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6 Mar 2006 : Column 1086W—continued
Haulage Industry
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the last review of the regulation of the UK's haulage industry was carried out. [55749]
Dr. Ladyman: We have recently carried out a review of the goods vehicle operator licensing system and we published a consultation paper—Modernising Operator Licensing"—on 19 December. This sets out proposals for a streamlined regulatory system for the road haulage industry which would reduce administrative burdens for operators while maintaining safety standards. Copies of the paper are available in the Library. The consultation closes on 31 March.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the prospects for the UK haulage industry; and what estimate he has made of the number of commercial haulage operators over the next five years. [55747]
Dr. Ladyman: A joint industry and Government task group is considering the issues raised by the The Burns Report" (published by the Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association), and a number of other important issues that affect the efficiency of the haulage industry.
The Department has made no estimate of the number of commercial operators over the next five years. However, to help the industry to improve its performance and competitiveness, the Department funds the Freight Best Practice programme (at a cost of around £1 million per annum) to identify areas where best practice exists and disseminate information and guides for haulage industry.
HGV Drivers
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and for what offences (a) non-UK-based and (b) UK-based HGV drivers were prosecuted in the UK in 2005. [55085]
Dr. Ladyman:
Full details of the enforcement activities of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) are published annually in their Effectiveness Report which is available from www.vosa.gov.uk or the House of Commons Library, Business and Transport section.
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Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the (a) demand for and (b) supply of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers in the UK; and how many HGV drivers are registered in the UK, broken down by age. [55164]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department for Transport is funding a research programme by Skills for Logistics that will:
The numbers of Substantive HGV licence holders by age category in Great Britain at January 2006 was:
To assist the industry in reducing a shortfall in vocational driving, the Young Large Goods Vehicles Drivers Scheme was modernised in April 2003 by relaxing the existing qualifications required by young drivers to join.
In 2004, the fee to add vocational driving entitlement to the licence was abolished.
HGV Licences
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many non-UK EU nationals have been issued with a UK heavy goods vehicle licence in the last two years. [55163]
Dr. Ladyman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency exchanged 14,015 non-British driving licences for British Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) and or Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) entitlement over the last two years.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many heavy goods vehicles operator licences have been (a) revoked and (b) partially revoked in the last five years. [55166]
Dr. Ladyman: Statistics on the outcome of Traffic Commissioners' Inquiries are published in the Traffic commissioners' Annual Report available from the House of Commons Library or www.dft.gsi.gov.uk.
The following table represents the number of operator licences revoked and suspended in the last five calendar years.
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| Calendar year | Revoked | Suspended |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 255 | 198 |
| 2002 | 278 | 167 |
| 2003 | 267 | 155 |
| 2004 | 247 | 165 |
| 2005 | 226 | 135 |
An operator licence cannot be partially revoked, it can be suspended. A suspended operator is not allowed to operate either all or part of a fleet for a period specified by the Traffic Commissioner.
Historic Vehicles
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to ensure that the operation of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 does not prevent the use of historic vehicles for tourist services; and if he will make a statement. [55980]
Ms Buck: We do not envisage that the Act will prevent the continued use of historic vehicles on tourist services.
The rail provisions of the Act require that an end-date is set of no later than 1 January 2020 by which time all rail vehicles must be subject to the requirements of rail vehicle accessibility regulations. However, the Act also empowers the Secretary of State to exempt entire railway networks, as well as specified vehicles, and we made clear during the passage of the legislation that we intended to use that power in relation to heritage networks, many of which are essentially tourist services, so as to allow the vehicles serving those networks to continue to operate beyond the end-date. We will be consulting on the revised accessibility regulations, and the draft order to exempt specified networks, shortly.
The 2005 Act amended the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to enable the exemption from the duties set out in Part 3 of that Act for operators of transport vehicles to be lifted. We have used that power to make regulations that will come into force on 4 December 2006 but they will not require any physical adjustments to be made to rail vehicles and so will not impact on the physical structure of historic vehicles.
Identity Fraud
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in reducing identity fraud via the misuse of driving licences. [56018]
Dr. Ladyman: Whilst the main function of the driving licence is to convey entitlement to drive, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency recognises that driving licences are accepted as evidence of identity in a wide range of contexts. To prevent misuse of the licence in identity crime, the Agency operates stringent identity checking procedures so that driving licences are granted only after it is satisfied with the evidence of identity supplied.
All staff handling driving licence applications have been trained in the detection of counterfeit and forged documents, using materials supplied by United Kingdom Passport Agency, Office for National Statistics and the Home Office National Document Fraud Unit.
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DVLA is also engaged fully in the Home Office Identity Fraud Reduction Programme, which promotes collaborative working between the public and private sectors and identifies and co-ordinates a range of projects and initiatives to reduce identity crime generally.
Large Goods Vehicles
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many large goods vehicles not owned by fleets with a British O licence used British roads in 2004–05; [55100]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles registered outside the UK using roads in the UK in each of the last five years. [55349]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 9 January 2006, Official Report, column 28W, which gave estimates of the number of foreign registered vehicles leaving the UK in each year from 1997 to 2004. Corresponding information is not yet available for 2005 about the number of cars (including minibuses and light goods vehicles), and estimates are not made about the number of coaches. The corresponding 2005 estimate for goods vehicles is 1,614,000.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) goods and (b) heavy goods vehicle registrations were issued in each of the last five years. [55346]
Dr. Ladyman: The number of licensed goods and large goods vehicles (LGV) in Great Britain in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Large goods vehicles | Goods vehicles | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January to December | |||
| 2001 | 273,621 | 50,121 | 323,742 |
| 2002 | 282,989 | 43,006 | 325,995 |
| 2003 | 317,333 | 35,179 | 352,512 |
| 2004 | 340,479 | 33,595 | 374,074 |
| 2005 | 329,233 | 33,918 | 363,151 |
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