Paul Clark:
I met representatives of Unite the Union on 21 July last year to discuss their ‘Lighten Up’ campaign about the effects of aircraft baggage weights on the health of their members. This followed a meeting between
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the Secretary of State for Transport and Unite on 27 April 2009 at which the health and safety of baggage handlers was discussed. In addition, I addressed the Unite sectoral conference on aviation on this and other matters on 23 November 2009.
Crossrail: Recruitment
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will ensure that notification of job vacancies arising from the Crossrail scheme is made through Jobcentre Plus before such vacancies are advertised elsewhere. [316833]
Mr. Khan: Crossrail Ltd. has established a partnership with Jobcentre Plus to maximise the number of local people employed on the Crossrail scheme. Under these arrangements, Crossrail contractors' vacancies will be advertised through Jobcentre Plus 48 hours before the contractor advertises elsewhere. These arrangements are set out in a draft Memorandum of Understanding between Jobcentre Plus and Crossrail which will shortly be finalised.
Vacancies for posts within Crossrail Ltd. itself are not advertised through Jobcentre Plus; the majority of these positions require particularly specific role/industry experience or specialist technical skills. Vacancies in Crossrail Ltd. are therefore advertised on the Crossrail website at:
www.crossrail.co.uk/company/careers-and-training/vacancies
Departmental Art Works
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2010, Official Report, column 994W, on departmental public expenditure, on what items of art (a) his Department's London headquarters spent £504,606, (b) the Marine Accident Investigation Branch spent £103, (c) the Highways Agency spent £1,799,366 and (d) the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency spent £164,179. [316505]
Chris Mole: As advised previously the Department for Transport spent £1,162 on art in 2008-09; there was no other expenditure on art within that period.
Freedom of Information
Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2010, Official Report, columns 342-43W, on departmental correspondence, for what reasons he did not include within his Department's disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 of the full set of emails from 19 September 2007 to 12 November 2007 between his Department and BAA regarding the Project for the Sustainable Development of Heathrow, an email received on 19 September 2007 at 10:17 (sender/receiver redacted) with the subject line: fwd:Re: PSDH:R3 2020. [316733]
Paul Clark:
A copy of the e-mail in question was disclosed to the hon. Member as part of the two bundles of correspondence supplied under cover of my letter of 19 November. The first bundle covered the period between
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19 September and 12 November 2007 and the second the period from then to the date of the Heathrow decisions in January 2009. The e-mail in question was not included in the first bundle only because, in the exercise to compile a record of the Heathrow papers, it had been filed under the date of a forwarding e-mail falling within the latter period.
M1
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many fatalities there were on the M1 in (a) sections with side run-off protection and (b) sections without side run-off protection in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [316447]
Chris Mole: The following table shows validated figures for all fatalities for the M1 in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
| M1 | 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 | 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 | 1 April 2008 to 31 December 2008(1) |
| (1) Validated data are only available up to 31 December 2008 | |||
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what proportion of the length of the M1 has side run-off protection; and what estimates he has made of the cost of installing such protection for the entire length of the M1. [316448]
Chris Mole: Approximately 45 per cent. of the M1 has side run-off protection.
To date there has been no estimate made of the cost of installing side run-off protection on the entire length of the M1. Such systems are put in place on sections of road that satisfy specific criteria as set out in Highways Agency standards. The need for such vehicle restraints is under constant review as part of operational requirements.
Railways: Fares
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will prescribe times between which train operating companies may charge peak fares for rail tickets. [316641]
Chris Mole: With the exception of the off-peak return, which, where regulated, must, as a minimum, be available during times defined in the franchise agreement, there are no restrictions in the defining of the peak hours in which peak tickets are required for travel.
The profile of passenger fares that constitutes the peak varies between franchise areas.
Off-peak day fares (old cheap day returns) are unregulated and train operators have the discretion to set the hours of their validity.
