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14 July 2008 : Column 6W—continued
The 10 largest urban areas set congestion targets as part of the Department’s urban congestion PSA indicator, using a new, more detailed data source. The following table shows the first report of progress towards these targets, in terms of the percentage change in person journey time per mile from the baseline(1) to 2006-07 (percentage increases reflect slower journey times).
(1) The baseline is a mix of 2004-05 and 2005-06 data. Comparable data before the baseline are not available.
| Percentage | |||||||||||
| LO | GM | ME | SY | TW | WM | WY | BR | LE | NO | ALL | |
| Notes: 1. LO London, GM Greater Manchester, ME Merseyside, SY South Yorkshire, TW Tyne and Wear, WM West Midlands, WY West Yorkshire, BR Bristol, LE Leicester, NO Nottingham 2. The percentage changes of less than 2 per cent. are unlikely to be statistically significant; that is not necessarily indicative of real changes in congestion. | |||||||||||
The urban congestion indicator covers key routes in each urban area (mainly principal A roads) during the weekday morning peak, excluding school holidays. Congestion in urban areas is measured by “person journey time per mile”. Person journey times per mile are the average journey times per mile experienced by individual road users, rather than the vehicle average. These take into account average vehicle journey times, average vehicle occupancies and the number of vehicles on the route segment (vehicle flow). Figures are based on the academic year (September to August).
The data in the aforementioned table was published in the 2008 Departmental Annual Report, Annex D, available at:
Roads: Accidents
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fatalities of (a) drivers, (b) passengers, (c) other vehicle occupants and (d) other road users there were in crashes in which one of the drivers was aged between 17 and 24 years in each year since 1995. [218409]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The numbers of fatalities of (a) motor vehicle drivers or riders aged 17-24, (b) passengers of a 17-24 year old driver or rider, (c) occupants of other motor vehicles (including drivers) and (d) other road users (mainly pedestrians and cyclists) in reported personal injury accidents involving at least one motor vehicle driver aged 17-24 in Great Britain in 1995 to 2007 are shown in the table.
| Number of fatalities | ||||
| Drivers or riders aged 17-24 | Passengers of driver or rider aged 17-24 | Other motor vehicle occupants | Other road users | |
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding has been allocated to (a) road repair, (b) road improvement and (c) road building schemes in each local authority area in each of the last 12 years. [210179]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Central Government provide a number of funding streams that local authorities are able to apply to road repairs, improvements and building. Authorities are also able to apply their own resources to their networks.
I have placed details of funding from the Department for Transport in the House Libraries, as follows:
(a) block capital funding made available to local authorities since 2000-01 as part of the LTP settlement. This funding is not ring fenced and authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities. Where joint plans were prepared, the figures relate to the plan rather than individual authorities. The table includes aggregate figures for funding provided prior to the introduction of the LTP settlement.
(b) revenue and capital funding provided to authorities since 2001-02 for the maintenance of recently detrunked roads. This funding is also not ring fenced. Prior to 2000-01 funding was provided by the Local Transport Capital Expenditure settlement. I am also including the allocations from 1997-98 to 1999-2000 in this table.
(c) capital funding that the Department has contributed (or is expecting to contribute) to local authority major road schemes generally costing over £5 million. The table shows schemes completed since 2000 and those that are being delivered or at the various approval stages in line with our local major scheme guidance.
(d) PFI credits allocated to schemes. This shows PFI credits allocated to English local authorities (including London boroughs) for improvements in their street lighting and highway maintenance where contracts have been signed or are in procurement.
(e) funding provided for emergency repairs to local highways in 2001-02, 2003-04 and 2007-08.
Local authorities are also provided with financial support for the revenue required for road maintenance through the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government. There is no separately identified highways maintenance component in RSG and it is for each authority to determine how much of it should be allocated to their highway network.
Funding for highway maintenance and for transport in London has generally since 2000-01 been a matter for the Mayor.
