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Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss the likely impact of Heathrow expansion on greenhouse gas emissions. [194036]

Jim Fitzpatrick: My right hon. Friend has regular meetings and correspondence with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs across a range of matters and these have in the past included issues relating to Heathrow development, including climate change impacts.

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) assumptions, (b) methodology and (c) evidential basis was of the information given in the consultation document Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport relating to the projected reduction in average road vehicle emissions by 2030. [194041]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The methodology and assumptions underpinning the road traffic modelling are set out in the supporting technical report on surface access, which explains the basis of the travel and traffic forecasts. This can be found on the Department's website (www.dft.gov.uk). For future reductions in road vehicle emissions, we have used the lower end of DEFRA's forecasts, representing a conservative estimate of the expected emissions improvement in the vehicle fleet, with no allowance for incentives to accelerate the take-up of new standards.


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Heathrow Airport: Housing

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the effect on house prices in south west London resulting from (a) building a third runway and (b) the end of runway alternation at Heathrow. [194052]

Jim Fitzpatrick: No assessment of the impact of additional capacity at Heathrow on house prices has been made. The Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport consultation document sets out an Impact Assessment (Annex B), of the options considered in the consultation.

Heathrow Airport: Noise

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the evidential basis of her projection in Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport of a significant reduction in noise levels per plane was; [193998]

(2) what new aircraft models are assumed to be operating from Heathrow by 2020. [194009]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Projections of future reductions in aircraft noise are informed by a number of factors including trends in fleet replacement, the certificated noise performance of aircraft coming into service, aviation industry goals for future noise reductions and assumptions about future generations of aircraft. The Heathrow work has been informed in this area by expert advice from the Civil Aviation Authority and QinetiQ and the approach is described in the CAA Report 0705 “Revised Future Aircraft Noise Exposure Estimates for Heathrow Airport” 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 andA340.

Heathrow Airport: Public Participation

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will launch a second consultation on a third runway at Heathrow Airport. [195277]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Air Transport White Paper stated the Government's support for the further development of Heathrow, including a third runway and additional terminal capacity, subject to stringent local environmental limits being met. It also said that scope for making greater use of the two existing runways should be explored, subject to the same environmental limits. The recent consultation presented the outcome of our assessment of these options and invited views. We are now reviewing all the consultation responses and will make our final policy decisions later this year based on the full range of evidence including from those most directly affected.

Heathrow Airport: Weather

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the potential impact of each option for the expansion of
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Heathrow set out in Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport on London's weather. [194040]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The effects of further development of Heathrow airport are assessed across a range of impacts including climate change, expressed in terms of additional CO2 emissions at the global level.

Ipsos MORI

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what payments her Department and its agencies have made to Ipsos MORI in the last 24 months; and for what purposes. [194310]

Jim Fitzpatrick: In the period between 1 March 2006 and 29 February 2008 the Department for Transport made payments of £1,604,252 to Ipsos MORI for the following activities:


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The aforementioned data has been obtained from the Department’s various accounting systems and includes a description of the activity undertaken where available from the payment record.

Lorries: Industrial Health and Safety

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the value of the Code of Practice on the safety of loads on vehicles as a source of advice for employers; and what plans she has to update the guidance. [195726]

Jim Fitzpatrick: No assessment of this sort has been made, and there are no plans to update the guidance.

However, we are aware of work by the Transport Research Laboratory and the Freight Transport Association to develop industry guidance on the crash safety of loads in vans, which we will be considering, as findings become available.

Radioactive Wastes

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2008, Official Report, columns 41-2, on aviation: radioactive materials, to which country or countries the three consignments of radioactive waste which will not require repatriation of radioactive waste to the UK were shipped for treatment; how much radioactive waste was contained in each of these three shipments; what information was provided in each case to the government of the receiving country in respect of the long-term management of the unrepatriated radioactive waste arising; what the countries of origin were of each of the consignments imported into the UK in 2007; and what the countries of destination were of each of the consignments exported from the UK in 2007. [194134]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The three consignments were all sent to the USA.

The consignments contained 0.156, 18.2 and 19.8 tonnes each of metallic waste contaminated with radioactive isotopes.

In each case details of the quantities of radioactive waste were provided to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Formal approval to the first shipment in (b) was granted by the State of Tennessee and the NRC granted its formal approval to the second two shipments.

I refer the hon. Member to my answers of 19 March 2008, Official Report, columns 1115-6W, to the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers).

Railway Stations

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers used each mainline railway station in 2006-07, ranked in descending order. [195974]


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Mr. Tom Harris: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) does, however, publish data on station usage which are available from their website:

Data for 2006-07 have not yet been published.

Railways: Freight

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reports she has received on whether the corner locks were engaged on the containers blown off the trains at Milton Keynes and Tebay on 8 March; and if she will make a statement. [195153]

Mr. Tom Harris: The five empty containers which were blown off a freight train near Tebay and the two empty containers blown off another freight train near Milton Keynes on 1 March 2008 were located on “UIC 517 type” spigots fitted to the freight wagons. Evidence indicates that each container was correctly located on four spigots. The spigots do not have any form of manually operated twist lock as fitted to some other types of rail wagons and road container carriers; instead they have a “mushroom” shaped head designed to provide vertical retention. However, in both incidents, preliminary findings indicate the spigots did not function as intended. The reasons for this and other factors which may have contributed to the incidents are currently under investigation by the RAIB.

Regarding the history of similar incidents, it has been reported to the RAIB that there have not been any previous incidents in the UK since the introduction of the spigots to the UK in the early 1990s. Reports of similar incidents involving containers blowing off trains in continental Europe are emerging but the circumstances of these incidents are not yet clear.

On completion of its investigation, the RAIB's report will be published on its website. During its investigation, urgent safety advice can be issued by the RAIB to the industry in the UK and other member states to bring any safety matter to their attention.

Roads: Accidents

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent steps the Department has taken to reduce the number of fatal road traffic accidents caused by unqualified and unaccompanied drivers. [195418]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government are concerned about vehicles being driven on our roads by drivers who do not have the correct driving entitlement.

This is a matter which we take very seriously and we do all that we can to assist the police and the courts in detecting and prosecuting cases of unlicensed driving.

A critical step has been the provision to the police of 24 hour access to accurate and up to date driver licensing information (including a photograph where appropriate) at the roadside to assist detection and enforcement. There are also good IT links between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the courts to assist in effective prosecution of offenders.


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The Department also takes action to reduced road accidents as a whole including through its road safety strategy which targets high risk behaviours, such as anti drink-drive and speeding.

Shipping: Safety

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many ships bringing goods into the UK have been impounded because of safety concerns arising from the ship’s condition in the last 12 months. [196224]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency detained 86 foreign flagged ships for deficiencies related to safety, pollution prevention or crew living conditions, in the period between March 2007 and February 2008.

Shropshire

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 554W, on Shropshire, if she will provide the equivalent figures for each local council in England. [191754]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Much of this information has already been published on the Department for Transport’s website. Tables providing the information requested have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Southern Railway: Rolling Stock

Sir Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effect of the decision by Southern Railway to introduce 44 new dual-voltage carriages to the Thameslink service on the future of the Watford to Brighton service. [195653]

Mr. Tom Harris: All newly procured dual-voltage trains will be deployed on the Thameslink route.

From December 2008, journeys between Brighton and Watford, avoiding the London Underground, will still be possible, albeit with a change of trains at Clapham Junction, as happens in the morning peak today.

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