Tag: Baroness Randerson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have given any detailed consideration to requiring train operators to offer more flexible season tickets in order to protect the needs of those who work part-time or flexible hours.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We are committed to introducing part-time season tickets and the industry is making progress on delivery of more flexible tickets. Two major commuter franchises – GTR and c2c – have obligations to start offering carnet-based season tickets on smartcards. Smartcard technology will make flexible ticketing possible and provides the necessary security and revenue protection to make it attractive to both passengers and operators. Many thousands of part-time workers will benefit from these new products when they are introduced.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials within the Department for Transport they expect to be working on the HS2 project in 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The High Speed Rail headcount for permanent staff for years 2016/17 – 2018/19 will be determined by future business planning rounds and set within the Spending Review 2015 overall resource funding envelope for the Department for Transport as announced by the Chancellor on 25 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-02-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether funding will be provided to NHS Trusts as part of the Operational Delivery Network model to fund hepatitis C treatment services through either (1) a block contract, or (2) a tariff.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) provide expert specialist oversight of prescribing decisions on hepatitis C. Funding has been provided via Commissioning and Quality Innovation Payment (CQUIN) and it is NHS England’s intention to continue with CQUIN funding in 2016/17 and 2017/18.

When a patient attends NHS services for treatment of hepatitis C, their attendance is included in the national tariff.

Depending on the specific nature of their healthcare need, their care may be paid for by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) or by NHS England’s specialised services hubs according to coding and whether the care they receive is defined as a prescribed specialised service.

Some patients may have aspects of their hepatitis C treatment provided by other services (such as drugs and alcohol services) which are not funded by the NHS.

NHS England is the responsible commissioner for hepatitis C drugs. These are high cost drugs and so are excluded from the national tariff.

NHS England’s plan for future hepatitis C funding is being finalised at the moment. As NHS England are working with ODN clinical leads to plan to ensure that patients with unmet clinical need are treated via hepatitis C ODNs in a planned way over the coming years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to act on the concerns raised by the National Audit Office in its 23 March report regarding the lack of transparency in spending by Local Enterprise Partnerships in order to ensure taxpayers get value for money.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government welcomes the findings in the report and the helpful scrutiny of our approach. Section 151 officers from the accountable local authorities for each of the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships have already written to the Department for Communities and Local Government confirming that their assurance frameworks adhere to our national standards, including on transparency. Government will continue to work with Local Enterprise Partnerships to ensure this system remains robust.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to introduce measures for airspace modernisation.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The UK’s airspace modernisation plan is set out in the Future Airspace Strategy which was agreed in 2011. This long-term strategy is now being implemented by the aviation industry and overseen by the Future Airspace Strategy Deployment Steering Group which is jointly chaired by the Civil Aviation Authority and NATS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to ensure that, when planning permissions are granted for new residential developments that do not provide on-site parking spaces, those developments provide adequate power supplies and public charging points to enable residents to use electric cars.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government supports the use of ultra-low emission or plug-in vehicles and would encourage local authorities, wherever possible, to make provision for them. The provision of power supplies and public charging points in connection with the granting of planning permission is a matter for local planning authorities to consider.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials within the Department for Transport are currently working as part of the team liaising with Network Rail.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

A large number of staff within the Department for Transport’s Rail Executive liaise with Network Rail on a wide range of policy, delivery and operational issues – it is not possible to state an exact number as these staff also have other responsibilities. A team of seven officials currently handles issues specifically arising from Network Rail’s reclassification to the public sector in September 2014. Future resourcing will remain responsive to business needs and is not pre-planned over these years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-02-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the latest National Rail Passenger Survey and the levels of satisfaction with the Gatwick Express service, what steps they plan to take to ensure that service improves.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

It is for the operators of the relevant franchises to take steps to improve customer satisfaction and deliver the requirements set out in their respective Franchise Agreements.

Gatwick Express and Southern are operated as part of the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise operated by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). The Franchise Agreement includes a Passenger Experience Metric which was developed for this franchise to measure, reward and incentivise good levels of customer satisfaction. GTR failed to meet its benchmark for cancellations set out in its Franchise Agreement. In order to address the poor performance, the Department issued GTR with a Remedial Plan Notice that requires them to set out the measures they will take to improve their performance. GTR submitted its Remedial Plan and discussions are on-going to ensure the plan is robust. Once the measures are agreed they will become contractually binding through a Remedial Agreement.

This year GTR will introduce new trains on the Gatwick Express service, replacing the current 25-year-old trains with a fleet better suited to the needs of airport passengers.

The Southeastern franchise includes a financial penalty regime if the operator does not achieve the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) benchmarks for stations, train services and customer service. We will review performance against these benchmarks in March 2016, and any penalties incurred must be re-invested into raising passenger satisfaction, with plans agreed by the Department.

The Department has no plans to take over either of these franchises.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-05-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the terms of the review of HS2 being undertaken by Sir Jeremy Heywood; and when that review is expected to conclude.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As is normal for large projects, the Cabinet Office’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is conducting assurance of the HS2 programme as it proceeds into its delivery phase. It is standard practice for this to include a small cross Government team, and not unusual for the Cabinet Secretary to take an interest on projects of this scale. ‎

The IPAs role on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio is to provide expertise in infrastructure and the financing, delivery and assurance of major projects, to support more effective management and delivery across government. The assurance exercise is expected to feed into the next steps on delivery.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Competition and Markets Authority about the potential contents of secondary legislation and guidance needed to complement the Bus Services Bill [HL].

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We have worked closely with the Competition and Markets Authority in developing the Bill and will continue to do so as we prepare guidance and secondary legislation. We have received several recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority and we are currently reflecting on these and will respond in due course.