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20 Dec 2005 : Column 2941W—continued
United States-registered Aircraft
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many non-commercial aircraft registered in the United States used airports in the United Kingdom in each of the last 18 months; and which airports they used. [38718]
Ms Buck:
The Department for Transport does not issue operating permits to foreign aircraft operating on a non-commercial basis and consequently does not hold information of this nature. Private flights (ie. where payment for carriage is not asked for) are not required to seek the prior permission of a State to overfly, land or make non-traffic stops (eg. to refuel). Commercial flights making non-traffic stops also do not need prior permission, as set out in Article 5 of the Chicago convention.
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Lorries/Commercial Vans
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total value of (a) new and (b) secondhand (i) lorries and (ii) commercial vans bought each year since 1997 was. [38764]
Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.
The following table sets out answers to these questions to the extent that data is available.
For the UK auto industry, employment data is not separately available for car manufacturing, as the total for vehicles also includes commercial vehicles and engines. For completeness, the table also includes employment at component suppliers, although this understates the true size of the UK auto industry as many suppliers to the industry are classified in the statistics according to what they make (e.g. steel, glass). The ONS Annual Business Inquiry does not have employment data for 1997.
From this data, it can be deduced that UK auto industry productivity is improving, both in terms of cars made per worker per annum, and GVA per employee. These are important measures that indicate continuing improvements in UK's auto manufacturing competitiveness on the global stage.
As regards registrations data, new registrations are in the public domain and are quoted here. Used vehicle transaction data is normally a chargeable service from DVLA, but SMMT provides used car sales data on request, and this is quoted here.
Data on the value of vehicle sales, new or used, is commercially sensitive within the industry and not published. However, data is available from ONS on the value added generated by the motor trade and this is quoted here. Again, the value added generated per employee is on a rising trend, indicating continually improving efficiency and competitiveness.
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