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16 Dec 2008 : Column 608W—continued
Departmental Information Officers
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department and its agencies have spent on employing press officers in each year since the Department's inception. [242900]
Mr. Hoon: Press officer function pay costs have been estimated for the years 2002-03 to 2007-08 for the central Department and Executive agencies as follows:
| £ million | ||||||
| 2002- 0 3 | 2003- 0 4 | 2004- 0 5 | 2005- 0 6 | 2006- 0 7 | 2007- 0 8 | |
Departmental Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what records his Department maintains of its expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) alcohol for official hospitality. [240461]
Mr. Hoon: Expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) alcohol for official hospitality is not recorded separately within the Department for Transport.
As reflected in our Staff Handbook, hospitality is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to bringing forward publicly-funded capital works commissioned by his Department; and what discussions he has had with Treasury Ministers on the financing of these projects. [244275]
Mr. Hoon: I announced on 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 83-84WS, a number of capital works schemes, costing £1 billion, which will be brought forward. This announcement had the agreement of Treasury Ministers.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Personal Records
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of UK residents whose personal details are held on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's (a) vehicle register database, (b) driver register database, (c) local office casework system database and (d) driver and vehicle intelligence database. [242430]
Jim Fitzpatrick
[holding answer 11 December 2008]: We are not able to provide the number of UK residents currently registered on these databases. However the
total number of currently licensed vehicles on the vehicle record and current driving licence holders on the driver database is:
| Number | ||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the proportion of personal detail entries relating to UK residents which contained inaccurate information on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's (a) vehicle register database, (b) driver register database, (c) local office casework systems database and (d) driver and vehicle intelligence database in each of the last four years. [242431]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 11 December 2008]: Accuracy surveys are completed on the vehicle record (annually) and driver record (biennially) but not on the local office casework system record database or driver and vehicle intelligence database. The reported accuracy levels are:
| Percentage | ||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| (1) The 2007 survey of driver records was cancelled. However, the 2003 result reported 82 per cent. accuracy | ||||
Full vehicles surveys were conducted in late 2003, 2005 and 2007. Figures for 2004 and 2006 are estimates based on internal measures.
Surveys reporting on 2008 accuracy of both vehicles and drivers databases are currently being undertaken and are due to report early next year. Surveys are now programmed to be conducted every year.
Helicopters: Noise
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the debate of 15 January 2007, Official Report, columns 626-34, on helicopter flights (London), what progress has been made on the complaints procedure for helicopter noise. [243195]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Civil Aviation Authority's Directorate of Airspace Policy (CAA DAP) has developed a strategy for answering helicopter noise complaints. This includes a well publicised contact point that receives noise complaints from across the UK. Further details are available on the CAA website www.caa.co.uk .
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the debate of 15 January 2007, Official Report, columns 626-34, on helicopter flights (London), how many helicopter flights have been permitted to depart from the designated route in the London control zone in each year for which figures are available. [243196]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Neither the Department for Transport nor the Civil Aviation Authority maintain statistics on the number of helicopter flights that have been permitted to depart from the designated routes in the London control zone.
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the debate of 15 January 2007, Official Report, columns 626-34, on helicopter flights (London), what progress his Department, the Civil Aviation Authority and the National Air Traffic Service have made in collecting more comprehensive data on helicopter noise in London. [243197]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Following discussions between the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and NATS, a mechanism has been agreed with NATS to provide data on helicopter movements over London. This data is published at regular intervals on the CAA website at the following link
Lorries: Accidents
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road traffic accidents have involved heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) (a) with mechanical defects, (b) that are overweight and (c) where drivers’ hours have been exceeded in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (i) region where the accident took place, (ii) the HGV’s country of origin and (iii) whether the HGV was left or right hand drive. [242894]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The numbers of reported personal injury road accidents which involved a heavy goods vehicle with at least one vehicle defect recorded as a contributory factor are given in the table, broken down by (i) region and (ii) left or right hand drive.
Vehicle defect contributory factors include:
Tyres illegal, defective or under inflated
Defective lights or indicators
Defective brakes
Defective steering or suspension
Defective or missing mirrors
Overloaded or poorly loaded vehicle or trailer
Information on drivers’ working hours and the country of origin of heavy goods vehicles which are involved in road accidents are not collected. Information on contributory factors is not available before 2005.
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