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21 July 2009 : Column 1224W—continued
Glasgow
John Mason: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether he plans to visit Glasgow on official business during the summer Adjournment. [288906]
Mr. Khan: At present, I have no plans to visit Glasgow on official business during the summer Adjournment. However, my plans for visits have not been finalised yet.
Great North Eastern Railway: Connex
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many members of staff within (a) his Department and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority were assigned to duties related to ensuring the continuity of rail services following the surrender of franchises by (i) GNER and (ii) Connex. [283038]
Chris Mole: Although the GNER franchise was not surrendered, but converted into a management contract, there were three people employed by the Department for Transport who led on this process. However, others in the Department, including specialists in the finance and legal teams, would have contributed to the work.
The Department does not hold information in relation to the number of staff within the Strategic Rail Authority who worked on ensuring the continuity of rail services when the Connex franchise was surrendered. The Strategic Rail Authority would have been solely responsible for this.
Helicopters: Safety
Mr. Doran: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment the Civil Aviation Authority has made of the safety implications of the wearing of wrist watch personal location beacons by passengers on helicopters serving the North Sea oil and gas industry (a) during the initial proof and concept trials carried out by British Petroleum and (b) after those trials. [288066]
Paul Clark: The Civil Aviation Authority did not make a specific assessment of the safety implications of wearing wrist watch personal locator beacons. This is because such beacons are not part of an aircraft's approved equipment and are treated in the same way as any other personal portable electronic device, such as mobile telephones, which have been the subject of a safety assessment. Operators remain responsible for ensuring that passengers are aware of and comply with the restrictions on their use.
Mr. Doran: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when the Civil Aviation Authority received reports on the potential effects on helicopter communications systems of the use of wrist watch personal locator beacons by passengers on helicopters serving the North Sea oil and gas industry; and what steps the authority took in response to those reports. [288067]
Paul Clark: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) started to receive occasional reports concerning interference with frequency 121.5 Mhz, the international civil distress frequency, in 2003. Reports were also received regarding breakthrough on frequencies adjacent to 121.5 Mhz.
In January 2009 the CAA held a meeting with helicopter operators and other stakeholders to discuss the concerns about the potential effects of inadvertent transmissions. These include radio interference on the emergency frequency, interference with aircraft systems, interference with other beacons, and the generation of false alarms. As a result the CAA established a working group to examine the issues in depth, and work by this group continues.
Highways Agency
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport with reference to page 73 of Building Britain's Future, Cm 7654, what estimate he has made of the savings to be made from new efficiencies in the Highways Agency in 2010-11. [289233]
Chris Mole: The Highways Agency's 2007 comprehensive spending review settlement covering the financial years 2008-09 to 2010-11 includes a target to deliver value for money gains of £144 million by the end of that period. As announced in the November 2008 pre-Budget report, the Highways Agency is also committed to working to identify a further £150 million efficiency savings by 31 March 2011.
Inter-City East Coast Franchise: Finance
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the cost to the public purse was of letting the Inter-City East Coast franchise to (a) GNER in 2005 and (b) National Express East Coast in 2007. [289207]
Chris Mole: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 16 July 2009, Official Report, column 619W.
Lighting: Finance
Mrs. Villiers:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his
Department has made available to local authorities through private finance initiative credits for signed street lighting contracts in each year since 2000. [289212]
Mr. Khan: The following table shows the amount of PFI credits allocated to local authority street lighting PFI projects in the financial year that each contract was signed:
| Financial year | PFI credits allocated (million) |
A Highway Maintenance PFI contract signed in Portsmouth in 2003 and worth £121 million PFI credits also includes the local authority's entire street lighting stock. This is not included in the above table.
Lorries: Roads
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport which strategic routes have dedicated heavy goods vehicle lanes. [289198]
Chris Mole: There are no dedicated heavy goods vehicle (HGV) lanes on the Highways Agency's strategic road network. However, crawler or climbing lanes for slower vehicles, such as HGVs, are in operation on many parts of the network, including:
M4 Eastbound Junctions 19-18
M5 Northbound Junctions 20-19
M5 Northbound Junctions 18-17
M5 Southbound Junctions 19-20
M27 North and Southbound Junctions 11-12
M3 Northbound Junctions 9-8
M62 Westbound Junctions 25-24
A1(M) Northbound Junctions 60-61
A1 (M) Southbound Junctions 61-63
M25
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much of the budget allocated to the M25 private finance initiative project has not been spent to date. [289201]
Chris Mole: The M25 Design Build Finance and Operate (DBFO) contract awarded by the Highways Agency in May 2009 is worth a total of £6.2 billion. These costs will be incurred over the 30-year lifetime of the project.
During contract negotiations, the Government expressed a willingness to co-fund if necessary a proportion of the capital spending by the project consortium. In the event, no co-funding was necessary as all of the required funds were raised by the private sector.
Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport with reference to page 85 of Building Britain's Future, Cm 7654, what incentives his Department plans to put in place to increase take-up of low-carbon vehicles. [289235]
Mr. Khan: On 1 July, the Secretary of State for Transport announced a new £30 million Green Bus Fund from which bus companies and local authorities in England can compete over the next two years for funds to help them buy new low carbon buses.
In addition, changes to Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) have been announced whereby, from 1 April 2009, an additional 6p per kilometre will be payable for all eligible kilometres operated by low carbon emission buses in England.
All of this is in addition to our plans for electric vehicles and vans.
Motorways: Exhaust Emissions
Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the costs of (a) congestion and (b) pollution resulting from traffic on English motorways; and if he will make a statement. [287895]
Chris Mole [holding answer 20 July 2009]: The Department for Transport uses valuations to assess changes, either to the costs of congestion over time, or for particular interventions. Valuations are therefore in terms of comparisons with a base year or with regard to a scenario without a scheme or proposal.
The Eddington study, published in 2006, made use of analysis from the Department's National Transport Model. This looked at the costs of additional road congestion as it is predicted to increase over time, rather than the absolute costs of congestion. It estimated that the increase in time lost in England due to road congestion between 2003 and 2025 for all travellers including business and freight would be worth £23 to £24 billion by 2025 in 2002 prices.
Because the impacts of pollution are often locally specific, an assessment of pollution resulting from the whole motorway network would be very complex and so is not undertaken. When individual proposals are assessed, detailed analysis is undertaken.
With regard to CO2 produced in the motorway network, changes to CO2 emissions over time, and as a result of schemes are produced as set out in the Department's Road Transport Forecasts 2008, and the Active Traffic Management study. Some of this evidence will include valuations of the CO2 changes.
National Express: East Coast Railway Line
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of each report on the due diligence process carried out by his Department on the financial viability of the east coast bid in the course of the franchising process. [289204]
Chris Mole: The National Express pre-qualification application was compliant in accordance with Treasury procurement guidelines. National Express Group committed, as part of its bid, a £40 million loan facility that was sufficient to maintain its contractual liquidity requirements, given its bid revenue projections, over the franchise term. Its bid was considered affordable.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether his Department has engaged consultants to advise on the status of the cross-default clauses in the National Express east coast franchise. [289222]
Chris Mole: The Department for Transport is taking extensive legal advice on the status of the cross-default clauses in the National Express east coast franchise.
Parking
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what regulatory provisions apply to the operation of public car parks operated by private companies. [284285]
Mr. Khan: The management of privately-owned car parks must be carried out in accordance with the general legislation applying to businesses, including consumer legislation and employment legislation.
Passenger Ships
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether alcohol will be allowed to be served in designated smoking cabins when the forthcoming smoking bans on cruise ships and passenger ferries come into force. [287943]
Paul Clark: Legislation on when and where alcohol may be served on cruise ships and passenger ferries will not be affected by the draft "Merchant Shipping (Prohibition of Smoking on Ships) Regulations" which are currently the subject of a public consultation exercise.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment he has made of the adequacy of resources available to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to enable enforcement of the proposed prohibition on smoking on ships and ferries. [288417]
Paul Clark: The deployment of Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) resources is considered as part of the regular discussions between the Agency and the Department for Transport on all aspects on MCA business.
Public Expenditure
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much of his Department's budget is linked to objectives of promoting health and well-being. [289208]
Chris Mole:
The Department for Transport's annual report and accounts for 2008-09, published on 16 July 2009, sets out the Department's budgets by Departmental
Strategic Objective (DSO) (annex A, table A2 page 218). Spend on promoting health and well-being is predominantly included within DSO 3 ("contribute to better safety, security and health") and DSO 5 ("improve quality of life and to promote a healthy natural environment").
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much he plans to allocate to each of the schemes referred to in "Building Britain's Future", Cm 7654, which are not directly related to transport. [289234]
Chris Mole: The Department for Transport has provided £350 million towards the £1.5 billion additional investment over the next two years to deliver 20,000 additional energy efficient, affordable homes to rent or buy. It is not contributing to any other schemes referred to in "Building Britain's Future" that are not directly related to transport.
Railways
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport on what percentage of rail routes slam-door carriages have been removed since 2000. [289196]
Chris Mole: The withdrawal from all routes of Mark 1 design slam-door carriages, which were the subject of the 10-Year Plan for Transport, was completed in November 2005, apart from two units on the Lymington Branch which will be retired shortly.
Other slam-door designs, such as Mark 2s and 3s, remain in service but these were not the subject of the 10-Year Plan for Transport as they are fitted with central door locking, which prevents the doors from being opened while the train is in motion.
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