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  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the increased passenger growth due to the introduction of the direct train service between Shrewsbury and London.

    Claire Perry

    Since the introduction of the new direct services to Shrewsbury in December 2014, there has been an additional 30,000 journeys on the route year on year on the flows of Shrewsbury, Wellington and Telford to and from London. The new services themselves also provide an enhanced level of service between Shropshire and the West Midlands.

    In terms of journey growth figures for each station, they are as follows:

    Flow

    Growth %

    London – Shrewsbury

    23

    London – Wellington

    25

    London – Telford Central

    10

    Advanced bookings on the direct trains are also showing a steady growth since introduction. As we only have one year’s data available, it is difficult to compare but we have seen a growth of around 25% -30% which ties in with the figures above.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 2.88 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, whether the additional funding for cycling infrastructure will raise UK cycling spending to the equivalent of £10 per capita.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced more than £300m was being made available for cycling. The Government will set out its investment plans in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published summer 2016.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 2.88 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, whether any of the additional funding for cycling infrastructure announced will be allocated to Hull.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced more than £300m was being made available for cycling. The Government will set out its investment plans in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published summer 2016.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much income from passengers was earned by the Isle of Wight Island Line in each of the last five years.

    Claire Perry

    We do not have the running costs of the Isle of Wight Island Line in each category of expenditure in each of the last three years. What we do have are the figures for 2014/15 as supplied by SSWT:

    Costs

    £m

    Staff costs

    2.093

    Station Lease costs

    1.298

    Depot Track Renewals, Maintenance, Materials

    0.66

    Track access and Electric Traction

    0.123

    Other

    0.443

    Total Costs

    4.617

    SSWT have informed us that the Island Line generated the following income in each of the last five years:

    2010/11 = £0.9m

    2011/12 = £1.0m

    2012/13 = £1.0m

    2013/14 = £0.9m

    2014/15 = £0.9m

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assistance his Department provides to local authorities and frontagers to (a) maintain un-adopted roads and (b) ensure safety and the public right of way on un-adopted roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department does not provide any assistance to local authorities and frontagers to maintain un-adopted roads, or to ensure safety and the public right of way on un-adopted roads.

    Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty to maintain roads that are maintainable at public expense, namely adopted roads. However, where repairs are needed to remove danger to traffic in a private street, section 230 of the same Act gives the power to the street works authority to require the owners of the premises fronting the street to carry out specified repairs within a given time-scale

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the running costs of the Isle of Wight Island Line were in each category of expenditure in each of the last three years.

    Claire Perry

    We do not have the running costs of the Isle of Wight Island Line in each category of expenditure in each of the last three years. What we do have are the figures for 2014/15 as supplied by SSWT:

    Costs

    £m

    Staff costs

    2.093

    Station Lease costs

    1.298

    Depot Track Renewals, Maintenance, Materials

    0.66

    Track access and Electric Traction

    0.123

    Other

    0.443

    Total Costs

    4.617

    SSWT have informed us that the Island Line generated the following income in each of the last five years:

    2010/11 = £0.9m

    2011/12 = £1.0m

    2012/13 = £1.0m

    2013/14 = £0.9m

    2014/15 = £0.9m

  • James Cartlidge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    James Cartlidge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to amend the current East Anglian rail franchise tender to reflect the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.

    Claire Perry

    No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.

    The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.

  • James Cartlidge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    James Cartlidge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with bidders for the current East Anglian rail franchise about the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.

    Claire Perry

    No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.

    The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.

  • Kirsten  Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing web-enabled out-of-hours transfer of vehicle ownership and payment of vehicle excise duty by new vehicle owners.

    Andrew Jones

    Vehicle keepers are already able to license their vehicle and pay vehicle excise duty online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    The online notification of a change of vehicle keeper service is an innovative new facility that was launched in 2015 as an alternative to postal services. This service is currently available between 8am and 6pm as the systems that support it rely on real-time validation of the registered keeper’s details against the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s vehicle register. The legacy IT services that support the vehicle register are only available during these hours, due to the system requirements to update the record daily. There are no current plans to extend the hours that this service is available.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has had with Bombardier about that company’s plans for the number of jobs it provides in Northern Ireland.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    Northern Ireland Office Ministers regularly meet a range of businesses and business organisations from across Northern Ireland.

    The Northern Ireland economic pact recognised the importance of Bombardier as one of Northern Ireland’s largest private sector employers. The Government continues to work with Invest NI to deliver on the commitments contained in the economic pact which included providing research and development funding to Bombardier.