Appendix
Introduction
In May 2007, the Department for Transport published
its Departmental Annual Report covering the period 2006-2007.
The Government acknowledges the Transport Committee's
report on the Departmental Annual Report and the recommendations
made by the Committee. This document responds to the recommendations
and represents the Government's formal response to the Committee's
report.
1. The Committee is pleased to learn that
the Department has taken appropriate and swift action to rectify
some of the concerns identified in the Capability Review. Much
still remains to be done, and we will monitor progress in this
area, and return to these issues when we examine the Department's
2008 Annual Report. (Paragraph 5)
The Department welcomes the Committee's acknowledgement
of the action that has been taken in response to the Capability
Review. Although the Capability Review placed the Department significantly
above the Whitehall average, the Department is committed to making
further improvements, and progress is regularly monitored through
the Cabinet Office assurance process.
Objectives, structure and effectiveness
2. We are unclear as to the Department's motive
for having a set of five goals, as well as a set of four strategic
objectives, given that there seems to be a degree of crossover
between the two. We are particularly concerned that the Department
was restructured in order to better align with the four strategic
objectives, only to shift its priorities by introducing the five
core goals less than a year later. The second strategic objective
is divided between two of the five goals, for reasons that remain
obscure. We question whether this restructuring of the Department's
goals and objectives has led to any actual increase in the quantity
or quality of its work. (Paragraph 9)
The four strategic objectives were set as part of
the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review analysis of the department's
objectives for the three years to 2010. For the planning period
2014-19 and beyond, the publication Towards a Sustainable Transport
System (TaSTS) proposed five high level goals, which reflect
the Department's current view of its priorities over the longer
term. The main change, to identify the need to reduce carbon emissions
as a goal in its own right, recognises that the challenges involved
in tackling climate change over the longer term are likely to
be significantly different from those relating to addressing the
wider environmental impacts of transport. Since the publication
of TaSTS in October 2007, we have sought the views of over 250
organisations on our proposals, which have received widespread
support.
3. We have noted a number of areas of policy
where the Department seems to be stalling in making a clear decision
- examples are electrification versus diesel on the railways,
a national ports policy, the viability of a national road pricing
scheme. While we recognise that the Department is trying to ensure
that policy decisions are made on the basis of thorough cross-modal
analyses and considerations, there is a danger that the policy-making
process could become bogged-down. The Department clearly has substantial
issues that need to be resolved, but at the moment there appears
to be a lack of clear, tangible vision - at least none that is
communicated to the wider world. (Paragraph 11)
The Department is delivering a clear and ambitious
programme of improvements. Over the last year, for example, we
have made decisions which include giving the go ahead to Crossrail,
Thameslink and the M25, M1 and M62 motorway widenings; and a £100
million investment package to pioneer innovative ways to increase
cycling.
The Rail White Paper did not include specific commitments
on electrification because the priority for the high-level output
specification period is increasing capacity. We recognise the
potential environmental and operational benefits of electrification
and we have asked to see the results of cross-industry work on
the business case for electrification by the end of the year.
We have given programme entry to the Manchester congestion
TIF bid, which will combine a local congestion charging scheme
with unprecedented levels of investment and improvements to public
transport in the city. We published Roads - Delivering Choice
and Reliability on 16 July that sets out how we will get the best
out of the road network so people can have the reliable journeys
they want. This included the announcement of £6 billion for
improvements to the national strategic roads and the intended
exploration of priced lanes.
We expect to consult on a draft National Policy Statement
on ports after passage of the Planning Bill, and once we have
completed consultation on proposals to improve developer funding
for transport infrastructure. Recognizing that this would inevitably
take time, we issued an Interim Report on the Ports Policy Review
last July. Meanwhile, several strategically important container
port developments — London Gateway, Felixstowe South, Bathside
Bay, Teesport and Mersey — have recently been consented.
4. We are pleased to hear that the Department
has learnt lessons and acted rapidly to implement changes to its
shared services programme by appointing a new board director with
experience of running shared services in the private sector. We
are also reassured by the fact that the contract between the DVLA
and IBM, their partner in the shared services arrangement, has
been refined. But we are deeply disappointed that the estimated
cost of the project has risen from an initial figure of £50
million to the most recent estimate of £113 million - a 126%
increase. We remain unconvinced that the Department is of a sufficient
size to reap the benefits of the shared services approach. We
reiterate our encouragement for the Department to actively seek
clients for its shared services from parts of Government outside
the Departmental group, in order to secure the long-term viability
of its shared services programme. (Paragraph 16).
There are now three customers receiving services
from the shared service centre (DFT(C), Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency and Driving Standards Agency) with the Maritime and Coastguard
Agency expected to join the shared service in October 2008. Highways
Agency's HR and payroll functions are planned to join in April
2009.
