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24 Nov 2008 : Column 1088W—continued
Information on the number of requests rejected is not held for the period before 2004-05.
It is not possible to provide figures on the release of information by telephone as DVLA does not differentiate between telephone enquiries requesting advice and those requesting information from the record e.g. car hire companies or employers acting with the driver's consent.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions in each of the last 10 years an employee of the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency has been issued with an (a) oral and (b) written warning for inappropriate use of access to motorists’ information; and how many of these occasions has resulted in dismissal. [237824]
Jim Fitzpatrick: DVLA takes its responsibilities in relation to data security and the Data Protection Act very seriously.
The information required is only available from 2004 onwards. This is set out as follows.
| Calendar year | Dismissals |
| (1) Number of dismissals was below five and therefore cannot be disclosed. | |
In all cases where members of staff have made inappropriate use of motorists information DVLA has dismissed the individual concerned.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Databases
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what databases containing details of registered drivers and vehicles the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency uses in its registration and enforcement capacities; what the stated purpose of each database is; and what procedures exist to ensure that accurate details are (a) maintained on and (b) co-ordinated between the databases. [238845]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Vehicle Register holds information about vehicles and vehicle keepers for the purposes of licensing and registering vehicles, road safety and law enforcement and to support the Government's environmental policies. The accuracy of the Vehicle record is maintained through regular contact with registered vehicle keepers, including annual or bi-annual transactions for the payment of Vehicle Excise Duty.
The driver register holds details of drivers, including driving entitlement, endorsements and medical information for the purposes of licensing drivers and road safety. The accuracy of the driver record is maintained through legal obligations placed on licence-holders to inform DVLA of changes of personal details, and supported by notifications from the police, courts and fixed penalty offices.
The local office casework system is an additional database used to record vehicle excise and registration offences. Information held on this database is used to enforce and prosecute these offences.
The driver and vehicle intelligence database is a database that holds intelligence on suspected fraudulent activity involving driving licence or vehicle transactions. This information is used to aid the prevention, detection and enforcement of vehicle and driver related offences.
DVLA takes the accuracy of information held on all its databases seriously in line with data protection requirements.
It has in place an accuracy programme, involving a wide range of initiatives to build upon and further improve the accuracy of all the information held on its databases.
This initiative will include the identification of opportunities for sharing and cross checking information between DVLA's databases.
Driving Standards Agency
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the current complement of (a) managerial staff, (b) examiners and (c) other staff at the Driving Standards Agency is. [238285]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The current complement of managerial staff, examiners and other staff is shown in the table.
| Number | |
Staff employed in a managerial grade position may not necessarily have line manager responsibility for staff.
Examiners of managerial grade sometimes conduct driving and riding tests.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the basic salary is of the Chief Executive of the Driving Standards Agency; what incentive factors apply which allow bonuses or other increments to be paid; and if he will make a statement. [238287]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driving Standards Agency’s published annual accounts for 2007-08 report the chief executive’s salary, including performance pay as £105,000-£110,000.
Driving Tests
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date it was decided that the Southend-on-Sea driving test centre would close; and who took that decision. [238284]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driving Standards Agency announced a proposal to co-locate Southend-on-Sea driving test centre with the multi-purpose test centre at Basildon on 13 February 2008 seeking views from key stakeholders in keeping with its code of practice by 9 May 2008. 12 weeks were allowed for responses. After careful consideration of these, the Agency’s chief executive informed the Minister on 13 August 2008 of her confirmation of this decision.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of receipts from the driving test fee, after it has been increased, will be used to fund the change to the organisation of driving test centres. [238286]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driving Standards Agency estimates the expenditure for changing the organisation of driving test centres at £14.5 million. This represents 10.8 per cent. of its estimated practical test fee income from the April 2009 financial year.
First Great Western
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much public money First Great Western Trains has received in the last 12 months. [238707]
Paul Clark: Subsidy per passenger kilometre is published by the Office of Rail Regulation for all train operating companies in its National Rail Trends Yearbook, which is available at:
The most recent figures published are for 2007-08.
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the performance of First Great Western Trains against the objectives set for the operation of the Greater Western rail franchise. [238709]
Paul Clark: Department for Transport officials meet First Great Western at least every four weeks to review overall progress of the franchise. Departmental officials also meet First Great Western at the milestone reporting sessions contractualised in the Remedial Agreement to review progress in reducing train cancellations against the provisions of that agreement. First Great Western is currently compliant with the cancellations reduction trajectory contained in the Remedial Agreement.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on the renegotiation of the payments applicable under the franchise award to First Great Western in the light of the extra expenditure they (a) have incurred and (b) expect to incur. [239022]
Paul Clark: It is for First Great Western to bear additional expenditure it decides to incur or which is incurred in remedying breaches of the franchise agreement. The costs of the remedial plan and the associated £29 million package of passenger benefits are wholly for First Great Western to bear.
The Department for Transport bears net incremental costs associated with changes it decides to implement in the franchise or other net costs which are defined as payable by the Department for Transport under the franchise agreement. In particular, should the Department for Transport decide to fund additional rolling stock for First Great Western services under the high level output specification (HLOS) process, the Department for Transport would bear the incremental net costs associated with the procurement and operation of such additional rolling stock.
Heathrow Airport
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the Adding Capacity at Heathrow consultation document, what level of induced demand for air travel he anticipates will be generated by construction of a third runway at Heathrow. [237960]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The level of demand for each sequencing option described in the “Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport” consultation document is given in the Department for Transport’s “UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts” (2007), table 2.13, p. 43. This is available at:
The following table reproduces the relevant figures for the three options and the ‘maximum use’ Base Case used in the consultation document.
| Constrained terminal passenger demand forecasts, UK, mppa (million passengers per annum) | |||||
| (Nearest 5 million) | |||||
| 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 | 2030 | |
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he proposes to respond to the letter sent to him dated 23 October from solicitors Harrison Grant acting on behalf of the 2M group, on pollution levels around Heathrow. [237961]
Jim Fitzpatrick: A response was sent on the 14 November by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on behalf of both Departments.
Heathrow Airport: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the likely emissions of carbon dioxide which would arise from use of the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport in terms of (a) the runway in isolation and (b) the total additional air transport movements in the UK, net of any air traffic switching to Heathrow from other airports for (i) 2020, (ii) 2030, (iii) 2040, (iv) 2050, (v) 2060, (vi) 2070 and (vii) 2080. [234151]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The “UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts” report (2007), annex G, shows carbon dioxide emissions both at Heathrow and nationally, with and without additional capacity at Heathrow airport, for selected years. These results are extended and reported in the following table.
| Additional aviation CO 2 emissions from a third runway at Heathrow airport, MtCO 2 | ||
| Heathrow | UK | |
The Government are strongly committed to achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and aims to do so in the most effective way. This is why we have led the debate within Europe to include all flights arriving at and departing from EU airports in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012 onwards. Any growth in aircraft emissions above the ETS cap will only be possible by the sector paying for commensurate carbon savings made elsewhere in the economy.
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