Department for Transport 'failing on key targets' - Transport Select Committee
Thu 15 February 2007
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The Transport Select Committee, the body of MPs responsible for scrutinising the Government's performance in the area of transport, says that the Department for Transport is failing to meet five out of seven of its key public service targets. One of the five targets being missed is for greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emission reductions to tackle climate change .
In its annual report on the DfT's performance (for 2006), the Transport Select Committee says that despite expenditure of £13.5bn, Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for congestion (twice), public transport patronage and air quality are being missed, in addition to the climate change target. The two targets being met are for rail reliability/punctuality and for road safety.
PSA targets were introduced in 2004 as a contract between the Government and the public. They were designed to show what taxpayers were getting for their money.
The DfT's climate change target is shared jointly with DEFRA and DTI. It is: "To reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 12.5 per cent below 1990 levels in line with our Kyoto commitment and move towards a 20 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions below 1990 levels by 2010, through measures including energy efficiency and renewables."
The Committee's report states that: "The Department’s Annual Report does not give details of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by the transport sector. This omission allows the Department to disguise its poor performance. We recommend that the new PSA target, to be established in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, must allow proper scrutiny of the Department’s performance in this policy area, and identify greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector alone. This will help guide action to reduce the transport sector’s contribution to climate change."
The Committee, chaired by Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, says that the Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander, "will need to take bolder measures than the Department has been prepared to take forward to date." The Committee's report says that it was encouraged by the Secretary of State’s indication of a renewed commitment to cut transport emissions but added: "given that transport is the worst perrforming sector in the UK, we await tangible evidence that this is indeed the case.
On the prospect of aviation being included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the Committee said that "it is a step in the right direction, but the Department must not put too much stock in this single measure".
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