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20 Feb 2007 : Column 573Wcontinued
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many pensioners in Coventry are eligible for the free local bus travel scheme. [121487]
Gillian Merron: The number of residents of Coventry aged 60 and over who, from 1 April 2006, are entitled to free off-peak local bus travel is 59,700. In the parliamentary constituency of Coventry South, around 20,000 people are eligible. Coventry residents may use their concession throughout the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive area.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many items of furniture were (a) lost and (b) stolen from his Department in each year since 1997; and what the value was of those items in each year. [120718]
Gillian Merron: The Department was formed in 2002 and since then no items of furniture have been lost or stolen. This excludes the Departments main headquarter sites in London and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, where this information is not centrally recorded and could be made available only at disproportionate costs.
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road accidents involving death or injury have involved drivers who have no tax or insurance in each of the last five years. [119302]
Dr. Ladyman: Statistics on personal injury road accidents reported to the police and submitted to the Department do not contain information on drivers who had no tax or insurance.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles registered in states that joined the EU in the last five years which are in the United Kingdom. [117777]
Dr. Ladyman: This information is not held by the Department.
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential impact on the UK automotive industry of the proposed EU targets on (a) fuel efficiency and (b) carbon dioxide emissions. [121536]
Dr. Ladyman: Work done for the UK Energy Review last year suggested that a replacement to the current voluntary agreements on new car fuel efficiency might have a cost to society of £184 per tonne of carbon. On the other hand, using cost data developed by consultants for the European Commission, suggests much lower costs or even net benefits.
The impacts of such an instrument are highly dependent on the level of the target and how the target is implemented. The Government will be carrying out further work to assess the impacts, both on society and on the automotive industry, of different options to replace the current voluntary agreements.
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential environmental impact of the proposed EU targets for (a) fuel efficiency and (b) carbon dioxide emissions of cars. [121541]
Dr. Ladyman: Work done for the UK Energy Review last year suggested that a replacement to the current voluntary agreements on new car fuel efficiency could save nearly two million tonnes of carbon per year in the UK in 2020.
The carbon savings delivered by such an instrument are highly dependent on the level of the target. The Government will update the Energy Review analysis in the light of recent data, and the European Commission communication on reducing CO2 emissions from cars. In carrying out this update the Government will consult a range of stakeholders.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who the EU public private partnership concessionaire is of the Galileo operational phase; how much the contract is worth; who has final operational control of the satellites in time of war; where the key equipment is based; which judiciary has jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement. [117097]
Dr. Ladyman: Galileo is a European Union programme and the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) is the EU agency that will regulate and manage the programme on behalf of the EU. The GSA is currently in negotiations with a consortium bidding for the Galileo public private partnership (PPP) contract. It is made up of Aena, Alcatel, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp and Thales. No decisions have yet been taken on which legal regime will govern the concession contract or which courts will have jurisdiction.
Vice-President Barrot recently stated that the overall financial exposure for the public side over the 20-year period of the contract would be around €8 billion. The final cost will not be known until the contract is ready
for signature. The public private partnership (PPP) will have a public funding ratio of roughly one-third; the remainder to be provided by a private sector concessionaire.
Galileo will not be fully operational until 2011-12. The Council has repeatedly confirmed that it is a civil programme under civil control. The operation of any navigation aid, such as Galileo, can nevertheless have security implications for member states. The UK, along with other member states, therefore sought to ensure that any aspects of the operation of Galileo which affect member states security can be referred to the Council structures, which will take the necessary decisions by unanimity. The GSA will have operational responsibility for Galileo safety and security matters, although final operational control arrangements within the framework of the GSA have yet to be decided.
