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17 July 2008 : Column 605W—continued
Road Traffic Offences: Fixed Penalties
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will increase the fixed penalty for offences under section 14(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1998 to £80; what recent representations she has received about this issue; and if she will make a statement. [219571]
Mr. Coaker: The penalty levels associated with all fixed penalty offences are kept under review. We are currently considering a proposal from the Association of Chief Police Officers that for the offence of failure to comply with seat belt legislation the level of fixed penalty should rise from £30 to £60. Before any change is made section 88(2) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 requires consultation with such representative organisations as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
Sexual Offences
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2008, Official Report, column 335W, on sexual offences, how many and what proportion of visas issued were accompanied by notification orders in each of the last three years. [217636]
Mr. Coaker: Notification orders are issued by courts. This is a separate process from the issuing of visas. While figures for the number of notification orders issued are collected by local MAPPA responsible authorities, these authorities do not collate information on the proportion of orders issued for persons who had been granted a visa to enter the UK. It is not therefore possible to say how many visas were followed by notification orders.
Violent and Sex Offender Register: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals of each (a) sex and (b) age group in Wales were placed on (i) List 99 and (ii) the sex offenders register in each year since 1997. [218771]
Mr. Coaker: (i) The details held by the Department of Children, Schools and Families of individuals on List 99 were recorded at the time these people were placed on the list. Identifying the age, sex and number of individuals who had home addresses in Wales at the time of listing would require individual case records to be checked and this would incur disproportionate cost.
Once an individual is on List 99, a standard or enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) disclosure will reveal the barred status of that individual to an employer together with details of any criminal convictions. Information on an individual's address at the time of listing is not necessary in order to check whether that person is barred.
(ii) Information on the number of registered sexual offenders (RSOs) has been reported annually by multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) responsible authorities since 2002 and is as follows:
| RSOs in Wales | |
| Number | |
Data on RSOs was not collected centrally before 2002 and is not broken down routinely by gender and age group. Work is currently under way to amend ViSOR (the national database of sexual and violent offenders and other dangerous persons) to support more detailed standardised reporting in relation to RSOs, including their age and gender. The intention is to have this facility available by early 2009.
Transport
A36
Dr. Julian Lewis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons the Highways Agency spent
£449,000 on work associated with the construction of the roundabout on the A36 at Ower in New Forest East constituency; for what reasons the roundabout has not been built; and if she will break down by category the expenditure incurred on the project in each year since 2002. [218456]
Mr. Tom Harris [holding answer 14 July 2008]: The Highways Agency has spent approximately £449,000 on preparatory work for a proposed roundabout scheme with an estimated cost of £2.5 million to improve safety for road users at the junction of Whinwhistle Road and the A36 Salisbury Road. This work was carried out due to the very poor accident history at this T junction on the trunk road prior to 2003.
The roundabout has not been built at this highly sensitive rural location because since it was proposed, several other measures have been implemented. Subsequent monitoring shows that these measures have been effective and reduced the number of accidents by 50 per cent. and their severity to more satisfactory, national norms.
The breakdown of expenditure by category type for this scheme between financial year 2002-03 and financial year 2007-08 is as follows:
| HA activity description | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total |
Aviation: Luggage
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the changes to aviation carry-on luggage rules since January 2008. [218659]
Jim Fitzpatrick: From 7 January 2008, airports were permitted to lift the one-bag restriction, provided they were able to demonstrate that in doing so it would not have an adverse impact on security. The benefit of allowing more than one bag per passenger has been passed on to the majority of passengers departing airports in the UK. As with all security measures, their effectiveness is subject to regular monitoring to ensure that standards are maintained.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how long on average applications have taken for an airport wishing to end the one-bag rule between the application being made and permission being granted or denied. [218660]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The length of time taken to process applications has varied considerably depending on the quality and accuracy of applications received.
Aviation: Pollution
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has had discussions with the European Commission on a possible derogation from the NOx provisions of the EU Air Quality directive. [218585]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has not had discussions with the European Commission on this matter.
Aviation: Royal Family
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 26 March 2008, Official Report, column 1W, on Royal and Ministerial air travel, if she will place in the Library copies of the cost-benefit analyses undertaken on the procurement of (a) a short haul plane and (b) a long haul plane for Ministerial and Royal travel in the last nine months. [214747]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
As the consideration of security for royal and ministerial air travel was integral to our analysis of costs and benefits, it would not be appropriate to publish this material. Similarly, as much of our cost data were derived from readily identifiable commercial
sources, and were shared with us on the understanding that they would be protected, publication of this information would prejudice commercial interests.
Bus Services: Private Sector
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many private bus companies are in operation. [220045]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government do not hold this information centrally. However, there are currently some 1,500 local bus service operators claiming bus service operators grant (BSOG) from the Department.
Departmental Early Retirement
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff in (a) her Department and (b) her Department’s agencies have taken early retirement in the last two years. [217385]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The central Department and its agencies recorded the following number of early retirements in the last two financial years:
| E arly retirements | |
| Number | |
Departmental Internet
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many pages have been added to her Department's website in the last 12 months. [218787]
Jim Fitzpatrick: For the period 11 July 2007 to 10 July 2008, the Department published 1,655 specific web pages. In addition, we published 2,174 files on the website, which comprised a mix of PDF documents of various sizes, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, audio and video files.
Departmental Marketing
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost was of (a) internet and website design and hosting, (b) print media design and (c) broadcast media for each of her Department’s public information campaigns since 1997. [214703]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The extent of information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Retirement
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has a standard retirement age. [218404]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department for Transport has a standard retirement age of 65. Employees may however request to continue working beyond age 65, subject to the normal requirements of attendance, efficiency and conduct procedures.
Departmental Travel
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2008 to the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet, (Mr Villiers) Official Report, column 400W, on departmental travel, on what date DFT(C) data will be available. [217520]
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects the figures for staff travel costs for her central Department to be available. [218792]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Temporary difficulties were experienced in extracting some detailed information from a legacy accounting system which was replaced at the beginning of the current financial year. It is anticipated that these difficulties will be overcome by the end of July.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Telephone Services
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what income her Department received from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's 0870 number in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06. [217543]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency income received from 0870 number rebates in each of the last three financial years is as follows:
| Financial year | Revenue received (£) |
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