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20 Mar 2008 : Column 1377W—continued
Departmental Empty Property
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the sums to be paid by her Department in unoccupied property rates in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [193770]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport estimate of sums to be paid in unoccupied property rates are as follows:
| (a) 2007-08 | |
| £ | |
| (b) 2008-09 | |
| £ | |
Vacant property is kept under active review and sale or letting arranged wherever possible.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not record the information requested separately as it forms part of the Private Finance Initiative contract with Land Services Trillium. Aforementioned figures are estimated and no empty property rates payments are forecast for 2008-09.
The Government Car and Despatch Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Vehicle Certification Agency, Vehicle and Operator Services Agency do not have any empty properties.
Departmental Official Visits
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost was of overnight accommodation for (a) civil servants, (b) special advisers and (c) Ministers in her Department staying overnight in (i) mainland Great Britain, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) the Republic of Ireland and (iv) other countries in the last 12 months. [193537]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport (central) does not record overnight accommodation expenditure for Northern Ireland separately from the rest of the UK. Between 1 March 2007 and 29 February 2008 £479,929 was spent on overnight accommodation in the UK, £1,003 in the Republic of Ireland, and £135,088 overseas. The Department does not record Ministers’ expenditure separately from civil servants’. There has been no expenditure on overnight accommodation for special advisors within the 12 month period.
None of the Department’s agencies record Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland separately. The Vehicle Certification Agency spent £68,400 in UK, and £19,714 overseas. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency cannot separate overnight accommodation from other associated travel and subsistence payments. Their total travel and subsistence expenditure was £2,108,100 in the UK, and £834,462 overseas. The Highways Agency spent £803,337 in the UK and £7,943 overseas. These figures represent the hotels booked through their central contract which forms the majority of their expenditure. A small amount of accommodation expenditure may have been claimed as travel and subsistence, but cannot be separated except at disproportionate cost.
The remaining agencies (Driving Standards Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Government Car and Despatch Agency and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) cannot provide the information except at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of her Department’s expenditure was allocated to Government growth areas in the last year for which figures are available. [190953]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available across the Department’s programmes.
Freight: Scrap Metals
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles carrying scrap metal were involved in fatal accidents in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [195724]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not available.
Hearing Impaired
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what provision is made for deaf people to access services provided by her Department through call centres. [194879]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport and its agencies are very conscious of the need to provide a high level of service to all customers, including those with hearing disabilities. As a result, all call centres are able to communicate by phone with hearing impaired customers using text-based systems.
Heathrow Airport
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what assessment she has made of the validity of the (a) assumptions and (b) evidential basis of the information supplied by BAA for the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document; [193992]
(2) whether she commissioned an independent assessment of the information supplied by BAA for the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document. [193993]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Data and assumptions used in the Heathrow work have been subject to scrutiny by Department for Transport (DfT) officials and relevant experts throughout the project management process. In particular, DfT’s own air traffic and fleet forecasts have been used as benchmarks to quality assure BAA’s forecasts at the most detailed level possible. Road traffic data draws on a variety of established sources including the Highways Agency and Transport for London, and modelling has been validated as described in the supporting technical report on surface access.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will list the documents her Department has given BAA access to in relation to the development of proposals for Heathrow expansion and preparation of the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document. [193994]
Jim Fitzpatrick: As we clearly envisaged in the Air Transport White Paper, BAA have participated, along with other key stakeholders, in a wide range of technical work since 2003 to assess the scope for developing Heathrow within the strict local environmental limits set by the Government.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the increased passenger numbers envisaged in the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport document are forecast to be transit passengers travelling between non-UK destinations. [194007]
Jim Fitzpatrick: International-to-international transfer passengers are forecast by DfT to comprise 32 per cent. of the extra demand at Heathrow airport in 2030 which would result from the additional capacity proposed under option one in the ‘Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport’ consultation document.
