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2 July 2009 : Column 420W—continued

Railways: Fees and Charges

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many penalty fares have been issued by each train operating company in each year since 1997. [283066]

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Revenue protection is the responsibility of each train operator, and the Department does not generally monitor ticketless travel levels.

Roads: Accidents

Mr. Vara: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal road traffic accidents were recorded on roads in (i) North West Cambridgeshire constituency, (ii) Cambridgeshire, (iii) Huntingdonshire, (iv) Peterborough, (v) the East of England and (vi) England in each of the last 10 years. [283425]

Paul Clark: The numbers of reported (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal road traffic accidents that were recorded on roads in (i) North West Cambridgeshire constituency, (ii) Cambridgeshire excluding Peterborough , (iii) Huntingdonshire, (iv) Peterborough, (v) the East of England and (vi) England in each of the last 10 years are given in table:

Number of reported accidents

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

North West Cambridgeshire( 1)

Fatal

8

14

9

9

13

11

11

7

12

12

Non-fatal

488

531

536

480

501

513

517

490

424

449

Cambridgeshire excl. Peterborough

Fatal

52

61

44

45

46

50

51

50

54

41

Non-fatal

2,367

2,565

2,606

2,496

2,453

2,469

2,409

2,238

2,100

1,939

Huntingdonshire

Fatal

16

21

11

12

15

.13

16

14

13

12

Non-fatal

664

700

720

702

696

632

644

618

599

544

Peterborough

Fatal

11

11

9

11

12

15

10

8

18

11

Non-fatal

731

849

844

865

897

916

914

816

716

792

East of England

Fatal

367

352

349

351

337

337

318

318

313

245

Non-fatal

21,421

22,023

21,573

20,711

20,098

20,061

19,205

17,892

17,393

15,904

England

Fatal

2,678

2,659

2,700

2,717

2,787

2,514

2,495

2,483

2,311

1,965

Non-fatal

207,173

206,422

202,139

195,019

187,645

181,515

174,143

164,969

159,119

148,681


2 July 2009 : Column 421W

Trade Unions

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether officials in his Department have had discussions on de-recognition of the Public and Commercial Services Union in (a) the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and (b) his Department; and if he will make a statement. [282957]

Chris Mole: There have been no discussions on de-recognition of the Public and Commercial Services Union in the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency or Department for Transport centre.

Trams: Disabled

Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what representations he has received on exemptions to disability access regulations for the historic Blackpool tram fleet. [283494]

Mr. Khan: Two representations have been received regarding the application of disability access regulations to the historic Blackpool tram fleet, within the context of the Department for Transport's ongoing consultation on changes to the domestic rail vehicle accessibility regime.

The Department for Transport is conscious of, and sympathetic to, the special heritage nature of the current tram fleet in Blackpool; however, it also recognises that public transport services should be available to all members of society. Therefore, the 16 new trams that the operator is currently procuring for regular service will comply with modern accessibility standards. However, officials have proposed exempting Blackpool's existing fleet from accessibility requirements for use on heritage services on the route. The decision on whether to grant an exemption will ultimately be for Parliament to decide.

Treasury

Child Benefit

Andrew Selous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average length of time is for new child benefit claimants to receive written notification of their child benefit entitlement following their request for such notification; and in how many cases new claimants waited at least 30 days for such notification in the latest period for which figures are available. [283624]

Mr. Timms: This particular information is not available. However, for information on the amount of time it takes to pay a new child benefit claim I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Glasgow, East (John Mason), on 27 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1046-47W.

HMRC under these schemes at a cost of around £299 million. The savings in salary costs from these releases are estimated at £691 million.

Although all decisions on office closures have now been announced, the actual closures will be phased over a period of time. Through this implementation phase the redeployment of staff remains HMRC's highest priority.


2 July 2009 : Column 422W

Child Trust Fund: Hemel Hempstead

Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many child trust vouchers have been issued to residents of Hemel Hempstead constituency; and what his estimate is of the total monetary value of those accounts. [283669]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The most recent constituency level statistics on child trust fund accounts were published on 6 November 2008 and can be viewed on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:

HM Revenue and Customs does not have data on the value of child trust funds at constituency level.

Finance: Dairy Farmers of Britain

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has given consideration to underwriting the May milk cheques lost by members of Dairy Farmers of Britain; and if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of doing so. [281893]

Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.

The receivers (PwC) have estimated that the total financial costs to farmers who were members and former members of Dairy Farmers of Britain on 3 June are around £83 million.

The proportion of this figure which arises from the failure to pay the May milk cheques is a matter for the receiver.

Government have considered whether we can compensate farmers, but do not plan to do so.

Private Finance Initiative: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent assessment is of the efficiency of schemes under the private finance initiative in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point. [283489]

Ian Pearson: All local authority PFI projects seeking PFI credits are subject to an assessment by the Projects Review Group (PRG), which is chaired by HM Treasury.

Minutes of the PRG meetings held in 2008 and 2009 can be found on the HM Treasury website at:

A list of all signed PFI projects can be found on the HM Treasury website at:


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