The Department views shared services as a long-term
initiative to improve the way it does business. The platform is
being created for the central Department and Agencies initially,
before looking at next steps and longer term options. Notwithstanding
this the Department is doing a number of things to improve the
performance and cost effectiveness of the shared service, including:
- continuing to strengthen governance,
with the corporate HR and Finance directors taking the role of
"business design authority" to drive greater process
simplification and standardisation through a programme of continuous
improvement, and the programme board moving to operate as a strategic
shared services board
- reviewing the organisation of the shared service
centre itself to improve performance and ensure better use of
resources and alignment with customer demand
- publishing a strategic plan for the CSR07 period
which sets out a journey from taking on MCA and HA in 2008-09,
through consolidation in 2009-10 to achieving benchmark performance
and increasing the customer base from 2010-11
The Department has also embarked on feasibility studies
on how the benefits of the shared service can be increased by
improving management information and routine procurement. The
current estimate of costs is £115.2 million.
A better idea of the costs and benefits associated
with these will be known when these studies report in autumn 2008.
5. We were concerned to learn that the Department
had been involved in several separate incidents where significant
amounts of personal data were lost. We are pleased that the Department
has since then put in place measures to prevent similar incidents
happening in future, but would urge that the systems surrounding
the storage and transfer of any kind of personal data by the DfT
or its agencies be kept under review for the time being. We expect
the Department to implement the recommendations now awaited from
the Cabinet Secretary regarding personal data fully and speedily
once these are known. (Paragraph 18)
The Department is implementing all the recommendations
from the Cabinet Office report on Data Handling.
The Department's management of expenditure
6. We are deeply concerned that budgetary
pressure caused by increases in the projected cost of programmed
road schemes could result in the postponement or cancellation
of other much needed improvements. The implications of the Nichols
Report must be fully considered by the Highways Agency and there
should be a detailed response to its recommendations. The Secretary
of State must make a statement to the House as soon as the Department's
investigation of the consequences of the cost increases has been
concluded. (Paragraph 22)
The Secretary of State and her predecessor accepted
all the recommendations of the Nichols Review and identified their
implementation as a priority for the Department and the Highways
Agency. A joint Department and Highways Agency team was established
in April 2007 to implement a significant programme of change.
This change programme was successfully completed in May 2008.
Details of the improvements that have been delivered as a result
of this change programme were included in the Secretary of State's
statement to the House on 16 July on the revised cost estimates
for the Highways Agency's major roads programme.
7. We believe the LTP funding arrangements
are excessively complex and there is a deficiency of publicly
available information from the Department to explain the arrangements
and their implications. We are also concerned that some local
authorities may be unable to fund the additional borrowing necessitated
by these arrangements. We urge the Department to simplify the
system and improve the quality and availability of information
available to local authorities and others. (Paragraph 27)
The Department for Transport constantly seeks to
improve and simplify the Local Transport Plan funding arrangements.
The current allocations are based on formulae developed in consultation
with local authorities, and full explanations are provided on
the Department's website at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/ltp/theltpprocess
Allocations for local transport funding are not ring-fenced
and it is for authorities to determine the level of their investment
taking into account the overall resources available.
8. We congratulate the Department for delivering
95% of its Spending Review 2004 financial efficiency target, and
trust that the target will be substantially over-achieved. We
expect to see real improvements in services driven by the resources
released by this achievement, though at present the Efficiency
Technical Note only says that the savings "could" do
so. (Paragraph 28)
The Department's 2008 Annual Report, published in
May 2008, shows departmental efficiency gains to 31 December 2007
to stand at £803.1m. Results from quarter 4 of the 2007-08
financial year show the Department to have improved on this position,
and workstreams subject to reporting time-lags expect to report
further programme gains over the first two quarters of the 2008-09
financial year.
As a result the Department remains confident that
its efficiency gains target will be exceeded by a comfortable
margin.
The Department's SR04 settlement already reflected
the financial gains that the Department was expected to make during
the course of the spending period from 2005-06 to 2007-08. It
was therefore necessary for the Department to realise this level
of efficiency gains in order to live within its settlement.
Flexibility created as a result of overachievement
against the Gershon Target of £785m has resulted in further
resources being released for front-line service provision. The
following represent some examples of improvements undertaken by
the Highways Agency that were not budgeted for in the Department's
SR04 settlement:
PROVISION OF ADDITIONAL RAMP METERING SITES (£12.5M)
The introduction of additional ramp metering sites
is helping to keep motorways and trunk roads running smoothly.
Ramp metering works by managing the traffic on slip roads, ensuring
that delays at road junctions are reduced.
