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  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what annual fee his Department will pay to (a) Ernst and Young in the UK, (b) Arup and (c) Interfleet for their advice to him on fulfilling his duties under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993; and for what period those companies are contracted to provide him such advice.

    Claire Perry

    Following a successful procurement competition using the new STAR (Specialist Technical Advice for Rail) Framework Agreement, the Department has appointed a partnership comprising Arup, SNC-Lavalin Transport Advisory (InterFleet), and EY to provide services to support the Secretary of State in connection with his duties under Section 30 of the Railways Act.

    The contract is for 2 years and commenced in November 2015. It has an optional extension of 12 months which is exercisable at the Department’s discretion. The fees payable to the partnership are capped at £616k (excluding VAT) for the two years of the contract. In addition to core contractual commitments, further fees are payable at agreed daily rates for other services which include, but are not limited to, the full mobilisation of a public sector train operator.

    Following the successful award of the East Coast franchise to Virgin East Coast last year, it was not a good use of taxpayers’ money to maintain DoR’s full corporate structure on a ‘just in case’ basis. We have scaled back Directly Operated Railways operations and brought it in-house with the Department for Transport.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase cycling among (a) women and (b) older people.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government remains committed to its manifesto target to double the number of journeys made by bicycle. In order to achieve this, all potential cyclists’ needs must be considered, including women and older people.

    The Government recently reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking, with SR2015 announcing funding support of over £300m. In addition, Highways England has committed to provide a safer, integrated and more accessible strategic road network for cyclists and other vulnerable road users.

    By improving existing cycle provision and ensuring that cyclists are considered when designing and building new infrastructure then our roads will be more appealing to cyclists of all ages and ability.

    The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will fully explain the Government’s investment strategy for cycling and walking.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent analysis his Department has made of levels of cycling among different age and gender groups.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The number of cycle trips per person per year for different age and gender groups are given in the table (based on data for England in 2014) are given in the table.

    Males

    Females

    All people

    0-16

    22

    6

    14

    17-20

    30

    5

    18

    21-29

    33

    13

    23

    30-39

    33

    16

    25

    40-49

    38

    10

    24

    50-59

    29

    11

    20

    60-69

    22

    6

    14

    70+

    14

    2

    7

    All ages

    28

    9

    18
  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the correlation between cycle usage and household income.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The number of cycle trips and distance cycled per person per year for different household income levels (based on data for households in England in 2014) are given in the table.

    Real household income quintile

    Lowest real income level

    Second level

    Third level

    Fourth level

    Highest real income level

    All income levels

    Cycle trips per person per year

    21

    15

    15

    18

    21

    18

    Distance cycled (miles) per person per year

    50

    46

    43

    64

    88

    58

    “

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will estimate the number of deaths and serious injuries of cyclists that were attributable to poorly-maintained local roads since 2010.

    Andrew Jones

    There were 211 pedal cyclist KSIs (killed or seriously injured casualties) in reported road accidents allocated the contributory factor “Poor or Defective road surface” on local roads (for England) or all non-motorway roads (for Scotland and Wales) from 2010 to 2014. A local road has been defined as a road maintained by the local authority. The following table shows the totals for each of the separate years:

    GB

    A1

    B

    Other2

    Total

    2010

    10

    3

    17

    30

    2011

    13

    9

    23

    45

    2012

    11

    6

    27

    44

    2013

    10

    7

    22

    39

    2014

    16

    8

    29

    53

    Total

    60

    33

    118

    211

    1 Includes A roads maintained by Transport Scotland and the Welsh Government.

    2 Includes C and unclassified roads.

    The contributory factors reflect the reporting officer’s opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation. Moreover it is recognised that subsequent enquires could lead to the reporting officer changing their opinion. It is important to note where some factors may have contributed to a cause of an accident it may be difficult for a police officer attending the scene after the accident has occurred to identify these factors.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department’s roads reform programme evaluation, An overarching, monitoring and evaluation framework, published in March 2015, has made in evaluating the effectiveness of the roads reform programme.

    Andrew Jones

    In March 2015 the Department published an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework for the Roads Reform Programme. This document explained that the programme evaluation will draw upon evidence generated by Highways England, the Office of Rail and Road, and Transport Focus, complementing this evidence with additional data collection where required.

    Since publishing this framework, a range of relevant evidence has been produced, such as the National road users’ satisfaction survey 2014-15 and two publications on Road users’ priorities for improvement covering car and van drivers and motorcyclists, and HGV drivers, respectively. The Department is planning to commission a suitably qualified supplier shortly to begin to use this evidence in performing an evaluation of the Roads Reform Programme.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2015 to Question 19489, when the Buses Bill will be introduced into Parliament.

    Andrew Jones

    The Buses Bill is currently being drafted. The precise time of its introduction will be dependent on Parliamentary business.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on the transfer of air passenger duty to that government.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    No such discussion have taken place. Decisions on taxation, including Air Passenger Duty, are of course a matter for HM Treasury.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Topical Transport Question to him on 10 December 2015, Official Report, column 1129, on traffic noise on the M60 effecting the residents of Thompson Close, Denton, whether he will meet with the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish to discuss this case.

    Andrew Jones

    Highways England representatives met with the Hon. Member on 22 January 2016 to discuss the possibility of mitigating the effect of noise from traffic using the M60 Motorway adjacent to Thompson Close. As Roads Minister I am happy to meet with the Hon. Member to discuss the position further.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent and effectiveness of wifi and telephone signal coverage on the Midland Mainline route.

    Claire Perry

    On all Department for Transport-controlled rail franchises, in England and Wales, free Wi-Fi is being introduced. All train operators bidding for new franchises and direct award agreements will have to present a phased implementation plan for free Wi-Fi. Currently c30% of train carriages operating within the DfT controlled franchises and serving c50% of rail passenger journeys have Wi-Fi available. We have committed that 90% of passenger journeys will benefit from free Wi-Fi by the end of 2018.

    East Midlands Trains is upgrading its Wi-Fi services, on approximately 70% of their trains, to deliver at least 15 minutes free wi-fi to passengers travelling in standard class by Autumn 2016.

    Reliability and availability of mobile broadband and telephone services on trains can be an issue, partly due to physical barriers to radio signals reaching the railway track, include railway cuttings and tunnels and due to signal weakening, called attenuation, caused by train carriage walls and windows.

    On-train Wi-Fi addresses some of the reliability issues as will the ongoing roll-out of the 4G networks by mobile network operators. However we recognise that there is more to do that will require enhancements to trackside infrastructure. That’s why we are working with the rail and telecommunications industries to reach a shared understanding of the technical and commercial challenges, and seek out potential solutions.

    Our current assessment forecasts that between 68% and 85% of the UK rail network will have 4G mobile network coverage by the end of 2017. There is no separate assessment of the Midlands Mainline route.