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26 July 2007 : Column 1574Wcontinued
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Government are on track to achieve its target of delivering (a) 100 new bypasses on trunk and local roads and (b) 130 major local road schemes by 2010; and what the (i) construction costs, (ii) scheduled date for start of construction, (iii) expected completion date and (iv) current status as at 1 April 2007 was for each existing scheme. [148149]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The 10 Year Plan published in July 2000 set out very broad indicative figures for the number of bypasses that might be delivered on the trunk and local road network over the 10 year period.
As at 1 April 2007, the Highways Agency had completed 45 major trunk road schemes, 21 of these were bypass schemes. Local highway authorities had completed 43 local major road schemes, 20 of which are bypasses.
I have placed in the Library of the House two tables which provide information on (i) construction costs, (ii) scheduled date for start of construction, (iii) expected completion date and (iv) current status of both Highways Agency and local authority major road schemes which are currently at various stages within the approval process.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research she plans to undertake into the under-reporting identified in Road Safety Research Report 69; and if she will make a statement on the inclusion of insurance status in the Stats 19 form. [150757]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department and the Office for National Statistics are currently undertaking a project to match individual records from STATS19 with records from hospital admissions resulting from road accidents. The resulting matched database should allow for further investigation into levels of reporting.
Additionally, questions on road accidents were added to the National Travel Survey (NTS) in January 2007. In future, this will provide an independent, non-administrative source, which will help track broad trends. The first data will be available summer 2008.
Changes to the information collected on the STATS 19 personal injury road accident reporting form, including insurance status, will be considered in the next review of STATS19. The findings of the next review will be implemented in 2011.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment her Department has made of road safety in the Coventry area. [152338]
Jim Fitzpatrick: No separate assessment of Coventry has been undertaken but Coventry is a partner in the West Midlands Local Transport Plan (LTP), along with each of the metropolitan authorities and Centro. For the period of the first LTP (2001-06) performance for road safety was assessed as strong. The strategy for road safety for the second LTP (2006-11) was assessed as excellent. Both assessments were completed in December 2006.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will take steps to (a) increase the numbers of (i) British registered merchant ships and (ii) merchant navy officers and (b) to increase the size of the UK maritime skills base; and if she will make a statement. [152365]
Jim Fitzpatrick: A new campaign to re-invigorate the UK Register was launched in February 2006 when the then Minister for Shipping (the hon. Member for South Thanet) held a reception for shipowners/operators at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich with the theme of Safety through partnership. In addition, a review of the MCAs Marketing Strategy was undertaken during the second half of 2006 and the recommendations from this are now being implemented.
A measure of the success of this campaign is that at the end of March 2007 the number of merchant vessels on the UK Ship Register was 1,459, of which the gross tonnage was in excess of 13 million for the first time in 10 years. (If we include all sea-going vessels over 100 gross tonnes, as in the Department for Transports published statistics, the number of vessels is over 1,900 and the gross tonnage over 14 million).
The Government are currently engaged with social partners, considering joint proposals from the Chamber of Shipping, RMT and Nautilus UK for stimulating UK and EEA rating and officer training and employment.
Although recruitment is a matter for the shipping companies themselves, a dedicated industry body, the Merchant Navy Training Board (which includes representatives from industry, trade unions and the Government), actively promotes officer training, and the Department for Transport gives financial assistance to training providers through the Support for Maritime Training Scheme (SMarT), for the training of officers and ratings. The support available under SMarT at present amounts to roughly half of the cost of training provided by maritime colleges.
Seafarer training is also a key element of the UK tonnage tax which imposes a minimum training obligation (MTO) on companies entering the scheme.
This is to train one officer trainee per year for every 15 officer posts in the companys effective officer complement. The MTO is cumulative and covers each trainee for up to three years.
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with South West Trains on the 20 per cent. fare increase for mid-morning passengers to London from (a) Southampton, (b) Winchester and (c) Dorset. [153630]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Secretary of State has had no discussions with South West Trains regarding the 20 per cent. fare increase for mid-morning passengers to London as these fares are unregulated.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many road traffic accidents involved commercial coaches in London in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement; [153550]
(2) how many traffic accidents there were involving (a) buses, (b) pedestrians and (c) cyclists in each London borough in each of the last five years. [153553]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury accidents involving buses/coaches, pedestrians and cyclists in each London borough since 2002 are given in the following table.
Commercial coaches are not separately identifiable.
Number of accidents | ||||||
Road user type | London borough | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
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