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7 July 2009 : Column 638W—continued
Aviation
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the merits of retaining policy-making in respect of non-commercial flight crew licensing in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [283509]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport consulted on the proposal to extend the European Aviation Safety Agency’s remit to air operations and flight crew licensing, including for non-commercial aviation, in 2006.
The subsequent EC Regulation 216/2008, which came into effect in April 2008, established Community competence for policy-making with regards to flight crew licences. However, in common with all EU member states, the UK has retained competence for policy-making with respect to licences for pilots of aircraft not covered by Regulation 216/2008. These are known as “Annex 2” aircraft and include: microlights, ex-military aircraft and home-built aircraft.
Bus Services: Concessions
Mike Penning: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many pensioners in Hemel Hempstead received concessionary bus passes in the latest period for which figures are available. [284424]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport is not responsible for issuing passes and so does not maintain records of how many passes individual authorities have issued.
Hemel Hempstead is part of the Hertfordshire County concessionary travel scheme. The last information held by the Department was that as of 17 April 2009, the Hertfordshire County scheme had issued 141,099 of the new smartcard concessionary passes. This includes passes issued to disabled people as well as those aged 60 and over.
Campaign for Better Transport: Government Assistance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department and its agencies have provided to the Campaign for Better Transport in the last five years; and for what projects such funding was allocated. [284151]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport has provided the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) with the following funding in the last five years:
| £000 | |
None of the Department's agencies have funded CBT. The funding was provided for the following projects:
National Business Travel Network, (2007-09)
Ground Floor Partners (2004-08)
Car Free Leisure Network (2004-06)
Life Transitions, (2004-05)
Residential Travel Plans Project, (2004-05)
Making School Travel Plans Work, (2004-05)
Cycling: Finance
Mr. Vara: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department has allocated to encourage bicycle usage in (a) Cambridgeshire, (b) Peterborough, (c) Huntingdonshire and (d) the East of England in each of the last five years. [283411]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport has awarded cycle training grants as set out in table 1 to the following local authorities in the East of England since we first started awarding grants for National Standard Cycle Training, promoted as Bikeability training in 2006-07. Table 2 provides details of grants made direct to School Sports Partnerships in the East of England.
The Department has made £4 million available to the School Sports Partnerships in 2009-10 in addition to the £5.4 million awarded to over 90 local authorities. School Sports Partnerships will not bid for grant until later in the year but we expect to meet all claims for cycle training grant in full in 2009-10.
| Table 1: Local authority | ||||
| Grant (£) | ||||
| East of England | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Table 2: School Sports Partnerships | |||
| Grant (£) | |||
| East of England | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
In addition, Cambridge was included in the new Cycling Cities and Towns programme by Cycling England and was awarded £500,000 in 2008-09. Three other towns in the Eastern region also received funding last year from this programme: Colchester £400,000, Leighton-Linslade £567,138 and Southend-on-Sea £399,760.
Departmental Marketing
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Cheadle of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 399W, on railways: marketing, for what reason his Department has incurred no advertising expenditure, other than for statutory advertising, since the amalgamation into his Department of the Strategic Rail Authority; and if he will make a statement. [284225]
Chris Mole: The Department for Transport uses a wide range of media and events to inform the public about rail policies and programmes. Advertising travel by rail is a matter for the rail industry, which spends substantial sums on advertising.
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what guidance his Department has issued to travel companies on their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [284371]
Mr. Khan: The Department for Transport commissioned the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) (before it was absorbed into the Equality and Human Rights Commission) to produce a series of good practice guides for transport providers. The guides were published in 2007; each guide deals with a different transport sector and offers practical advice on good practice in serving disabled customers.
They can now be found on the DRC website archive at:
A Practical Guide for Rail services:
A Practical Guide for Taxi and Private Hire Services:
A Practical Guide for Breakdown Recovery Operators:
A Practical Guide for Buses and Scheduled Coaches:
A Practical Guide for Tour Coach Operators:
A Practical Guide for Vehicle Rental Firms:
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport which Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) offices, excluding DVLA Swansea, are owned by the Crown. [283689]
Paul Clark: All of the 38 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) local offices outside Swansea are occupied on a leasehold arrangement. While 27 are held under a commercial lease with private landlords, 11 are held with other Government Departments where the ownership of the premises is unknown by DVLA.
Driving: Licensing
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the pass rate for passenger carrying vehicle licences was for (a) delegated examiners and (b) Driving Standards Agency driving examiners in each financial year since 2000-01. [283685]
Paul Clark: The pass rate for candidates taking practical driving tests for passenger carrying vehicles candidates tested by:
(a) driving examiners working for organisations other than the Driving Standards Agency in each financial year since 2000-01 was:
| Percentage | ||||
| Bus company | Fire brigade | Police force | Total PCV tests | |
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