Written Answers to Questions
Friday 23 March 2007
Transport
British Transport Police: Greater London
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many British Transport Police community support officers were based in each London borough in each of the last five years. [129462]
Mr. Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at: British Transport Police, 25 Camden Road, London NW1 9LN, E-mail:
general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.
Departments: Paper
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what mechanisms are in place to ensure his Department's economical use of paper. [128002]
Gillian Merron: The Department has a wide range of measures in place to ensure economical use of paper, following the broad policy of “reduce, reuse, recycle” and to meet the new targets for government on sustainable operations.
Information for the public is increasingly available electronically and a higher percentage than in previous years of new documents are web only publications. When documents are printed, then consideration is given to the types of papers used to ensure they are fit for purpose, indicating the weight and type of the paper to minimise paper use. Any printed publications are printed on 75 per cent. recycled paper. The Department for Transport also leads on the pan- Government framework for the provision of recycled paper for printed publications.
Improved IT has resulted in all the major reference manuals from finance, procurement, the staff handbook and other reference guides to be placed on the internal Intranet site with the presumption that all these reference documents are only available electronically.
From February 2003, the Department’s weekly internal Bulletin has been available online, resulting in considerable paper saving as well as cost savings of £130,000 a year.
All printers purchased, unless used for specialist processes, are capable of printing on both sides of the paper. Business Units are encouraged to set this facility as the default. Photocopiers used also have this facility.
All internal stationery and printing paper purchased is 100 per cent. recycled and waste paper is recycled.
Increasingly business process, from invoicing of payments through to sickness absence recording, travel and subsistence claims, are being processed electronically.
Departments: Postal Services
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which postal companies handle mail dispatched by his Department and its agencies. [128252]
Gillian Merron: The central Department and each agency do not keep records specifically identifying companies that only provide mail services. However, listed as follows are the companies that have provided both mail and courier services:
A1 Couriers Ltd.
Amtrak
Apollo Express Services Ltd.
Business Post (Parcels)
Capita Group Ltd.
Central Despatch Service
Dash It
DHL Global Mail
Fast Track Couriers Ltd.
Initial Citylink
Lynx Couriers
Parcel Force
Peters and May Ltd.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Royal Mail
Streetwise Couriers
TNT Post UK Ltd.
UK Today
Railways: Fares
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with the different train companies on proposals to reduce the number of saver fares on the railways; and if he will make a statement. [129009]
Mr. Tom Harris: No discussions have been held on proposals to reduce the number of saver fares. All discussions on a simplified fares structure have involved retaining and in some cases expanding the range of flexible off-peak walk-up fares such as savers.
Railways: Overcrowding
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much of the additional rolling stock being authorised for purchase by his Department to relieve overcrowding he plans to be used on services between Bedfordshire and London; and if he will make a statement. [128727]
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how much of the additional rolling stock being authorised for purchase by his Department to relieve overcrowding he plans to be used on services between Worcestershire and London; and if he will make a statement; [128374]
(2) how much of the additional rolling stock being authorised for purchase by his Department to relieve overcrowding he plans to be used on services between Worcestershire and Birmingham; and if he will make a statement. [128772]
Mr. Tom Harris: It is too early to say where precisely the additional rolling stock will be used. The deployment of new rolling stock will be agreed with the industry following the publication of the high-level output specification and the long-term rail strategy this summer, in accordance with the periodic review timetable set out in the Office of Rail Regulation's advice to Ministers published in February 2007.
Railways: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage (a) Network Rail and (b) South West Trains to improve its performance; and if he will make a statement. [129353]
Mr. Tom Harris: There are regular discussions between Stagecoach South West Trains (SSWT) and Network Rail about performance.
SSWT has a public performance measure (PPM) moving annual average (MAA) of 89.7 per cent. (at February 2007, the last reporting period).
The Department re-let the new South Western franchise from February 2007; the new franchise agreement has an incremental increase in the performance benchmarks that SSWT will have to meet over the franchise period.
I have four-weekly Performance Delivery Group meetings with rail industry representatives to discuss rail performance. At these meetings, current performance, and steps for improvement, are examined to ensure that improving performance remains a high priority throughout the rail industry.
Road Signs and Markings
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the (a) short-term and (b) long-term efficacy of interactive road signage in built-up areas for traffic calming purposes. [128992]
Dr. Ladyman: Vehicle activated signs (VAS) are designed to address the problem of inappropriate speed at locations where conventional signing has not proved effective. The majority of VAS are therefore placed in rural areas where inappropriate speed is a particular problem, such as on the approach to hazards, bends or junctions.
TRL Report 548 “Vehicle activated signs—a large scale evaluation”, published in 2002 studied the effectiveness of vehicle activated signs (VAS) at over 60 sites on rural roads with a range of speed limits. This found VAS to be effective at reducing vehicle speeds at the approach to isolated hazards or bends and junctions. There was no evidence that the signs became less effective over the three-year period of the study.
