| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
1 May 2008 : Column 600W—continued
Freight: EU Law
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals are being discussed at an EU level on liberalisation of the haulage industry. [202980]
Jim Fitzpatrick: In May 2007 the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on access to the market in the carriage of goods by road within the Community to or from the territory of a member state or passing across the territory of one or more member states (recast).
On 7 December 2007 the Department for Transport (DFT) launched a formal consultation on this proposal. The Consultation Document and the DFT response to consultation replies can be found on the DFT website at:
Heavy Goods Vehicles
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) UK and (b) non-UK registered vehicles between 41 and 44 tonnes (i) entered and (ii) exited the UK in each year since 2004. [202979]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested by vehicle size is not centrally available. Annual figures on the number of UK registered and non-UK registered heavy goods vehicles leaving the country for 2007 and earlier will be published in the statistical bulletin ‘Road Goods Vehicles Travelling to Mainland Europe’ on 22 May 2008.
Hire and Reward Licences
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many UK international hire and reward licences were awarded for (a) 2004, (b) 2005, (c) 2006, (d) 2007 and (e) 2008. [202978]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has awarded the following number of International hire and reward licences:
| Standard international hire and reward licences in issue | |||
| Goods granted | PSV granted | Total | |
Lorries
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made in implementing the Government’s proposal to charge foreign-registered lorries which use British roads a contribution towards the costs of road maintenance. [202143]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 22 April 2008, Official Report, column 1890W.
Motor Vehicles: Petrol Alternatives
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2008, Official Report, column 2212W, on motor vehicles: petrol alternatives, what her estimate is of the number of forecourts that provide bio-ethanol (E85) for motor vehicles for (a) commercial vehicles and (b) private vehicles. [203166]
Jim Fitzpatrick: There are 23 bio-ethanol refuelling stations in the UK. This information is gathered by the Energy Saving Trust and is not held centrally by Government. It does not differentiate between facilities for commercial and private vehicles.
Current figures are available on the Energy Saving Trust website at
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2008, Official Report, column 2212W, on motor vehicles: petrol alternatives, how many infrastructure grants have been given to assist the building of refuelling stations (a) in total, (b) for natural gas/bio gas, (c) for hydrogen and (d) for bio-ethanol. [203167]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Since the infrastructure grant programme was launched in 2005 there have been 23 grants given for all station types. They are broken down as:
natural gas/biogas—five grants awarded;
hydrogen—no grants awarded;
bio-ethanol (E85 and E95)—three grants awarded.
The remaining grants were for electric recharging stations.
The grants equated to the following numbers of stations:
| Fuel type | Number of stations funded | Total funding (£000) |
Parking: Data Protection
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will take steps to ensure that car park management companies which are not members of the British Parking Association, and are therefore not required to comply with the industry code of practice for parking enforcement, are not given access to personal data by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. [203173]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The requirement for private car parking companies who submit requests for vehicle keeper information via electronic channels to be a member of an Accredited Trade Association (ATA) was introduced following public consultation in 2006. The British Parking Association is the only existing ATA for the parking industry. Following the consultation, it was not considered necessary to extend this requirement to those who apply via the manual, paper-based channels due to the fact that each application is considered individually and additional evidence that must be provided.
DVLA will shortly be undertaking a review of all the new measures introduced in 2006. This review will consider the effectiveness of the current requirements, and all other options available.
Railways: Bicycles
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she is taking to encourage train operating companies to allow greater accommodation for cyclists and their bicycles on trains. [202910]
Mr. Tom Harris: We continue to encourage train operators to carry bikes on trains where possible. The Department for Transport’s Cycling Policy document and the rail strategy White Paper published last year set out our policy: train operators should facilitate the carriage of cycles on off-peak services and accept the folding cycles at all times. However, during the peak hours, where capacity is under pressure, it can be in the interests of the majority of passengers not to permit non-folding cycles on board. It is for individual train operators to determine which services cannot accommodate non-folding bicycles and of course to determine the number of bikes which can be carried at other times.
We want all TOCs to take into account the wider benefits of cycling when considering both investments in cycle facilities and their own rules for carrying cycles. This is particularly important when procuring new rolling stock where space for bicycles must be considered.
The White Paper also announced the setting up of a Task Force to look into how bike and rail journeys can be better integrated. The Task Force which includes ATOC, Network Rail, Passenger Focus and Cycling England have begun their work and I look forward to hearing about their progress.
Roads: Accidents
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents resulting in (a) injury and (b) death occurred in each year since 2001. [203234]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of reported personal injury road accidents resulting in (a) injury and (b) death in Great Britain from 2001 to 2006 are shown in the table.
| Number of accidents resulting in | |||
| Injury( 1) | Death( 2) | Total | |
| (1) Seriously or slightly injured. (2) An accident is classified according to the severity of the most severely injured casualty. A fatal accident may therefore also include seriously or slightly injured casualties. | |||
The number of reported personal injury road accidents, by severity from 1979 to 2006 are also available at:
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money was spent on road (a) maintenance and (b) construction in each of the last five years. [202233]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 28 April 2008]: The available expenditure data on road expenditure covers both new construction and structural maintenance and does not enable new road construction to be identified as a separated category. The total expenditure on road infrastructure in Great Britain by central and local government for the last five years for which figures are available is given in the following table together with the figures for road maintenance.
Road investment given in the aforementioned table relates to gross capital expenditure on national and local roads. This information is published in Table 1.14 in “Transport Statistics in Great Britain 2007 Edition” (TSGB) which is available on the Department for Transport’s website (www.dft.gov.uk).
Information on expenditure on road maintenance for England and Wales is published in the “National Road Maintenance Condition Survey 2006”, which is also available on the Department for Transport’s website. Data for Scotland are published in “Scottish Transport Statistics 2007 Edition” by the Scottish Executive available on their website (www.scotland.gov.uk). These sources identify expenditure on structural and routine maintenance, but overlaps in definition mean that there is some double counting with the investment data from Table 1.14 from TSGB.
In 2006 there was an estimated 398 thousand kilometres of road in Great Britain. Central Government is responsible for the Strategic Road network made up of the Motorways and Trunk A Roads which is about 3 per cent. of this total. The remainder of the public road network is the responsibility of local authorities.
Roads: Tolls
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to involve local authorities in her Department’s plans for (a) a national road pricing scheme and (b) technology pilots for a national scheme. [199512]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No decisions have been taken on a national road pricing scheme. We are committed to examining the technology to see whether we can address people's real concerns about privacy and accuracy. We have invited the private sector to demonstrate how they might run a system of charging for road use according to time of day and route chosen. It is too early to say how local authorities might be involved.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |