Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 5 July 2006
Transport
Airport Security
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the British Airports Authority on (a) security measures for and (b) congestion of the baggage handling facilities for domestic inbound travellers arriving at the south terminal in Gatwick. [76137]
Gillian Merron: The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with BAA on the specific issues raised, although officials in the Department work closely with BAA on a range of issues, including security measures.
China
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the risk of the transfer to China of information which could be used for military purposes through China’s involvement in the Galileo project. [81044]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 29 June 2006]: The current development phase is a joint project between the Directorate General for Transport and Energy in the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Supervisory Board of the Galileo Joint Undertaking is established to ensure an adequate information flow and political control by member states of the implementation of the development phase.
The Government are aware of the sensitive nature of some parts of Galileo. We continue to monitor the project closely. We have been careful to ensure that any agreements with partners in the programme that are not member states of the EU or ESA specifically exclude them from participation in all sensitive aspects.
Individual member states of the ESA and EU participating in Galileo are responsible, under their own national and/or any international export control regimes—such as MCTR (Missile Technology Control Regime) and Wassenaar—of which they are signatories, for the control of strategic exports and should apply these rules to Galileo as required. For example, all EU countries follow the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports which prohibits export of military technology, including dual use technologies where a military end use is known or suspected, to non-EU states, including China, where this is inappropriate. An assessment of the risk of diversion to an undesirable end user or end use is a key criterion under the code. The UK Government assess Galileo technology proposed for transfer to non-EU states against these criteria.
Commission for Integrated Transport
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much it has cost to run the Commission for Integrated Transport in each of the last four years. [82215]
Gillian Merron: The principal spend of the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) is on the research programme which underpins its policy advice. The costs of this for the last four years are set out in the following table, together with the Commission’s other running costs. Both figures also cover the research and running costs of the Motorists Forum, established by CfIT in January 2000, at Ministers’ request.
| £ | ||
| Programme costs | Running costs (pay and non-pay) | |
Cyclist Numbers
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of people who travel by bicycle to work in London each day. [79397]
Derek Twigg: Transport for London (TfL) estimate that 216,000 work-related cycling trips are made each day. However, TfL is in the process of developing a project to track businesses with travel plans called iTRACE, which in future will provide much more accurate information on the issue of cycling to work. This is expected to be operational by 2008.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to make copies of deposited papers available in the (a) Vote Office and (b) Printed Paper Office at the same time as copies are deposited in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [81246]
Gillian Merron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Leader of the House on 3 July 2006, Official Report, column 729W.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the draft Bills produced by his Department since October 2005; how many were examined or are planned to be examined by (a) a departmental Select Committee or a combination of Select Committees and (b) a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [81640]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport has not produced any draft Bills since October 2005.
Announcements on future legislation and future draft legislation which will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny will be indicated in the Queen’s Speech.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to ensure that all flights undertaken by Ministers and officials in his Department are carbon neutral; and if he will make a statement. [81392]
Gillian Merron: All central Government ministerial and official air travel is being offset from 1 April 2006. Departmental aviation emissions are calculated on an annual basis and subsequently offset through payments to a central fund. The fund purchases Certified Emissions Reductions credits from energy efficiency and renewable energy projects with sustainable development benefits, located in developing countries.
Judicial Review
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what occasions an (a) individual and (b) organisation has applied for a judicial review of decisions of his Department in each year since 1997; and what the outcome was of each case where proceedings have been completed. [80490]
Gillian Merron: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
M11
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he has taken to examine the merits of introducing a toll on the M11. [82319]
Dr. Ladyman: The use of a tolled lane on the M11 was considered and discussed with BAA Plc as part of the modelling of surface access infrastructure supporting Stansted's second runway. This idea was dismissed at an early stage. No further discussions on this issue have taken place.
Olympics
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which officials in his Department (a) are responsible for Olympics-related activity and (b) sit on the Inter-Departmental Steering Group for the Olympics. [81566]
Gillian Merron: Lucy Chadwick, Director of Regional and Local Transport Delivery Directorate, leads on Olympic-related issues within the Department for Transport and sits on the Inter-Departmental Steering Group.
