The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department collects statistics for the purposes of monitoring on the types of tickets purchased by bus passengers.
Andrew Jones
The National Travel Survey collects annual statistics from a sample of individuals in England on trips by various modes, including data on ticket types used for bus journeys.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the conclusions of the Aviation Environment Federation report, Aircraft Noise and Public Health, published on 12 January 2016, The Evidence is Loud and Clear.
Mr Robert Goodwill
I have had no representations on the conclusion of the report. I meet with airport noise community groups from time to time to hear about the issue of aircraft noise and its impact on residents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential safety implications of the mandatory introduction of dashboard cameras in (a) cars, (b) vans and (c) heavy goods vehicles.
Andrew Jones
No such assessment has been made. The provisions on forward vision for drivers are already regulated in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve the safety of hoverboards.
Anna Soubry
Self-balancing scooters, commonly referred to as hover-boards are regulated for safety under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations. These Regulations require products to be safe. Enforcement of the Regulations rests with Trading Standards for consumer products. Trading Standards have already prevented over 100,000 being made available to consumers and further action is being taken as appropriate.
The Regulations provide powers for non-compliant products to be prevented from being made available to consumers until they are brought into compliance. Where products are not brought into compliance Trading Standards can apply to the Courts for permission to destroy the goods.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has been working with Trading Standards to ensure consistency of approach to deal with these products and to raise the profile of the potential safety issues with consumers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its methods of alleviating road congestion on motorways after an incident; and what plans his Department has to improve those methods.
Andrew Jones
Highways England Traffic Officers play an important role in keeping traffic moving by helping road users in the event of a breakdown or collision, clearing debris from the motorways and returning the road back to normal.
To assess how well Highways England are performing in clearing incidents, a target has been set to clear 85% of all lane impact incidents on the motorway network with one hour, as set out in the Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) and reported on annually. Highways England works closely with the other emergency responders including police forces, ambulance authorities, and fire and rescue services to improve its incident response.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the briefing by the National Audits Office entitled Delivering major projects in government, published on 6 January 2016, what plans his Department has to increase the amount of data it publishes on major projects.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department for Transport (DfT) accounts for a whole life value of £92bn within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).
The DfT follows the Cabinet Office transparency policy by publishing the Department’s data in line with requirements, including the annual publication of GMPP data, SRO appointment letters and individual project cases.
The Department continually assures project delivery in relation to costs, timings and benefits through clear governance and project and programme management (PPM) requirements, which must be satisfied throughout the life cycle of a project. This includes investment board endorsement at key project planning and delivery stages, and independent assurance within the Department. Further external assurance is provided for example by the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA). The department uses a widely understood and highly regarded economic tool, known as WebTAG, for calculating costs.
In addition to individual project assurance, the Department works with the IPA on both GMPP and its own portfolio reporting requirements. The Department has been actively involved in work to improve the collection, collation and analysis of key areas of project delivery, including costs and benefits, in line with the recent IPA review and refresh of GMPP data collection.
As part of the Department’s internal governance, regular portfolio reporting on the aggregated performance and health of major projects is presented to the Department’s investment board. The Department has recently assessed the maturity of its portfolio reporting and has an action plan to further develop its capability in key areas.
The Department reports infrastructure projects that are £50m or more on the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which details public and private infrastructure investment which is either forecast, being delivered, or completed. It is published on the Treasury’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015).
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what requests for information his Department made regarding the cutting to 15 minutes the length of delay after which compensation for train passengers will kick in.
Claire Perry
In our manifesto we committed to improve compensation for delayed rail passengers and the Spending Review reiterated this. We have already changed the system to get compensation paid in cash, not travel vouchers, and we are putting new compensation obligations like automatic delay/repay into future franchise specifications.
We will negotiate hard with rail operators to get even better compensation arrangements for passengers and are considering options on this at the moment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that the manufacturers of electric and hybrid cars which utilise charging points adopt a common charging connection for all such vehicles; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Jones
Industry has been slow to deliver pan-European standardisation on chargepoint connectors with different vehicle manufacturers advocating their own preferred standards. However there are signs that this is now changing. The recent EU Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure will standardise provision of connectors for rapid chargepoints across Europe. In the UK we have already sought to address this by requiring that all government funded rapid chargepoints must work with all available types of ultra low emission vehicle (ULEV). All Government-funded slower chargepoints must also have a Type 2 inlet on them – no other sockets are permitted. This position is supported by the vehicle manufacturers, all of whom agree that Type 2 is the most appropriate standard for public charging in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 2.1 of the briefing by the National Audit Office entitled Delivering major projects in government, published on 6 January 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of its monitoring the benefits of (a) ongoing and (b) complete infrastructure projects.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department for Transport (DfT) accounts for a whole life value of £92bn within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).
The DfT follows the Cabinet Office transparency policy by publishing the Department’s data in line with requirements, including the annual publication of GMPP data, SRO appointment letters and individual project cases.
The Department continually assures project delivery in relation to costs, timings and benefits through clear governance and project and programme management (PPM) requirements, which must be satisfied throughout the life cycle of a project. This includes investment board endorsement at key project planning and delivery stages, and independent assurance within the Department. Further external assurance is provided for example by the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA). The department uses a widely understood and highly regarded economic tool, known as WebTAG, for calculating costs.
In addition to individual project assurance, the Department works with the IPA on both GMPP and its own portfolio reporting requirements. The Department has been actively involved in work to improve the collection, collation and analysis of key areas of project delivery, including costs and benefits, in line with the recent IPA review and refresh of GMPP data collection.
As part of the Department’s internal governance, regular portfolio reporting on the aggregated performance and health of major projects is presented to the Department’s investment board. The Department has recently assessed the maturity of its portfolio reporting and has an action plan to further develop its capability in key areas.
The Department reports infrastructure projects that are £50m or more on the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which details public and private infrastructure investment which is either forecast, being delivered, or completed. It is published on the Treasury’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015).
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on rail freight movements of the re-opening of the Carno station in Powys.
Claire Perry
The case for re-opening Carno station is one of a number of possibilities that the Welsh Government is discussing. The interests of all users of the rail network, including freight operators, are protected through the contractual access regime overseen by the Office of Rail and Road.