The GSA is temporarily based in Brussels. 11 member states, of which the UK is one, have bid to host its permanent offices. The deployment of the programmes key equipment is dependent on the outcome of negotiations with the consortium as well as the discussions between the consortium members themselves. It is expected that the HQ of the PPP company will be located in France; the operations company would be in London; Germany and Italy will host the satellite control centres, and an additional safety of life centre and a back-up control centre would be in Spain.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents were attributed to faults in vehicles sufficient to fail an MOT test in each of the last five years. [121173]
Dr. Ladyman: Information on how many accidents were attributed to faults in vehicles sufficient to fail an MOT test is not available. From 2005 information has been collected on contributory factors to reported personal injury road accidents, including vehicle defects. In 2005 2,289 personal injury road accidents reported at the scene by a police officer involved a motorised vehicle that had vehicle defects as a contributory factor. The contributory factors reflect the reporting officers opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation. Moreover it is recognised that subsequent inquires could lead to the reporting officer changing his opinion.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of running the MOT system was in each of the last five years. [120932]
Dr. Ladyman: The MOT computer system went live in April 2005. No payments were made in respect of the service prior to this date. During the year 2005-06 payments totalled £30.02 million and the forecast for 2006-07 is £29.9 million.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of the MOT was in each year since 1997. [120968]
Dr. Ladyman:
Testing stations can charge any fee for an MOT test up to a set maximum. The maximum
price that testing stations could charge for an MOT for a car during this period is given in the table as follows:
Effective date | £ | |
The maximum charge is set after an evaluation of the time taken to conduct an MOT test.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the contribution to road safety of the present MOT system; and if he will make a statement. [120969]
Dr. Ladyman: It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that gives the UK its excellent road safety record. MOT testing is part of that overall strategy, and the test detects around 8 million defective vehicles every year.
We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT schemespecifically the frequency of testingfollowing a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the merits of the MOT testing scheme.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average time taken by an MOT tester was to carry out an MOT in the latest period for which figures are available. [120971]
Dr. Ladyman: Average times for carrying out MOT tests were last checked in a comprehensive study in 2006. The observed average total time for carrying out an MOT test on a car was 58.37 minutes.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many MOT testing stations there are in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland. [120972]
Dr. Ladyman: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency records show that on 8 February 2007 there were:
15,723 garages in England;
1,194 in Wales; and
1,727 in Scotland offering MOT tests.
18,644 in total.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the road safety consequences of changing the frequency of the MOT test; and if he will make a statement. [121642]
Dr. Ladyman:
It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that helps to lead to a lower number of road casualties
than would otherwise be likely to occur. In turn, it is not a straightforward matter to assess what might be the road safety implications of changing the frequency of testing.
We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT schemespecifically the frequency of testingfollowing a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the potential advantages and disadvantages of making any change to test frequency.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy that the MOT test should principally assess levels of wear on a vehicle rather than its reliability. [121643]
Dr. Ladyman: The items to be tested in an MOT test are set by Directive 96/96/EC. The principal purpose of the test is to ensure that a vehicle meets at least minimum prescribed standards related to road safety and environmental performance.
In general, this means checking to ensure that components which are liable to wear have not deteriorated to a level below these minimum standards, and that a vehicle is otherwise not in such a condition that its use on the road would represent a danger either to the driver or to any other person. The test is also designed to ensure that a vehicle meets minimum standard levels so as not to cause avoidable damage to the environment.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the introduction of a road charging scheme in Manchester; and if he will make statement. [120669]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 19 February 2007]: Greater Manchester are one of 10 areas to be awarded pump-priming funding to support the development of transport innovation fund packages that address local congestion problems by combining demand management, including road pricing, with better public transport.
In this context, Ministers have met representatives of Greater Manchester authorities and departmental officials have regular ongoing contact.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2007, Official Report, column 1793W, on advertising, how much of the spending on advertising was spent on (a) sponsoring supplements and (b) advertorials; and what the topic of each (i) advertorial and (ii) supplement was. [119862]
Barry Gardiner: None of the expenditure referred to in the answer of 24 January 2007, Official Report, column 1793W, is recorded as being on supplements or advertorials.
Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many
farmers in Chorley constituency have not received any single farm payment for (a) 2005 and (b) 2006; [120510]
(2) what estimate he has made of the total cost of the interest to be paid to farmers in Chorley constituency as a result of late payment of single farm payments for the period of 2005 to 2007. [120513]
Barry Gardiner: Detailed analysis of all the payments made under the 2005 single payment scheme is not yet available. Once the remaining 2005 scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission on subsidies paid by the Government to British milk producers. [120511]
Barry Gardiner: Milk producers do not receive any direct EU subsidies. The dairy premium, paid to partially compensate dairy farmers for the expected fall in farmgate prices as a result of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, was uplifted into the decoupled single farm payment in 2005.
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