§ Dr. NaysmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has exercised his powers under Section 218 (2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to change the format of the General Lighthouse Fund's accounting records; what Accounts Direction he has issued to the General Lighthouse Fund on generally accepted accounting practice and additional disclosure requirements; and whether these requirements will be applied in the 2002 GLF report and Accounts. [73394]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Secretary of State is responsible for the preparation of the General Lighthouse Fund Accounts. These accounts consolidate the accounts of the three General Lighthouse Authorities with those of the Fund. The format of the Accounts is agreed with the National Audit Office (NAO) having regard to generally accepted accounting policy and Treasury guidance. An accounts direction is under discussion with the NAO for agreement later this year. The 2002–03 accounts will be prepared to the new format.
§ Dr. NaysmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the annual financial contribution in euros has been from the Irish Government under the
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§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many complaints about smoky vehicles have been made to the Smoky Vehicle Hotline(a) in each of the past four years and (b) during 2002; [74706]
(2) how many vehicles were inspected by the Vehicles Inspectorate (a) in each of the last four years and (b) during the current year to date because of an unsatisfactory response by the licensed operator to a letter from the Inspectorate following a complaint to the Smoky Vehicle Hotline; [74705]
(3) how many licensed operators were written to by the Vehicles Inspectorate (a) in each of the last four years and (b) during 2002 following complaints reported to the Smoky Vehicle Hotline. [74707]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe table below shows the number of calls about smoky vehicles recorded by the Vehicle Inspectorate in each of the last four years and during the financial year to date. The number of calls actionable by the Inspectorate, that is those calls which relate to "O" licensed vehicles and which contain sufficient information for the vehicle and operator to be identified, are also shown. The Inspectorate does not record the number of vehicles inspected due to an unsatisfactory response to a letter from the Inspectorate following a complaint to the smoky vehicle hotline. However, this does not indicate that no action is taken. Follow-up action may take the form of a fleet check and this enforcement activity would be recorded separately.
terms of an agreement reached in 1985 for the sharing of certain costs incurred by the Commissioners of Irish Lights in the Republic of Ireland. [73395]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe contribution from the Irish Government in 2000/01 was 2,110,825 million euros and in 2001/02 is forecast to be 3,214,780 million euros.
The amount given is for each financial year, that is from April to March, and not each calendar year.
§ Dr. NaysmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made in discussions between the General Lighthouse Authorities and the Ministry of Defence on the transfer to the GLAs of the MoD's navigation buoys in the UK waters; and if he will make it his policy that the residual costs to the GLAs of maintaining the buoys be met by the MoD if the transfer takes place. [73397]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe maintenance and funding of the aids to navigation required by the Ministry of Defence is a matter for the Secretary of State for Defence. Under Section 197(8) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as amended, the General Lighthouse authorities are 721W empowered to undertake buoy work for other bodies. Any agreement to carry out work for MOD or any other organisation would be subject to contractual negotiations. There are no plans to take on the MOD aids at the current time.