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23 Feb 2009 : Column 484W—continued
The Department also provides block funding for road improvements and maintenance, as set out in Table 3:
| Table 3: Funding for road improvements and maintenance in City of York council | |||
| Highways Maintenance | Other funding( 1) | Total | |
| (1) Other funding covers capital and revenue funding for detrunking, and road safety capital funding. | |||
In 1996-97 and 1997-98 the Department provided £3.239 million for the Peasholme Green bridge scheme.
Buses: Regulation
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to bus and coach operators of implementating the measures included in the proposed EU Regulation 2008/0237 on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport. [256609]
Paul Clark [holding answer 12 February 2009]: The Department for Transport will be consulting shortly on the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation on bus and coach passenger rights including our initial assessment of its impact.
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely effects on trends in the number of spurious claims of injury by bus and coach passengers of implementation of provisions in the proposed EU Regulation 2008/0237 on the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport. [256610]
Paul Clark [holding answer 12 February 2009]: The European Commission’s proposal for a new regulation on bus and coach passenger rights would make operators liable for loss or damage resulting from the death, personal injury or mental harm to passengers caused by an accident while the passengers were on, entering or leaving the vehicle. In certain circumstances the operator would not be able to contest damages, although they would not be liable if the accident was the fault of the passenger or caused by the passenger’s negligence. No assessment has been made of the likely effect of these provisions on trends in the number of spurious injury claims made by passengers. The Department will shortly be consulting on the European Commission’s proposal to help inform the Government’s position.
Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls and Expenditure
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the gross annual revenue from the Dartford crossings was in the last year for which figures are available; [258072]
(2) what the costs of operating and maintaining the Dartford crossings were in the last year for which figures are available; [258073]
(3) what the cost of collecting tolls was for the Dartford crossings in the last year for which figures are available. [258074]
Paul Clark: The 2007-08 accounts were published on 29 January 2009 and show gross income of £67.3 million, managing agent costs of £15.8 million, which includes charge collection and general running costs, and other expenditure of £8.6 million which includes capital works. A copy of the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme Account for 2007-08 has been placed in the House Library.
Departmental Databases
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of maintaining the databases owned and managed by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies was in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008. [256146]
Mr. Hoon: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Flowers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on cut flowers in each of the last three years. [256173]
Mr. Hoon: The requested information is provided in the following table.
This excludes spend by the Government Car and Despatch Agency, Highways Agency, and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency as the requested information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of those outside the Senior Civil Service in his Department received a bonus in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008. [252680]
Mr. Hoon [holding answer 29 January 2009]: The Department for Transport comprises a central Department plus seven Executive agencies, each with its own pay and reward system. Information regarding non-consolidated performance pay has been collected from the central Department and all seven agencies and collated to one set of figures.
The percentage of staff outside the senior civil service structure in the Department for Transport who received non-consolidated performance pay in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008 is set out in the following table:
| Percentage of staff outside of SCS receiving non-consolidated performance pay | Non-consolidated performance pay as a percentage of pay bill | |
The aforementioned figures exclude VOSA performance pay data for 2007-08 because this has not yet been paid.
Departmental Recruitment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new recruits his Department took on in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09; how many of these were taken on as (i) permanent, (ii) temporary and (iii) agency staff; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent figures for (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11. [254472]
Mr. Hoon: The number of new recruits taken on by the Department in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09 and how many of these were taken on as (i) permanent, (ii) temporary and (iii) agency staff is set out in the following table.
| Number of permanent staff taken on | Number of temporary staff taken on | Number of agency staff taken on | |
The data in the table are for the Department for Transport (Centre) and its agencies. The figures for 2008-09 are not available. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has a category of staff termed “casual staff” which have been recorded under temporary staff in the aforementioned table; the Vehicle Operator Services Agency does not record agency staff numbers centrally; and temporary/fixed term staff are recorded within the permanent category for the Department for Transport (Centre) for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Estimates for the equivalent figures for (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11 are not available.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Databases
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his most recent estimate is of the number of inaccurate records on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's vehicle system software. [256070]
Jim Fitzpatrick: An accurate record is defined as one where the registered keeper of the vehicle or the driving licence holder can be traced from the details contained on the database.
The latest estimate of the accuracy of the vehicles record showed it was 96.9 per cent. accurate. This equates to 1,052,662 records that are inaccurate.
The latest estimate of the accuracy of the drivers record showed it was 81.5 per cent. accurate. This equates to 7,906,275 records that are inaccurate.
The responsibility for notifying the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) of a change of address lies with the vehicle keeper or licence holder. So far as vehicle records are concerned there is an annual requirement to tax the vehicle and this transaction is a regular prompt to owners to fulfil the requirement to notify change of address. There is no equivalent annual driver transaction that prompts a notification.
DVLA is not complacent about accuracy. The task is to encourage and support drivers and vehicle keepers to meet their obligations and to that end a dedicated accuracy improvement team has been established to improve matters. Current initiatives in hand include checks of credit reference agency databases for current addresses and working with others in the cross-government Tell Us Once initiative to obtain early notification of the death of a licence holder.
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