Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 15 June 2006
Transport
A127/A13
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which 10 locations on (a) the A127 and (b) the A13 between the M25 and Southend have had the highest incidence of traffic accidents in each of the last five years. [77502]
Dr. Ladyman: The information requested is not available.
Air Miles
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many free air miles have been earned by senior civil servants in his Department in each of the last three years; and how they were used. [72874]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport and its agencies do not record air miles accrued by staff. Civil servants must conform to policy which states that benefits such as air miles arising from official travel may not be used for private journeys, but may be offset against further official travel.
Aircraft Corridors
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) current and (b) proposed aircraft corridors are across (i) Ribble Valley and (ii) Lancashire. [74826]
Gillian Merron: At present, all UK airspace is controlled above approximately 24,500 ft above mean sea level up to 66,000 ft. This will change in July next year when, in order to comply with European legislation, the lower limit of this Upper Airspace Control Area will be reduced to 19,500 ft. In the Upper Airspace Control Area, air routes UN615, UN57, UN601 and UL46 currently cross the Ribble Valley constituency. In addition, air route UY99 overflies Lancashire.
In lower airspace, above the Ribble Valley and the adjacent areas of Lancashire, controlled airspace exists in the form of airways with stepped lower limits to accommodate the climb and descent profiles of aircraft operations associated with airports at Manchester and Liverpool. From west to east the routes are N615, lowest limit 6,500 ft; N57, lowest limit 5,500 ft; and N601, lowest limit 9,500 ft.
I have arranged for a chart to be placed in the Libraries of the House indicating these routes as they
pass over the Ribble Valley and northern Lancashire, together with the associated lower vertical limits.
South of a line, which approximately joins Barnoldswick and Woodfold Hall (south of Mellor Brook), the airways are in the Manchester terminal area. The lower limit of controlled airspace immediately to the south of this line is 4,500 ft. Below these specified levels/altitude the airspace is uncontrolled.
The Civil Aviation Authority is not aware of any proposals to change the dimensions of controlled airspace over the Ribble Valley and Lancashire.
Aircraft Safety
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether aircraft operators are required to show (a) crews and (b) passengers the Material Safety Data Sheets of the products they have been exposed to after a contaminated air event. [74817]
Gillian Merron: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has advised that there are no certification or operational requirements related to Material Safety Data Sheets. Aircraft operators are not therefore required by civil aviation safety regulations to show them to crews or passengers.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which aircraft types have reported the highest number of contaminated air events in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [74818]
Gillian Merron: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has advised that there have been 373 reportable occurrences involving contaminated air during the 10 year period from 1 May 1996 to 30 April 2006, during which there were 13.8 million flights carried out by UK operators worldwide in public transport operations.
Seven aircraft types had 10 or more reportable occurrences of contaminated air, representing 75 per cent. of the total number of contaminated air occurrences in the 10 year period.
| 1 May 1996 to 30 April 2006 | ||
| Aircraft type | Reported occurrences involving contaminated air | Percentage of total reported occurrences |
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the medical clearance of a pilot due to possible exposure to contaminated air or organophosphates in the last 30 years. [74819]
Gillian Merron: It has not been possible to establish from the Civil Aviation Authority’s medical records prior to1999 that any pilot attributed his/her symptoms to exposure to contaminated cabin air. During the past six years symptoms that have been reported by licence holders and attributed by them to exposure to contaminated cabin air have resulted in the suspension of medical fitness of 10 airline transport pilot licence holders. The periods of suspension varied according to the type of symptoms reported. However, the symptoms that have been reported by these pilots have been very varied and it has not been possible to attribute the symptoms reported to definite chemical exposures.
Antisocial Behaviour (Trains)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers were ejected from trains for antisocial behaviour in the last 12 months, broken down by region. [77779]
Derek Twigg: Figures for the ejection of passengers from trains are not recorded by the British Transport Police.
Aviation Security
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to (a) complete and (b) report on his review of airport policing and the system of designation under section 25 of the Aviation Security Act 1982. [75216]
Gillian Merron: The Secretary of State anticipates receipt of a report from the independent review team on airport policing before the summer parliamentary recess.
Biological Diversity
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which Minister in his Department is responsible for monitoring his Department’s compliance with its duty under section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to have regard to the purpose of conserving biological diversity in carrying out its functions; and if he will make a statement. [73937]
Gillian Merron: Under Section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, Ministers and Government Departments have a duty to have regard to the purpose of conserving biological diversity. This has been replaced by a similar provision under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act which comes into effect on 1 October 2006. There is no statutory duty to monitor compliance with this duty.
The Department for Transport has taken a number of steps to benefit biodiversity. The Highways Agency has in place a comprehensive biodiversity action plan (HABAP) that ensures all habitats and species likely to be affected by its roads or form part of the roads estate are restored or enhanced as appropriate.
The UK through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has been very active in the development of the NW Europe Ballast Water Management Strategy and the International Maritime Organisation’s convention
for the control management of ships ballast water and sediments, which aims to control non-indigenous species invading through the medium of ballast water and therefore protect maritime, coastal, and estuarine environments.
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department plans to take to monitor the extent to which public bodies which report to him comply, from October, with their duty to conserve biodiversity in exercising their functions under section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. [74395]
Gillian Merron: Under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, all public bodies have a duty to have regard to the conservation of biodiversity in the exercising of their functions. There is no statutory obligation on Departments to monitor the extent to which public bodies comply with this duty. However, we understand the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working with a wide range of partners to develop guidance for public bodies to support the implementation of this duty and will involve all relevant Departments on the development of guidance.
Black/Asian Employees
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) black and Asian and (b) other people are employed in his Department's press office. [74359]
Gillian Merron: Information on ethnicity is collected on a voluntary basis, and not all members of staff wish to declare their ethnic origin. Our existing database does not identify any staff working in the press office who have declared that they are from an ethnic minority.
Bus Delivery Plan
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place (a) on the Department’s website and (b) in the Library a copy of the Department’s bus delivery plan. [73809]
Gillian Merron: The Department does not intend to publish the delivery plan for its public service agreement target to increase bus and light rail patronage. It is a working document intended for internal planning purposes that is used for the formulation of Government policy.
Information on the detail and delivery of the public transport PSA target is available in the Department’s Annual Reports and Autumn Performance Reports on PSA targets. These can be found on the DfT website and in the Library of the House.
Bus Services
Graham Stringer:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many posts are available to each traffic commissioner to monitor the reliability of bus services; and what the occupancy rate for each of
these posts has been in each quarter in each of the last five years. [73857]
Gillian Merron: The information requested is in the following table.
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