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6 May 2008 : Column 728W—continued
Brussels
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what visits to Brussels were made by each Minister in her Department by (a) Eurostar, (b) commercial flights, (c) other flights and (d) other means of travel in 2007-08. [203389]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The then Minister of State for Transport, the hon. Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) visited the European Parliament in Brussels in May 2007 and my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Transport (Ms Winterton) attended a meeting of the Transport Council in Brussels in November 2007. Both Ministers travelled by Eurostar.
Bus Services
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will introduce another Kickstart initiative to help the commercial bus industry to introduce new and enhanced services. [202518]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We are keeping under review whether to hold a further competition for Kickstart funding against the background of the proposals contained in our consultation document ‘Local Bus Service Support—Options for Reform’, published on 13 March.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps she has taken to prevent bus companies changing their services to create more journeys within the national concessionary bus fare scheme process for remuneration per journey. [203157]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The main principle which applies to reimbursement is that bus operators should be financially no better and no worse off as a result of taking part in concessionary travel schemes. Reimbursement paid to bus operators takes two forms: revenue forgone and additional costs.
Revenue forgone is reimbursement of the fares operators would have received for existing passengers now travelling free. Here reimbursement is not based on the full commercial adult fare as, in the absence of a concession, discounted fares would be available at off-peak times.
Additional costs are those associated with carrying people who are only travelling because of the concession. The operator only receives a payment to cover the marginal additional costs of carrying these extra passengers.
As such, any rise in patronage as a result of the concession should be revenue neutral to operators.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many journey changes to bus routes were notified by bus companies to the traffic commissioners in each of the last 48 months for which figures are available. [203158]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Information is not available on a monthly basis. The number of applications in Great Britain to vary the registration of a local bus service
which were accepted by the traffic commissioners in the latest four years (ending 31 March) for which figures are available is as follows:
| Number | |
Currently, around 23,000 registered bus services operate in Great Britain. This figure does not include local services provided wholly within London, which are not subject to registration by the traffic commissioners.
Bus Services: Concessions
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of national concessionary bus fares scheme passes applied for have been issued; and what percentage of the eligible population have applied for such passes. [202738]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Responsibility for producing and issuing passes for the England-wide bus concession lies with local Travel Concession Authorities (mainly District Councils, non-metropolitan Unitaries and the Passenger Transport Executives). As such the Department for Transport does not hold information on the number of applications received. We do, however, have an estimate of the number of passes that suppliers expected to have to produce for local authorities in England outside London.
By 1 April 2008, suppliers had produced 95 per cent. of the passes they expected to have to produce and had sent out over 80 per cent. to concessionaires. By 8 April, this had increased to 99 per cent. produced and sent out.
In respect of eligibility, we estimate that around 11 million people in England are eligible for concessionary travel passes. By 8 April, around 6 million people outside London had applied for and received a new pass.
In London, concessionaires who already have a pass do not need a new one, but need to have their existing pass re-stickered to show that they are eligible for the new England-wide concession. Around 800,000 people in London have had their passes re-stickered or (if they are a new applicant) received a new pass.
Bus Services: Pendle
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding has been given to Pendle council to pay for the implementation of the free nationwide bus travel scheme for the elderly; and if she will make a statement. [202015]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Pendle borough council will receive special grant funding of £268,000 in 2008-09 for the improvement to statutory concessionary travel to England-wide, which was implemented on 1 April. This is in addition to its existing funding for concessionary travel which is provided through formula grant. In 2006-07, the latest for which we hold outturn data,
Pendle borough council spent £1,152,000 on concessionary travel. As such the additional funding through a special grant represents an increase of 23 per cent.
Cycling: Children
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government have taken to encourage children to practise safe cycling. [203017]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 1 May 2008]: I announced on 17 March that we would be making funding of over £3 million available to local authorities to train nearly 80,000 schoolchildren to the Bikeability standard in 2008-09. This is in addition to the 46,000 children for whom we have already funded training via local authorities and School Sports Partnerships.
Some of the local authorities receiving funding in 2008-09 are also investing their own money in Bikeability standard training to train a further 29,000 children. Other local authorities also provide Bikeability standard training as part of their normal programme without any DFT grant.
We will make further funds available for cycle training in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to help meet our objective of providing cycle training for 500,000 children by 2012.
We have also invested £18.4 million in Links to Schools which extends the National Cycle Network (NCN) from residential areas to schools. We have provided these routes to over 600 schools which encourages pupils to cycle to school by improving their safety. Further funds will be made available to achieve our aim of providing Links to Schools to 500 more schools by 2011.
The Highway Code and Arrive Alive, the Highway Code for Young Road Users both give advice to child cyclists on the wearing of safety equipment such as cycle helmets and light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which makes them easier to see at night or in poor daylight by other road users.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 3 April 2008, Official Report, column 1195W, on departmental internet: Wikipedia, whether former Ministers and special advisers in her Department have created or amended Wikipedia entries; and (a) on which dates and (b) from which IP range the amendments listed in the answer were made. [202378]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We have no central record of whether previous Ministers or special advisers have created or amended Wikipedia entries. Factual entries made by departmental officials were listed in my previous reply.
Departmental NDPBs
Mr. Curry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people were serving on the boards of the non-departmental public bodies which her Department sponsors at the latest date for which figures are available. [203599]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Cabinet Office publication “Public Bodies 2007” identifies the following as the non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) that are sponsored by the Department for Transport. For each NDPB that has been identified, the number of people serving on the board has been stated.
| Executive NDPB | Number of board members |
Departmental Sick Leave
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many working days were lost by her Department due to stress-related illness in each of the last 24 months. [198934]
Jim Fitzpatrick: In the 12 months to February 2008, the Department for Transport has experienced a 13 per cent. drop in total stress-related absence. Individual monthly figures are as follows:
| Month | Total |
| (1) Excludes the central Department. Stress-related absence in the central Department in February 2008 was 163 days. | |
Local Authorities: Manpower
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether local authorities have recruited additional staff to take account of the change in April in their responsibilities under parking regulations. [202492]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally.
M1: Road Works
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects the roadworks between junctions 6 and 10 of the M1 motorway to be completed; and when she expects all lanes on this part of the road to be open. [203528]
Mr. Tom Harris: Work on M1 junction 6a to 10 widening is progressing well and the scheme is due for completion to programme in December 2008. The works are being constructed in two sections, section one from junction 10 to approximately 2.5 km south of junction 9; section 2 from 2.5 km south of junction 9 to junction 6a M25.
Highways Agency opened section one to four lanes in both directions over the Mayday bank holiday weekend, initially to 50 mph to trial motorway communications. The speed limit will be increased to the national limit, 70 mph, when commissioning of motorway communication equipment is complete. This is expected to be before the end of May.
Section two will remain under traffic management until the end of the year when it is intended that both carriageways will be running four lanes in both directions in time for the Christmas and new year holidays.
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