DEPLOYMENT OF THE MOTORWAY SIGNAL MARK 4 (MS4) AND
MOTORWAY INCIDENT DETECTION AND AUTOMATIC SIGNALLING (MIDAS) SYSTEM
ON THE M40 (£7M)
A new generation of road signs capable of displaying
both picture and text information are now operational along the
M40. The MS4 signs work in conjunction with the Agency's MIDAS
system to provide drivers with traffic information in a form that
is quicker and easier to process.
SMALL TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS (£16M)
A number of small scale technology initiatives taken
from the Highways Agency's forward programme to improve safety
and operational efficiency. These included the opportunity to
enhance the MIDAS coverage on the M6 and M62/M1 interchange; the
replacement of fog detection equipment on the M25; enhancement
of roadside emergency phone coverage on the more northern parts
of the M6 in Cumbria; and other safety schemes, including the
enhancement of tunnel surveillance equipment at Southwick tunnel
on the A27.
CCTV DEPLOYMENT ACROSS THE NETWORK (£3M)
Resources have been deployed to help expand the existing
operation of closed circuit television monitoring on the national
road network. CCTV helps to improve the response by the emergency
services to incidents, allows for effective management of major
incidents and congestion, and is used to generate up-to-the-minute
information for traffic-management services and the media.
9. We are very concerned that the Department
might fail to achieve its headcount reduction target. The pace
of change does not appear to be sufficiently rapid. (Paragraph
29)
Each year DVLA retains a number of seasonal contract
staff to ensure that agreed levels of service quality and timeliness
are maintained. The Department's efficiency results to the end
of quarter 4 indicate that for 2007-08 these contract staff were
released to the planned timetable and, as reported in the Department's
2008 Annual Report, DVLA has delivered its headcount target.
The Department first reported that headcount reductions
at the central Department were running at a level in excess of
the target 200 reductions in its 2007 Annual Report. Quarter 4
results show that since then the target level of reductions has
been successfully sustained, meaning that both of the Department's
Gershon headcount targets have now been achieved.
The Department's Public Service Agreement targets
10. We are concerned that the Department for
Transport appears to have lost interest in rail punctuality and
reliability. The Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets on punctuality
and reliability have not been met, so there can be little justification
for dropping the target. A loss of focus in this area might lead
to a reversal in such progress as has been made in the past five
years. (Paragraph 34)
It is unclear what the Committee is referring to
when it says that the PSA target for rail punctuality and reliability
has not been met. The PSA target was to "improve punctuality
and reliability of rail services to at least 85 per cent by 2006,
with further improvements by 2008". Before the start of 2006-07
"further improvements" were defined as 87.6% by March
2008 which was later revised upwards to 89.4% Public Performance
Measure Moving Annual Average. The following table illustrates
target against outturn:Per
cent PPM MAA
| PSA target
| Outturn
|
| 2005-06
| 85.0
| 86.4
|
| 2006-07
| 87.6
| 88.0
|
| 2007-08
| 89.4
| 89.8
|
In 2008-09 performance levels of 90% PPM MAA are being delivered.
The Department has not lost interest in performance issues nor
has there been a loss of focus. It continues to work with the
industry for further improvements. The target for this year is
90.6% and, as part of HLOS, the Department has set the rail industry
challenging but realistic targets of an average 92.6% PPM MAA
by March 2014. This represents 93% for the London & South
East operators and 92% for the Regional and Inter-Urban operators.
Ministers and officials continue to meet relevant industry parties
on a regular basis which helps ensure that the performance focus
is maintained by all concerned
11. The Department's success or failure will be judged
largely on the basis of its achievement of the PSA targets for
which it has lead responsibility. There is a clear risk that the
Minister's stated ambitions for synergy between economic and green
imperatives in the Department's operations will fall by the wayside.
(Paragraph 36)
CSR 07 announced 30 new PSAs covering the Government's priority
actions. The Department leads on PSA 5: Deliver reliable and efficient
transport networks that support economic growth, but also makes
significant contributions to a number of other PSAs including
PSA 27 (climate change) and PSA 28 (natural environment). The
impacts of transport on climate change, health, safety, security,
equality of opportunity, quality of life and the natural environment
are covered by the TaSTS goals and the Department expects to be
judged on its achievement across the full range of its activities.
12. We are concerned that the Department's approach to
its new PSA targets lacks clarity. The new targets do not address
the issues raised by the Eddington study in any obvious manner.
In our judgement, there is no clear link between the new PSA targets
and the Eddington priorities. (Paragraph 38)
The PSA Framework is designed to focus on priority areas for Government
action, not to cover all the Government's responsibilities. However,
the Department believes that the four indicators under PSA 5 do
relate directly to the issues identified in the Eddington study.
Indicator 1 (journey times on major roads into urban areas) is
a key measure of the ability of transport to support the productivity
and success of urban areas and their catchments. Indicator 2 (journey
time reliability on the strategic road network) links to the second
Eddington priority of national networks as the arteries of trade.