A detailed explanation of the DfT air passenger demand and CO2 forecasting methods and results is given in ‘UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts’ (November 2007), available at:
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings (a) she, (b) her Ministers and (c) officials in her Department have held with representatives of (i) Sipson, (ii) Harmondsworth and (iii) Cranford in relation to Heathrow Airport expansion. [194012]
Jim Fitzpatrick: To better understand expectations for the ‘Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport’ consultation, prior to its launch on 22 November 2007, officials from the Department held meetings with a number of local residents’ associations from communities around Heathrow airport. This included meetings with the Harmondsworth and Sipson residents’ association and the Cranford Cross residents’ association. In addition, representatives from the Harmondsworth and Sipson residents’ association also attended a meeting I held on 21 November with a range of stakeholders with interests in Heathrow airport. There have been no other meetings with these representative groups.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to monetise changes to air quality likely to arise out of Heathrow expansion. [194037]
Jim Fitzpatrick: As stated in our recent Heathrow consultation document (Annex B, paragraph 2.30 and elsewhere) we plan to monetise air quality effects in the post-consultation impact assessment, in line with standard DEFRA methodology.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what response she has made to the Atkins Report entitled Demonstrating Confidence in the Project for Sustainable Development of Heathrow Air Quality Work. [194039]
Jim Fitzpatrick: This report was commissioned by the Department for Transport and forms part of the supporting evidence for the Government's recent Heathrow consultation. It does not require a response from the Department.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many short-haul flights landed at Heathrow Airport in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007. [194571]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 14 March 2008]: The number of short-haul international flights that landed at Heathrow in 1997 and 2007 were 127,000 and 125,000 respectively.
Short-haul international origin/destinations include flights to Europe (including EU-27, Norway, Switzerland, Gibraltar, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Turkey and former Yugoslavia).
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will commission an independent scientific report on the likely effects of the third runway at Heathrow. [195184]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 19 March 2008]: The recent consultation ‘Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport’ follows an extensive programme of assessment and analysis, involving a wide range of experts in the field, and sets out our findings. We have no plans to commission a fresh study.
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the data on which the consultation on a third runway at Heathrow Airport was based. [195217]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 19 March 2008]: The data and assumptions underlying the Heathrow consultation have been subject to careful scrutiny throughout the project management process, including by experts in the field. We are satisfied that the material presented in the consultation documents is robust.
Heathrow Airport: Accidents
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the impact on accident risk of her proposals for airport expansion set out in Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport. [194011]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
While the issue of safety is not the subject of the consultation, safety is of course paramount. The Department is confident that a third runway and the other proposed operational changes could function while meeting safety requirements. This issue was considered in the consultations in the run-up to the 2003 Future of Air Transport White Paper. Any proposal taken forward by the airport operator would have to meet Civil Aviation Authority and
international safety requirements and it would be for the airport operator to demonstrate this during the planning process.
Heathrow Airport: Exhaust Emissions
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the level of carbon dioxide emitted annually by incoming international flights arriving at Heathrow. [193999]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory reports annual CO2 emissions for domestic and international aviation for the UK, but not at individual airports.
The report ‘UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts’ (November 2007) shows DfT forecasts of aviation emissions by airport, including an estimate for the base year (2005). This is available at:
While there is no international agreement on the allocation of international aviation emissions between nations, these forecasts are on a departures-only basis, to avoid double-counting emissions, and for consistency with DEFRA outturn data. No assessment of CO2 emissions from arriving international flights at Heathrow is available.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assumptions about (a) nitrogen oxides and (b) carbon dioxide emissions from improved aircraft efficiency she has made in forecasting the environmental impact of the operation of a third runway at Heathrow. [194010]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Projections of future reductions in aircraft emissions are informed by a number of factors including trends in fleet replacement, the certificated emissions performance of aircraft coming into service, aviation industry goals for future emissions reductions, and assumptions about future generations of aircraft. The Heathrow work on NOx has been informed in this area by expert advice from Qinetiq and AEA plc. The broad approach is described in the AEA report ‘Emissions Methodology for Future LHR Scenarios’, published alongside the recent Heathrow consultation document. This also sets out the aircraft types expected to be operating at Heathrow in future years including, for example, replacements for the Boeing 767 and Airbus A300/310 and A340.
For CO2 emissions the methodology and assumptions are set out in the UK Air Passenger and CO2 Report. This can be found on the Department's website at:
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the likely impact on greenhouse gas emissions of each option for Heathrow expansion set out in the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document. [194035]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
The ‘Adding Capacity at Heathrow’ consultation document published in November 2007 by
the Department for Transport reported information on the climate change impacts of the three options considered in the consultation.
Table 17 on page 178 of that document (as follows) sets out the carbon dioxide emission impacts of each option and the total climate change cost, for both the full appraisal period and the average year. The impact of extra in-flight non-carbon emissions is accounted for by uprating the extra in-flight CO2 emissions by a ‘radiative forcing factor’ of 1.9 in estimating the total climate change costs of each option.
A detailed explanation of the DfT air passenger demand and CO2 forecasting methods and results is given in ‘UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts’ (November 2007), available at:
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