| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Railways
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average subsidy per passenger kilometre is for lines in the London region. [82088]
Derek Twigg: This information is available in the Office of Rail Regulation publication “National Rail Trends”, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of rail journeys he estimates were made by people living in the London area in 2005-06. [82089]
Derek Twigg: Based on data from the National Travel Survey, it is estimated that 36 per cent. of rail journeys in Great Britain in 2004 were made by residents of greater London.
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of rail journeys are started or ended in London. [82091]
Derek Twigg: The information is published in the National Rail Trends Yearbook editions, which are available in the House Library.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress Arriva Trains Wales is making in refurbishing (a) 142, (b) 143, (c) 150 and (d) 158 class units; and if he will make a statement. [80633]
Derek Twigg: Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) last refurbished the class 142s and 143s between 2000 and 2002, which included external painting, installation of new seats, floors, body panels and handles being fitted. Currently eight of the fleet are being repainted to complete the refurbishment of this class.
ATW’s
class 150s were last refurbished between 2000 and 2002, which
included installing new seats, floors and body panels. Since then, 13
of these trains
have been added to ATW. ATW are currently refurbishing these. To date,
nine have been completed, with the remaining four being completed by
the end of August
2006.
In relation to ATW’s class 158s, ATW have said that there are currently no plans to refurbish this rolling stock.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 8 May 2006, Official Report, column 21W, on railways, what class of rolling stock will be transferred to Arriva Trains Wales on the Swansea to Cardiff route in December 2006; who the manufacturer is; who the previous operating company was; and what the age of the stock is. [80725]
Derek Twigg: The vehicles to be operated by Arriva Train Wales on the Swansea to Cardiff route are three car class 175 units, built by Alstom. These vehicles were previously sub-leased by ATW to Trans-Pennine Express. The stock is around six years old.
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of rail freight passing through London crosses Battersea railway bridge. [82087]
Derek Twigg: The Department does not hold information regarding the number of freight train services on specific lines of the rail network.
Inquiries of this nature should be directed to Network Rail.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he has taken to safeguard transport corridors through land controlled by the British Railways Board. [82340]
Derek Twigg: Details of the Department for Transport's guidance to BRB (Residuary) Ltd. on the disposal of property can be seen on the company's website at http://www.brb.gov.uk/land_disposal.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the residual value of the property held by the British Railways Board. [82341]
Derek Twigg: Details of the value of property held by BRB (Residuary) Ltd. is contained in the annual report of the company which can be seen on the BRB (R) website at http://www.brb.gov.uk/annual_report/annual-report-2005.
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations his Department has made to encourage the use of Sunday rail services in areas where it would be beneficial for the promotion of local tourism and leisure activities; and what special grants are available for additional Sunday rail services in such areas. [80805]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Government do not make any specific grants to encourage the use of Sunday rail services, but is investing heavily in rail and this is yielding results in terms of additional passengers on Sundays and other days of the week. The Government specify the minimum level of services through the franchising process.
Road Accidents (Somerset)
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) road accident fatalities and (b) personal injury road accidents there were in (i) Yeovil constituency and (ii) Somerset in each year since 1997. [82187]
Dr. Ladyman: The number of (a) road accident fatalities and (b) personal injury road accidents there were in (i) Yeovil constituency and (ii) Somerset in each year from 1997 to 2005 is shown in the table. Constituency level data for 2005 are currently unavailable.
| Number of (a) road accident fatalities and (b) personal injury road accidents in (i) Yeovil constituency and (ii) Somerset: 1997-2005 | ||||
| Somerset | Yeovil constituency | |||
| Fatalities | Accidents | Fatalities | Accidents | |
Road Maintenance
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost per mile of maintenance of motorways and trunk roads was in each of the maintenance areas of the Highways Agency in each of the last five years. [81089]
Dr. Ladyman: The following table shows expenditure on road maintenance (on the strategic road network) per network mile since 2000-01. Figures are based on published annual reports. Information on a regional basis is not available.
The table also includes information on spending per lane mile from 2001-02, since this provides a more meaningful comparison.
| Spending per mile (£) | Spending per lane mile (£) | |
| (1)
Information on lane miles managed by HA is readily available from
2001-02
only. | ||
Road Pricing
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the first road pricing pilot to be operational. [82206]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department for Transport expects to receive the first scheme proposals from local authorities for road pricing pathfinder schemes next year, with pricing pathfinders possibly becoming operational in four to five years.
The Government also recently announced that they would allocate £10 million for demonstration projects to help us understand more about how road pricing schemes would operate in practice. A Prior Information Notice, which alerts companies that may be interested in bidding for the work, will be released shortly. We expect that the demonstration projects will commence in spring 2007, and that they will run for around one to two years.
