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TRANSPORT

A3 (Hindhead)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his timetable is for making a decision on the proposals for a twin tunnel at Hindhead on the A3; and if he will make a statement. [55537]

Dr. Ladyman: We are currently considering the Inspector's report into the A3 at Hindhead following the public inquiry which was held last year. We are also considering the South East region's advice on the priority it attaches to this scheme within the indicative funding allocation for major transport schemes in the South East. An announcement on the way forward will be made later in the year.

British Transport Police

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to enable the merger of the British Transport Police operating within London with the Metropolitan Police Service; and if he will make a statement. [53507]

Derek Twigg: My right hon. Friend informed the House on 14 February 2006 that, pursuant to his statement to the House laid on 11 October 2005, the Department is undertaking a review of the British Transport Police and will announce its conclusions in due course.

Bus Travel Concessions

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much funding the Government are providing to Lancashire county council to provide free bus travel for (a) older and (b) disabled persons in West Lancashire; [53387]

(2) what estimate he has made of the funding required to fund free off-peak travel for (a) older and (b) disabled persons on buses in West Lancashire. [53388]

Ms Buck: The Government are providing an extra £350 million for 2006-07 through the Formula Grant system. There is general agreement that there is enough
 
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additional money overall for the local authorities. The extra funding is unhypothecated; therefore the funding for concessionary fares it is not separately identified.

Departmental Estate

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) land and (b) property his Department owns in the North East Milton Keynes constituency. [53183]

Ms Buck: Details of land and property owned by the Department in the North East Milton Keynes constituency are set out as follows.

The Highways Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport, own three areas of land near Milton Keynes. These consist of (1) land at Byron Lodge, Cranfield Road, Milton Keynes, (2) land adjacent to the M1 River Ouzel and (3) land at Brooklands adjacent to the M1 at Milton Keynes.

Departmental Staff

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether any (a) employee of his Department, (b) person engaged by his Department as a consultant and (c) paid advisor to his Department is a Member of the House of Lords; and if he will make a statement. [52896]

Ms Buck: The Department has no record of any employees, consultants or paid advisors being Members of the House of Lords.

Disabled Pensioners (Transport)

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding is available for disabled pensioners to subsidise transport cabs if public transport is not suitable. [53660]

Ms Buck: Local authorities may introduce schemes offering subsidised taxi travel for disabled people. The provision and funding of such schemes are entirely at the discretion of individual local authorities who set their own eligibility criteria.

GNER

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who in his Department is handling senior level contacts with GNER. [54919]

Derek Twigg: Management of the delivery of the GNER franchise is carried out by a dedicated Franchise Management team within the Department's Rail Service Delivery Directorate, which is part of the DfT rail group headed by the Director General.

Monorails

Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to promote monorails in towns in England. [54284]

Derek Twigg: It is the responsibility of local authorities to determine their transport needs and develop the most appropriate solution in each case. Innovative proposals from local authorities could be considered for funding through the Department's major schemes programme.
 
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Motorway Signage

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what procedures are followed by the Highways Agency to ensure that electronic signs on motorways are providing current information. [54773]

Dr. Ladyman: Variable message signs (VMS) are set by operators working in the Highways Agency's national traffic control centre (NTCC) and regional control centres (RCCs) and currently by police control offices (PCOs) until all functions are transferred to the RCCs. This is scheduled to be completed by autumn 2006.

NTCC continually monitors conditions on the motorway and trunk road network in England, receiving information from detection equipment on the network and from stakeholder partners and others. VMS messages are then set to provide information to

drivers about real-time conditions.

There are seven RCCs which monitor conditions on the motorway and trunk road network within their regions of England and allocate resources such as traffic officers to manage incidents. They set messages on VMS for safety reasons, to inform drivers and to assist with incident management. Incidents (and VMS settings) are monitored from control rooms and messages displayed on VMS are reviewed and removed as necessary.

VMS messages are also set by an automated system which uses information from the motorway incident detection and automated signalling (MIDAS) system. MIDAS works from loops in the road surface, which detect slow moving or stationary traffic. The automated message system then sets messages to warn drivers and to protect the backs of queues. This safety system has been shown to save 13 percent. of tail-end collisions. Messages are automatically cancelled as traffic flows return to normal.

Network Rail

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to ensure that Network Rail's inventory of assets owned is publicly available. [53589]

Derek Twigg: Network Rail has a licence condition to establish and maintain information about its assets (the asset register"). Network Rail is accountable to the Office of Rail Regulation for this and plans to allow access for third parties within the industry to data which they need.

Nuclear Fuel/Waste

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times (a) nuclear fuel and (b) nuclear waste has passed through (i) the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency and (ii) Greater London by (A) road and (B) rail in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [54630]

Dr. Ladyman: Information is only available on shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel flasks from nuclear power stations to Sellafield. Because of the nature of the
 
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railway network it is likely that shipments from power stations in south east England will have passed through London.

The total number of flasks shipped from these power stations (Bradwell, Sizewell and Dungeness) during the last five years were:

	Number
2001	220
2002	203
2003	121
2004	222
2005	165

A single train may carry several flasks.

Information is not available on how many of these shipments passed through the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency as the route chosen is an matter for the rail operator.

Pension Liabilities

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the net present value of accrued pension liabilities in respect of (a) present and (b) former employees of his Department and its predecessor. [52108]

Ms Buck: The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme and individual Departments' pension liabilities are not available.

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