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25 Feb 2009 : Column 853W—continued
Residence Orders
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for residence orders were made during (a) 2006 and (b) 2007. [257512]
Bridget Prentice: The number of applications for residence orders made during 2006 and 2007 are given in the following table. There have been data quality issues with figures for Family Proceedings Courts (FPCs), and a new method of data collection was introduced in April 2007 which has improved the quality and level of recording on previous years. Comparisons between 2006 and 2007 should therefore be made with caution in this jurisdiction.
| Number of Section 8 residence applications made, by whether private or public law and tier of court, 2006 and 2007: England and Wales | ||||
| Family Proceedings Courts( 1) | County Courts( 2) | High Courts | Total | |
| (1) There have been data quality issues with figures for FPCs, and a new method of data collection was introduced in April 2007 which has improved the quality and level of recording on previous years. Pre April 2007, there are weighted estimates based on data from a subset of courts. To reflect data uncertainty FPC figures have been rounded. (2) Research undertaken on behalf of Ministry of Justice has identified that some cases that have transferred from the Family Proceedings Court to the County Court have been incorrectly recorded as new applications in the County Court, thus inflating the reported number of new applications through double counting (see Masson et al 2008) Notes: Figures relate to the number of children subject to each application. Source: HMCS FamilyMan system and manual returns | ||||
Television: Licensing
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were fined for television licence evasion in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the average fine was. [257025]
Maria Eagle: The requested information is shown in the following table.
| Number of persons fined and average fine amount for offences relating to TV licence evasion( 1) , 2007 | |
| Number/£ | |
| (1) The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect on 1 April 2004. Notes: 1. These are the numbers fined against for all offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act which mainly but not exclusively covers TV licensing offences. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice. | |
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby of 20 October 2008, Official Report, column 53W, on the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, if he will place a copy of the report of the recently completed scoping exercise in the Library. [258142]
Bridget Prentice: The scoping exercise involved a series of meetings with stakeholders to discuss implementation. The enforcement provisions in the Tribunals, Court and Enforcement Act 2007 are far reaching reforms. The provisions have recently undergone a comprehensive reassessment by Ministers to ensure that they remain appropriate even under this difficult financial climate. This assessment has now concluded and a statement will be made shortly.
Transport
Departmental Cars
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles each Minister in his Department has travelled in a ministerial car in each of the last five years; how many such journeys each Minister made in each of those years; and what estimate has been made of the amount of resultant carbon dioxide emissions in each year. [258163]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Driving Standards Agency: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2009, Official Report, column 1385W, on the Driving Standards Agency: alcoholic drinks, for what reason public money was used to purchase alcohol for staff attending the operations conference in September 2008. [258170]
Jim Fitzpatrick: This annual conference gathered together senior management staff from locations across Great Britain to discuss operational issues affecting the Agency. It involved an overnight stay and a dinner was part of the event which allowed staff, who seldom meet together as a group, to continue discussions on issues of the day in a less formal setting. It was considered reasonable to offer limited drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) as part of that meal. The normal subsistence allowance was not paid to attendees.
Driving Standards Agency: Public Relations
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what payments the Driving Standards Agency has made to (a) (i) management and (ii) public affairs and relations, (b) advertising agencies and (c) other external consultancy organisations in each of the last five years. [257697]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Transport, to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O’Brien) on 15 December 2008, Official Report, columns 386-88W.
Driving: Licensing
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the reasons were for the increase in the driving licence application fee to £50 in 2008. [257350]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The increase in the first provisional driving licence fee from £45 to £50 in 2008 was implemented to ensure that the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency’s driver and vehicle registration costs continue to be covered by the fees levied. At the same time there was a similar increase in the vehicle first registration fee from £50 to £55. These are necessary for the agency to comply with its statutory duties as an executive agency and trading fund.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many prosecutions of driving licence holders there have been for failure to notify a change of address in the last year for which information is available. [258216]
Jim Fitzpatrick: By law, a driver licence holder is required to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of any changes to their personal details such as name and/or address. Failure to do so could result in prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000.
Any action to enforce a fine is brought by the police and not DVLA. DVLA holds no figures on the number of prosecutions brought by the police.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has estimated the proportion of driving licence addresses which are inaccurate. [258217]
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 works hard to maintain 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. 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.
Electric Vehicles
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of battery-powered motor vehicles purchased in the UK in each of the last five years. [256946]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of battery-powered vehicles registered in each of the last five years is set out in the following table. These data include all mechanically-powered vehicles which are required to be registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (VERA), such as passenger cars and quadricycles such as the G-Wizz, but excludes invalid carriages or “mobility scooters”. It includes vehicles whose propulsion type is listed as ‘electricity’ (where the vehicle is powered solely by electricity supplied from an on-board battery) and excludes hybrid vehicles and electric fuel cell vehicles.
| Number of new registrations | |
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage the use of battery-powered motor vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [256947]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government already provide generous support for motorists using Electric Vehicles (EVs) through the tax system (e.g. exemptions from vehicle excise duty and fuel duty). Over £100 million has been provided into research, development and demonstration of EVs and other low carbon vehicles. In addition, on 15 January 2009, the Secretary of State for Transport announced funding worth £250 million to build a system of consumer incentives to build the market for ultra-low emission vehicles, including EVs.
First Capital Connect: Finance
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much public subsidy was paid to (a) First Capital Connect and (b) the predecessor franchisee WAGN in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement. [258356]
Paul Clark: This information is published annually by the Office of Rail Regulation in National Rail Trends. Copies are available in the Library of the House and on the Office of Rail Regulation’s website at:
Heathrow Airport: Noise
Susan Kramer:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of individuals (a) residing within the area of a 50 decibel
contour of Heathrow Airport on the latest date for which figures are available and (b) likely to be residing within the area of a 50 decibel contour of the airport in 2020. [257497]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Although 54 dBA aircraft noise contours are sometimes produced as a sensitivity analysis, aircraft modelling below such levels is generally considered to be unlikely to generate accurate and reliable results.
In the case of night time contours where air traffic levels are lower, the corresponding noise contours are smaller, such that a 50 dBA L night contour is much closer to the airport and can therefore be estimated with reasonable precision.
Under the European Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC, member states are required to produce strategic noise maps every five years for major airports.
The directive requires that maps should represent annual average noise values and requires the use of four different parameters including contours—in five dB steps—for 50 to 70 dBA L night (23.00-07.00).
Population figures for L night in respect of Heathrow were produced in 2007, based on 2006 movements. The population within the 50-55 dBA band was 145,300.
Further information is contained in ERCD Report 0706 “London Heathrow Airport Strategic Noise Maps 2006” available on Civil Aviation Authority’s website at:
Heavy Goods Vehicles
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of miles heavy goods vehicles registered in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) overseas travelled on roads in the UK in each year since 1997. [256991]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department’s Continuing Survey of Road Goods Transport (CSRGT) provides an estimate of the distance travelled by British registered HGVs. The information is provided in the following table extracted from table 1.1 in Road Freight Statistics 2007:
| Distanced travelled by GB registered HGVs—1997 to 2007 | |
| Billion Vehicle kms | |
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