Road Safety
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of road fatalities in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency in 2005; what the average was for London boroughs; and if he will make a statement [81517]
Dr. Ladyman: The average number of fatalities in London boroughs in 2005 was 6. Constituency level data for 2005 is currently unavailable.
Road Tolls
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the rate of tolling in pence per (a) mile and (b) kilometre in current prices that would be required to reduce congestion on the motorway network. [81585]
Dr. Ladyman: The appropriate level of charges for any national road pricing or tolling scheme covering the motorway network would depend on a wide range of factors. It is not currently possible to estimate what price levels would be appropriate.
Safety Cameras
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed cameras have been vandalised in the past 12 months. [82310]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 15 February 2006, Official Report, column 2054W, to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans).
Seat Belts
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2006, Official Report, column 37W, on seat belts, what representations his Department received between 1976 and 1983; and if he will make a statement. [82632]
Dr. Ladyman: There would have been many representations in the years mentioned when seat belt wearing in front seats was being made compulsory. Over 20 years later, I have no statement to make.
Thames Gateway
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether there is an overall plan for the development of transport links for London commuters as the Thames Gateway is redeveloped; and who has overall responsibility for developing transport in the Thames Gateway area; [79284]
(2) what public transport links are to be developed across the Thames Gateway region in order to support the Government’s target for jobs to be created by the project. [79290]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department of Communities and Local Government are producing a Strategic Framework for the Thames Gateway, in collaboration with other Government Departments, regional and sub-regional partners.
This will assist Government in determining the strategic transport requirements to support housing and economic growth in the Gateway. It will also continue on from the programme of work already set out in ‘Creating Sustainable Communities—Delivering the Thames Gateway (March 2005)’. This sets out the Government’s aim to regenerate and develop the Gateway and identified the strategic locations and key housing sites with the necessary transport infrastructure that will be required.
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the planned transport expenditure for the Thames Gateway redevelopment is to be used to improve (a) buses, (b) trains, (c) car sharing, (d) underground and (e) other public transport services. [79316]
Dr. Ladyman: The Department for Transport has delivered or is committed to deliver direct investment of £1.6 billion in transport in the Thames Gateway area. That figure includes £700 million on public transport measures and £900 million on both strategic and local roads.
Transport Finance (South-West)
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been made available to (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) the South West region in local transport plan funding for each year since 1997. [82186]
Gillian Merron: The information setting out the amounts of funding that have been made available to Somerset county council and to other local authorities in the south west region for local transport plans for each year since 1997 has previously been placed in the Libraries of the House. The information is also available under the February Freedom of Information responses sections on the Department for Transport website (www.dft.gov.uk).
The Department does not allocate most local transport plan funding to individual constituency areas. It is up to Somerset county council where it allocates the fund support provided for the county according to its local priorities.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Vehicle and Operator Services Agency teams are based at UK ports; how many foreign vehicles were found to be committing infringements in 2005-06; what actions were taken against non-UK vehicles and their drivers; and how many prosecutions have followed stops in 2005-06. [82007]
Dr. Ladyman: There are no Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) teams based at British Ports. The majority of enforcement is carried out by intercepting traffic on arterial roads leading to/from a port. By agreement of an individual Port Authority VOSA do visit some ports but this activity is not similar to the statutory presence of Customs and Special Branch officers who are located directly at the port.
The number of foreign vehicles found to be committing infringements during 2005-06 and the action taken is given in the table:
| Roadworthiness prohibitions issued | |
| Number issued | |
| Traffic enforcement prohibitions issued | ||
| Drivers hours and Tachograph records | Overloading | |
No foreign drivers or operators were prosecuted by VOSA in 2005-06.
Solicitor-General
CPS Targets
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General who in the Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for progress on each of the targets set out on pages 16 to 22 of Cm 6821, the Law Officers’ departmental report 2006; to whom each person reports; what discussions he has had with stakeholders about implementation of each target; and if he will make a statement. [78600]
The Solicitor-General: Peter Lewis, Director of Business Development has responsibility for the targets of increasing the number of offences brought to justice, and John Graham, Director of Finance has responsibility for the targets on improving public confidence, delivering efficiencies and value for money. Both report to the Chief Executive.
Regular consultation on the PSA and criminal justice system (CJS) targets is conducted with CJS colleagues and other stakeholders through the work of the National Criminal Justice Board and Local Criminal Justice Boards. The Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief Executive are all members of the National Criminal Justice Board, and play a full and positive part in its work.
Legislation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General (1) which Government Bills sponsored by the Law Officers remain to be introduced during the 2005-06 Session; [77850]
(2) which Government Bills he has bid for in the next Session of Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [77851]
The Solicitor-General: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) on 16 June 2006, Official Report, column 1431W.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |