Tag: Daniel Zeichner

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will estimate the number of deaths and serious injuries of cyclists that were attributable to poorly-maintained local roads since 2010.

Andrew Jones

There were 211 pedal cyclist KSIs (killed or seriously injured casualties) in reported road accidents allocated the contributory factor “Poor or Defective road surface” on local roads (for England) or all non-motorway roads (for Scotland and Wales) from 2010 to 2014. A local road has been defined as a road maintained by the local authority. The following table shows the totals for each of the separate years:

GB	A1	B	Other2	Total
2010	10	3	17	30
2011	13	9	23	45
2012	11	6	27	44
2013	10	7	22	39
2014	16	8	29	53
Total	60	33	118	211

¹ Includes A roads maintained by Transport Scotland and the Welsh Government.

² Includes C and unclassified roads.

The contributory factors reflect the reporting officer’s opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation. Moreover it is recognised that subsequent enquires could lead to the reporting officer changing their opinion. It is important to note where some factors may have contributed to a cause of an accident it may be difficult for a police officer attending the scene after the accident has occurred to identify these factors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to publish a review of the Plugged-in Places trial.

Andrew Jones

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles published a review of the Plugged-in Places projects entitled ‘Lessons Learnt from the Plugged-in Places Projects’ on 4 September 2013. The full document is available online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/lessons-learnt-from-the-plugged-in-places-projects

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department plans to provide Transport for London (TfL) with Bus Service Operators Grant funding when the general grant paid to TfL is removed from 2018.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department has no intention of doing this. In addition to the grants provided by the Department for Transport, TfL receives around £800 million a year of funding through the Business Rate Retention Scheme, in which the Greater London Authority passes TfL an agreed share of locally retained business rates. This funding stream has, since 2013, included an amount to reflect the changes to the payment of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) that were introduced in that year. TfL will continue to receive this funding from 2018 onwards, alongside the investment grant provided by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff have been seconded to his Department to analyse responses to the BBC Charter Review consultation.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Given the number of responses, DCMS brought in additional resource into the BBC policy team. Based on demand, an average of 25 additional people per week supported the process to review the consultation responses, which included 19 staff seconded from other departments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of whether the bus service operators grant is used by bus operators to keep fares down.

Andrew Jones

We have been reviewing the Bus Service Operators Grant scheme in recent years with a view to improving its effectiveness in supporting bus services. In their assessment of the impact of any changes in policy associated with the Bus Service Operators’ Grant, departmental economists normally assume operators pass subsidy received on to passengers 50% through lower fares and 50% through increased service levels. Under these assumptions, they estimate that BSOG has the impact of keeping fares 3% lower than they would be in its absence in England outside of London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28284, how much the Business Rate Retention Scheme has raised for the Greater London Authority in each year since the scheme’s introduction.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The income available to the Greater London Authority through the Business Rates Retention Scheme was £863.2 million in 2013/2014 and £936.2 million in 2014/2015. The income is forecast to be £1.0396 billion in 2015/2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cycling and walking projects will be funded annually by the (a) Government’s £80 million five-year Access Fund and (b) Local Sustainable Transport Fund.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In February 2016 we confirmed that the Access Fund would be preceded by a £20m Sustainable Travel Transition Year. This competition is live and I therefore cannot confirm how many projects it will support. That said, support for cycling and walking is one of the Fund’s objectives and all bids will need to demonstrate support for cycling and walking in order to secure funding.

The remaining £60m will support the Access Fund, which will launch in summer 2016. I cannot confirm how many projects will be supported by the Access fund, but, similar to the Sustainable Travel Transition Year, I can confirm that support for cycling and walking will be a key funding criterion. We therefore anticipate that all successful projects will support cycling and walking in some way.

The Local Sustainable Transport Fund concluded in March 2016. All 44 projects in 2015/16 supported cycling and walking in some way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make available financial, activity and outcome data on the additional resources provided to enable prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection to meet the release test since 2012.

Andrew Selous

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is not able to disaggregate spending on IPP prisoners from spending on all prisoners.

Supporting IPP prisoners in progressing towards release once they have completed their tariff is a priority. In particular, there is considerable focus on getting IPP prisoners access to any accredited programmes and other interventions designed to help them reduce their risk of harm.

In December 2014, NOMS established a Progression Regime in closed conditions for IPP and life sentence prisoners who are not eligible for open conditions. This provides such prisoners with an alternative way to demonstrate reduced risk to the Parole Board.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 29991, what estimate he made of the total amount local authorities have spent on delivering concessionary bus fares since 2011.

Andrew Jones

Figures for net current expenditure on concessionary travel in England between 2011-12 and 2014-15 (the latest for which data is available) are available in Table BUS0811b which is published on the Department’s statistics page on the GOV.UK website.

The total net current expenditure refers to expenditure on all aspects of concessionary travel, including the statutory bus concession for older and disabled people, discretionary concessions, youth concession schemes and administrative costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will introduce measurable targets on reducing the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The draft Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy was published in March and set out the Department’s targets for cycling. This included an objective to reduce the rate of cyclists killed or seriously injured on England’s roads, measured as the number of fatalities and serious injuries per billion miles cycled, each year.

We are in the process of analysing feedback received during the consultation and expect to publish the final Strategy this summer.