The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether their timetable for the HS2 Bill to achieve Royal Assent by the end of 2016 remains achievable.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The progress of the Bill is in the hands of Parliament and Royal Assent by December 2016 remains an achievable target.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent to date on planning and developing the South East Flexible Ticketing programme.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
To date, £37.64m has been spent on the South East Flexible Ticketing programme. This has facilitated investment by five train operators accounting for 73% of the annual season ticket market in the south east. Commuters on c2c and GTR can already use smartcards on their journeys into London and within the Transport for London boundary. Abellio Greater Anglia and South West Trains will follow early in 2016 and Southeastern later in the year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5795), what is the value of payments made to Operational Delivery Networks (ODN) via the Commissioning and Quality Innovation payment network in (1) total, and (2) by ODN, for each of the last three financial years.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) provide expert specialist oversight of prescribing decisions on hepatitis C. They were established in August 2015, therefore funding information is only available for 2015/16.
In 2015/16, funding has been approximately £2.5 million. The majority of this amount has been via a central allocation.
It is not possible to confirm the payments made to each ODN for commercial reasons.
NHS England is funding ODNs via Commissioning Quality and Innovation in 2016/17 and 2017/18.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date they expect fairer charges for open access operators on railways to be introduced by the Office of Rail and Road.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Setting the framework for track access charges is a matter for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). As the Secretary of State made clear in his Written statement on 17 March, the Government would like to see reforms as soon as possible to ensure a level playing field between operators, and that open access operators pay a fairer contribution to the costs they impose on the network. ORR are considering options as part of their Periodic Review 2018 process, and we consider that any changes to the charging framework could be in place for the start of Control Period 6 in 2019.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of which specific rail service improvements the new East Anglia rail franchises would deliver for (1) Stansted Airport, and (2) Cambridge.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Under the new franchise agreement passengers travelling to and from Stansted Airport will benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019, and a minimum 12.5% reduction in anytime return fares and anytime single fares on the Stansted Express by early 2017. Almost all hourly services between Norwich and Cambridge are to be extended to provide a direct service to and from Stansted Airport.
Cambridge Station will similarly benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019. Additional train services are an earlier first service from Cambridge to Norwich and an additional evening service from Norwich to Cambridge.
Cambridge Station will be provided with a significant refurbishment. This will include construction of a pavilion to include a customer waiting area, train information displays and ticketing offices and ticket vending machines at the entrance to the station. Cambridge will also be provided with 1000 additional secure cycle spaces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Govia Thameslink Railway about whether it still intends to activate the Oyster card reader installed at Epsom station, and if so, when it intends to do so.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
There has been numerous discussions between my officials and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) on the franchise obligation to extend Oyster pay as you go and Contactless payment to Epsom. GTR is currently working with TfL closely to deliver this as soon as is practical and we are applying lessons learned from extending Oyster to Gatwick to extending Oyster to Epsom.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why their representatives at the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles voted on 28 October to weaken and delay the introduction of real driving emissions tests for air pollution emissions by diesel light duty vehicles.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Government officials voted to secure the best possible outcome on the 28th October. This meant ensuring that real driving emissions tests will be introduced as early as possible and so make a significant contribution towards lowering emissions of nitrogen oxides from light duty diesel vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5795), what aspects of treatment provided by drugs and alcohol services are not funded by the NHS.
Lord Prior of Brampton
All public funding for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is provided by the National Health Service.
Depending on local arrangements, drug and alcohol services commissioned by local authorities in England and funded from the Public Health Grant, may provide service users with aspects of HCV treatment. These would usually include initial testing and counselling, referring and supporting patients who test positive to engage with and complete HCV treatment provided by the NHS. They might also cover providing premises for NHS diagnosis and treatment to take place in the community.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research or analysis they undertook prior to consulting on proposals to cut train services to intermediate stations on the InterCity West Coast service.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Rail services between London and the Midlands are currently provided by the West Midlands and InterCity West Coast franchises. These franchises are due be replaced when they expire in October 2017 and April 2018 respectively. The Department has completed a consultation in respect of the replacement West Midlands franchise, and commenced another in respect of InterCity West Coast in May. The outcomes of those consultations will be used to inform what we ask the operator of the new franchise to provide. This information, including the key challenges and opportunities that the Department has identified for those franchises, will be published in due course.
Neither consultation proposed cutting train services. We expect potential bidders to plan their train services to meet the needs of passengers at the stations they serve considering how best to serve and link markets and improve service reliability. To make sure their plans best reflect the needs of the franchise we are seeking views from the public and stakeholders on the ICWC franchise on:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are Network Rail’s existing infrastructure investment commitments for the West Anglia Mainline over the duration of the new East Anglia rail franchise.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
During railway Control Period 5 (2014-2019) Network Rail is funded to operate and maintain the West Anglia Main Line. The Department for Transport has provided additional funding for a range of infrastructure enhancements including power upgrades; construction of the new Cambridge North station; provision of additional track capacity between Coppermill Junction and Angel Road at the south end of the line.