Indicator 3 (level of capacity and crowding on the rail network)
directly impacts on both city & regional networks and national
networks. While there is no specific indicator for the third Eddington
priority of international networks, Indicators 2 and 3 both have
important impacts in relation to surface access to international
gateways. Finally, Indicator 4 (which relates to the benefit cost
ratio of investments approved over the CSR07 period) directly
links to Eddington's recommendation to focus spending on the projects
with the highest returns, in meeting the Government's goals.
13. The Department for Transport has been unable to clarify
the manner in which it will contribute towards meeting the PSA
targets in which it has a supporting role. The lack of clarity
concerns the budget that the DfT intends to allocate as well as
changes in strategy and approach. There is a real risk that responsibility
for delivering the Department for Transport's element of these
joint PSA targets will be too diffuse, undermining performance
and accountability. (Paragraph 39)
The Department contributes in some way to a majority of the 30
PSAs established in CSR 07, including PSAs under each of the four
CSR themes (sustainable growth and productivity; fairness and
opportunity for all; stronger communities and a better quality
of life; a more secure, fair and environmentally sustainable world).
The manner of the Department's contribution rightly varies depending
on the nature of the PSA; in a number of cases the Department
is represented on the lead department's delivery board, while
in other cases contributions are managed by contact between the
relevant officials. In all cases is it clear that overall accountability
rests with the lead department for each PSA.
14. We are concerned that the fourth indicator of the DfT's
new PSA target, to "deliver reliable and efficient transport
networks that support economic growth" could result in a
very narrow perspective on transport investment. We recommend
that, when allocating investment funds, the Department gives due
consideration to factors beyond the absolute value of improvements
in terms of economic performance and growth. It is important,
for example, that the Department should take equally seriously
its supporting role in regional Development PSA targets. (Paragraph
40)
The details of Indicator 4 (which relates to the benefit cost
ratio of investments approved over the CSR07 period) will be specified
shortly, following the recent consultation on the Department's
appraisal methodology. This will give consideration to factors
beyond economic performance and growth. As detailed in the consultation
documents (The NATA Refresh: Reviewing the New Approach to
Appraisal', published in October 2007) and in the Department's
response to the consultation (The NATA Refresh Response document)
and in the Department's value for money guidance the Department's
methodology already includes consideration of factors beyond economic
performance. The consultation considered various possible improvements
including how best to capture environmental impacts and issues
such as regeneration, housing and social inclusion. As described
above, the Department contributes to the achievement of a wide
range of other PSAs including PSA 7 (Improve the economic performance
of all English regions and reduce the gap in economic growth rates
between regions). The five goals set out in TaSTS show how the
department considers all the factors on which transport has an
impact.
The Department's impact on economic growth and productivity
15. The continued failure to deliver on road congestion
targets, especially given the modest nature of the target, is
very disappointing. The Department has very little time to reverse
the trend towards ever more serious delays on the strategic road
network. In order to do so, the improvements cited by the Department,
such as enhanced Incident Support Units (ISUs) and improved road-works
management, will need to be implemented very quickly and efficiently.
The problem is likely to become more significant, as two of the
four new PSAs relate to congestion. (Paragraph 45)
The congestion target for the strategic road network seeks to
reduce delays in the face of growing traffic demand, an increase
in the number of major improvement schemes under construction
to tackle congestion in the longer term and extreme weather conditions.
Our analysis suggests that traffic growth of 1-2% will increase
delay for the worst 10% of journeys by 2-5% in the absence of
mitigating action. Traffic has actually increased by 2 to 3% since
the baseline year. 40% more routes were affected by road works
for the construction of major schemes compared with the baseline
year. And the flooding in July 2007, an unpredictable and extreme
weather event compared with anything seen in the baseline year,
made a substantial contribution to increases in delays accounting
on its own for 25% of the delay experienced in the year in one
day. On this basis we maintain that the congestion target for
the strategic road network is actually very challenging.
We said in the Autumn Performance report that three
quarters of the measures had been delivered by the Highways Agency
and that remaining measures were on course to be completed. Because
the reliability of strategic roads is assessed using data from
a rolling year, the measures take up to a year after implementation
to record their full impact. We presented data in our Autumn Performance
Report which showed signs of a reversal from increasing to reducing
delays for the slowest 10% of journeys. This indicated that the
delivery plan measures, such as enhanced Incident Support Units
and better road works management, were starting to bite. This
reversal continued with reliability improving, month on month.
We have now published final performance figures to
March 2008. All the measures were all implemented, and they delivered
an estimated annual 1.7 million vehicle hours savings. However
this was not sufficient to fully offset the increasing congestion
pressures from factors such as growing traffic levels. The measures
did, however, limit the increase in delays for the 10% slowest
journeys from 3.78 minutes per 10 miles to 3.95 minutes per 10
miles or 1 second per mile.
