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8 Mar 2007 : Column 2112W—continued
Sport England: Manpower
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many members of staff are employed by Sport England (a) centrally and (b) in each of the regional offices; and what the salary bill was in the most recent month for which figures are available. [126206]
Mr. Caborn: Sport England employ 264 staff; 92 of which are employed centrally and 172 are employed across the regions. Their gross salary bill for February 2007 was £820,000.
Sports: Drugs
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the Olympic (a) summer and (b) winter sports that are not compliant with the requirements of UK Sport’s drug testing regime. [126211]
Mr. Caborn: UK Sport’s drug testing programme requires sports to be compliant with their anti-doping ‘Model Rules’.
These ‘Model Rules’ set out the rules and regulations which sports should have in place to be compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.
Listed are the Olympic summer and winter sports which are not currently compliant, but with whom UK Sport is working to achieve compliance. It should be noted that testing continues to be undertaken on these sports and that sanctions can be applied for any anti-doping rule violation.
Delays due to jurisdiction issues:
Badminton (Scotland only)
Baseball
Basketball (Wales only)
Boxing
Volleyball (except England)
Rules have been submitted and reviewed—final versions yet to be produced:
Gymnastics
Rowing
Equestrian
Delays due to sport new to Olympics:
Handball
Rules have been submitted and reviewed—final versions yet to be produced:
Bobsleigh
Transport
Aviation: Heathrow Airport
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of flights from Heathrow Airport which were to UK destinations in the last three years for which figures are available. [126059]
Gillian Merron: The estimated number and proportion of flights from Heathrow airport to UK destinations in the last three years were as follows:
| Total number of flights from Heathrow (Thousand) | Number of flights to UK destinations (Thousand) | Percentage of flights from Heathrow to UK destinations | |
| Source: Civil Aviation Authority | |||
Biofuels
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of performance against the Government’s targets for increasing the use of biofuels. [125911]
Dr. Ladyman: Details of monthly and annual biofuel sales are available via http://www.uktradeinfo.com/ index.cfm?task=bullhydro. Biofuel sales have increased steadily in the UK since the introduction of the 20p per litre fuel duty incentive for biodiesel and bioethanol, and in January 2007 accounted for some 0.8 per cent. of total transport fuel sales. During the calendar year 2005, biofuel sales made up some 0.25 per cent. of total transport fuel sales against the target of 0.3 per cent. which the UK set under the European Union’s Biofuels Directive (2003/30/EC).
The Government have announced that they will introduce a renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) in April 2008, which will require transport fuel suppliers to ensure that a certain percentage of their total transport fuel sale comes from biofuels. The level of the RTFO will be 2.5 per cent. in the financial year 2008-09, rising to 3.75 per cent. in 2009-10 and 5 per cent. in 2010-11. The Government are currently consulting on both the detailed design of the RTFO and how it might evolve over time.
Excise Duty (Reduced Pollution) (Amendment) Regulations 2000
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the (a) one-off and (b) recurring cost of implementing the Excise Duty (Reduced Pollution) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (EU Pollution Directive 98/69/EC) to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators. [125609]
Dr. Ladyman: The Reduced Pollution Certificate (RPC) scheme offers reduced rates of vehicle excise duty to heavy goods vehicle and public service vehicle operators who take action, generally by fitting a particulate trap, to reduce the particulate emissions of their vehicles to a target level below what would be required for a vehicle constructed to the Euro standard of that vehicle.
The initial regulations passed in 1998 were amended by the 2000 regulations. The principal purpose was to replace what had been the anticipated particulate standard for Euro 4 and 5 vehicles (the level that Euro 2 and 3 vehicles respectively had to reach to obtain an RPC) with the more stringent level actually agreed by the EU. This closed a loophole that had enabled a number of operators to obtain RPCs while taking little, if any, positive action to retrofit their vehicles.
The costs to business per vehicle with an RPC are estimated as follows:
fitting participate trap or fitting or converting engine to gas (£4,300 average)
test/certification fee. The initial RPC runs for just under two years initially, with retest fee payable annually thereafter. A test carried out in isolation currently costs £27, whereas a test in conjunction with a roadworthiness or other test costs £16 above those test fees
cost of presenting the vehicle for test—estimated to be £100 but this can be avoided where, as is usually the case, the test is conducted on the same day as the vehicle’s annual roadworthiness test
In 2003-04, a total of 30,080 RPCs were issued, of which 6,776 were first RPCs. Assuming maximum
costs under each of the last two aforementioned points (£27 and £100) apply to all RPCs, but retrofitment costs (£4,300) only to the first RPCs, yields an aggregate cost for 2003-04 of £32.9 million.
Costs to the regulator are met through the fees for certification and testing.
First Great Western
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps First Great Western is taking to reduce emissions from their locomotives; what its published commitments to the Government are for reducing the company’s carbon footprint; and what recent assessment has been made by the Department on progress with reduction of emissions. [125663]
Mr. Tom Harris: The engines in all the power cars of the high speed trains operated by First Great Western (FGW) are being replaced by modern engines with lower emissions and lower fuel consumption. FGW is committed under its franchise agreement to completing this programme at the latest by the end of June 2008.
Railway passenger operators are required by their passenger licences to establish a written policy to protect the environment from the effect of licensed activities. A copy of FGW’s policy is available from the Office of Rail Regulation’s public register.
The Department monitors progress on implementation of FGW’s contractual commitments.
Highways Agency: Vehicles
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Highways Agency traffic officer patrol cars (a) entered and (b) left service in each of the last three years. [124185]
Dr. Ladyman: The information requested in the following table.
| Period | Vehicles entering service | Vehicles leaving service |
Lorries: Accidents
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving heavy goods vehicles were reported to the police in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many involved foreign-registered heavy goods vehicles. [126034]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 29 June 2006, Official Report, columns 562-63W. The requested information is updated on an annual basis. 2006 data will be published in summer 2007.
Official Cars
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which vehicle models are used by the Government Car and Despatch Agency; and how many of each type of vehicle are owned by the agency. [124613]
Dr. Ladyman: The Government Car and Despatch Agency uses the vehicles shown in the following table.
| Vehicle | Type | Total |
The GCDA operates two core businesses—Government Cars, providing long and short term chauffeur and car hire services for the secure movement of Ministers, officials and others; and Government Mail, providing secure mail distribution services within Government and the wider public sector.
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