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16 Mar 2006 : Column 2400W—continued
Rights-of-way Modification Orders
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what average length of time local authorities in England took to make rights-of-way modification orders in 2004–05; how many orders Staffordshire has outstanding; and what percentage of orders were successful. [57852]
Jim Knight: Local highway authorities are responsible for the management of rights of way and all information relating to modification orders is held by the authorities, rather than central government. Information on the length of time for local authorities in England to make modification orders and the percentage of successful orders could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
Under schedule 5 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 surveying authorities had until 31 December 2005 to establish a register of definitive map modification order applications. Staffordshire has 287 outstanding applications.
Climate Change
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) minimum and (b) maximum temperature change the Hadley Centre has predicted for each decade of the next 100 years. [59054]
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Mr. Morley: The Hadley Centre has provided Defra with scenarios of global and UK temperature change, based on possible future greenhouse gas emissions generated by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change marker emissions scenarios; and scaled from the UKCIP02 scenarios for the 21st century. The IPCC emissions scenarios range from a low population growth, clean technology, convergent world (B1), to a high population growth, energy intensive technology world (A1FI). Forecast temperature changes derived in this way are subject to uncertainties in future emissions and in climate modelling. However, they provide a range of plausible futures. It is important to note that no one scenario is considered any more likely than any other.
Estimates of global and UK minimum and maximum temperature changes consistent with IPCC scenarios and Hadley Centre model predictions are shown below. These are based on one model from the Hadley Centre and show a smaller range of temperature change than in the IPCC Third Assessment Report. The temperature increases shown below are relative to 1961–90 mean temperatures (effectively relative to 1975 and hence the apparent large initial rise between then and the mid-2010s). The global temperature rise between 1900 and 1975 of approximately 0.2 oC needs to be added in order to estimate changes relative to pre-industrial temperature levels.
| Low(2) | High(3) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decade | Global | UK | Global | UK |
| 2010 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 2020 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| 2030 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| 2040 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.6 |
| 2050 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| 2060 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| 2070 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| 2080 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| 2090 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 |
(2) Minimum (Scenario B1) Temperature Rises (oC)
(3) Maximum (Scenario A1FI) Temperature Rises (oC)
TRANSPORT
Aviation White Paper
Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how he plans to meet the commitment in the 2003 Aviation White Paper to report by the end of 2006 on progress on the policies and proposals in the Paper. [53342]
Ms Buck: The Department for Transport expects to publish a Progress Report on the Air Transport White Paper (ATWP) by the end of 2006. It is expected to report on progress so far, take account of developments since publication, and set out what remains to be done in implementing the ATWP strategy. Work on the Report is currently at the stage of scoping and planning.
Crossrail
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ensure that the Crossrail fleet is built in Great Britain. [55272]
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Derek Twigg: All procurement in the Crossrail project, including rolling stock, will be undertaken in accordance with the EU procurement rules with the aim of obtaining value for money for the public.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many jobs in his Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001. [57672]
Ms Buck: No jobs have been relocated to Wales since 2001.
However, in association with the Department's shared services programme, we expect some 250 full time equivalent staff to be employed in a new shared services centre in Swansea over the next three years. Some of these posts are expected to be filled by Departmental staff relocating from outside Wales.
Engagements
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) public speeches and (b) official visits he has made on departmental business since 5 May 2005; and how many letters he sent in this period. [55711]
Ms Buck: In his capacity as Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made (a) 31 public speeches as well as various debates in the House; and (b) 24 visits; and he has sent approximately 2,450 letters, since 5 May 2005. This is in addition to his responsibilities as Secretary of State for Scotland, which will be outlined in a separate response.
All visits and speeches are conducted in line with the ministerial code. Other Ministers in the Department will also have made speeches, undertaken official visits as well as sending many letters.
Pensioners Concessionary Travel
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding has been allocated to each local authority for the provision of free off-peak bus travel for pensioners from April 2006; and whether this funding is ringfenced. [58421]
Ms Buck: The Government are providing an extra £350 million for 2006–07 through the formula grant system. The general consensus is that this will be sufficient in aggregate to fund the additional cost to local authorities. This funding is unhypothecated; therefore the funding for concessionary fares is not separately identified to local authorities.
Private Office
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of his private office was in the last year for which figures are available. [55723]
Ms Buck:
The final out-turn for the running costs of the office for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, for 2004–05 was £0.5 million.
