HC Deb 19 May 2004 vol 421 cc999-1000W
Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to minimise the movement of radioactive material. [173477]

Mr. Jamieson

[holding answer 17 May 2004]: We are not aware of any shipments of radioactive materials having taken place without a justifiable reason.

Percentage
Rail users1 Bus users2
Socio-economic group (SEG) All persons aged 16 and over Outside London London South East Outside London
Professional/managerial 14 21 24 25 8
Intermediate non-manual 10 14 16 14 8
Junior non-manual 12 14 14 17 13
Skilled manual 12 8 9 7 8
Other manual/other SEGs 14 13 9 11 17
Retired 26 19 16 18 30
Other economically inactive 12 11 14 8 15
All persons 100 100 100 100 100
1 Use surface rail more than twice a year (31 per cent. of all persons aged 16 and over).
2 Use a local bus more than twice a year (47 per cent. of all persons aged 16 and over).

Mr. Truswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards the targets for bus services agreed between his Department and the Confederation for Passenger Transport announced on 30 April 2002(a) in London and (b) outside London; and what further action he proposes to take to ensure that those targets are achieved. [173469]

Mr. McNulty

Progress towards the four bus service targets agreed between the Department and the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) in 2002 is monitored regularly through surveys.

With regard to reliability, the results for the quarter year October to December 2003 showed that 98.5 per cent. of scheduled local bus mileage was operated in England, using seasonally adjusted data. The figure for London was 97.5 per cent. and that for the rest of England 98.8 per cent. In the baseline year, 2000–01, 98.2 per cent. of scheduled local bus mileage was operated. The target is for operators to run 99.5 per cent. of all scheduled mileage.

On bus fleet age, the most recent results from CPT for the age of their members' full size bus fleet showed an average age of 7.5 years at 1 July 2002. The target is to maintain an average fleet age of no more than eight

In the UK and worldwide the overwhelming majority of radioactive material movements are associated with medical care. These materials often have a very short shelf life, and may be delivered in response to individual patient needs. Other requirements, such as the need for secure storage, also influence the number of shipments of radioactive material.