16. We note that little progress is being
made with regard to road pricing. There is little evidence to
suggest that local authorities have the appetite for submitting
the necessary bids and securing TIF support. We have previously
noted that local road pricing schemes cannot be effective pilots
for a national scheme. We therefore recommend that the Government
re-examine its policy with respect to national road pricing. (Paragraph
50)
On 16 July we published Roads - Delivering Choice
and Reliability which sets out how we will get the best out
of the road network. We have always been clear that our priority
is tackling congestion. That means focusing on where it is a problem
now - in towns and cities and on motorways.
Over the past couple of years, the debate has been
running about the case for implementing a widespread road pricing
scheme. Work is ongoing across the world to explore the new technologies
and systems that could made such a scheme practicable in the future.
In time this should help identify answers to the very real concerns
that people have for example about the sort of equipment that
might be involved and the way their personal privacy could be
safeguarded.
In the meantime, while we are still a long way away
from having these answers, our priority, over the next decade,
must be on the things we can be doing to relieve pressure on the
most overcrowded routes, to give road users greater choice over
the journeys they take, and to recognise the premium they put
on the reliability and predictability of journey times.
There is evidence of local authority appetite for
developing innovative packages that involve demand management
to tackle congestion problems in cities. On 9 June we awarded
Programme Entry to the first proposals in Greater Manchester,
and on 16 July we announced further pump priming development funding
for a number of areas, including Leeds, to develop business cases.
We will take forward work to deliver a better managed
motorway system, including the detailed design that will be needed
to establish a practical proposition for managing and tolling
lanes as well as car sharing.
17. We are deeply disappointed by the lack
of progress on lorry road user charging. In the absence of a national
road pricing scheme for the foreseeable future, United Kingdom
hauliers continue to pay towards the cost of maintaining the infrastructure
while their foreign competitors generally make no such contribution.
This situation is highly unsatisfactory and has been going on
for far too long. The Department must act to level the playing
field between UK hauliers and their overseas competitors. Since
a national road pricing scheme remains a distant prospect, we
recommend that the Department revive its plans to set up a lorry
road user charging scheme as soon as possible. (Paragraph 52)
The Department notes the committee's observations
on lorry road user charging. While we appreciate that some UK
hauliers may feel they experience a competitive disadvantage,
it is an over-generalisation to suggest that this applies uniformly
to the whole industry. Fuel prices are not the only variable affecting
competitiveness. Across Europe there is a range of tax and regulatory
regimes, for example different company tax regimes and employment
obligations. UK hauliers on international journeys are able to
access fuel at the same price as their competitors on those journeys.
The Department continues to see the most pressing
priority as tackling those who gain a competitive advantage by
flouting safety and operating rules, such as overloading and exceeding
permitted safe driving hours. We have also made available to the
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) a £24m funding
package over the next three years to enable them to increase their
roadside enforcement checks. In addition we will be implementing
new provisions in the Road Safety Act 2006 which will enable police
officers and VOSA to issue on-the-spot financial penalties to
offenders from outside the UK. Furthermore, the June EU Transport
Council reached political agreement on cabotage (domestic
road haulage jobs undertaken by non-resident hauliers on a temporary
basis) that will ensure
that UK hauliers can continue to secure regular domestic work.
DfT undertook a study in 2007 to explore the feasibility
of a database of foreign operators to help improve road safety
enforcement. The conclusions of that study, which explored a vignette
as one option, were published alongside Budget 2008. The Budget
announced that the Government would not be progressing a vignette
at this stage. The study had found that all database options considered,
including a vignette, offered limited safety, congestion and environmental
benefits.
18. The failure to achieve the target for
punctuality and reliability on the railways suggests either that
the Department is not sufficiently pro-active in driving up standards
among train operating companies and other partners, or that it
does not have the means to compel operators to get this sorted
out. Whichever is the real problem, the Government needs to act
promptly and decisively to ensure that passengers get the level
of reliability and punctuality they deserve. (Paragraph 55)
Please see response to recommendation 10. The target
was achieved.
19. The Department should clarify the time-frame
in which it will make a decision over the high-speed rail link
to Birmingham. We understand the logic of the Eddington report
which suggests that now is not the right time to make this decision,
but given the long lead time for any major engineering works,
we believe the Government needs to commit to making a decision
by 2010 at the latest. (Paragraph 56)
We will be looking at the need for new transport
capacity as part of our new approach to planning set out
in our October 2007 document Towards a Sustainable Transport
System. We will consider all available options to provide
the most efficient and beneficial solutions for passengers and
taxpayers, looking at road and rail options alongside one another
and (where appropriate) at air and sea options.