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Rescue Services: Hope Cove
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what maritime risks the capability review team took into account in deciding that the Hope Cove lifeboat should be permanently decommissioned. [316766]
Paul Clark: The maritime risks considered by the review team cover the broad categories of incidents at sea, on the beach, cliff, coastal path and in a tidal river. No decisions have been taken, or will be taken, about the future of the general purpose boat based at Hope Cove until after the current consultation exercise about the search and rescue provision in the southern part of the South West Peninsula.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport who was consulted on (a) the drafting of clause 42 of the Hope Cove lifeboat consultation document and (b) the future of the Hope Cove lifeboat; and how many visits to the Hope Cove consultation website have been recorded since its creation. [316767]
Paul Clark: There is no clause 42 within the consultation document. However paragraph 4.2 and its view on the future of the Hope Cove general purpose boat was developed by the collective local, regional and national HM Coastguard management with many years experience of assessing and providing Search and Rescue services.
The latest statistics available to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency show that as at 8 February 2010 the consultation web page had been viewed 172 times.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the cost to the public purse was of running the Hope Cove lifeboat since 1992. [316768]
Paul Clark: Officials at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have been asked to compile the requested data. The process involves reconciling a number of different data sources to provide the information requested in a helpful form. As soon as that information is available it will be placed in the Libraries of the House. It should be noted that, as per best practice, the MCA keeps financial records only for the previous six financial years so therefore will not be able to provide information prior to financial year 2004-05.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether the Hope Cove lifeboat crew was consulted on its new equipment before that equipment was issued. [316769]
Paul Clark: In line with standard Maritime and Coastguard Agency procedures, the Hope Cove General Purpose Boat Crew members were not consulted prior to their personal protective equipment being replaced.
To reflect the operating restrictions placed on the boat, helmets were changed to offer additional head protection in a “man overboard” situation and lifejackets were changed to those of an approved standard suitable for use on general purpose boats.
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Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether the Marine and Coastguard Agency would continue to task the Hope Cove lifeboat in circumstances in which it were privately run; and if he will take steps to ensure that the Hope Cove lifeboat is back in service by 1 March 2010. [316773]
Paul Clark: From the matrix of assets that are fit for purpose and available, Her Majesty's Coastguard will task the most appropriate declared search and rescue resource to deal with the given circumstances of a maritime incident. It is the view of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) that the resources available for search and rescue in the southern part of the South West Peninsula are sufficient to address the known maritime risks for that location, without the need for an additional boat at Hope Cove, whether or not that they were privately run. However, this is the subject of a consultation exercise at this time and no decisions about the future of the general purpose boat at Hope Cove will be taken until the consultation period is complete.
In the interim, the existing Coastguard General Purpose boat based at Hope Cove, which is not a primary search and rescue asset, will be available within the terms of its restricted operation, imposed to protect its crew, from the beginning of April.
Roads: Finance
Mark Hunter:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport which projects have been allocated funding
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from the £6 billion fund for national strategic roads announced in July 2008; how much each has been allocated
(a)
before the start of financial year 2009-10 and
(b)
in respect of financial year (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12, (iv) 2012-13, (v) 2013-14 and (vi) 2014-15; which of them are planned to start before the end of financial year 2009-10; and how much funding each such project has been allocated beyond financial year 2014-15. [316573]
Chris Mole [holding answer 9 February 2010]: The Command Paper ‘Roads—Delivering Choice and Reliability’, published in July 2008, announced that up to £6 billion had been made available to fund improvements to national strategic roads in England. The policy statement ‘Britain's Transport Infrastructure—Motorway and Major Trunk Roads’, published in January 2009, announced how the proposed investment was to be targeted.
Under current project governance arrangements, the Department makes an investment commitment only once a scheme is ready to commence construction. The preceding stages of scheme development are funded by the incremental release of phase budgets without making any commitment to fund the scheme beyond the next phase.
For this reason, the following analysis is confined to those schemes that have already secured investment commitment and have entered the construction phase.