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  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US and other NATO counterparts on the nuclear tests being conducted by North Korea; and what steps he is taking to help prevent North Korea’s development of a nuclear arsenal.

    Alok Sharma

    Following the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducting its fifth nuclear test on 9 September, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), made clear that the UK strongly condemned the test, which is a flagrant violation of binding UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions. The UK has worked closely with international partners for many years to respond to the nuclear weapons and missile programmes of the DPRK.

    The UNSC agreed wide-ranging sanctions following the fourth nuclear test in January, which contained some of the strongest measures the UNSC has ever adopted. As I said on 23 September at the UN Security Council meeting, "there is now a need to work immediately on further significant measures." The UK is working with international partners on further significant measures the UNSC can take in response to the fifth test.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with insurance companies on dealing with accidents caused by driverless cars.

    Mr John Hayes

    My officials in the Department for Transport, and the cross-Whitehall Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, are meeting regularly with leading insurance companies and industry organisations, such as the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and the Association of British Insurers. These discussions include considering how the ongoing introduction of connectivity and automated technologies in vehicles will change the way that motor insurance works in the short, medium and long term, and how the industry will need to adapt when dealing with accidents. We have subsequently consulted on insurance proposals for automated vehicles, as announced in the Queen’s Speech earlier this year and will publish our summary of responses shortly.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on steps to ensure that maintenance of flight connections between Belfast Aldergrove Airport and New York.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Department for Transport was briefed on several occasions by the Northern Ireland Office on the Northern Ireland Executive’s considerations on steps to ensure the maintenance of flight connections between Belfast Aldergrove Airport and New York. The Department was not actively involved in this matter.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has received assurances from Volkswagen that fixes made in response to problems with emissions testing will be completed in 2016.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government continues to take the unacceptable actions of the Volkswagen Group extremely seriously and I have pressed the company to ensure that they are implementing the technical solutions as quickly as possible for UK consumers.

    I recently summoned Volkswagen UK to a meeting where they set out their intention to have “fixed” 90% of affected UK vehicles by June 2017. To date, of the 1.2 million affected vehicles in the UK, 479,000 have had a technical solution approved and approximately 180,000 have been “fixed”.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects new rolling stock to be deployed on the Manchester to Stalybridge railway line.

    Paul Maynard

    TransPennine Express plan to see new rolling stock deployed on the Manchester to Stalybridge line progressively from mid-2018.

    Northern plan to deploy refurbished rolling stock on the Manchester to Stalybridge line and will introduce their fleet refurbishment programme progressively across the network from 2018 up until the end of 2019 which includes recovering seats, new floor coverings, Wi-Fi, LED lighting, and passenger information system.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment Network Rail has made of the (a) available capacity on the Stalybridge to Stockport railway line and (b) feasibility of providing additional passenger services on that railway line.

    Paul Maynard

    1) Available capacity on the Stalybridge to Stockport railway line

    The single line sections limit the track capacity on this route, which is currently used for frequent freight services and empty stock moves for Northern Rail.

    Platform and track capacity at Stockport is also a constraint on service expansion in this area.

    2) Feasibility of providing additional passenger services on that railway line.

    Additional services on this route are not committed by Northern during the current franchise. To support expansion of services in the future, DfT and Rail North contracted a Service Option Fund through Northern’s Franchise Agreement that will be used from 2019 onwards to assist with the operating cost impact of running extra services.

    The assessment of which service options are the most beneficial will be done in consultation with stakeholders (through Rail North) and will include analysis of the business case for each route to ensure that all relevant factors are considered.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the electrification works on the Manchester to Stalybridge railway line.

    Paul Maynard

    The electrification works on the railway line between Manchester and Stalybridge (Phase 5 of the North West Electrification Programme), due by December 2017 will see the installation of infrastructure and improvements to facilitate overhead electrification of the railway line, delivering journey time benefits for passengers in the north of England.

    Good progress has been made on the design and planning aspects of the project. Canopy works at Stalybridge station have been completed to achieve high level clearance required for electrification, and track interventions have taken place on Phase 5 infrastructure, including track lowering and renewals to enable electrification. Detailed Design is progressing well and is at an advanced stage of development.

    This is an extremely complex engineering project ensuring electrification is delivered alongside capacity and journey time improvements. Network Rail continue to work with their contractors to develop a delivery programme to maximise passenger benefits and minimise disruption to a busy passenger and freight rail corridor.

  • Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Southeastern railway on the leasing of the current Thameslink rolling stock immediately after new Thameslink trains become available; and if he will make a statement.

    Paul Maynard

    The Department is exploring the provision of additional rolling stock to Southeastern, in order to lengthen services and increase capacity for passengers. This requires extensive commercial negotiations with Southeastern. We are continuing to work with Southeastern to develop the business case, and an announcement will be made in due course.

  • Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent from the public purse on bus services per capita in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, formerly Centro and (c) each region of England from 2009-10 to the most recent financial year for which information is available.

    Andrew Jones

    The attached table shows the estimated revenue spend on bus services and estimated revenue spend per capita on bus services for the English regions, West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority and Birmingham for 2009/10 to 2014/15, the years for which data are available.

    The table also shows figures used to derive the total revenue spend from:

    • Bus Service Operator Grant paid by Department for Transport (DfT) directly to bus operators
    • Local authority expenditure on concessionary fares (from Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) estimates)
    • Local authority expenditure on support to bus operators (from DCLG estimates)

    The estimates do not include spend from DCLG estimates on ‘public and other transport planning, policy and strategy’ and ‘public transport management’ that could relate to bus services. It is not possible to determine the extent of spend on bus services in these categories from the DCLG figures. Also, any local authority or DfT capital spend on bus infrastructure has been excluded.

    Local authority revenue spend is not available for Birmingham. They receive a proportion of the funding from West Midlands ITA to run bus services in their area that is not disaggregated in the DCLG local authority spend estimates.

  • Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total amount of capital spending per capita by Highways England was in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands Metropolitan County and (c) each region of England from 2009-10 to the most recent financial year for which information is available.

    Mr John Hayes

    The majority of the capital investment made by Highways England (and the Highways Agency prior to April 2015) is in large schemes that cross city, county and regional boundaries. Data cannot be meaningfully collected on this basis.

    However, for the purpose of national transport statistics, spend is apportioned between regions using an established estimation process and is published up to the financial year 2013/14 at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transport-statistics-great-britain in the series of tables TSGB0717 / RDE0101.

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