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12 Jan 2009 : Column 404Wcontinued
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of trends in the possession disruption indices for (a) passenger and (b) rail freight services over the next five years. [245702]
Paul Clark: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made no estimate of trends in the possession disruption indices for passenger and rail freight services over the next five years.
However, the independent Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has set performance trajectories for Network Rail in its document, published on 30 October 2008, Periodic review 2008: Determination of Network Rails outputs and funding for 2009-14. The effect is to require a progressive reduction in disruption to passengers so that by the end of Control Period 4 (2014) there is 37 per cent. less disruption to passengers than in 2007-08, and, at the same time, no increase in the level of disruption experienced by freight operators. Further details can be found on page 53 onwards of the document which is available on the ORRs website at:
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the loss to the economy caused by delays to rail services in the first six months of the 2008-09 financial year. [246403]
Paul Clark: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not estimated the economic cost of rail service delays in the first six months of the 2008-09 financial year.
However, at the end of the first six periods of 2008-09 the industry's annual reliability and punctuality performance measured by the public performance measure (PPM) had reached 90.4 per cent. in England and Wales, a 1.8 per cent. improvement on the previous year. The Government's high level output specification requires the industry to achieve public performance measure of 92.6 per cent. by 2014.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward proposals to introduce the Swiss model of re-railing. [246404]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport does not manage the detailed approach to track maintenance including re-railing.
This is an operational matter for Network Rail as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his questions:
Iain Coucher
Chief Executive
Network Rail
Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9AG.
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the answer of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 38W, on roads: accidents, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women between 15 and 24 years old were killed in a road traffic accident in each local authority area in England in each of the last 10 years. [246214]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Tables showing the numbers and proportion of (a) men and (b) women between 15 and 24-years-old that were killed in a reported personal injury road traffic accident in each local authority area in England in each of the last 10 years have been deposited in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many modern operable train units are currently in storage. [245435]
Paul Clark: This is a question which should be directed at the train leasing companies who are the owners of rolling stock vehicles. However, it is our belief that the number of modern operable units off lease is very small.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new carriages each train operating company has requested following his Department's announcement in January 2008 of its intention to increase rolling stock by 1,300 units. [245438]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport published a Rolling Stock Plan in January 2008, and issued an update in July 2008, setting out indicative numbers of vehicles to be allocated to each train operating company. These numbers are subject to change in negotiation with each company, but changes to numbers will not be announced unless and until commercial agreement is reached with each company. Discussions are now in progress with the train operating companies.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many tugs are on standby in UK ports to assist vessels in distress around the coast. [246096]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has four dedicated emergency towing vessels on stand-by all year round to respond to shipping incidents. These are based in the Northern Isles, the Minches, the south-west approaches and the Dover Straits.
In addition to these dedicated resources the MCA can use the Coastguard Agreement on Salvage and Towage (CAST) to call upon the services of 92 tugs in ports and harbours throughout the UK.
Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidelines his Department follows in respect of making printed materials and forms accessible to people suffering red/green colour blindness. [245722]
Mr. Hoon: The general publishing policy guidance for the Department for Transport staff producing printed material for people with visual disorders highlight the need to avoid light typefaces, use of 14 pt type and maximising contrast of colours as much as possible.
Specific guidance related to red/green colour blindness include using where possible;
dark colours on light background;
increased contrast between colours and type;
use of stripes, hatching etc in place of colours;
avoidance of red/green adjacent to each other.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will reject the proposals of South West Trains to reduce opening hours at over 100 of its stations. [246133]
Paul Clark: A formal application to review ticket office hours has been received from South West Trains and will be subject to consideration by the Secretary of State under normal industry processes.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which elected representatives (a) scrutinise the actions of safety camera partnerships and (b) determine their (i) policies and (ii) expenditure. [245974]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Local safety partnerships, including safety camera partnerships, generally include representatives of local authorities and the police, both of whom are accountable to locally elected representatives. They may employ whatever arrangements for scrutiny and management that they see fit.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of exploring the option of a Manchester congestion charge. [245876]
Paul Clark: From 2005-06 to 2007-08 10 areas shared £18 million funding to consider options for the Transport Innovation Fund and to develop proposals, of which the Greater Manchester authorities were awarded £4.7 million. In addition, in awarding Programme Entry to the Greater Manchester proposals on 9 June 2008 we made available an additional £20 million for 2008-09 to support further development costs.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider strengthening the training requirement associated with the tonnage tax. [244740]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We have currently no plans to increase the number of officers companies are required to train under the tonnage tax commitment.
