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17 Oct 2007 : Column 1093W—continued

Cars: Hire Services

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) accidents and (b) traffic offences occurred involving hire cars in Peterborough constituency in each of the last five years. [158962]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not available.

Crossrail Line

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether a financing agreement is in place for the Crossrail project. [158495]

Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 16 October 2007]: I refer the right hon. Member to the White Paper for the 2007 pre-Budget report and Comprehensive Spending Review presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 October 2007.

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will place a copy in the Library of the financial agreement on Crossrail. [158492]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Subject to commercial confidentiality, the Secretary of State expects to place relevant agreements in the Library in due course.


17 Oct 2007 : Column 1094W

Departments: General Elections

Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what contingency preparations her Department made for the possibility of a general election in autumn 2007; and what the costs were of those preparations. [156993]

Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Edward Miliband) on 15 October 2007, Official Report, columns 822-23W.

Motorcycles: Accidents

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents there have been involving (a) motorcyclists, (b) bicycles and (c) only motorcyclists and bicyclists in each year since 1997. [158672]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury road accidents involving at least (a) one motorcyclist, (b) one pedal cyclist and (c) no other vehicles or pedestrians but at least one motorcyclist and at least one pedal cyclist, in each year since 1997 is shown in the table—note that (c) is included in both (a) and (b).

Number of accidents involving at least one:
Motorcycle Pedal cycle Motorcycle and pedal cycle only

1997

24,928

24,705

5,850

1998

23,188

24,969

5,649

1999

23,221

26,537

5,945

2000

20,866

28,635

6,051

2001

19,316

29,398

6,067

2002

17,373

28,825

5,691

2003

17,300

28,721

5,931

2004

16,922

26,151

5,526

2005

16,856

25,204

4,799

2006

16,440

23,730

4,734


Railways: Rolling Stock

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many of the extra rail carriages announced by her Department in the five-year plan published on 24 July have been introduced; and on which lines. [156923]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The extra rail carriages are to be introduced in stages between 2009 and 2014.

Roads: Accidents

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents in each of the last five years involved children; and if she will make a statement. [159262]


17 Oct 2007 : Column 1095W

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury road accidents involving at least one child casualty (aged 0 to 15) for each of the last five years is:

Number

2002

30,430

2003

28,264

2004

27,253

2005

24,837

2006

22,676


In 2000, the Government set a PSA target to achieve a 50 per cent. reduction in the number of children aged 0 to 15 killed or seriously injured by 2010, compared with the average for 1994-98. 3,294 children were killed or seriously injured in Great Britain in 2006, which is 52 per cent. below the 1994-98 average of 6,860. In February 2007 we issued a new child road safety strategy, which sets out further measures to improve child road safety.

Work and Pensions

Child Support Agency: Debt Collection

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many liability orders the Child Support Agency has applied for in each month since January 2003; how many of these were inaccurate in any particular; and how many were (a) withdrawn and (b) dismissed. [146178]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 October 2007:

Applied for Withdrawn pre-hearing Dismissed Granted Withdrawn post-hearing

2002-03

5,540

202

69

2,383

2003-04

6,719

285

71

3,885

2004-05

10,483

467

16

7,760

199

2005-06

11,926

882

49

*11,245

262

2006-07

15,309

1,212

50

*13,335

232

Notes:
1. A liability order is a document obtained from the court showing that they legally recognise the debt. This is the same in both England and Wales, and Scotland and is required before the Agency can use litigation powers (Diligence in Scotland).
2. The figures marked with an asterix* are sourced from the Agency’s Quarterly Summary of Statistics. All other figures have been clerically collated and are actual figures, not subject to rounding.
3. Figures sourced from the Agency’s Quarterly Summary Statistics are rounded to the nearest five.
4. Robust information on the numbers of liability order withdrawn post-hearing is unavailable prior to April 2004.
5. Due to differences in the Scottish legal system, cases classified by the Agency as withdrawn pre-hearing are classified by the courts as dismissed.
6. It should be noted that for any period, the number of liability orders applied for will not directly relate to the number of applications granted as the process can take many weeks to complete. Liability orders applied for in one period may not be granted until the following period.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total value is of the contracts the Child Support Agency (CSA) has with external debt collectors; how much has been paid to date under such contracts; with which debt collectors the CSA has contracts; how many cases they are handling; what the average debt outstanding on transfer to the external debt collectors is; how many cases they have successfully recovered outstanding debt from (a) in full and (b) in part; and what average sum has been recovered. [155937]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.


17 Oct 2007 : Column 1097W

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 October 2007:

Child Support Agency: Manpower

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely impact of proposed reductions in staffing of the Child Support Agency (CSA) on the effectiveness of the CSA and its successor the Child Maintenance and Support Commission. [155614]

Mr. Plaskitt: The Agency is committed to meeting both the departmentally agreed headcount target of 9,547 by March 2008 and the Secretary of State performance targets for the coming year. Computer system improvements as part of the Agency’s Operational Improvement Plan will ensure client service in both CSA, and later C-MEC, will not be affected by this reduction in headcount.

Child Support Agency: Standards

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Belfast unit of the Child Support Agency over the last (a) six months and (b) year in handling claims involving children from Northamptonshire. [154969]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 10 September 2007]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 October 2007:


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