§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what targets have been set by the Government for cutting evasion of vehicle excise duty from the introduction of the Stingray system in(a) Scotland and (b) the rest of the UK. [11234]
§ Mr. JamiesonWe have set a target of 700,000 successful cases against evasion of vehicle excise duty for Great Britain in 2001–02. The mobile camera system will help to achieve this demanding target.
§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when the Stingray system is to be used throughout the country. [11236]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe national launch of the new mobile camera system took place in London on 11 October. The systems are now in use across the country.
§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated cost is of implementing the Stingray system in(a) Scotland and (b) the rest of the UK. [11232]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe full cost of implementing the mobile camera system which will be used across the UK was around £2 million including the purchase of the equipment, staff and other costs. The units are mobile and will be displayed flexibly across the UK.
§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what savings he estimates will arise from the introduction of the Stingray system. [11230]
§ Mr. JamiesonWe estimate that the new mobile camera system will generate around £9 million per annum in additional revenue from enforcement action against evaders and from increased voluntary relicensing.
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§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated cost is of the advertising campaign for the introduction of the Stingray system. [11229]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe cost of publicising the VED enforcement campaign, including the new mobile number plate readers, was £640,000 for the national launch in London on 11 October and £240,000 in Scotland on 23 October. A further £1 million will be spent on additional campaigns involving the new system for the remainder of the UK over the rest of the year.
§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans the Government have to monitor the effectiveness of the Stingray system; and if he will make a statement. [11235]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe effectiveness of the new mobile camera system will be monitored by: the number of unlicensed vehicles captured by the system; the number of successful cases pursued against VED evaders captured by the system; the penalties, fines and revenue recovered from those evaders, and the deterrent effect measured by the additional revenue received from induced relicensing as a result of the publicity campaigns.
§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated running costs are for the Stingray system. [11231]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe estimated running costs for the 11 units of the mobile camera system is £1.2 million per annum.