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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

Ben Chapman: To ask the Solicitor-General if he will make a statement on the conduct of the Crown Prosecution Service in the trial of Mike McCartney. [55733]

 
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The Solicitor-General: Michael McCartney was prosecuted for a single offence of sexual touching. The criteria under which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides whether to prosecute cases is first whether there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, and secondly, whether it is then in the public interest to proceed. The CPS took the view, having obtained advice from independent counsel, that the requirements of both these tests were fulfilled and it was therefore right for the case to proceed.

TRANSPORT

A and E Provision (Road Signs)

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ask the Highways Agency to develop and implement signage on trunk roads that distinguishes between NHS hospitals (a) with and (b) without accident and emergency departments, with particular reference to Edith Cavell hospital in Peterborough; and if he will make a statement. [55142]

Dr. Ladyman: The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 already define the permitted traffic signs on trunk roads in respect of hospitals with accident and emergency facilities and those without.

As part of a recently completed signing improvement/renewal scheme, worn out signs on the A47 trunk road in Peterborough were changed in order to bring them up to modern standards. The scheme aimed to reduce confusion, clutter and the physical size of the signs. The Highways Agency concluded that only the nearest hospital in Peterborough with accident and emergency would be signed from the trunk road.

The Edith Cavell hospital does not have accident and emergency facilities and therefore it is no longer signed from the A47 trunk road.

Representatives from the Highways Agency attended a meeting at the Edith Cavell hospital on Thursday 2 March to discuss the new signs and how visitors could be helped to find their way to the hospital.

A47 (Peterborough)

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of households in the Peterborough constituency adjacent to the A47 which are adversely affected by noise; what estimate he has made of the decibel levels concerned; and if he will make a statement on the acoustic screening on that stretch of trunk road. [55261]

Dr. Ladyman: Noise calculations were undertaken for two locations on the A47 in the vicinity of Peterborough based on noise surveys carried out in October/
 
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November 2005. The calculated roadside noise levels, obtained as part of that sift assessment, are 79dB(A) and 78dB(A) for eye bypass the castor bypass respectively.

No locations alongside the A47 were identified as sites at which known noise problems existed and thus have not been included on the list of locations meeting sift criteria announced on 22 March 1999, for which noise problems are being mitigated in conjunction with a £5 million ring-fenced budget.

Peterborough city council assisted with a study of the noise impact on residential properties at Aspley Way, Longthorpe but this has not resulted in a proposal to increase the provision of acoustic screening along this section of the A47.

Aircraft Emissions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the level of emissions from aircraft using UK airspace in each of the past 20 years. [52654]

Ms Buck: We do not collect data on emissions from aircraft in UK airspace.

DEFRA have recently published research in Study on the Allocation of Emissions from International Aviation to the UK Inventory". The report is available on the DEFRA website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/science/Project_Data/DocumentLibrary/GA01060/GA01060_3319_FRP.pdf.

British Transport Police

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many community support officers there are in the British Transport Police in (a) Swansea and (b) England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [55996]

Derek Twigg: As at 2 March 2006 there are 191 British Transport Police Community Support Officers in England and Wales, none of which is presently deployed in Swansea.

Bus Services

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many bus services have been (a) withdrawn and (b) added to service in (i) England and (ii) West Lancashire in each financial year since 1 April 1998. [53390]

Ms Buck: The following table shows the number of bus services added and withdrawn in the UK broken down by Traffic Area since 1 April 1998.

The data kept by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency on registered bus services do not differentiate between West Lancashire and the rest of the North Western Traffic Area.

	1998–99		1999–2000		2000–01		2001–02
	New	Cancelled	New	Cancelled	New	Cancelled	New	Cancelled
North Eastern Traffic Area	1,127	1,058	669	674	843	697	971	637
North Western Traffic Area	1,243	790	1,077	842	1,147	1048	933	666
West Midlands Traffic Area	525	495	398	335	482	404	347	307
Eastern Traffic Area	1,117	784	690	727	710	941	767	725
Western Traffic Area	592	394	622	2,518	520	456	568	334
South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Area	398	273	256	195	218	222	370	206
Total	5,002	3,794	3,712	5,291	3,920	3,768	3,956	2,875
Scottish Traffic Area	673	509	763	704	572	578	901	870
Welsh Traffic Area	199	111	281	251	278	224	270	202
Total including Scotland and Wales	5,874	4,414	4,756	6,246	4,770	4,570	5,127	3,947

 
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	2002–03		2003–04		2004–05
	New	Cancelled	New	Cancelled	New	Cancelled
North Eastern Traffic Area	926	477	772	601	842	589
North Western Traffic Area	1,042	578	990	584	1,066	652
West Midlands Traffic Area	371	510	587	475	561	459
Eastern Traffic Area	571	499	670	585	663	542
Western Traffic Area	532	422	652	425	553	404
South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Area	275	210	205	121	196	111
Total	3,737	2,696	3,876	2,791	3,881	2,757
Scottish Traffic Area	675	516	540	318	411	258
Welsh Traffic Area	313	208	236	162	293	175
Total including Scotland and Wales	4,725	3,420	4,652	3,271	4,615	3,190

Grand totals

New Services: 28,084 / 34,519

Cancelled Services: 24,152 / 29,058

Car Journeys

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of journeys in (a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Wrexham were taken by car in the last period for which figures are available. [56523]

Dr. Ladyman: According to data from the National Travel Survey, in 2004 car/van was the main mode of transport for 63 per cent. of trips by residents, of Great Britain and 70 per cent. of trips by residents of Wales. Data are not available for the UK or Wrexham.

Commercial Vehicle Licences

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicle licences for commercial operators were issued in each of the last five years. [55347]

Dr. Ladyman: Statistics on vehicle licences issued for commercial operators are published in the Traffic Commissioners' annual report available from the House of Commons Library or www.dft.gsi.gov.uk.

Commuter Services (Shropshire)

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage bus companies to provide services suitable for commuter use in Shropshire; and what plans he has to introduce more bus lanes in Shropshire. [55067]

Ms Buck: Bus services outside London are provided mainly on a commercial basis by private operators and decisions on service specifications are largely for the commercial judgement of operators. Local authorities have power to subsidise non-commercial services, but they decide which services to support. The Department is part-funding a transport study of Shrewsbury under the Transport Innovation Fund which is linked to demand management measures and will include a review of passenger transport services across the town.
 
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