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Road Schemes (Open Space)
Mrs. Rosie Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria are used in the evaluation for COBA of public open space to be acquired for road schemes.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : In addition to the DV's valuation in COBA, the manual of environmental appraisal requires the appraisal framework to include full reference to any public open space taken by a road scheme, and the effect on those who use it.
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The Department is required to provide replacement public open space, of satisfactory quality, for any taken for road schemes. The cost of this is also included in the COBA appraisal.The Department accepts the independent valuation of the district valuer for all land and property costs used in the assessment of road schemes.
Shipping (Western Isles)
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the density of shipping traffic on the Atlantic side of the Western Isles where the sea depth is 100m.
Mr. Portillo : The Department of Transport does not have this information.
Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many navigation lights and radar reflectors are at present deployed on the western side of the Western Isles.
Mr. Portillo : There are 13 navigation lights and one radar beacon (racon). For general navigation the Northern Lighthouse Board maintains three major lights at Barra Head, Butt of Lewis and Flannan Isles, and two minor lights at Carloway and Greinam in the Isle of Lewis. For local navigation, local bodies provide eight other minor lights. The Ministry of Defence operates a racon at Monach off North Uist.
British Rail (Staff)
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what directions have been given to the British Railways Board in respect of reductions in staffing or manpower of its employees ; and what efficiency targets or other targets have been given to the board which impinge on future staffing levels.
Mr. Portillo : The only formal directions given to the railways board in recent years concern accounting provision and loan repayments. The objectives which the Government wish the board to pursue were set out in a letter from the Secretary of State to the Chairman on 21 October 1986, and published in the Official Report of the same day (columns 772-74). The quality of service standards agreed between the Government and board were published in the Official Report on 17 July 1987 (columns 671-72). It is for the board to decide how best to meet those objectives, including the levels of manpower required.
British Rail (Meetings)
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the chairman of British Rail ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. Portillo : My right hon. Friend last met the chairman of British Rail on 26 January at the launch of the central London rail study.
Driving Licences
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultations he has had with named bodies or persons having experience of administration of
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driving licences for private drivers, public service licences, and licences for heavy goods vehicles ; and if he will place responses to such consultations in the Library.Mr. Peter Bottomley : The Department's officials have regular meetings with those involved with the operation of the ordinary and vocational licensing systems. The Department consulted widely last year about proposals for a new unified licensing system. A summary of the responses was placed in the Library.
Public Appeals
Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will specify each donation made by his Department in response to public appeals for financial aid during each financial year since 1979-80.
Mr. Portillo : The information is :
Donation to |£
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|1979-80 to
Channel ferry disaster fund |1985-86 |nil
King's Cross disaster fund |1986-87 |<1>1,000,000
Clapham junction disaster fund |1987-88 |250,000
East midlands air crash disaster fund |1988-89 |250,000
|<2>150,000
<1> Repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund, which was repaid in
1987-88.
<2> The balance of the Government donation of £250,000 was met by the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has as to the annual cost in
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each of the past 10 years of the issue of drivers' licences by the driver and vehicle licensing centre, Swansea ; and if he will give the number of staff employed in each year at the centre for this purpose.Mr. Peter Bottomley : The total cost of operating the driver licensing system and the staff employed in DVLCs driver licensing division in each of the last 10 years is as follows :
Financial year |£ million |Licensing division staff
|numbers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1978-79 |12.3 |1,053
1979-80 |11.3 |901
1980-81 |12.7 |919
1981-82 |16.0 |949
1982-83 |17.6 |942
1983-84 |19.4 |932
1984-85 |20.5 |915
1985-86 |20.3 |965
1986-87 |20.4 |964
1987-88 |21.0 |915
|------
Total cost |171.5
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will detail the number of driving licences issued to new drivers in each of the last 10 years, together with the total number of valid licences in each year and the percentage of the total that new drivers' licences represent.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The table provides the required information.
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|1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of driving licences issued
to new drivers |1,346,373|1,382,060|1,290,680|1,348,336|1,135,724|1,273,977|1,202,565|1,193,244|1,120,315|1,177,748
Total number of valid licences
issued |6,271,974|6,622,997|6,199,578|6,665,962|6,346,080|5,666,748|5,621,893|5,621,893|6,320,371|6,656,681
Percentage of total that new
drivers represent |21.47 |20.87 |20.82 |20.23 |17.90 |22.48 |21.39 |18.88 |17.89 |17.69
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many driving licences were reissued in each of the past 10 years as a result of (a) a change of address, (b) loss, (c) disqualified drivers requalifying and (d) other causes ; and what percentage of the total number of licences issued in each of these years each of these categories represent.
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Mr. Peter Bottomley : There are no statistics available about the number of driving licences issued for change of address. The driving licence form which is used for this purpose may also be used for change of name--for example, females on marriage. The statistics are therefore combined. The table shows the categories of licences issued in the last 10 years.
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|(a) |(b) |(c) |(d)
|Change of address |per cent. of total |Loss (duplicates) |per cent. of total |Disqualification (renewal|per cent. of total |Others |per cent. of total |Total licences issued
|including names |after disqualification) |(including first issues
|(replacements) |to new applicants)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |1,434,904 |22.88 |201,177 |3.21 |61,883 |0.99 |3,227,637 |51.46 |6,271,974
1980 |1,560,646 |23.56 |234,876 |3.55 |66,166 |1.00 |3,379,249 |51.02 |6,622,997
1981 |1,394,394 |22.49 |206,631 |3.33 |58,422 |0.94 |3,249,451 |52.41 |6,199,578
1982 |1,773,176 |26.60 |272,278 |4.08 |65,324 |0.98 |3,206,848 |48.10 |6,665,962
1983 |1,955,790 |30.31 |271,983 |4.29 |59,354 |0.94 |2,923,229 |46.06 |6,346,080
1984 |2,058,675 |36.33 |304,078 |5.37 |73,852 |1.30 |1,956,166 |34.52 |5,666,748
1985 |2,222,845 |39.54 |340,650 |6.06 |80,857 |1.44 |1,775,636 |31.58 |5,621,893
1986 |2,752,320 |43.55 |377,247 |5.97 |87,386 |1.38 |1,910,177 |30.22 |6,320,371
1987 |2,796,194 |44.65 |396,010 |6.32 |89,623 |1.43 |1,859,915 |27.70 |6,262,057
1988 |3,052,674 |45.86 |441,056 |6.63 |88,872 |1.34 |1,896,331 |28.49 |6,656,681
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North-West (Road Building)
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the road building work contracts in the north-west during 1988-89 scheduled to cost over £1 million.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : Following is the table :