The Secretary of State invited Network Rail to begin
work to develop longer-term options for the railway network. As
part of this, on 23 June 2008 Network Rail announced a strategic
review of the case for new rail lines. It will consider five of
Network Rail's strategic routes, north and west of London: Chiltern,
East Coast, West Coast, Great Western and Midland Main Lines.
The study is expected to be complete in July 2009. This work will
be considered alongside road options for each corridor as part
of the TaSTS process.
Other organisations may also continue to come forward
with future rail options. We welcome their input and will consider
their work alongside that from elsewhere.
Informed by this and other work, we will continue
to communicate our position on the issue of new lines while developing
our long-term plans for the rail network.
The environment
20. We are not convinced that biofuels will
make sufficient impact on UK emissions within the time-frame envisaged
by the Government. There are significant issues over the use of
first-generation biofuels in transport, not least of which is
the risk that they might cause as much carbon emission as conventional
fuels, once all factors are taken into account. Other, significant
risks relating to biofuels, in particular their impact on food
prices, also need to be addressed before biofuels can be seen
as a major element in efforts to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions.
It may well be that second-generation biofuels, produced from
the non-edible parts of food crops and non-food plants, can address
some of these concerns, but it is still early days. It is a matter
of concern that the Department currently has no plans to assess
the risks of first-generation biofuels in the short term. (Paragraph
62)
In the light of increasing concerns about the possible
effects of biofuels on food supplies and prices, as well as questions
about the extent to which they reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
the Government commissioned in February 2008 an in-depth review
of the emerging scientific evidence on the wider, indirect impacts
of biofuels.
The review was led by Professor Ed Gallagher, the
Chair of the Renewable Fuels Agency, and its findings were published
on 7 July 2008. Overall the review confirms that biofuels can
play a role in tackling climate change and that there is a future
for a sustainable biofuels industry. But it also concludes that
there is a risk that the uncontrolled expansion and use of biofuels
could lead to unsustainable changes in land use - such as the
destruction of rainforest to make way for the production of crops.
This might, in turn, actually increase greenhouse gas emissions
as well as contributing to higher food prices and shortages.
It therefore recommends that the introduction of
biofuels should be slowed until policies are in place to direct
biofuel production onto marginal or idle land, and that these
are demonstrated to be effective.
The Government has accepted these main findings,
and intends to consult later in 2008 on a more cautious rate of
increase in the UK's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).
We will also argue in the European Union that the proposed 10%
renewable energy target for 2020 should be a conditional one,
subject to a robust review mechanism and subject to the sustainability
criteria for biofuels adequately addressing the indirect as well
as the direct impacts of biofuel production.
21. We are concerned that the Department is
not giving sufficient weight to the issue of climate change adaptation,
both with regards to planning decisions and maintenance funding.
Greater clarity and coordination is needed in this area. (Paragraph
63)
DfT are working closely with Defra and other Government
Departments in developing the Government's coordinated response
to the challenge of climate change adaptation. This has included
contributing to the development of the Adapting to Climate Change
website and document summarising the Government's Programme,
due for publication shortly, as well as the cross Government
work to meeting the requirements of the Climate Change Bill on
adaptation. The need to ensure transport assets and infrastructure
are properly planned, designed and maintained including to be
resilient to shocks and impacts such as adverse weather and the
impacts of climate change has been recognised as one of our key
challenges and is being taken forward through the process outlined
in Towards a Sustainable Transport System for developing
longer term transport strategy.
As part of work to ensure adequate account is taken
of the impacts of climate change the Department issued a consultation
on the New Approach To Appraisal ("The NATA Refresh")
in October 2007 and issued a summary and initial response in July
2008. As part of the NATA refresh we are actively considering
how best to incorporate projected future changes in the climate
and the new UKCIP 21st Century Climate scenarios into the NATA
Framework and how we appraise schemes.
The Department has recently completed research on
behalf of the UK Roads Board on adapting materials and techniques
in highway works to the changing climate. On 26 June, TSO published
Maintaining Pavements in a Changing Climate (ISBN 978 0
11 552983 2, price £13), which provides guidance to local
highway authorities on highway maintenance materials and techniques
to take account of climate change. This is supplemented by a more
substantive report from TRL (Willway T, Baldachin L, Reeves S,
Harding M, Hassan K, Nunn M (2008), The effects of climate
change on highway pavements and how to minimise them: Technical
report, PPR184, TRL Limited: Crowthorne). DfT will be making
the TSO report available on the web imminently, and the TRL report
should also be available electronically shortly. Presentations
about this research have been made by the researchers to a number
of conferences over the past year or so with the target guidance
readership in the audience.
The Highways Agency, in consultation with Defra,
completed a piece of research as part of its 2007-08 Being a Responsible
Owner research portfolio entitled "Highways Agency Climate
Change Adaptation Strategy". An overview of the research
work can be found on the Highways Agency's research compendium
(at http://www.ha-research.gov.uk/feedback/index.php?projid=1123).
