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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 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 28 January 2016, Official Report, column 523, on trains running over tracks from the 1930s, which sections of track on which routes carrying Southeastern services date from the 1930s.

    Claire Perry

    I would like to clarify that, in my contribution to the debate in Parliament on 28 January 2016, column 523, I was making a statement about how certain areas of the network in the South East have not been substantially changed or enhanced in keeping with the modern demands being placed upon them since the 1930’s, though evidently renewals will have happened over time.

  • 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 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24776, whether his Department has made or plans to make a financial contribution to Transport for London related to the decision to increase the cost of rail fares in London by the retail price index in 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The 2015 Spending Review settlement provided to Transport for London already takes into account its likely income from rail fares in 2016 and subsequent years. The Department has no plans to make any further adjustment to TfL’s funding in respect of this matter.

  • 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 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date the (a) Cycle Proofing Working Group and (b) Cycling Health sub-group last met.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cycle Proofing Working Group met on 14 January 2016. The Department for Transport does not have a Cycling Health sub-group.

  • 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 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to cycling safety from 2015 to 2020.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department’s SR15 settlement includes over £300 million for cycling over the life of this Parliament. There is no specific budget within this funding denoted ‘cycle safety’ since a variety of cycling schemes do and will help in various ways to improve cycle safety. Several projects can however be noted:

    – We are providing £50m over the next four years to support Bikeability cycle training in schools; £11m was provided in 2015/16. This funding will help to increase children’s road awareness, encourage active travel and improve future motorists’ empathy for more vulnerable road users. We expect to train a further 1 million children with the new funding settlement.

    – We are spending £114m from 2015 onwards on the Cycling Ambition Cities programme which will accelerate their development of local cycling networks, including increased protection for cyclists at junctions.

    – In addition, through the Road Investment Strategy, Highways England will spend £100m through to 2020/21 to make around 200 locations on our major road network more cycle-friendly.

    Much more widely, however, other Government funding streams will also contribute to projects which could deliver improved cycle safety. Through the Local Growth Fund, the Department estimates that an investment of at least £270m is planned by local enterprise partnerships for cycling infrastructure. Local authorities could also use sums from the £1.3bn Integrated Transport Block to 2019/20 for cycle safety schemes.

    It should also be noted that spending on road maintenance can benefit not just motorists but can also lead to safer conditions for cyclists, and a record £6.1billion is allocated to local highway authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance.

    Regarding cycleway maintenance, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding for local highways maintenance will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many holders of full driving licences in Wealden constituency are people aged over 70 who have renewed their licence.

    Andrew Jones

    On 30 January 2016, there were 28,703 holders of full driving licences in the Wealden constituency postal code areas over the age of 70.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people in Wealden constituency have a full driving licence.

    Andrew Jones

    On 30 January 2016, there were 188,244 full driving licence holders in the Wealden constituency postal code areas.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the new Enterprise Allowance scheme.

    Priti Patel

    Latest statistics show that 76,960 new businesses have been set up with the support of the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA).

    A cohort study of the initial participants in the scheme showed that 78% of the first 2,960 NEA participants who started to trade remained off benefits for 52 weeks.

    In January 2016 we published an evaluation report which showed that business established with the support of NEA had a sustainability rate of 80%, with over 90% of these trading for over 12 months. Around half of the respondents to the survey reported an expansion in their customer base or an increase in turnover. The majority of respondents were planning to expand their business in the future.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect on (a) the wellbeing and (b) access to employment and training of people who no longer have access to a motability vehicle due to moving from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We recognise that the transition from DLA to PIP can be challenging for individuals, which is why the Department worked closely with Motability as we developed our plans for the introduction of PIP. The Motability charity provides a one-off package of transitional support and advice to support customers who no longer meet the eligibility criteria for the Motability scheme. For most of these customers who entered into their first lease agreement with Motability before January 2013, Motability will provide transitional support of £2,000. This will enable many former Scheme customers to continue to meet their mobility needs by purchasing a used car.

    For customers who entered into their first lease agreement with the scheme after January 2013 and up to December 2013, Motability will supply transitional support of £1,000 to assist with mobility costs. Motability is also providing help with the cost of adaptations made to non-scheme vehicles and information on non-scheme motoring and insurance. The Scheme also offers customers an opportunity to purchase their vehicle after the end of the lease.

    Support with employment is available through the Access to Work Scheme, which is potentially available on application to anyone with a health condition or disability that affects the way they perform their job and who needs practical support above and beyond the reasonable adjustments that an employer has a duty to make under the Equality Act 2010. The type of support Access to Work provides is tailored to an individual’s needs and can include travel to work.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have applied to the National Enterprise Allowance scheme in each of the last five years.

    Priti Patel

    Claimants who are interested in participating in the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) are referred by their work coach to a provider so that they can explore the self-employment options. Participation is voluntary.

    The take up of the NEA is closely linked to the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, which begun to drop in 2013 – 2014. It is also worth noting that during 2013 the Department ran a high profile marketing campaign to promote the NEA, using posters & leaflets in jobcentres, YouTube videos, Webinars etc. which may also have influenced take up of the scheme in that year.

    The table below shows how many starts there were with a business mentor in each financial year.

    NEA mentor starts by financial year (1)

    Number (2,3)

    April 2011 – March 2012

    15,170

    April 2012 – March 2013

    31,880

    April 2013 – March 2014

    47,800

    April 2014 – March 2015

    39,830

    April 2015 – September 2015 (six months)

    18,200

    (1) Data Source – DWP LMS opportunities evaluation database October 2015 for all quarters, DWP PRaP database October 2015 for Jan-Sept 2015.

    (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

    (3) It is possible that an individual may start to work with a mentor more than once and therefore appear more than once in these figures.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many National Enterprise Allowance advisers are employed as part of that scheme.

    Priti Patel

    The NEA is delivered by contracted providers who use a combination of paid and volunteer mentors to deliver business mentoring support. The exact number of mentors used by providers is not known.