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  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many railway stations are (a) staffed and (b) unstaffed.

    Claire Perry

    The Department for Transport does not collect this information as station staffing is a matter for operators. They are not required to inform us of which stations are staffed beyond the obligations as set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.

    We regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement and a list of which stations have open ticket offices by operator can be seen at http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/governance/ (Schedule 17 July 2015).

    “

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many railway station ticket offices have (a) been closed and (b) had their opening hours reduced since 2010.

    Claire Perry

    Since May 2010, 125 railway station ticket offices have had their hours reduced and four have been closed.

    By contrast, between 2005 and 2010 around 400 railway station ticket offices had their hours reduced and six closures were approved.

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of railway station ticket offices that will be closed by (a) 2020 and (b) 2025.

    Claire Perry

    The Ticketing and Settlement Agreement protects the opening hours of Ticket Offices. If an operator wishes to make such changes to Ticket Office opening times, there is an industry process to follow.

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of railway stations that will be unstaffed in (a) 2020 and (b) 2025.

    Claire Perry

    Station staffing levels are a matter for operators. Whilst we regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement station staffing levels are a matter for operators as we believe that railway operators themselves are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their passengers.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of funding to the new northern rail franchise will be provided by (a) subsidies to Northern Rail, (b) investment by Network Rail, (c) passenger revenue and (d) investment by Arriva.

    Andrew Jones

    We are unable to disaggregate the proportion of funding on the new Northern Rail franchise.

    I refer the hon Member to my answer of 11 January to the Hon Member for Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood, (UIN 21124) where the level of subsidies to the Northern franchise was provided and which gives the biggest transformation in decades. These will achieve an unprecedented package of improvements unlike the last Northern franchise in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, offers better value for the taxpayer and reduces the amount of annual government subsidy required by the Northern franchise by £160 million over nine years (http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=21124).

    Network Rail investment is not allocated per franchise. Investment is made on the infrastructure which multiple franchises use and so it is not possible to ‎disaggregate.

    Predicted Passenger revenue and investment by Arriva are commercially confidentially information that we are unable to provide. Actual Passenger revenue is published retrospectively through annual financial statements.

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  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25769, on aviation: emergencies, whether he has received recent reports of further developments relating to the unplanned emergency landing of American Airlines flight AA109 at Heathrow.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    I received no further reports relating to the flight in question.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Midland Expressway on the proposed sale of the M6 Toll road.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government has regular discussions with Midland Expressway Limited as the operator of a key part of the country’s road network.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of bus routes that have been (a) added and (b) removed since 2010.

    Andrew Jones

    My Department does not hold this data, as decisions about the provision of bus services, including the frequency, the level of fares or agreed local concessions are mainly a matter for the operator concerned.

    Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, all local authorities have powers to subsidise bus services, Provision of subsidised services is a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.

    We are very aware however of the importance of bus services to local communities, and in recognition of this we were able to protect Bus Service Operators Grant funding as part of the 2015 Spending Review. We have also protected the national concessionary travel in England for the whole of this Parliament.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the potential benefits for bus passengers of municipal ownership of bus companies.

    Andrew Jones

    There are a few towns and cities that have municipal bus operators, however no analysis has been undertaken by the Department for Transport to understand the potential benefits of those models for passengers.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had on devolving responsibility for rail services to the Midlands.

    Claire Perry

    West Midlands Rail made a submission to the Secretary of State in October 2014 to devolve rail services in the West Midlands region. The Secretary of State confirmed his support in a letter to West Midlands Rail in March 2015 for rail devolution in the West Midlands and set out the expectation that West Midlands Rail will work with the Department for Transport in developing the specification for the re-letting of the next franchise. A public consultation was launched jointly with West Midlands Rail in December 2015 to inform the specification of the next West Midlands franchise. The new West Midlands Franchise is expected to commence in October 2017.