children aged under 16 years killed or seriously injured on our roads fell from 6,452 in 1997 to 4,100 in 2003. On our railways, passenger kilometres have increased from 32.1billion in 1996–97 to 40.9 billion in 2003–04, a rise of 27 per cent. In terms of improvements to air quality, emissions of the UK's two main pollutants—nitrous oxides and particles—fell by 31 per cent. and 27 per cent. respectively between 1997 and 2002.

The funding provided directly to Hampshire county council since 1997 is shown in the following table ¹ . It has been for Hampshire to determine how that allocation has spent, in line with their local transport plan and their priorities.
Hampshire £ million

Nature of funding	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Capital maintenance	3.369	2.980	4.388	9.870	10.524	13.156	15.221
Integrated block	2.923	3.985	5.432	13.5	13.204	14.393	15.783
Major schemes	2.663	0	0	0	0	5.142	0
Targeted bus grants(66)	0.903	1.06	1.88	1.60	2.04	2.10	1.37
Total	9.858	8.025	11.7	24.97	25.768	34.791	32.374

⁽⁶⁵⁾Funding allocations for 1997–98 not included since they cover a period proceeding May 1997 and announcements concerning the 1997–98 allocations were made in 1996.
⁽⁶⁶⁾Includes Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and Rural Bus challenge funding



 
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In addition, since 1997 the Havant constituency has benefited from investment in new rail rolling stock.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Huddersfield constituency, the effects on Huddersfield of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216870]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has put in place a considerable programme of improvements across a wide range of transport policy areas since 1997. I am confident that the Huddersfield constituency will have benefited from these. For example, the injury totals for all road causalities in Great Britain fell from 327,803 in 1997 to 290,607 in 2003, and the numbers of children aged under 16-years killed or seriously injured on our roads fell from 6,452 in 1997 to 4,100 in 2003. On our
 
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railways, passenger kilometres have increased from 32.1billion in 1996–07 to 40.9 billion in 2003–04, a rise of 27 per cent. In terms of improvements to air quality, emissions of the UK's two main pollutants—nitrous oxides and particles—fell by 31 per cent. and 27 per cent. respectively between 1997 and 2002.

The funding provided directly to the Metropolitan borough of Kirklees since 1997 is shown in the following table ¹ . It has been for the Metropolitan borough of Kirklees to determine how that allocation has spent, in line with the local transport plan for West Yorkshire and the local priorities.

¹ Funding allocations for 1997–98 not included since they cover a period proceeding May 1997 and announcements concerning the 1997–98 allocations were made in 1996. Huddersfield also benefited from a share of the integrated block funding allocated to the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority.

Metropolitan borough of Kirklees—Nature of funding £ million

	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Capital maintenance	1.374	3.752	6.227	6.163	6.405	6.646	8.398
Integrated block	1.418	1.468		4.350	3.746	3.529	3.554
Major schemes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Targeted bus grants(67)	0.92	0.76	1.47	2.38	2.05	2.77	0.98
Total	3.712	5.98	7.697	12.89	12.20	12.94	12.93

⁽⁶⁷⁾Includes rural bus subsidy grant and rural bus challenge funding.

The constituency of Huddersfield is served by the TransPennine franchise which began operations in February 2004. It offers direct links from Huddersfield to destinations including Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle. It is also served by the new Northern franchise providing links to destinations throughout the north of England.

Finally, the Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at http://neighbourhood. statistics.gov.uk./. In addition, the Department for Transport's website also contains data on transport trends over the past twenty years at http://www.dft.gov.uk.

Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Maidenhead constituency, the effects on Maidenhead of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216025]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has put in place a considerable programme of improvements across a wide range of transport policy areas since 1997. I am confident that the Maidenhead constituency will have benefited from these. For example, the injury totals for all road causalities in Great Britain fell from 327,803 in 1997 to 290,607 in 2003, and the numbers of children aged under 16 years killed or seriously injured on our roads fell from 6,452 in 1997 to 4,100 in 2003. On our railways, passenger kilometres have increased from 32.1billion in 1996–97 to 40.9 billion in 2003–04, a rise of 27 per cent. In terms of improvements to air quality, emissions of the UK's two main pollutants—nitrous oxides and particles—fell by 31 per cent. and 27 per cent. respectively between 1997 and 2002.

The funding provided directly to the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead since 1997 is shown in the table ¹ . It has been for the borough council to determine how that allocation has been spent, in line with its local transport plan and its priorities.

¹ Funding allocations for 1997–98 not included since they cover a period proceeding May 1997 and announcements concerning the 1997–98 allocations were made in 1996.

 
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£ million

Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Capital maintenance	0.29	0.74	0.75	1.025	1.096	1.37	1.50
Integrated block	0.10	0.65	0.83	1.700	1.690	1.70	1.84
Major schemes	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
Targeted bus grants(68)	0.051	0.051	0.051	0.490	0.074	0.075	0.095
Total	0.441	1.441	1.631	3.215	2.860	3.145	3.435

⁽⁶⁸⁾Includes rural bus subsidy grant and rural bus challenge funding.

In addition, since 1997 the Maidenhead constituency, which lies within the Thames area franchise, has benefited from investment in new rail rolling stock.

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Witney constituency, the effects on Witney of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [215983]

Charlotte Atkins: The Department has put in place a considerable programme of improvements across a wide range of transport policy areas since 1997. I am confident that the Witney constituency will have benefited from these. For example, the injury totals for
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 204W
 
all road causalities in Great Britain fell from 327,803 in 1997 to 290,607 in 2003, and the number of children aged under 16 years killed or seriously injured on our roads fell from 6,452 in 1997 to 4,100 in 2003. On our railways, passenger kilometres have increased from 32.1billion in 1996–97 to 40.9 billion in 2003–04, a rise of 27 per cent. In terms of improvements to air quality, emissions of the UK's two main pollutants—nitrous oxides and particles—fell by 31 per cent. and 27 per cent. respectively between 1997 and 2002.

The funding provided directly to Oxfordshire county council since 1997 is shown in the following table ¹ . It has been for Oxfordshire county council to determine how that allocation has spent, in line with their local transport plan and their priorities.
Oxfordshire county council £ million

Nature of funding	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
Capital maintenance	2.038	3.078	5.793	8.045	8.013	10.016	11.017
Integrated block	1.962	3.686	4.764	10.500	10.600	9.911	12.940
Major schemes	1.510	0	0	0	0	0	0
Targeted bus grants(70)	0.93	1.93	0.93	1.18	1.35	1.79	1.42
Total	6.44	8.694	11.487	19.725	19.963	21.717	25.377

⁽⁶⁹⁾Funding allocations for 1997–98 not included since they cover a period proceeding May 1997 and announcements concerning the 1997–98 allocations were made in 1996.
⁽⁷⁰⁾Includes Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and Rural Bus challenge funding

In addition, since 1997 the Witney constituency, which lies within the Thames area franchise has benefited from investment in new rail rolling stock.

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