We are however looking into the practicalities of the joint proposals for increased support for training and employment received from our social partners.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government plans to take to alleviate congestion on (a) roads and (b) railways in the North East. [244890]
Paul Clark: We are investing significantly across the North East to improve transport and alleviate congestion. Total expenditure on transport in the North East has increased by 30 per cent. in the five years to 2007-08from £481 million in 2002-03 to £623 million in 2007-08.
On the roads, local authorities take decisions on local measures and investment needed to alleviate congestion on their roads. In addition to this, North East schemes in the current regional funding allocation being progressed by the Highways Agency include the A69 Haydon bridge bypass, which is in construction and improvements to four A19 junctions through Tyneside. The Highways Agency is also looking at options for addressing congestion problems on the A1 Newcastle Gateshead and Western bypass, but any scheme is likely to be complex and take time to deliver, and must be developed in parallel with the Tyne and Wear authorities proposals for addressing local traffic problems. In addition we expect, subject to satisfactory business cases, to invest over £70 million over the next five years in major bus priority infrastructure
schemes in Tyne and Wear, Tees Valley and Durham. These are aimed at attracting more people to public transport by improving the journey time and reliability of buses.
On rail, the Rail White Paper committed to introducing additional rail capacity to meet peak demand in the Northern cities, including Newcastle. The DfT Rolling Stock Plan published in January 2008 showed that around 42 additional carriages would be available for TransPennine Express and around 182 additional carriages for the Northern franchise. Both these franchises serve the North East. We will also be investing over £290 million on the renewal of the Tyne and Wear Metro system between 2010 and 2019.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with Virgin Trains on passenger capacity on their West Coast Main Line services; what (a) legislative provisions and (b) guidance issued by his Department govern the number of persons who may be accommodated in one unit of passenger rolling stock, with particular reference to health and safety requirements; what sanctions apply to train operating companies which operate services on which such limits are exceeded; and if he will make a statement. [245090]
Paul Clark: The Secretary of State met with Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Trains) and Mr. Brian Souter (Stagecoach) on 19 November to discuss the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line. This upgrade of the infrastructure has allowed the new timetable, which started on 14 December 2008, to increase capacity on many of the West Coast Main Line services, most notably a 50 per cent. increase of services between London and Birmingham/Manchester and a 70 per cent. increase for these services on the weekends.
There are no legislative provisions regarding crowding on trains. The Office of the Rail Regulator states that there is no legal limit on the number of passengers that can travel in any given train coach. In this, trains differ from other modes of transportmost notably buses and aeroplanes. The heavy engineering involved means that trains are designed to operate effectively and safely even when they are fully loaded to maximum capacity. The number of passengers on board does not affect a train's operating performance or structural integrity.
Some train operators have a capacity benchmark regime. This does not apply to Virgin Trains.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to ensure that there is minimal disruption over the Christmas period from improvements works to the West Coast Main Line. [246165]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has had regular meetings with both Network Rail and the train operators as they have made their preparations for the introduction of the new West Coast Main Line timetables. This preparation included a special commissioning timetable which covers the Christmas period.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much grant in aid Arts Council England received in each year since 1980. [246417]
Barbara Follett: Arts Council England has received the following grant in aid funding since their creation in 1994.
Arts Council grant in aid funding | |
Outturn (£ million) | |
Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest £ million. |
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery funding Arts Council England has distributed for use on (a) capital projects and (b) non-capital projects in each year since its inception. [246327]
Barbara Follett: Information from Arts Council England is that it has distributed national lottery funding for use on (a) capital projects and (b) non-capital projects as set out in the following table.
£ | |||
Decision year | Capital programmes | Mixed and revenue programmes | Total |
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