Ports
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much it cost to conduct the review of the management of ports in local authority ownership in England and Wales. [82216]
Dr. Ladyman: This review was carried out over two years using in-house resources. Exact figures are unavailable, however it is estimated to have cost in the region of £70,000. This includes publication costs. The manpower element of this, £56,332, covers all municipal ports issues not just the review.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been budgeted for the cost of the ports policy review. [82217]
Dr. Ladyman: The total expenditure to date on the ports policy review has been £200,000 on two consultants' studies contributing to the evidence base; £203,000 internal staff costs and £19,000 launch costs. A further £150,000 has been budgeted for in-house costs for the completion of the exercise, with £90,000 provision for external costs.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many checks at ports on commercial vehicles were carried out by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in each region of the UK in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06; how many infringements were found; how many vehicles were prohibited for overloading; and what other infringements were recorded. [82024]
Dr. Ladyman: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is not able to supply detailed statistics on the exact number of checks carried out in or around individual ports. The majority of enforcement is carried out by intercepting traffic on arterial roads leading to or from a port.
Details of the number of vehicle checks carried out in 2004-05 and the number of vehicles prohibited is published in VOSA’s Effectiveness Report which is available in the Libraries of the House. The 2005-06 report is to be published shortly.
Post Office Contracts
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for which services (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies hold contracts with the Post Office; and what the (i) start and (ii) termination date is of each contract. [81536]
Gillian Merron: Vehicle re-licensing (car tax renewal) and a statutory off-road notification (SORN) service is provided over the counter in approximately 4,600 motor vehicle licensing (MVL) branches. Postal applications are handled in 120 of these offices.
A photo card driving licence premium service, checking application forms and supporting identity documents, is provided in approximately 740 branches.
A range of vehicle and driving licence forms, leaflets and booklets are held in all 14,000 branches.
Over the last five years Post Office Ltd./DVLA has introduced a new electronic system for both vehicle re-licensing and making a statutory off-road notification (SORN) at MVL Post OfficeÂ(r) branches through reading barcodes on application forms/registration certificates.
Since August 2004, when re-licensing their vehicle or making a statutory off-road notification (SORN), customers
have been able to notify a change of tax class into the disabled tax class at MVL Post OfficeÂ(r) branches.
The vehicles’ re-licensing contract started in April 2002 and terminates on 31 March 2007.
The premium service contract started in November 2002 and terminates on 31 March 2007.
Negotiations are under way with Post Office Ltd. to continue both services from April 2007 onwards.
Railways
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of rail and underground journeys are made within London. [82090]
Derek Twigg: Statistics on rail travel in and between regions are published in National Rail Trends Yearbook editions, which are available in the House Library.
Data from the London Underground Rolling Origin-Destination Survey show that 99.2 per cent. of London underground journeys are made within London.
Information on other city underground systems are published in the Public Transport Statistics Bulletin, which is available in the House Library.
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new railway stations have been built in London and the South East since 1995. [82086]
Derek Twigg: The answer includes stations that have been re-opened with new buildings.
Silverlink Trains network: Shepherds Bush and Imperial Wharf are under construction.
West Brompton had two new platforms opened in 1999.
C2C network: Chafford Hundred (1995) and West Ham (1999)
One network, Braintree Freeport (1999)
South West Trains network: Chandlers Ford (2003)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he expects all trains to be accessible to disabled people by 2020. [82209]
Derek Twigg: The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 requires that all trains are subject to rail vehicle accessibility regulations by no later than 1 January 2020. We are currently developing the necessary regulations and will be consulting on these in due course.
The Secretary of State will, nevertheless, still have the power to grant exemptions from the regulations, even if these run past the “end date”. Parliament accepted the necessity of this during the passage of the Bill for services such as heritage and tourist railways and tramways, which might not be able to meet accessibility requirements in full due to engineering and other constraints.
Road Pricing
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures will be put in place under the proposed road pricing pilot to differentiate between those participating and not participating in the pilot for the purpose of measures taken to compensate those subject to road pricing. [82436]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 May 2006, Official Report, column 1954W.
Sustainable Transport Towns
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to his Department's press release of 22 December 2004, which of the shortlisted towns won the competition to be sustainable transport towns. [82207]
Gillian Merron: Details of the Sustainable Travel Towns Initiative, including the three successful towns, can be found on the Department’s website at www.dft.gov.uk.
Thames Gateway
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what infrastructure spending he is planning to support the development of the Thames Gateway. [82320]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of Tuesday 4 July 2006, Official Report, column 929W to the hon. Member for North Cornwall.
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