HA are about to undertake an internal pilot of the
adaptation strategy and the risk assessment and management tools
contained within it, to ensure they are fit for purpose. After
the pilots have been successfully completed, the strategy will
be rolled out across the HA business and supply chain to ensure
a consistent understanding of climate change and how to identify
and manage the associated risks.
Network Rail is already designing increased resilience
into its renewal work, as well as producing 'hazard maps' highlighting
vulnerable areas.
As well as funding industry research into adaptation
through the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), DfT has established
a cross-rail industry forum to identify the challenges
that climate change poses to the railway.
Ports are particularly vulnerable to the effects
of climate change. Individual ports are adapting at a local level
- for example, Dover is revising plans for expansion to accommodate
greater fluctuations in sea level, following the experience of
November 2007 tidal surge. National action has, as yet, been limited.
To this end, a maritime resilience planning forum is due to be
established later this year, to provide an opportunity for discussion
at a national level.
22. We recommend that a target for the Department
to improve air quality be reinstated. (Paragraph 65)
Although it no longer comprises a PSA target in its
own right, air quality is one of five key indicators in the new
Natural Environment PSA (PSA 28). This does not represent a lessening
in the importance of air quality, as the number of PSA targets
has reduced significantly across Government, with many former
targets being grouped together as indicators in wider-ranging
PSAs. Despite the altered structure, the targets that the Department
is required to achieve are just as stringent as before and ensure
that we shall continue to tackle transport-related air pollution.
23. We would welcome any information the Department
can give us concerning their plans to enhance the provision for
cyclists. We assume such plans are being made given the DfT's
stated objective of being a 'green' department in the lead of
the struggle against climate change. (Paragraph 66)
We believe that cycling is a travel choice that could
bring real health benefits to millions of adults and children,
as well as helping them save money; beat congestion; and reduce
their impact on the environment.
The Department is making significant investments
to enhance provision for cyclists. In January we announced a huge
increase to Cycling England's budget to £140m over three
years. This new cycling funding includes an infrastructure programme
which will deliver 250 safer links to approximately 500 schools
as well as allowing 500,000 extra children to take part in Bikeability
training by 2012.
Since the Annual Report, we have selected Bristol
to be the first major Cycling Demonstration City. They, together
with 11 further towns and smaller cities will receive £47m
from the funds announced in January. Match funding from local
authorities means that this adds up to a package of almost £100m
to pioneer innovative ways to increase cycling in their areas.
The other towns are Blackpool, Cambridge, Chester,
Colchester, Leighton-Linslade, Shrewsbury, Southend, Southport,
Stoke, Woking and York.
Enforcement
24. We congratulate the department on its
achievement of its road safety PSA target. We are pleased to note
that the Department has also met its added objective of tackling
the significantly higher incidence of casualties in disadvantaged
communities. However, we are concerned that the 2007 Comprehensive
Spending Review (CSR) failed to include a target in this area
for the period from 2008 onwards. It is essential that there is
no let-up in effort in this area of great public concern. (Paragraph
67)
The Department entirely agrees that it is essential
that there should be no let-up in effort on improving road safety.
As Jim Fitzpatrick stated in response to the publication of the
2007 casualty statistics on 26 June, "Far too many people
are still dying and we will continue to do everything we can to
improve road safety and further reduce the numbers of people killed
or injured". We plan to develop new road safety targets as
part of the road safety strategy for the years beyond 2010 which
we are currently preparing.
25. The growth in VED evasion is cause for
concern. It is not so much the lost revenue—though that
is a problem that the DVLA should be making every effort to tackle—but
the apparent growth in the number of motorists whose vehicles
are neither registered, taxed, insured nor roadworthy that is
a serious concern to us. The removal, in March 2007, of a specific
target for reducing the size of this group of illicit road-users
was clearly an error and we recommend that such a target be reinstated
immediately. (Paragraph 72)
The most recent evidence suggests that VED evasion
is relatively low: with 1.5% of vehicles evading, which is the
equivalent of £75m revenue lost against a total collected
of over £5bn. Looking forward we intend to work with partners
to maintain a low level of evasion and DVLA has a specific target
to collect an additional £100 million in VED revenue from
enforcement action over the period 2008-11. The VED evasion estimates
for 2007 also suggested that persistent evasion levels are relatively
low and our current assessment is that a separate target could
distort enforcement activity in a way that would not be the best
use of resource. The Department will continue to keep this under
review, taking account of a second year of evasion estimates using
the improved quality assurance procedures introduced for the 2007
roadside survey. In addition, we will focus our wheelclamping
activity on this group - and aim to clamp over 100,000 untaxed
vehicles this year.
