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8 Mar 2006 : Column 1523W—continued

M20

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the Government plans to resurface the M20 between junctions 8 and 9 with a noise reducing surface; and why plans for the resurfacing have been delayed. [56485]

Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 6 March 2006]: As the surface of the M20 between junctions and 8 and 9 is currently in a satisfactory condition, resurfacing will not be required for at least the next five years. When resurfacing is carried out, a lower noise surface will be used.

Marine Environment

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving oil tankers have taken place in each of the last 20 years in (a) international and (b) UK waters. [56938]

Dr. Ladyman: The Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport only holds data related to accidents involving UK-flagged vessels anywhere in the world, and accidents involving ships of any flag in UK territorial waters (12-mile limit) from 1991 to date. The figures in the table are for all types of accident including groundings, collisions and contacts, founderings, as well as fires and explosions, machinery failures and persons overboard:
 
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Accidents reported to the MAIB involving Tankers/Combination carriers of 100 gross tons and over

	Within UK territorial waters (12-mile limit)	UK-flagged vessels outside UK territorial waters
1991	20	1
1992	23	1
1993	16	1
1994	18	1
1995	22	2
1996	38	4
1997	29	5
1998	17	3
1999	25	2
2000	23	4
2001	15	2
2002	18	3
2003	22	5
2004	23	8
2005	30	6
Total	339	48

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment of (a) environmental importance, (b) incidence of marine accidents and (c) risk was undertaken before deciding whether the coastal waters around (i) Cornwall and (ii) the Isles of Scilly should be designated as marine environmental high risk areas. [56579]

 
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Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 6 March 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given him today (UIN 56551) on the criteria used to assess the location of Marine Environmental High Risk Areas (MEHRAs). These criteria included the key areas of environmental importance, accident frequency and pollution risk.

In his report Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas" Lord Donaldson said the criteria should be set in such a way that not more than about a tenth of the UK coastline qualifies. Consequently, in accordance with this principle and the methodology, only those areas which scored highly both in terms of environmental sensitivity and in terms of risk from shipping qualified as MEHRAs.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the administration costs were of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 1997. [56875]

Dr. Ladyman: The figures are only available from 1998–99 onwards and are taken from the published accounts.
£000

	Staff costs	Establishment and accommodation costs	Total
2004–05	36,488	29,476	65,964
2003–04	34,938	25,139	60,077
2002–03	31,627	25,728	57,355
2001–02	30,229	28,366	58,595
2000–01	28,279	25,524	53,803
1999–2000	26,290	25,926	52,216
1998–99	25,646	20,133	45,779
Total	213,497	170,504	384,001

 
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Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in each year since 1997; and what plans he has for staffing for the next three years. [56876]

Dr. Ladyman: The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is only available since 1998, when the MCA came into existence. Figures are shown as follows.

	FTE
1998	986
1999	1000
2000	1062
2001	1024.5
2002	1075.4
2003	1117.5
2004	1177.9
2005	1171.7

Operational staffing figures for the next three years are anticipated to remain the same. There may be reductions following the move to a Department for Transport Shared Service Centre in October 2007.

Maritime Safety

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he has taken to improve maritime safety since 1997. [56789]

Dr. Ladyman: Since merchant shipping is an international activity, the UK plays a leading role in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and in the EU on a range of safety measures aimed at improving the safety of ships. These measures include:

Date	Action taken
1997	Introduction of the International and Domestic Safety Management Codes
1999	Introduction of controls on the working hours of seafarers.
2000	UK initiated action at IMO to increase the compensation limit for a shipping accident by 50 per cent. to £177 million
2000	UK supported EU maritime measures on improved port state control and monitoring of classification societies.
2000	UK supported the international Quality Shipping Campaign which led to the introduction of the EQUASIS on-line quality shipping database providing safety-related information on the world's merchant fleet.
2001	Number of Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs) in UK increased to four and on station all year round.
2001	UK helped secure international agreement to accelerate the phase out of single hull oil tankers.
2003	UK helped secure international agreement on a further acceleration in the phasing out of single hull oil tankers.
2003	UK supported EU legislation on improved stability requirements for Ro-Ro ferries, harmonised seafarer training, and introduction of a vessel traffic monitoring and information system.
2005	UK promoted the introduction of the IMO member state Audit Scheme to assist IMO member states' implementation and enforcement of IMO requirements.
2005	UK Presidency began work on new directives on vessel traffic monitoring and port state control.

Oil Tankers

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of (a) the proportion of the global oil tanker fleet that is UK registered and (b) the number of oil tankers that have passed through UK waters in each quarter of each of the last 20 years. [56847]

Dr. Ladyman: (a) It is estimated that 1 per cent. of the global oil tanker fleet is UK registered.

(b) The Government do not hold the information which has been requested.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the level of future use of oil tankers. [56874]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department has not made any assessment of future growth in the use of oil tankers, but their use can be expected to grow broadly in line with the growth in global economic activity.

Public Transport (Rural Areas)

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government are taking to improve the provision of public transport in rural areas. [56952]

 
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Ms Buck: The Government are committed to improving public transport in rural areas. Local and central Government provide funding of £1.7 billion annually to support bus services, which provide the majority of local public transport services, including those in rural areas.

We are expecting all local transport authorities to include accessibility strategies in their next Local Transport Plans, due to be submitted this month. These strategies should be based on evidence and analysis of the problems people face in accessing jobs and essential services and facilities. They should include consideration of the accessibility and availability of local public transport. Our guidance to authorities makes clear that the strategies should take account of the particular needs of rural communities.

Since 1998 nearly £450 million has been allocated by this Department to local authorities specifically for the support of rural bus services. The main element of this is rural bus subsidy grant (RBSG) which now totals £53 million annually and which supports some 2,000 services.

Last year we announced Kickstart" support, totalling £20 million, for 43 projects involving new and improved bus services which will become viable through growth in passenger numbers after an initial period of pump-priming from Government funds. 11 of these schemes will serve areas which are mainly rural in character.

Demand-responsive, flexibly routed and community transport services have a particularly significant role to play in rural areas and we have encouraged their development. Many rural community transport services have since 2002 been eligible to receive the Department's bus service operators grant and regulations were introduced in 2004 to enable flexibly routed bus services to be registered with the Traffic Commissioner.

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