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Rail Passengers Council

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in which newspapers advertisements were placed for recruitment of members of the Rail Passengers Council. [3927]

Derek Twigg: Advertisements for the 12 member appointments that the Secretary of State has recently made to the Rail Passengers Council were placed in The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Western Mail, The Glasgow Herald and The Scotsman.

Road Accidents

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many personal injury accidents there have been on the roads in each Government Office Region in each year since 1990; how many involved serious injuries; and how many (a) people in total and (b) children died. [3732]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Road Freight

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the annual movement of freight by road, in billion tonne kilometres, for each year from 1997 to date. [4563]

Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 14 June 2005]: Information is as follows.
 
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Freight transport by road in Great Britain⁽¹⁹⁾

	Billion tonne kilometres
1997	157
1998	160
1999	157
2000	158
2001	157
2002	157
2003	159

⁽¹⁹⁾ Figures are for freight moved within Great Britain by UK registered goods vehicles, including those up to 3.5 tonnes gross weight.
Source:
Table 4.1 Transport Statistics Great Britain

Speed Cameras

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed safety cameras there have been in Tamworth in each year since 1997. [3328]

Dr. Ladyman: The information broken down as requested is not held centrally by the Department. The Staffordshire Safety Camera Partnership publishes details of the number of safety camera sites, by local authority area, available through its website, www.staffordshire.gov.uk/cameralifesavers.

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed cameras were installed in each Government Office Region in each year since 1990. [3745]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department only holds the requested information at Safety Camera Partnership level. I refer to my answer of 9 June 2005, Official Report, columns 617–19W. Further detailed information is available from partnerships.

Traffic Volume

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average 24 hour traffic volume has been in each month since January at the (a) Norton Canes to A34 Great Wyrley, (b) Shenstone to Chasetown and (c) Wishaw to A38 automatic traffic counters on the M6 toll road on (i) Mondays to Fridays, (ii) Saturdays and (iii) Sundays. [2299]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is not held by the Department for Transport. The M6 Toll road is operated by Midlands Expressway Ltd. Further information may be available on their website (m6toll.co.uk).

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what standards for animal welfare will apply to agri-environmental schemes under the England Rural Development Programme from 2007–08; and what discretion she has to seek derogations from EU standards. [2676]

Jim Knight: Negotiations on the draft Rural Development Regulation are expected to reach a conclusion at the Agriculture Council on 20–22 June.
 
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We expect that an animal welfare measure will—as now—be among the options available to member states; although not as part of a combined agri-environment and animal welfare measure. Decisions on whether to make payments under this measure from 2007 are part of the process of designing a successor Rural Development Programme, and will be taken in the light of responses to a full consultation this autumn. There will be difficult choices to make about how best to allocate limited resources but we will bear in mind the importance of ensuring that legal animal welfare requirements are fully adhered to.

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how she intends to use the UK's presidency of the European Union to improve animal welfare standards in the broiler industry. [3770]

Mr. Bradshaw: The EU has an important role to play in regard to farm animal welfare. The European Commission intend to introduce proposals for a Directive on the welfare of broiler chickens later this year which we plan to progress during the UK's presidency.

Badger Culling

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to receive the results of the validation of the survey in the badger culling trial areas. [4425]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISO) has analysed 2002–03 data and intends to present the 2004 data at its July 2005 meeting, after which we will need to decide on the value of the data.

Cormorants

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many licences to kill cormorants have been issued in each Government Office region under her Department's revised policy announced on 16 September 2004; and how many cormorants have been licensed to be killed in each region as a result of such licences. [2692]

Jim Knight: Up until 8 June 2005 the Department granted 325 licences. The minimum number of birds which have been licensed to be killed is 1,957 although actual numbers of birds killed is likely to be less. The data on licences per region is not currently available. National licensing statistics, along with the number of cormorant licences issued in each Government office region, will be published in the summer.

Departmental Union Representatives

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many trade union learning representatives there are in her Department. [3308]

Jim Knight: There are currently 15 union learning reps in Defra from both the Public and Commercial Services Union and Prospect but more are planned. Defra has worked with the unions to develop a Union Learning Reps agreement covering their role. Both Defra and Defra unions are committed to working in
 
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partnership with each other to promote and support lifelong learning activities and opportunities inside and outside the workplace.

Foot and Mouth

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what response she will make to the main findings of the cost-benefit study of foot and mouth disease control strategies, with particular reference to vaccination. [3871]

Mr. Bradshaw: The report indicates the overall size and cost of any future outbreaks are very likely to be less than in 2001 because there are now fewer movements of livestock, we have a movement stand still and there would be an immediate national movement ban and swift implementation of the revised contingency plan when foot and mouth disease (FMD) is first detected. It therefore supports the steps the Government have taken since 2001 to manage the risk of another outbreak.

Overall, the report suggests that vaccination reduces the size and extent of medium and large outbreaks—although at an additional financial cost in all but the largest outbreaks.

The basic disease control policy required under the new EU FMD Directive remains the slaughter of all susceptible animals on premises infected with FMD and those identified as dangerous contacts". However, the Directive gives greater prominence to the potential use of emergency vaccination, as an additional control measure to culling.

The Government will consider emergency vaccination as a disease control option from the start of any outbreak of FMD; on the basis of vaccinate to live, wherever possible. This is in line with the recommendations of the main FMD Inquiries.

The Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) will help us gauge which disease control option we should use in which circumstance. It will also help us plan resources for an outbreak and generally improve our understanding of the costs of different disease control policies.

The CBA report does not, however, propose a unique single strategy for dealing with a future outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD).

The epidemiological and economic information the report provides, will be used to help determine the most appropriate control strategy or strategies to regain FMD-free status without routine vaccination under a range of defined circumstances, should the disease break out in the future.

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