International Development
Afghanistan: Electricity
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he expects Afghanistan to increase the amount of electricity
available through bilateral power purchase by the end of 2010; what progress has been made; and what progress he expects to be made by the end of the year. [127503]
Hilary Benn: The latest quarterly progress report issued by the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) indicates that considerable steps have been made towards the Afghanistan Compact benchmark of increasing the amount of electricity available through bilateral power purchase by 2010. Details of this progress, extracted from the report, are listed at Annex A. Given this, we would expect the amount of electricity available through bilateral power purchase to increase by the end of 2010.
However, the report also indicates that there are serious limitations to measuring progress in the power sector, and states that it is difficult to measure progress in the shorter-term as nearly all of these projects are long-term activities. DFID is not directly engaged in this sector. The lead donors are the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
In October 2002, USAID committed support for a national irrigation and power rehabilitation programme in conjunction with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water. The programme is focused on the rehabilitation of the South East Power System (SEPS), a 100 MW power generation and transmission network. It aims to provide low cost and reliable power to 1.7 million residents in Helmand and Kandahar provinces by the end of 2009. Central to this initiative is a commitment to rehabilitate the Kajaki multi-purpose dam, built by USAID in 1953 on the Helmand River.
The programme is split into phases and will include rehabilitating and upgrading the dam, its power plant and associated transmission network by 2009. The first phase will increase Kajaki’s generation capacity to 51 MW. Funding of $150 million has already been allocated for this work. The UK Government, through DFID, may fund smaller projects in the vicinity of the dam as part of a stabilisation programme.
The UK-led Task Force Helmand (TFH) has been tasked through ISAF with providing security sufficient to enable the resumption and successful completion of the USAID Kajaki Dam project. Security poses a bigger challenge for the UK in Helmand where GoA authority and rule of law is fragile. The UK military is helping to create an enabling environment for development to accelerate, and for training the Afghan National Army.
Annex A—Progress towards Increasing Power Purchase
An agreement was signed on 21 February 2006 between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The agreement increases co-operation between the two countries in power transmission, reducing the purchase rate to minimum, continuity in power purchase and improve regulatory framework.
The Hairatan-Kabul 220 kv transmission line is currently under construction. It is due for completion by the end of 2008. This will be the main line transmitting imported electricity from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to take care of the immediate needs of Kabul.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan in April 2006 on further increase of power purchase. Under the agreement
Turkmenistan expressed readiness to increase its electricity export by 300 MW and support the new transmission infrastructure in the North-West (Hirat, Qala-e-Naw, Maimana, Shiberghan and Mazar).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 25 June 2006 between Afghanistan and Iran. Part of this MOU covers the provision of electricity to the western border towns of Afghanistan (Farah and Nimroz). I.R. of Iran has agreed to undertake the necessary study of this project.
In August 2006 Afghanistan became an Observer to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). The accession report has been prepared by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ECT. Full accession is expected in May 2007.
In 2006, Afghanistan signed multilateral MOUs on 1,000 MW electricity transit with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Iran. The four countries will meet in Kabul in June 2007 to evaluate the feasibility study which is currently under way. The Kabul sub-station of this project will allow Afghanistan to increase its power purchase.
In November 2006, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), increasing Afghanistan’s power purchase from 70 MW to 300 MW, beginning from October 2008.
The power purchase agreement between Iran and Afghanistan expires by the end of 21 March 2006. During the Second Joint Economic Commission Meeting of the two countries (27 and 28 December 2006), it was agreed to renew and upgrade the agreement. During the meeting the two countries decided to work on the contract of the construction of transmission line (220 to 230 MW) between Zabul and Farah (survey is already complete). They also discussed extending electricity to the rural areas of Robat Sangi, Gulran and Kishk in Hirat Province.
India is ahead of schedule on its $100 million Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul line and substations at Chimtala and Doshi—estimated completion date is October 2008.
The ADB is on schedule for completion of its $75 million Pul-e-Khumri to Shekanbandar line for power from Tajikistan—estimated completion date is March 2009.
The ADB is on schedule for its $62 million Pule-e-Khumri to Hairatan and Naibabad to Mazar lines for power from Uzbekistan.
USAID is planning to launch design and planning on its $24 million Mazar to Shebergan line and its $48 million Sheberghan to Turkmenistan line. It has sent a mission to Turkmenistan and the border to study the route and it is working on completing its feasibility study.
Germany is on schedule for substations at Mazar and Pul-e-Khumri.
Afghanistan and Tajikistan signed an Inter-Government Agreement in October 2006. It paves the way for the negotiation of the first North Eastern Power System (NEPS) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding for Afghanistan was channelled through United Nations agencies in each year since 2004; and how much each UN agency received in each year. [127975]
Hilary Benn: The following table shows how much funding DFID Afghanistan has channelled through UN agencies in Afghanistan in each financial year since 2004-05.
| £ | |||
| UN Agency | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
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