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21 Jan 2009 : Column 1434W—continued
Driver Information Systems: Licensing
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what conditions his Department has applied to the issue of licences for dynamic route guidance systems. [249322]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Those seeking licences have been obliged to submit to an independent assessment, commissioned by the Department for Transport, of the adequacy of the drivers’ interaction with the equipment (with the aim of ensuring that the risk of driver distraction has been minimised). Assurance that the relevant product categorises roads appropriately for routeing has also been required and the licences issued have themselves included various requirements regarding for example record-keeping.
Government Car and Despatch Agency
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many instances of misuse of government procurement cards within the Government Car and Despatch Agency have been recorded since 1 January 2006; what the amount involved in each such instance was; and which disciplinary measures have been applied as a result of such instances. [247513]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government Procurement Card (GPC) was introduced into the Government Car and Despatch Agency on 1 April 2006. Since that time the following incidents of misuse of the GPC have been recorded:
| Number of incidents | Value | Action taken |
Great Western Railway: Electrification
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the time frame is for the electrification of the Great Western main line from London, Paddington to Bristol (a) Temple Meads and (b) Parkway stations. [249691]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport is working closely with the rail industry to examine the case for further rail electrification. A decision on the electrification of the Great Western Main Line will be announced later this year, alongside decisions on the deployment of the new Intercity Express trains.
Heathrow Airport
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department’s assessment of the economic case for expansion at Heathrow takes account of projected income from air passenger duty. [249317]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The economic case for expansion is set out in the recently published document Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport—Impact Assessment (January 2009). This assessment includes among other things the air passenger duty revenues from additional non-transfer passengers that are forecast to use the additional capacity.
A copy of the impact assessment is available at:
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what account his Department has taken of (a) mineral reserves contained within the proposed Heathrow Expansion Area and (b) the possible impact upon the supply of sand and gravel for London’s construction industry in its consideration of plans for a possible third runway. [249324]
Jim Fitzpatrick: A thorough assessment of historic mapping, aerial photographs and visual appraisal, found that around 43 per cent. of the proposed site area had been quarried for gravel extraction. This assessment is set out on page 31 of the “Adding Capacity at Heathrow - 2008 Historic Environment Appraisal”, available at:
No formal assessment has been made of the impact of additional capacity on the supply of sand and gravel for London’s construction industry. The impact assessment includes estimates of the costs of construction of a third runway. This is a comprehensive assessment, which includes the cost of sand and gravel, and is available at:
Olympic Route Network
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which roads in Wandsworth have been identified as part of the Olympic Route Network (ORN), broken down by (a) core ORN, (b) venue specific ORN, (c) alternative routes ORN and (d) preferred training venues ORN. [248051]
Paul Clark: The following table lists the roads in the London borough of Wandsworth that are part of the proposed Olympic Route Network (ORN). Each road is categorised according whether it is part of the venue specific ORN or alternative routes ORN. None of the roads in Wandsworth are part of the core ORN or the preferred training venues ORN.
| London b orough of Wandsworth | |||
|
Borough boundary with Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea | |||
Railways
Ms Angela C. Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the average level of peak hour overcrowding on trains into the cities of (a) London, (b) Manchester, (c) Leeds, (d) Sheffield, (e) Liverpool, (f) Birmingham, (g) Glasgow, (h) Bristol, (i) Cardiff and (j) Nottingham in each of the last five years. [248626]
Paul Clark: Data are only collected and routinely provided to the Department for Transport by train operators serving the London and South East commuter market. Crowding data have not been consistently collected for the other cities mentioned for the period sought and are not available.
The information requested for train operators serving the London and South East commuter market is currently published annually in aggregated form by the Office for Rail Regulation within its “National Rail Trends Yearbook” and are available on the Office of Rail Regulation website at:
The latest published data relate to passenger counts carried out by train operators in autumn 2007.
Railways: Adlington
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reasons Network Rail have provided to his Department for re-routing more trains from Adlington to Manchester Victoria as opposed to Manchester Piccadilly under the new timetable introduced on 13 December 2008. [248370]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport in conjunction with Northern Rail, worked through timetable solutions with Network rail, to accommodate the enhanced West Coast timetable. Moving trains to Manchester Victoria was as a result of extra capacity at this station, becoming available. This is seen as an overall improvement which has led to an increase of 45 per cent. in additional capacity on long distance services.
Railways: Delays
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the financial effect on the economy of delays to rail services in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber in 2008-09. [247314]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport does not hold the information in the form requested.
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