To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what account she plans to take of her Department's Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources study on aircraft noise in formulating policy.

The Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England (ANASE) study provided a better understanding of the complex issues surrounding aircraft noise although as the peer reviewers made clear it does not give sufficiently robust figures on which it would be safe to change policy. The Department for Transport is in the course of evaluating and considering the recommendations made for further research.

The study makes clear that there is no particular threshold of noise at which people become very much more annoyed. In addition, the report does not provide evidence for increasing or reducing the figure of 57 dBA Leq (16 hours) as the onset of significant community annoyance. However we believe it is right that we retain this as a safeguard for those who are most affected by aircraft noise. In the 'Future of Air' Transport White Paper the Government gave a commitment that further development of Heathrow could only be considered if it resulted in no net increase in the total area of the 57 dBA noise contour compared with summer 2002, a contour area of 127 sq km. That commitment stands and the ability to meet it is a key consideration in the current consultation on adding capacity at Heathrow.

Additionally, as we announced when the ANASE study was released, pending the availability of a better alternative we will apply existing valuation for road and rail noise when assessing the economic impact of noise in the cost-benefit analysis of future aviation projects. We have taken this approach in the case of Heathrow consultation.

The findings from ANASE suggest that further work would be useful in a number of areas. As a first step the Department has recently chaired a meeting of the Air Noise Monitoring Committee (ANMAC) whose role is to advise the Department on policy relating to aircraft noise. The Department is working with the committee to prioritise further research and produce a programme or work.