16 Mar 2006 : Column 2403W
Railways
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what discussions he has had with GNER on the east coast main line service out of King's Cross in 2005; [55903]
(2) when he was first informed that GNER had made significant donations to the Labour party in the fourth quarter of 2005; [55905]
(3) what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) departmental officials have had with GNER in (i) the last quarter of 2005, (ii) the first three quarters of 2005 and (iii) 2006; [55906]
(4) what hospitality (a) Ministers and (b) officials have received from GNER in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006; [55907]
(5) when he was first informed that GNER had increased its donation to the Labour party in the period immediately prior to the re-awarding of its franchise. [55908]
Derek Twigg: The Secretary of State had no knowledge of the GNER donation until a report appeared in a newspaper on 28 February 2006.
In accordance with Treasury guidelines and departmental procedures, Ministers are kept separate from, and take no part in commercial negotiations in the franchise process. Commercial negotiations are the responsibility of a small team of officials and their advisers. The identity of bidders and their progress through the evaluation and selection processes is restricted to this team.
Ministers and officials meet on many occasions with rail franchisees. Matters discussed at many of them are confidential for commercial or other reasons.
No hospitality was received from GNER except for a cup of coffee at Kings Cross main line station provided for the Secretary of State when he took part in a ceremony to mark the completion of the upgrading of GNER mallard trains in December 2005.
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by how much the cost of a standard return rail ticket between Stockport and London Euston purchased on the day of travel has changed since 1997. [52489]
Derek Twigg: The Department has details of individual fares for 1995, but not 1997. Stockport-London fares have changed as follows since 1995:
| As at January each year | Standard Open Return(4) | Saver Return(5) | Advance purchase return(6) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 95 | 44.50 | (7)from 19 |
| 2006 | 202 | 57.20 | (8)from 25 |
(4) Used by approximately 10–15 per cent. of passengers
(5) Used by approximately 55–60 per cent. of passengers
(6) Used by approximately 25–30 per cent. of passengers
(7) Book 14 days in advance
(8) Book by 18:00 hours day before
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Both the Saver Return (a flexible standard class off-peak ticket) Standard Open Return (a fully-flexible ticket, valid at any time including Monday-Friday business peaks) can be bought on the day of travel. The cheapest advance purchase fares can now be booked until 18:00 hours the day before travel.
The first phases of the 7.6 billion modernisation of the West Coast Main Line are now complete, and new Pendolino trains have been introduced providing a half hourly service from Manchester and Stockport to London. All that has to be paid for.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of delays on the rail network he attributes to (a) Network Rail and (b) train operating companies (i) since the creation of Network Rail and (ii) between 2000 and the Railtrack administration order coming into effect. [54952]
Derek Twigg: In the year leading up to the Railtrack Administration order (October 2001), 61 per cent. of train delays was attributed to Railtrack and 39 per cent. to train operators. Under Network Rail, this proportion has changed to 53 per cent. for Network Rail and 47 per cent. for train operators in the most recent 12-month period.
Since Network Rail took over responsibility for the railway infrastructure in 2002, it has reduced its delays to passenger services by 32 per cent. In the same time period, the public performance measure of trains running punctually has improved from a low of 78.6 per cent. and is currently running at 85.8 per cent.
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the economic impact on Plymouth of the proposed new First Great Western timetable. [57903]
Derek Twigg [holding answer 13 March 2006]: The Strategic Rail Authority and the Department for Transport in preparing the specification for rail franchises assess the financial effects, value for money, user and non user economic benefits that are generated by the franchise specification.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the (a) reliability, (b) punctuality and (c) frequency of trains running to and from Staffordshire; what plans he has to improve those services; and if he will make a statement. [58077]
Derek Twigg:
Network Rail monitors the reliability and punctuality of services for all franchised train operating companies. Data are not available by geographical county, however details of recent performance by those train operating companies providing services in Staffordshire is summarised as follows.
16 Mar 2006 : Column 2405W
(9) Better.
(10) Same.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 18 October 2005 proposals to re-map the existing franchises in the Midlands. This change is designed to improve the efficiency and performance of the railways, achieving savings through economies of scale and improving service to customers. This will also encourage better joint working between Network Rail and TOCs to deliver an improved service to customers. Also, work has started on four tracking the West Coast Main Line between Rugeley and Tamworth. This will greatly enhance route capacity and overall reliability.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the definitions of Act of God used by the train operating companies in relation to train cancellations. [58419]
Derek Twigg: The rail industry's classification used for train delays and cancellations does not use the term 'Act of God'. Events which cause train cancellations are attributed to a specific cause wherever known. This is done in order to help train companies understand the root causes, and to use the information to reduce such incidents in the future
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