Rolling Stock
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which rail franchises have approached her Department prior to a formal application being submitted to request additional rolling stock during the current franchise. [218361]
Mr. Tom Harris: Since the Department for Transport took over responsibility for rail franchise management in 2005, some operators have held discussions with the Department proposing additional rolling stock, usually linked to a wider package of contract alterations. These discussions are commercially confidential. The Department considers all such proposals to determine whether they are consistent with procurement law, affordable, provide value for money for the taxpayer and fit with objectives for the rail network.
The Department set out its requirements in the White Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Railway 2007, that it would procure through the operators an additional 1300 new vehicles. These discussions are now taking place and will result in the delivery of the vehicles.
Rolling Stock: Standards
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the process is by which rolling stock companies are consulted on franchise specifications before they are decided; and if she will make a statement. [216734]
Mr. Tom Harris: Rolling stock companies are welcome to comment on franchise specifications during the consultation phase, along with all other stakeholders. Thereafter it is for bidders for the franchise to agree their rolling stock plans with the owners of the stock.
Safety Belts
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance she has (a) produced and (b) plans to produce on the importance of wearing seat belts correctly; how many (i) males and (ii) females, broken down by age group were (A) killed and (B) injured in road accidents as a result of not wearing their seat belts correctly in each of the last five years for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [217904]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department does not produce such guidance and has no plans to do so. Information on seat belt usage, whether correctly worn or not, by those injured in crashes is not collected by the police for the purposes of the Department's road casualty statistics. The Department's publicity and other guidance focuses on the need to use seat belts.
Scotland
Fish
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much fish was procured by his Department and at what cost in each of the last five years, broken down by species; and what amount and value of such fish met the Marine Stewardship Council standard in each such year, broken down by species. [217890]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office has no in-house catering facilities and the provision of food is generally limited to catering associated with official hospitality and is supplied by external contractors. The Office does not separately record the purchase of fish.
Northern Ireland
Departmental ICT
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what IT contracts his Departments and its agencies have entered into in the last two years. [215163]
Mr. Woodward: In the last two years the Northern Ireland Office and its agencies have entered into the following IT contracts:
Business Intelligence Solution Support Contract;
JSE Computing Call-off contract (001-005);
NOVOSCO—Citrix Goldcare Service Level Agreement;
EOS—Contract 64:1 Hardware and Software support for Apple Macs;
Oracle Support Services for Integra Accounting and NIPS PAFIS—Service Level Agreement;
iSoft Business Solutions (Ireland) Ltd Systems Support Agreement;
System Support Agreement for SIPS Systems;
System Support Agreement for VIRBS Systems;
NI Prison Service and Accenture UK Ltd Systems Support Agreement;
Gold Service Level Agreement for Server Hardware Support between British Telecommunications and NI Prison Service.
Departmental Television
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to what premium Sky, digital terrestrial or cable television channels (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies subscribes; and at what yearly cost in the most recent period for which figures are available. [215653]
Mr. Woodward: It is not possible to separate the costs of premium Sky, digital terrestrial or cable television channels from the overall subscription costs paid by my Department and agencies for digital services.
Domestic Animals: Theft
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many reports of theft of domestic animals in Northern Ireland there were in each of the last five years. [213472]
Paul Goggins: The Chief Constable has provided the following answer:
The following table details the number of incidents of theft of domestic animals recorded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08( 1) | Total | |
| (1) Detailed property information linked to the crime record has been used to provide the figures. With the introduction of a new crime recording system in April 2007, the way the property details are linked to crime records has changed—prior to April 2007 the property was linked to each individual crime, since April 2007 property is linked to an occurrence which may contain one or more crimes therefore linking the property to all crimes in each occurrence. This change means that there may be some inflation in the crime levels based on this property information from 2007-08 onwards. (Please note that crime records are counted in exactly the same way on both systems.) It should also be noted that whilst the categories of animal types on the two crime recording systems are broadly similar, there are some differences. | ||||||
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