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Travel

  

Transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions and also has more localised negative impacts such as congestion, noise and poor air quality. With nearly 9,000 fleet cars and several hundred thousand staff travelling to work each day, the Government Estate has an important role to play in achieving the Government's aims for transport.

Published in July 2002, Part B of the Framework concentrates on travel targets, with particular focus on reducing emissions and congestion from road travel associated with civil service commuters and departmental fleets by March 2006.

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Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Target B1)

Using 2002-03 as a baseline, Target B1 requires Departments to reduce road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions by at least ten per cent by 31st March 2006. This can be achieved through any combination of:

  1. Reducing total business vehicle mileage;
  2. Improving the average fuel efficiency of vehicles;
  3. Reducing total fuel consumed.

This provides Departments with the flexibility to choose the combination most appropriate to their circumstances.

The 2002-03 baseline for carbon dioxide emissions showed that the Government Estate produced more than 80 thousand tonnes of carbon emissions from travel related sources.

The data provided by Departments for carbon dioxide emissions over the period 2003-04 are largely incomplete. It is therefore difficult to provide a meaningful picture overall. The issues related to data gathering and reporting for this target will be reviewed and improvements will be implemented in line with reporting for the period 2004-05.

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Alternatively Fuelled Car Fleet (Target B2)

Against the baseline year of 2002-03, all Departments are required to have at least ten per cent of their fleet cars running on alternative fuels by 31 March 2006.

Alternative fuelled cars include those running on LPG, bio-fuels, natural gas, hybrid fuels or are electrically powered. Fleet is defined as all owned and leased cars used by each Department.

Figure 5 shows the proportion of Departmental car fleets running on alternative fuels in 2003-04 as compared to 2002-03.

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Figure 5: Proportion of Departmental Fleet Cars Running on Alternative Fuels

Dept 2002-03 2003-04
ONS   0
ODPM 4 13
LOD 6.6 50
IR 2 2.54
HO 0.9 1
FCO 21.9 29
ECGD   0
DWP 21.8 28
DoH 0.6 3.4
DfT 11.3 9.52
DflD 100 66
DfES 13.3 11.4
DEFRA 2.9 7.13
DCMS 75.5 100
DCA 0.7  
DTI 0 0
C & E 5.3 5.6

The uptake of alternatively fuelled cars is not consistent across Departments. DWP accounts for two-thirds of the total Government alternatively fuelled car fleet (644 of a total 966) and currently has 28 per cent of its car fleet running on alternative fuels. DfT also has a large fleet (609 in total) and has recently met the ten per cent target. A number of Departments with a small car fleet (e.g. DCMS, DfID and CO) also have a high percentage of alternative fuelled cars. However, only seven Departments have reached the 2006 target of ten per cent by the end of the financial year 2003-04. MoD has not provided data for the past two years.

Increasingly, car manufacturers are moving towards reducing emissions by producing cleaner diesel and petrol engines rather than alternatively fuelled vehicles. Some Departments have responded to this by encouraging drivers to select vehicles with standard diesel engines meeting Euro IV standards. This issue and the targets will be addressed by the Government as part of the Framework review. Within the MoD, the RAF has achieved a 8.3% reduction in fuel consumption through the replacement of older leased fleet vehicles with fuel efficient models.

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IR and the use of alternatively fuelled vehicles

IR has one of the largest Government car fleets and is working to provide and promote alternatively fuelled vehicles for Assisted Car Schemes (ACS) and Pool car users choice lists. So far the take up on both schemes has been slow due to higher leasing costs. In response, IR are considering:

  • Introducing more fuel efficient small diesels for the Pool fleet, to help reduce CO2 emissions;
  • Reviewing the utilisation of Pool cars (days used, number of journeys etc) to establish whether the car is needed and whether the business travel could be undertaken by another method.

IR has also reviewed its replacement policy and continues to replace vehicles at two year intervals to ensure that they are providing the cleanest vehicles that the current engine technology provides.

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Single Occupancy Car Commuting (Target B3)

Against the baseline year of 2002-03, each Department is required to reduce the number of employees who commute as single occupants of their cars by five per cent by 31 March 2006.

Single occupancy is defined as those staff members who travelled the full journey to work without any other passengers (i.e. staff members and/or family and friends).

The 2002-03 baseline year reported a total of 43,300 staff commuting to work by car, of whom 72 per cent were single occupants. However, this return reflects the position with twelve Departments which supplied data. A number of Departments with extensive regional coverage did not provide data (including MoD, DWP and HO).

For 2003-04 Departmental data on employee commuting remained limited. Eleven Departments supplied data, at least in part, and reported a total of 61,886 staff commuting to work by car. ODPM was the only new Department to supply information this year. Despite providing information for 2002-03, DfES did not respond for 2003-04. ECGD was also unable to provide the number of single occupancy commuters. Based on the information provided, the single occupancy rate was approximately 74 per cent, showing a slight deterioration in performance since the baseline year. Individual performance is outlined in Figure 6.

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Figure 6: Single Occupancy Car Commuting

Dept 2002-03 2003-04
HMT 100 100
DCMS 35 100
ONS 88 93
ODPM   12
DEFRA 82 83
FCO 81 77
DfT 37 33
IR 69 72
C amp; E 59.9 17
DflD 95 47
LOD 41.6 96
ECGD 77  
DfES 83  

Overall, Departments have had difficulty in providing data for commuting. Some of the key reasons given for this include:

  • Staff travel surveys are carried out on a voluntary basis and often have a poor response rate;
  • Large Departments such as the DWP find it impractical to collect this type of data when staff are spread over so many sites; and
  • Departments mostly based in London (e.g. DTI) did not consider carrying out staff surveys as cost effective since the majority of staff travel to work by public transport.

Despite limited data, a number of Departments provided details on how they were working towards a reduction in car commuting. At DCMS staff are offered an interest free advance in salary to buy season tickets for public transport. Showers and bike racks are provided to encourage staff to cycle to work. Staff are also encouraged to walk to other offices if attending a meeting instead of using public transport or cabs - walking maps to other offices are posted on the Lifestyle channel of the Department's Intranet. Defra, DfT, DflD, DoH, DTI, FCO, IR, MoD and ONS have also reported similar initiatives (including staff mini-bus services and teleconferencing) to promote alternatives to car use.

As mode of travel is an individual choice, it is difficult for Departments to influence performance against this target. Nevertheless, many Departments are making efforts to promote alternatives to car use.

Departmental Data

For more detail on the how specific Departments within the UK Government are achieveing these targets, please access our Search Departmental Data section.

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Report 2004
 

Updated: 07 March 2005

  
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