The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the condition of local roads.
Andrew Jones
The Government fully understand how important it is to have a reliable quality road network, which is why we are providing a record £6 billion for local highways maintenance. We have also created the pothole action fund with a budget of £250 million dedicated to delivering better journeys.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on smaller bus operators of local authorities franchising bus services; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Jones
I want to ensure that smaller bus operators, who drive innovation and invention, form part of the mix of bus service providers in any future franchising model. The Department’s assessment of the effects of franchising on smaller bus operators will be set out in the Impact Assessment which will accompany the introduction of the Bill.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the HGV road user levy.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government published an assessment of the effectiveness of the HGV levy in a written statement on 15 June 2015. The levy was introduced, on time, in April 2014. It raised £192.5m in its first year, with £46.5m of that coming from foreign hauliers. Compliance in Great Britain is high at around 95%, and over 3,000 fixed penalties were issued in the first year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the condition of local roads.
Andrew Jones
The Government fully understand how important it is to have a reliable quality road network, which is why we are providing a record £6 billion for local highways maintenance. We have also created the pothole action fund with a budget of £250 million dedicated to delivering better journeys.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of passenger rail franchises.
Claire Perry
The latest figures show that overall rail passenger satisfaction is up three percentage points since the last survey at 83 percent.
However we absolutely recognise that behind those national numbers are some routes and stations where customers are not getting the service they deserve including on his local route. That is why we are so committed to getting Network Rail and GTR to work together to minimise delays and drive up customer service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Scott Mann on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects on rural communities of disbursements from the community transport minibus fund.
Mr Patrick McLoughlin
The Community Transport Minibus Fund will provide over 300 organisations with a new minibus so that they can continue to provide vital services to help elderly residents, people with learning and physical disabilities and those who do not have access to a commercial bus service.
Approximately one third of the organisations obtaining vehicles through the Fund are based in rural areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what further steps he plans to take to improve road safety.
Andrew Jones
Britain has some of the world’s lowest road casualty rates. But, in line with our Manifesto commitment, we are determined to do more to make our roads even safer. The British Road Safety Statement, published on 21 December 2015, sets out the government’s priorities for action, including practical measures to help vulnerable groups stay safe on our roads, extra money to crackdown on drug drivers and tougher penalties for people using mobile phones while driving.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who had been classified as unfit to work because of a mental health problem were issued with a benefit sanction in each year since 2010.
Priti Patel
The information requested for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) sanctions is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Please note that the medical condition recorded on the claim form does not itself confer entitlement to ESA so, for example, a decision on entitlement for a customer claiming ESA on the basis of a mental health condition is based on the claimant’s ability to carry out the range of activities related to physical and mental function, assessed by the Work Capability Assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department takes into account successful challenges to benefit sanctions retrospectively in benefit off-flow statistics.
Priti Patel
It is not necessary to retrospectively adjust the benefit off-flow statistics. The sanctions figures cover both disallowances and sanctions and neither automatically lead to an off-flow from JSA.
We ask claimants who are disallowed and who wish to continue claiming to reaffirm their circumstances and those that do so remain in the claimant count. Only those not prepared to commit to actively seek and be available for work would leave the count as an off-flow.
Claimants who are sanctioned retain their underlying entitlement to benefit and only flow off if they choose not to attend their job search reviews.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what notification was given to women affected by the Pensions Act 1995.
Justin Tomlinson
Following the Pensions Act 1995, State Pension estimates, issued to individuals on request, made the changes clear. The DWP’s State Pension estimates have been providing individuals with their most up-to-date date of reaching State Pension age since 1995. Over that period, we have encouraged anyone seeking to plan for their retirement to get a pension statement. Since April 2000, the Department has issued more than 11.5 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them. We continue to encourage people to request one, as part of our on-going communications.
DWP also ran a pensions education campaign in 2004, which included informing people of the future equalisation of SPA. The campaign included:
In addition to these efforts, all those affected by the 1995 Act changes were sent letters between April 2009 and March 2011 using the address details held by HMRC at that time.