| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
28 Feb 2005 : Column 925W—continued
TRANSPORT
Congestion (Birmingham)
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect on congestion of the suspension of bus lanes on Tyburn Road in Birmingham. [218012]
Charlotte Atkins: This is a matter for Birmingham city council and the Department has made no formal assessment of the impacts. I understand the city council is monitoring the traffic flows and will make the information available in due course.
Disability Discrimination Act
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) applications for special authorisation orders were made and (b) special authorisation orders were granted under section 43 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [218493]
Charlotte Atkins: The table details the number of applications for special authorisation and the number of special authorisations granted.
| Applications received | Special authorisations granted | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 116 | 111 |
| 2002 | 70 | 70 |
| 2003 | 79 | 79 |
| 2004 | 269 | 189 |
| 2005 | 13 | 13 |
These figures include applications and special authorisations that may have been granted, but have now expired. The total number of special authorisations currently in force is 208.
The increase in numbers in 2004 is attributable to short-term special authorisations granted for a single vehicle type. We would not expect this to occur again.
28 Feb 2005 : Column 926W
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultation he undertakes before issuing special authorisation orders for public service vehicles under section 43 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and if he will make a statement. [218494]
Charlotte Atkins: Section 43 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 does not require consultation before a Special Authorisation is issued.
However, key stakeholders are often consulted during the process to ensure that all parties are fairly represented. These would include the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), the Department's statutory advisers on disability issues, groups representing disabled people, trade bodies representing vehicle manufacturers and operators.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many public service vehicles are subject to current special authorisation orders granted under section 43 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; what percentage of all regulated public service vehicles this represents; and if he will make a statement. [218495]
Charlotte Atkins: An annual survey of vehicle operators carried out by the Department for Transport indicates that there are 9,770 regulated full size buses. Although there is no similar data for coaches, these are likely to represent an almost insignificant proportion of the regulated Public Service Vehicle fleet.
There are currently 208 buses and coaches operating under special authorisation representing approximately 2 per cent. of all regulated Public Service Vehicles.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the fines which have been issued under section (a) 40 and (b) 41 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and what plans he has to alter the enforcement procedure for vehicles that contravene public service vehicle accessibility regulations. [218234]
Charlotte Atkins: The Vehicle Operator and Services Agency of the Department for Transport has made no prosecutions to date for contravention of the public service vehicles accessibility regulations. Instead it has been found that close liaison between operators, manufacturers and the Department has been effective in resolving the few cases of non-compliant vehicles found within the public service vehicle fleet.
The current enforcement procedure generally requires a thorough inspection by a departmental certifying officer before each and every vehicle, falling within the scope of these regulations, is introduced into service. Subsequent in-service inspections can be carried out by VOSA as part of their ongoing targeted enforcement regime.
The Department continuously monitors its enforcement programme and has no evidence to suggest that current provisions are ineffective, and therefore has no plans to modify the enforcement procedures.
Blue Badge Scheme
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will publish revised draft regulations for disabled parking permits. [218421]
28 Feb 2005 : Column 927W
Charlotte Atkins: We expect to consult on the draft amendment regulations this summer. These will make the following changes to the blue disabled persons parking badge scheme:
extend the scheme to children under the age of two with specific medical conditions requiring the transport of bulky medical equipment;
introduce temporary badges to those people with temporary mobility impairment which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for them to walk and which is likely to last for a period of at least 12 months ;
Highway Maintenance
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on the percentage of road length, broken down by highway category type, which should be considered for structural maintenance work in each local authority area in 2004. [218211]
Charlotte Atkins: Structural maintenance work on highways last year, as at any time, was a matter for the local authorities themselves to decide.
The Department recommends that local authorities maintain their roads in accordance with the code of practice for maintenance management Delivering best value in highway maintenance" published in 2001. In deciding on structural maintenance work authorities should pay regard, amongst other things, to the surface condition surveys of carriageways they are required to carry out annually. These produce the best value performance indicators 96, 97a and 97b (for principal, non-principal classified and unclassified roads respectively) that indicate the proportion of the network that should be considered for structural maintenance. ODPM will publish the 2004–05 results of these surveys for each English local authority later this year.
Parking
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much (a) income was derived from and (b) expenditure has been incurred by each local authority on parking, broken down by (i) charges and (ii) penalties where available, in financial year 2003–04. [218207]
Charlotte Atkins: Information on local authority parking income and expenditure for the financial year 2003–04 is not available. However, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister intend to publish the information by the end of April.
Public Service Vehicles
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of public service vehicles are required to comply with public service vehicle accessibility regulations; and if he will make a statement. [218235]
28 Feb 2005 : Column 928W
Charlotte Atkins: An annual survey of vehicle operators carried out by the Department for Transport indicates that there are almost 80,000 public service vehicles operating in Great Britain. These comprise a range of vehicles, including minibuses, full size buses and coaches. Vehicle size, age, carrying capacity and type of operation will dictate which of these must meet the requirements of the public service vehicle accessibility regulations. This makes it impossible accurately to determine what percentage of public service vehicles are currently required to comply with the regulations.
Nevertheless, the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) carried out prior to the introduction of the PSV accessibility regulations predicted future changes in bus fleet composition, including reduced numbers of double deck buses and increased numbers of minibuses. It was estimated that by the time of full compliance, i.e. 2017 for buses and 2020 for coaches, almost 53,000 buses will fall within the scope of regulations, representing towards 95 per cent. of the bus fleet capacity at that time. Numbers of coaches were more difficult to predict but the RIA estimated that 1,250 vehicles would fall within the scope of regulations. This is likely to represent 5 per cent. of the total coach fleet in 2020.
However, the Department is currently discussing with industry whether it might be possible to extend the scope of regulations to include coaches used on tour services. If vehicles operated in this way were brought within scope of the regulations, this would result in a far greater proportion of accessible coaches in the fleet.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |