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7 Jan 2008 : Column 6W—continued
Departmental Conditions of Employment
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and what proportion of her Department's staff are employed within each salary band; what the title and role of each position within each salary band is; and for each salary band what the (a) bonus structure, (b) retirement provision, (c) expenses provision, (d) total expenses incurred in each of the last 10 years, (e) average age of employee, (f) number of (i) women and (ii) men and (g) ethnic composition is. [171410]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The current staffing figures for the Department are in the following table.
| Level | Male | Female | Total |
The default retirement age in the Department is 65, with an option to retire at 60. Staff may continue working after 65 subject to there being an annual business case to remain in service.
Further analysis of the composition of the Department's workforce is included in the Civil Service statistics collected by ONS from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (formerly mandate) and the latest published statistics are for the year to 30 September 2006. These can be found in Table H at:
A further breakdown of the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Illegal Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many illegal immigrants were discovered working for her Department and its agencies in the last year for which figures are available. [170482]
Jim Fitzpatrick: There are no cases of which we are aware of illegal immigrants who have been discovered working for the Department for Transport and its agencies in the last year.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff aged between 16 and 18 were employed by her Department and its predecessors (a) directly and (b) through an employment agency in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of these were given time off work to undertake some form of training; and what proportion were provided with some form of training (i) wholly and (ii) partially funded by her Department. [171278]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Generally, nearly all 16 to 18 year-olds employed directly will be given time-off to undertake training and this is funded. However, the detailed breakdown requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Galileo
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the EU Lisbon treaty, once implemented, will have an effect on the EU's Galileo programme. [175587]
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the treaty basis is for the EU's Galileo programme; and if she will make a statement. [175588]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The objectives of the Galileo programme derive from Article 156 of the treaty establishing the European Community.
Galileo: Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the UK (a) has spent and (b) is expected to spend on the Galileo satellite navigation project. [175526]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The technical development of Galileo is a joint project of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). Approximately €1.6 billion has been committed to the development phase of the system.
European Finance and Transport Ministers have recently agreed a way forward for the funding of Galileo over the 2007-13 financial perspective. Ministers have acknowledged the Commission’s estimate, based on a public procurement, of €3.4 billion over the period to 2013 for deployment and initial operation of the system, and have agreed that it should represent a ceiling on expenditure within this financial perspective. It is intended that the deployment and initial operation of Galileo will be taken forward as an EU only programme funded through the EC Budget.
The UK’s directly committed costs as an ESA member state for the ESA element of the design and development phase of the programme is €142 million. As EU member states contribute to the EC Budget as a whole rather than to individual spending programmes within it there is no specific UK contribution to the EC Budget funded element of the development and subsequent deployment costs for Galileo.
There has been no political discussion of potential funding commitments for the public sector beyond 2013.
Heathrow Airport: Railways
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the number of flights into and out of Heathrow which were to destinations where there is a viable rail alternative in the latest period for which figures are available. [170714]
Jim Fitzpatrick: There is no definition of what constitutes a viable rail alternative to flying. However, according to CAA statistics for 2006 there were 58,915 domestic flights to or from Heathrow carrying just under 6 million passengers. There were 28,550 flights to or from Paris and Brussels, with 2.7 million passengers.
Public Transport
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was made available to support rural public transport in Cumbria in each year since 1997. [176730]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We have supported the provision of bus services in rural areas by means of rural bus subsidy grant (RBSG), a grant paid to local
transport authorities according to numbers living in rural areas. RBSG allocations to Cumbria county council since the grant's introduction in 1998 are shown in the following table.
| £ | |
| Allocation | |
In addition, we have encouraged the development of innovative solutions to meeting rural transport needs by means of Rural Bus Challenge (RBC) competitions held from 1998 to 2003. RBC awards to Cumbria county council are shown in the following table.
| £ | |
| Award | |
Local authorities also support rural public transport from their own resources, including revenue support grant from central government.
Rail funding is not split on a county by county basis and therefore we cannot provide a specific figure for rail support for Cumbria.
Public Transport: Concessions
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will extend the national concessionary fare scheme to community transport services. [176942]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Those community transport services operated under section 22 of the Transport Act 1985 which are fully available to the public will be eligible. The inclusion of all community transport services would have to be fully funded and careful consideration would have to be given to the impacts on the sector and rural bus services. The Government have a strong track record in extending concessionary travel. However its current priority is to focus on the successful implementation of the national concession in 2008. Local authorities will retain the flexibility to include community transport in their local schemes to reflect local needs and circumstances.
Railways: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to her answer of 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 430W, on railways: standards, how many hits there have been on the website; and if she will place a copy of the study in the Library. [176886]
Mr. Tom Harris: This information is held by Stagecoach South Western Trains who can be contacted at the following address:
Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited
Customer Service Centre
Overline House
Blechynden Terrace
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 1AL
Refuse Collection Vehicles
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the new tachograph regulations will apply to local authorities' refuse collection vehicles. [176394]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Vehicles used in connection with door-to-door household refuse collection and disposal are exempt from the EU drivers' hours and tachograph rules provided they are operated by, or under contract to, a public authority.
In the Department's opinion, such operations would involve the primary collection of waste from household or commercial premises, including the collection of street cleansing waste, where the transport activity remains subsidiary to the collection.
The waste collected from commercial premises must be similar to or of the same kind as that collected from households, it must be collected in the same way (i.e. door-to-door), it must not be subject to any special collection regime or special rules, and must be collected using the same vehicles.
Such operations might involve longer aggregate journeys where there are a number of stops, particularly in rural areas, but such journeys should not normally exceed a radius of 50 kilometres from the place where a vehicle is normally based.
Road Traffic
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected traffic numbers are on the M25 approaches to the Dartford Crossing from Essex. [176789]
Mr. Tom Harris: The projected traffic numbers on the M25 approaches to the Dartford Crossing from Essex for the financial year 2007-08 are 26,576,414 vehicles.
Roads
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the lane restrictions on the M3 at its junction with the M25 came into force; what works were undertaken requiring the restrictions; when those works were completed; for what purpose cameras were installed west of the junction; and when she expects to lift the lane restrictions. [175609]
Mr. Tom Harris: The trial layout of lane restrictions at Junction 12 of M25 came into force on 5 March 2007.
The lane restrictions were put in place to improve the flow of traffic from the M25 onto the M3 by re-allocating the available road space more accurately to reflect actual traffic flow. Traffic on the M3 has been restricted to a single lane through this junction to allow two dedicated lanes for traffic joining from the M25.
The trial was initially implemented for a period of four weeks to confirm the effective operation of the layout. As the trial layout has proved to be effective it has been retained.
Throughout the new layout a speed limit of 50 mph has been implemented and managed by Surrey Safety Camera Partnership to act as a safety deterrent while the trial is in place.
An announcement will be made shortly as to whether this scheme is to be made permanent or if lane restrictions are to be removed.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate her Department has made of the likely levels of road usage on the A595 between Greenodd and Whitehaven by (a) private vehicles and (b) freight traffic in each of the next three years. [176732]
Mr. Tom Harris:
The Department has made no specific estimates of road usage, either private or goods vehicles, on this stretch of road for the forthcoming three years. Forecasts of traffic at a regional level are
made using the Department's National Transport Model (NTM) and these are published on the Department's web site:
The latest forecasts for Northwest Region, which were published in October 2007, indicate that traffic growth on rural A roads between the years 2003 to 2010 will be 9 per cent. for cars, 17 per cent. for light goods vehicles and 2 per cent. for heavy goods vehicles.
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