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19 Jun 2007 : Column 1617W—continued
Departments: Carbon Emissions
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department is on track to deliver the projected carbon savings of 5.1 MtC by 2010 as set out in the 2000 climate change programme; and if he will make a statement. [141867]
Gillian Merron: Savings of 5.1 MtC in 2010 were projected in the 2006 climate change programme from existing transport measures. We remain on track to achieve these.
Departments: Consultants
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on consultants in each of the last 10 years. [141010]
Gillian Merron: The Department was formed in May 2002. Details of expenditure by the Department on consultants from 2002-03 to 2006-07 are shown as follows:
| £ million | |
The business units within the Department currently use separate accounting systems which record expenditure differently. The totals include a mixture of committed spend (i.e. orders raised) and actual spend incurred. The Professional Services Forum definition of consultancy has been applied since 2005-06 resulting in more accurate coding of expenditure.
Departments: Manpower
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people work in the Rail Directorate of his Department; and what the wages and salaries costs of the directorate were in each of the last five years. [141859]
Mr. Tom Harris: The current established headcount of the Rail and National Networks Directorate is 325.
The Rail Directorate wages and salaries costs for the last five years were:
| £ million | |
The 2005-06 and 2006-07 costs include staff transferred into the Department from the Strategic Rail Authority.
Departments: Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent on hospitality by his Department in the financial year 2006-07. [133252]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport spent £552,796.35 on hospitality for the financial year 2006-07. This spend includes costs for refreshments provided at meetings and working lunches.
The following agencies were not able to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost:
Highways Agency (only provided by the Information Directorate);
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency; and
Driving Standards Agency.
Departments: Official Residences
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the official ministerial residences allocated to Ministers in his Department; and what the total annual cost is of running each. [141972]
Gillian Merron: No Ministers in the Department for Transport are allocated a ministerial residence.
Departments: Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was raised from the sale of his Department's property in each of the last five years. [139307]
Gillian Merron: The requested information is as follows:
| £ | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was received by his Department from the letting of its properties in each of the last five years. [139326]
Gillian Merron: The requested information is as follows:
| £ | |
Departments: Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent by his Department on public relations in each of the last five years. [139453]
Gillian Merron: The Department's prime use of external public relations is in support of our marketing activities on the THINK! road safety and Act on CO2 campaigns. Expenditure in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Tot al (£) | |
Departments: Sign Language
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the merits of providing British Sign Language (BSL) videos on his departmental website for the benefit of those whose first language is BSL. [142500]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport website has been designed to follow the Guidelines for Government websites and to meet the Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines conformance level double A. The Code of Practice for Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act states that websites should be made accessible to ensure provision for people with disabilities, hence conformance to the double A standard.
We do not routinely produce BSL versions of material on our website, but have produced a BSL film on use of Seatbelts and Child restraints in support of our THINK! road safety campaign. BSL versions of the Highway Code will be available from the Driving Standards Agency from September if required.
Departments: Travel Agents
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department and its agencies paid in travel agencies’ fees in each year since 1997. [139916]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport came into existence in May 2002 under machinery of government changes. From that date until June 2005, travel agent’s fees were paid at 1.5 per cent. of contract turnover, an average figure of £12,500 per quarter. Since 1 July 2005, fees have been paid at a fixed annual rate of £50,000. This figure includes one of the Department’s agencies and a small element for the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Five of the Department’s agencies either do not pay travel agent’s fees, or do not record the fees separately from other travel costs. Further information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The remaining agency, VOSA, spent £199,000 in 2003-04, £180,000 in 2004-05, £134,000 in 2005-06, and £124,000 in 2006-07.
Driving Offences
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2007, Official Report, column 971W, on driving offences, how many vehicles are represented by the 2.5 per cent. of cases in which it is not possible to trace a vehicle from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database. [143992]
Dr. Ladyman: Currently there are approximately 33 million vehicles on the DVLA database and 2.5 per cent. of this figure is 825,000.
Driving Tests: Fees and Charges
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the costs of the driving theory test were in each year since its introduction; and what the reason was for each change. [144032]
Dr. Ladyman: The following table shows the theory test cost since its introduction in 1996.
| Date | Test type | Cost (£) | Reason |
Heathrow Airport: Security
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) longest and (b) average waiting time was for travellers going through airport security at Heathrow terminal 4 on 10 June. [142991]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 15 June 2007]: I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the BAA website—www.heathrowairport.com—;which has summary statistics on its monthly performance against a range of service quality measures, including passenger security queuing.
M3: Hampshire
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when junctions 5 to 7 of the M3 motorway will be resurfaced with noise retarding materials; and how many lanes will be resurfaced as part of this work. [143993]
Dr. Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 754W.
Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his most recent estimate is of the number of unlicensed vehicles on the road in the UK. [144030]
Dr. Ladyman: Evasion among all vehicles in use was estimated to be around 6 per cent. in 2006. This was 2.2 million vehicles.
Parking: Disabled
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether his Department has made any assessment of the effectiveness of road markings distinguishing parking bays for the disabled; [142950]
(2) what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness amongst drivers of the problems caused by incorrect parking in disabled parking bays. [142951]
Gillian Merron: The Department for Transport has not made any assessment of the effectiveness of road markings distinguishing parking bays for disabled people.
On-street parking provision and enforcement is the responsibility of individual local authorities. In this context local authorities are best placed to raise the awareness of both disabled and non-disabled drivers about the provision for parking and how disabled parking bays should be used.
The provision and enforcement of parking bays in off-street car parks, whether local authority or privately owned, is a matter for individual car park operators. The Department issues advice on signage and markings in off-street car parks in its Traffic Advisory Leaflet 5/95, “Parking for Disabled People”.
The Department is conducting a three month review of the Blue Badge Scheme which will aid us in the publication of a comprehensive Blue Badge Reform Strategy by April 2008. Tackling abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme and the issue of enforcement of disabled person's parking bays on-street will be included in the review.
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