§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what recent assessment he has made of the performance of(a) Trinity House Lighthouse Service and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority, including details of performance targets; what reports are published on their performance and if he will place copies of such reports in the Library; [76473]
(2) how many people are employed by (a) the Trinity House Lighthouse Service and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority; what their role and terms of reference are; what their annual budget was for each year since 1997–98; and what their projected budget is for 2002–03. [76196]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe information is as follows:
(a) Trinity House Lighthouse Service Average number of employees (inc. part-time) part-time 1997–98 545 55 1998–99 527 63 1999–2000 466 13 2000–01 450 15 2001–02 439 16 2002–03 1 436 1 16 1 Average for the year to 30 September 2002 The role of Trinity House Lighthouse Service is to provide and maintain aids to navigation around the coastline of England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar and to deliver a reliable and economical service that enable all classes of mariner to navigate safely within its area of responsibility.
The annual budget figures are given in the table:
£ million 1997–98 29,187 1998–99 29,362 1999–2000 28,587 2000–01 30,364 2001–02 30,203 2002–03 31,998 Trinity House Lighthouse Service (THLS) measures the availability of the aids to navigation against the service standards set by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA). These performance indicators are set out in the Report and Accounts of the General Lighthouse Fund 2000–2001, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. They indicate that most aids to navigation provided by THLS exceed the IALA standards for availability for use.
593W(b) Strategic Rail Authority
On 31 March 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority employed 463 staff (including BRB (Residuary) Limited and Rail Passengers' Council staff, but excluding the British Transport Police). The Authority's purposes and strategies are set out in sections 205–209 of the Transport Act 2000, together with the manner in which the Authority is to exercise its functions. Directions and guidance under sections 206(3) and 207(5) of the 2000 Act were issued to the Authority on 26 September 2002.
The Authority was established on 1 February 2001 with a budget of £329,555,000 for the last two months of 2000–01. Its budgets for 2001–02 and 2002–03 were, respectively, £1,796,749,000 and £2,149,998,000. The Authority's main predecessor body was the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). The table shows OPRAFs annual budgets from 1997–98 onwards.
Cash prices (£) 1997–98 1,516,385,000 1998–99 1,254,889,000 1999–2000 1,110,889,000 2000–01 1 1,032,889,000 1 Of the £1,032,889,000 total, £321,555,000 was used to help fund the SRA in February(March 2001. Details of the expenditure funded from those budgets are set out in OPRAF's and the Authority's annual reports and accounts.
The Authority reports on progress against its objectives in its annual reports. Its most recent report, for 2001–02, was published and placed in the House Library in July 2002.