The Department is also pro-active in encouraging
the police and Local Authorities to take devolved powers and work
as agents in the clamping and removal of unlicensed vehicles.
There are currently 92 devolved power partners utilising unlicensed
vehicle clamping and removal powers. As take-up is not subsidised
and is elective, this represents a significant achievement.
The police give considerable additional help in tackling
evasion through their action against motorists who drive without
insurance, since many of these vehicles will also be unlicensed.
26. We are also concerned about the Department's
significant over-estimation of the scale of Vehicle excise Duty
(VED) evasion among motorcyclists, which calls into question the
reliability of all the Department's VED evasion data. We recommend
that the Department review the systems it uses to estimate evasion
rates. (Paragraph 73)
The Department regrets the historic inflation of
the scale of VED evasion among motorcyclists. However, the additional
quality assurance undertaken using the 2007 survey results focused
specifically on addressing this issue. The use of video and cameras
to collect the data in the 2007 survey enabled additional accuracy
checks to be conducted, which in turn enabled the previously concealed
(and unsuspected) systemic over-estimation of evasion levels in
all previous surveys to be identified and addressed. The 2007
VED evasion estimates were published on 14 February 2008, with
the publication date pre-announced in accordance with National
Statistics procedures.
In addition, the statistical technique used to produce
in-stock evasion figures was specifically considered in the methodological
review that the Department commissioned from the University of
Southampton, which was published in October 2007.
The Department is continually looking to improve
the quality of its statistics and so moved to near total use of
electronic collection (by Automatic Number Plate Recognition(ANPR)
/video) of data for the June 2007 Roadside Survey. In the 2006
survey just under half (46%) of all observations were collected
via ANPR/video, and in the 2007 survey that increased to 98%.
Other than continuing to increase the use of ANPR/video for data
collection, the methodology for the 2008 roadside survey will
be the same as that used for the 2007 survey.
Conclusions
27. The Department has made some progress
in addressing its major objectives, but the overall picture is
disappointing. It now appears likely that only one of the PSA
targets from the 2004 Spending Review will be met, even though
some of these targets were not especially onerous. This does not
inspire confidence that the Department will be able to use its
additional resources to meet all of its new targets. (Paragraph
74)
The Department accepts that progress on some PSAs
has not been as rapid as would have been hoped, but believes that
the overall picture is better than the Select Committee's conclusions
would suggest. The 2008 Annual Report showed that three of the
seven PSA targets from the 2004 Spending Review (rail reliability,
urban roads, road safety) were achieved on or ahead of forecast
by the end of the 2005-08 period. Significant progress was achieved
on parts of three more PSAs (bus and light rail, air quality and
climate change) and while the strategic roads target was not met
there was an improvement in the last six months as delivery plan
measures had an increasing impact. The Department has also made
significant progress in a number of areas not covered by PSA targets.
The 2008 Departmental Annual Report included details of progress
in all the areas that the Select Committee noted (in paragraph
31 of its report) were not covered by PSA targets (aviation, shipping,
cycling, walking and freight) as well as other areas such as service
transformation.
28. The Department for Transport needs to
be clear about what its main priorities are, taking into account
the diverse recommendations of the Eddington and Stern reports,
as well as its new targets and goals. We would welcome a more
consistent and coherent set of targets which state clearly what
the Department's priorities are and will enable more rigorous,
objective measurement of its progress in meeting them. (Paragraph
75)
The publication Towards a Sustainable Transport
System (TaSTS) set out five broadly defined goals which will
apply to the period 2014-19 and beyond and reflect the Department's
view of its priorities going forward and will guide the Department's
policy formation. These five goals are:
- Climate Change: reducing transport's
emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, with the
desired outcome of avoiding dangerous climate change.
- Competitiveness and Productivity: maximising
the overall competitiveness and productivity of the national economy,
so as to achieve a sustained high level of GDP growth.
- Equality of Opportunity; promoting greater equality
of transport opportunity for all citizens, with the desired outcome
of achieving a fairer society.
- Health, Safety and security: contributing to
better health and longer life-expectancy through reducing the
risk of death, injury or illness arising from transport, and promoting
travel modes that are beneficial to health;
- Quality-of-Life: improving quality of life for
transport users and non-transport users, including through a healthy
natural environment, with the desired outcome of improved well-being
for all.
As outlined in the Eddington Study and in our TaSTS
response we are now agreeing a set of challenges with stakeholders
to give a clear steer on the deliverables that the transport system
needs to generate. These challenges need to satisfy five main
criteria: they should be outcome based; they should be high level
and non-modal; they should be supported (wherever possible) by
quantifiable metrics and sound evidence; they should be capable
of driving option generation; and they should be a manageable
number. We consulted with over 250 organisations and used feedback
from the Citizens panel to shape the goals and challenges and
will consult formally on them and how the option generation will
work in the autumn of this year.
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