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15 Dec 2008 : Column 394W—continued

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Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) minor and (b) serious road traffic accidents occurred on the A13 between the A405 and the M25 in each of the last 10 years. [242691]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of serious and slight personal injury road accidents reported to the police on the A13 between the A406 and the M25 in each of the last 10 years is given in the table.

Accidents occurring on A13 between A406 and M25: 1998-2007

Serious Slight

1998

33

188

1999

12

100

2000

27

153

2001

22

119

2002

17

107

2003

30

91

2004

28

122

2005

12

92

2006

16

103

2007

10

97


Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have been (a) killed and (b) seriously injured on (i) the A127 and (ii) A13 between the M25 and Southend in (A) each of the last five years and (B) 2008 to date. [242692]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The numbers of casualties in reported personal injury road accidents on (i) the A127 and (ii)
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the A13 between the M25 and Southend in each of the last five years are given in the following tables.

(i) Number of killed or seriously injured casualties on the A127 : 2003-07
Severity of Casualty

Killed Seriously injured

2003

11

51

2004

6

35

2005

0

31

2006

6

43

2007

2

23


(ii) Number of killed or seriously injured casualties on the A13 between its junction with the M25 and the junction with the A127 in Southend town centre: 2003-07
Severity of casualty

Killed Seriously injured

2003

7

49

2004

4

36

2005

1

41

2006

3

38

2007

4

34


The data for year 2008 will be available in June 2009.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many reported deaths there were in (a) North Wiltshire, (b) Wiltshire and (c) England as a result of traffic accidents in each of the last five years. [243462]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The numbers of fatal casualties resulting from reported personal injury road accidents for the last five years in (a) North Wiltshire (b) Wiltshire and (c) England are given in the table:

Number of fatal casualties in North Wiltshire, Wiltshire and England in each of the last five years

Wiltshire North Wiltshire England

2003

49

12

3,004

2004

60

12

2,714

2005

38

8

2,735

2006

41

6

2,695

2007

62

10

2,502


Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the proportion of road fatalities caused by vehicle equipment malfunction and failure. [244038]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The contributory factors data collected by the police officer at the scene of the incident show that “vehicle defects” contributed to 3 per cent. of fatal collisions in 2007. The contributory factors article is published in ‘Road Casualties Great Britain: annual report 2007’. Copies of the report have been deposited in the Libraries of the House. The report is also available on the Department for Transport website at the following web address:

Roads: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many traffic movements there were
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on the A47 between the Nene Parkway and Paston Parkway in Peterborough in each month since May 2005. [242756]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The annual average daily flow (AADF) for the A47 between Nene Parkway (A1260) and Paston Parkway (A15) was 37,100 vehicles in 2005, 40,200 in 2006 and 38,500 in 2007. These figures give an estimate of the number of vehicles travelling along the road on an average day of the year.

The Department does not hold reliable monthly data on the traffic flows for these sections of road.

AADF data for 1999 to 2007 are available from our website

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many additional railway carriages he expects to be provided on (a) First Trans-Pennine Services and (b) Northern Rail as a result of his Department's high level output specification initiative. [242369]

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport Rolling Stock Plan, published 30 January 2008, provides an indicative figure for both franchises of 42 additional vehicles for First TransPennine Services and 182 additional vehicles for Northern Rail.

Southeastern: Manpower

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many enforcement staff were employed by Southeastern at the time that they took over the integrated Kent franchise; how many they currently employ; and if he will make a statement. [243536]

Paul Clark: It is assumed that the question refers to Rail Enforcement Officers. At the start of the Integrated Kent Franchise on 1 April 2006, 29 Rail Enforcement Officers were employed. Currently, the number of Rail Enforcement Officers employed by Southeastern (as of 11 December 2008) is 55.

Vehicle Number Plates

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to bring forward legislative proposals to remove the offence of displaying a UK national flag on number plates; if he will introduce an amnesty for drivers with such number plates in the interim; whether such display will affect the conduct and results of MOT tests in the interim; and if he will make a statement. [243077]

Jim Fitzpatrick: We intend to make an announcement shortly on the way forward. The display of national flags does not affect an MOT test result. Enforcement is a matter for the police, and the evidence we have is that they are using their discretion in this matter.


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Duchy of Lancaster

Electronic Government

Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment has been made of consumer confidence in the security of the Government Gateway. [241753]

Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.

There has been no testing of consumer confidence of the security of the Government Gateway. However the Government Gateway produces monthly management information on usage to participating public sector organisations and at least three times a year undergoes an independent IT health check covering application vulnerability and infrastructure security

Work and Pensions

Access to Work Programme

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) budget for and (b) expenditure on Access to Work was in each of the last five years. [243554]

Jonathan Shaw: The available information on the budget and actual spend for Access to Work programme in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.

£ million

Budget Actual spend

2003-04

n/a

55.8

2004-05

n/a

59.6

2005-06

60.1

59.7

2006-07

63.8

59.8

2007-08

64

75.8

(1) Not available. Notes: 1. Figures exclude Jobcentre Plus admin costs as these cannot be separately identified at a programme level. 2. Budget data are only available for the past three financial years and represent the allocation made at the beginning of the year for internal control purposes. Variances arise when the volumes vary from those anticipated at the planning stage. Source: Actual spend data are from respective annual audited accounts.

Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments

Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are taken to recover overpayments of carer's allowance when the person to whom the claim relates dies and eligibility for the allowance ceases. [242629]

Kitty Ussher [holding answer 11 December 2008]: We recognise that the death of someone being cared for is a difficult time for a carer and that they may need time to sort out the deceased's affairs and to make adjustments in their own life. For this reason entitlement to carer's allowance can continue for up to eight weeks after the disabled person dies.


15 Dec 2008 : Column 398W

Overpayments will therefore normally arise only if the Department had not been advised of the death in that period.

Should such an overpayment arise, normal recovery procedures would apply and repayment would be sought from the carer, with repayment rates set to avoid undue hardship.

Departmental Data Protection

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether each data set for which his Department is responsible is held on (a) live system environments, (b) backup tapes and (c) manual records; at what other locations data are stored; and if he will make a statement. [241303]

Jonathan Shaw: The data sets required to support the services we deliver to customers are stored within the database management systems that support the different applications that deliver the Department's business. The majority of these systems are hosted across two physical data centres and there are extensive backup and recovery regimes and subsystems in place to meet business continuity needs. These backup subsystems use both tape and disc storage.

This comprehensive approach to backup does not require manual records to be maintained within the data centres.


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