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  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to Network Rail and Abellio Greater Anglia on introducing a higher frequency of train services on the line between London Liverpool Street and Clacton, particularly at weekday peak travel times.

    Claire Perry

    The Hon Member is aware that the Department is currently running a public consultation to help inform how we specify the next East Anglia franchise, which is due to commence in October 2016. All of the responses will be carefully considered before any decisions are taken and we will publish a stakeholder briefing document summarising the views represented to us and the consultation’s conclusions when we issue the invitation to tender for the franchise. The Hon Member is invited to submit his representations to the consultation.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to improve Clacton railway station.

    Claire Perry

    Any such improvements would be for the station operator to suggest. The Government believes that operators are better placed than central Government to react to the demands of their customers.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department plans to spend in Local Growth Deals announced from 5 December 2014 to 29 January 2015 on (a) roads, (b) public transport, (c) cycling and walking and (d) mixed mode schemes in each Local Enterprise Partnership area in each year from 2015-16 to 2020-21.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government announced an expansion of Growth Deals for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on 29 January 2015. This confirmed a total amount of additional funding for each LEP but, unlike the previous announcement in July 2014, did not specify the funding for individual projects that LEPs plan to deliver with this money. This is because many of the projects are at early stages of development and further work is required to finalise business cases, cost estimates and additional funding sources. For that reason it is not possible to provide the precise breakdown requested.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the change in real terms of the cost of travelling by (a) private car, (b) bus, (c) train and (d) domestic air flight between (i) 2000 and 2010 and (ii) 2010 and 2014.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport published statistics on travel costs, based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the Transport Statistics Great Britain compendium.

    Data from the independent ONS suggests that:

    (i) Between 2000 and 2010 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, declined by 8%, bus and coach fares increased by 20% and rail fares increased by 15% in real terms.

    (ii) Between 2010 and 2014 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, decreased by 5%, bus and coach fares increased by 2% and rail fares increased by 6% in real terms.

    (iii) The costs of travelling by air are not available from ONS data. However information is available based on fare data from the Civil Aviation Authority. The real cost of the average UK one-way air fare, including taxes and charges, covering domestic flights from 2000 to 2010 declined by 41% and from 2010 to 2013 declined by 4%, reflecting a range of factors including increased competition between airlines. Estimates for 2014 are not yet available.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 1 of Road Investment Strategy – Key Facts and Figures, how much of the £500 million allocated for the period 2015 to 2021 to address emerging priorities in period and fund staff to design, manage and deliver schemes will be spent on (a) addressing emerging priorities and (b) funding staff; what criteria will be used to select the emerging priorities; and what the cost will be of staff allocated to that task.

    Mr John Hayes

    The £0.5bn figure cited refers to the expected costs of developing proposals ahead of the next Road Investment Strategy. This includes the development of 14 major schemes to start work early in the next road period, as well as work to develop proposals from the next round of route strategies and strategic studies and any actions to take forward priorities emerging in the next parliament.

    The proportion of costs allocated to staff will depend on the precise nature of what is recommended and committed through this process. Given the nature of the design process, it is likely that a high proportion of the money allocated will be spent on engineers, designers, modellers and others involved in the early stages of development.

    Any decisions around specific commitments for the next road period, including the criteria by which they will be made, will be made in the next parliament. More detail on this process has been set out in part 6 of the draft licence for Highways England, which has been laid in the Library of the House and is available on gov.uk.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department plans will be made of the crashworthiness of any D78 London Underground train that is converted to mainline use.

    Claire Perry

    The assessment of the “crashworthiness” of a train is a matter for the prospective operator of that train.

    The “Crashworthiness” of rail vehicles is regulated and assessed by standards, laid down in the TSIs (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) and supported by ENs (Euro Norms, or standards). A vehicle’s compliance with these requirements is verified by an independent body, suitably appointed for the task.

    There is no government proposal to convert D78 London Underground stock to mainline use.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with Vivarail Ltd.

    Claire Perry

    On 13 January, Department for Transport officials met with Vivarail who explained their proposals for the refurbishment of D78-Stock.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government and Merseyrail on electrification of the Wrexham to Bidston railway line.

    Alun Cairns

    On 30 January, I held a transport summit with businesses and local stakeholders in north Wales including Merseytravel and Arriva Trains Wales. The summit discussed transport priorities across north Wales and the case for investing in cross border routes including the rail line between Wrexham and Bidston.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes his Department has agreed to enable housing associations to be informed when tenants migrate to universal credit.

    Mr Mark Harper

    The Social Security (Information-sharing in relation to Welfare Services etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 came into force on 13 February 2015 and enable the Department to inform social landlords whenever one of their tenants makes a claim for, or receives an award of, Universal Credit (UC) with housing costs, for the purposes of enabling social landlords to assess which UC claimants may need advice, support or assistance in relation to managing their financial affairs.

    The Department will write to social landlords when a tenant makes a claim for UC, or when a UC claimant becomes a tenant of theirs and the Department has confirmed the tenancy details. The letter will identify the tenant and confirm the date that UC has been claimed from. The information sharing with social landlords through these regulations is aimed at maximising relevant support for vulnerable UC claimants, including enabling social landlords to request Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA) for vulnerable claimants if needed. The Department’s proposals for sharing information with social landlords were published for public consultation last year. Apart from the public consultation, we have also been working closely with local authorities and representatives from the housing organisations in developing our plans for delivering this data sharing.

    This data sharing is being implemented on a test and learn basis, and initially being introduced from 16 February 2015 in areas where UC has been rolled out nationally for single people.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what definition the Government uses for classifying a zero hours contract.

    Jo Swinson

    There is no legal definition of a zero hours contract in UK domestic employment law. In general terms a zero hours contract is an arrangement under which an employer does not guarantee the individual any work, and the individual is not obliged to accept any work offered.

    The ONS in their Labour Force Survey describe a zero hours contract as a contract ‘where a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work’.