The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, under which circumstances Southern Railway’s franchise would be withdrawn.
Claire Perry
Schedule 10.2 of the TSGN Franchise Agreement (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/488198/tsgn-franchise-agreement.pdf p.506) specifies how this franchise can be terminated by the Department.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential efficacy of the Transmarche Metro proposal connecting Kent with the Nord-Pas-de-Calais; and if he will make a statement.
Claire Perry
The Government has made no assessment of a Transmanche Metro. The efficacy of a route would be for the market to determine.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 16 December 2015 to Questions 19325 and 19326, how many staff in his Department were employed on a contract basis to procure the (a) Northern and (b) TransPennine franchise agreements; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those staff.
Andrew Jones
The Department employed six individuals as contract staff at various times (sometimes covering the same role consecutively) for the Northern competition, and five for the TransPennine Competition. Costs of those staff were £1.203M and £1.275M respectively.
These costs however need to be set against the context of the deals achieved, whereby for Northern the amount of annual subsidy will be reduced by £160million by the end of the 9-year contract and for TransPennine the Government will receive £400million in premiums over the life of the franchise, compared to the previous situation where the franchise was subsidised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the economic effect on (a) London and (b) the UK economy of international services stopping at Stratford International station.
Claire Perry
The Department for Transport has made no specific assessment of the economic effects of international services stopping at Stratford International station. The Department for Transport has no powers to specify that an international operator – whether current or future – must stop at Stratford International station. The Department for Transport has recently published an interim evaluation of the impact of the HS1 network setting out the current and anticipated benefits of the HS1 link[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs1-first-interim-evaluation
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) premium and (b) subsidy payments the new Northern franchisee is expected to make or receive in each year of that franchise’s duration.
Andrew Jones
The new Northern Franchisee is expected to receive subsidy payments during each year of its franchise term. I note however, that under this franchise agreement the amount of annual subsidy will be reduced by £160million by the end of this 9-year contract and at the same time, unlike the last Northern franchise in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, this new franchise will deliver more than 2,000 extra services each week, nearly a 40% increase in capacity and the complete removal of the outdated and unpopular Pacers by the end of 2019.
The subsidy payments are set out below in both nominal terms and in real (i.e. constant) terms in 2015/16 prices. Years 1 to 9 are the payments for the core Franchise Term. Year 10 is an optional extension period of up to one year, callable at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
|
Year |
£M |
||
|
Nominal |
Real – 2015/16 prices |
||
|
Year 1 |
2016/17 |
281 |
275 |
|
Year 2 |
2017/18 |
276 |
262 |
|
Year 3 |
2018/19 |
282 |
260 |
|
Year 4 |
2019/20 |
247 |
221 |
|
Year 5 |
2020/21 |
204 |
177 |
|
Year 6 |
2021/22 |
158 |
134 |
|
Year 7 |
2022/23 |
136 |
113 |
|
Year 8 |
2023/24 |
114 |
92 |
|
Year 9 |
2024/25 |
92 |
73 |
|
Year 10 |
2025/26 |
53 |
39 |
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20640, how many miles of track will be electrified by the end of Control Period 5 under the timetable for project delivery contained in Sir Peter Hendy’s review of the rail upgrade programme.
Claire Perry
Pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20640, we remain committed to our modernisation programme of over 850 miles of electrification.
Sir Peter Hendy’s review of the rail upgrade programme details that the vast majority of programmes and projects will go ahead for delivery by 2019 (the end of Control Period 5).
However, some schemes are more immature in their development and, whilst schemes in this category will have significant delivery within Control Period 5, these schemes will span more than one control period.
Electrification provides long-term efficiencies for the railways, but it is just one element of a wider set of railway upgrades to provide better journeys for passengers and freight users.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20639, whether franchise agreements for future franchises within the South East Flexible Ticketing geographical area will include an obligation for operators to subscribe to that programme.
Claire Perry
We are keen that operators significantly increase the uptake of smart ticketing across all franchises and we have challenged the industry to move forward with the development of new ticketing technologies. We are working with the Rail Delivery Group to work out what would need to be specified in franchises, but it is too early to say what those specifications could look like.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20054, what funding was allocated to the Winter Weather Repair Fund in 2014-15.
Andrew Jones
In 2014/15, the Government provided £950 million to local highway authorities for highways maintenance, including £168 million to specifically tackle potholes across the country.
In March 2014, the Government provided an additional £183.5 million to help repair local highway infrastructure damaged by the winter floods of 2013/14. This funding was spent by local highway authorities in 2014/15.
Overall, between 2010 to 2015, local highways maintenance funding was 27% or £1billion higher than under the previous Labour administration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Statement of 9 December 2015 HDVS 369 on rail franchising, when he expects to publish the new franchise agreements for the Northern and TransPennine Express franchise awards.
Andrew Jones
The draft franchise agreements are already published by the Department:
TransPennine Express (TPE): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417830/franchise-agreement.pdf
and the final agreements will be published after the agreed redactions have taken place.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Written Statement of 4 November 2015 on the Wilson Doctrine, whether measures are in place to prevent the security services reading an hon. Member’s correspondence by using unusual search terms likely to bring up parliamentary correspondence of particular hon. Members held as a result of the bulk collection of electronic data.
Mr John Hayes
The recent judgement of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal on the Wilson Doctrine details the safeguards in the Interception Code of Practice and the Security and Intelligence Agencies’ guidance for the protection of Parliamentarians’ communications.