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9 Nov 2005 : Column 504W—continued

TRANSPORT

A21

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the economic impact of the proposed A21 upgrade on the local community; and if he will make a statement. [25101]

Dr. Ladyman: An economic appraisal of the scheme has been carried out in accordance with Department for Transport guidance. The views of local businesses, the public and interested parties were taken into account as a result of the Public Consultation undertaken in 2002–03, which led to the Preferred Route Announcement in February 2005.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what surveys his Department has conducted on the effect of the proposed A21 upgrade on local businesses; and whether these surveys have been made available to residents in the areas affected by the route. [25102]

Dr. Ladyman: Specific surveys have not been carried out on the effect of the proposed A21 on local businesses. However, the views of local businesses, the public and interested parties were taken into account as a result of the Public Consultation undertaken in 2002–03, which led to the Preferred Route Announcement in February 2005.

A41

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the level of congestion on the A41 in Hertfordshire. [25576]


 
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Dr. Ladyman: No assessment has been made since the A41 was de-trunked and became the responsibility of Hertfordshire county council as local highway authority.

Air Carrier Insolvencies

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his plans in respect of airlines which have not taken voluntary measures in relation to airline insolvency insurance. [25158]

Ms Buck: Following initial meetings on 24 October, airlines representing half of UK international passengers carried on scheduled services have agreed to implement voluntary measures in relation to insolvency insurance. I plan to contact further airlines and continue this process.

Aircraft Emissions

Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the merits of low emissions passenger aircraft. [25471]

Ms Buck: It is for the industry to work towards improved emissions performance of passenger aircraft within a policy framework set by the international community and by increasing Government and market expectations of environmental responsibility.

Antisocial Behaviour

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many instances of antisocial behaviour have been recorded on buses in (a) Surrey and (b) England in each of the last 10 years. [25693]

Ms Buck: The Department does not collect statistics on the number of antisocial behaviour incidents on buses.

Bald Tyres

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the penalty is for a driver of a car with a bald tyre. [26454]

Dr. Ladyman: If a driver accepts a fixed penalty notice, the fine is £60. If convicted in court, the maximum fine is £2,500. The offence also attracts three penalty points on the driver's licence and could also result in disqualification at the discretion of the courts, or if the total number of penalty points on the driver's licence required it.

Bathside Bay

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will announce a decision on Bathside Bay. [26524]

Dr. Ladyman: The report of the public inquiry into the proposed Bathside Bay Container Terminal Development is under careful consideration, and an announcement will be made as soon as possible.

Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the Government to make an announcement regarding the proposed Bathside Bay port development. [25481]


 
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Dr. Ladyman: The report of the public inquiry into the proposed Bathside Bay Container Terminal Development is under careful consideration, and an announcement will be made as soon as possible.

Coach Seat Belts

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to introduce legislation to require passengers to wear seat belts in the passenger seats of coaches; and if he will make a statement. [25735]

Dr. Ladyman: Drivers and front seat passengers are required to use seat belts in all vehicles where they are installed. Passengers in the rear (that is all other) seats of buses and coaches are required to use seat belts where they are available in vehicles up to 2,540 kgs unladen weight (roughly 16 seats).

Regulations are presently in preparation to come into force in 2006 (subject to parliamentary approval) to require seated passengers aged three years and above in the rear seats of larger buses/coaches to use seat belts where they are available. This follows a departmental consultation in 2004 about the changes needed in seat belt wearing regulations in order to transpose the requirements of European Directive 20/2003/EC into domestic legislation. The consultation document and the subsequent decision letter are available on-line at: www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/divisionhomepage/039143.hcsp

Coastguard

David Mundell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many emergency calls were made to the Coastguard Service in each of the last five years; and how many such calls were found to be hoaxes. [26132]

Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is as follows.
Total number of callsHoax calls
200012,016221
200112,541206
200213,395260
200313,849232
200414,240301

Concessionary Travel

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will estimate (a) the cost of extending to the rest of England the London scheme of free bus travel for under-16s, and (b) the cost of extending free travel to under-18s in full-time education; [25936]

(2) what estimate he has made of (a) extending the travel concession on buses for under-16s in London to all of England and (b) extending that concession to include under-18s in full-time education. [26000]

Ms Buck: Analysis for the Department for Transport estimated the costs of providing free bus travel, at all times and for all purposes, for five to 16-year-olds at around £365 million. Extending free bus travel to 17 and 18-year-olds, for education trips only, would cost about another £65 million. The costings are in 2002–03 prices.
 
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Crossrail

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many existing stopping services from Oxford, Reading and Slough to Paddington will cease to operate once Crossrail is constructed. [23122]

Derek Twigg: Crossrail services will subsume many of the suburban services, but project planning assumes that a twice hourly diesel operated service will run throughout the day between Reading and London Paddington on the Relief (slow) Lines. These trains could be a continuation of the existing twice hourly stopping service between Oxford and Reading.

Departmental Staff

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people worked in his Department in each year since 1998, broken down by sex, grade and race. [25633]

Ms Buck: The information is published in civil service statistics which is available in the Library of the House.

Electric Cars

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ensure that electric cars are included in the low carbon grant scheme. [24432]

Dr. Ladyman: The proposed low carbon car grant programme is technology neutral. Any car meeting the necessary emissions standards would be eligible for a grant irrespective of the technology used. As electric cars have no tailpipe emissions they are generally treated as ultra low carbon emitting vehicles (i.e. <100g/km CO 2 ).

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that incentives to encourage the take up of emission-free cars include electric cars. [24433]

Dr. Ladyman: Fully electric vehicles are exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED). New electric hybrid vehicles (i.e. those that are powered by a combination of electricity and another fuel) registered since March 2001 enjoy a VED discount over conventionally fuelled vehicles.

The company car tax system includes an incentive to encourage take up of low and zero emission technology. Cars that are capable of running solely on electricity and other alternative fuels benefit from a discount from the equivalent petrol company car tax percentage charge.

Electric vehicles also enjoy a number of other local benefits, including free parking in some areas and an exemption from the central London congestion charge.

All current and proposed grant programmes to encourage the take up of low emission vehicles are technology neutral. The eligibility criteria for the programmes focus on reducing emissions, irrespective of the technology used. Applications for electric cars and technology will be assessed against technology-neutral criteria and considered equally alongside other technologies.
 
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