Tag: Daniel Zeichner

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to issue guidance on the maximum length of time that a charging Clean Air Zone could be operated on a voluntary basis.

Rory Stewart

We will be consulting on the framework for Clean Air Zones and the secondary legislation to be introduced later this year. This will include the important principles that need to be consistent from city to city to ensure Clean Air Zones are implemented in the same way by Local Authorities across England. We will work with Local Authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that we provide the guidance they will find most relevant and useful.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to co-ordinate steps to enhance public transport and accelerate the transition to ultra-low emission vehicles.

Andrew Jones

We have an ambitious programme of improvement for public transport. The Government is investing more than £38 billion in Network Rail to deliver the biggest programme of railway modernisation since the Victorian times, and backing Transport for the North and Midlands Connect to enable cities and regions. We are also supporting technology upgrades on transport networks to meet the expectations of the digital age and to deliver extra capacity.

We want nearly all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050 and have committed more than £600 million between 2015 and 2020 to this goal, which is itself a substantial increase in funding compared to the previous Parliament. This investment will bring improvements to public transport as well. We have allocated £30m to support low emission buses, which will improve urban air quality, reduce running costs, and provide smoother more reliable journeys for passengers. We are supporting the installation of electric vehicle chargepoints at public transport hubs. 80 chargepoints have already been installed at train stations, and the £40m Go Ultra Low City Scheme includes plans for many more at strategic urban locations, such as park-and-ride sites, as well as measures to encourage EV car clubs. The low emission vehicle industry already supports over 18,000 UK jobs and it is a key element of our ambitions for a low carbon, high tech, high skills economy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding for cycling (a) London and (b) each of the cities which received Cycle City Ambition Grants received in 2014-15; and what the average level of such funding other areas received in that period.

Mr Robert Goodwill

CYCLE FUNDING FOR LONDON

The Department for Transport provides the Greater London Authority with a substantial transport grant for Transport for London (TfL). It is for TfL and ultimately the Mayor of London to decide how best to prioritise spending the grant.

CYCLING CITY FUNDING

CYCLING CITIES GRANT RECIPIENTS	Region	2013/14 capital (£m)	2014/15 capital (£m)	Total Funding Allocation for 2014-15 (£m)
Newcastle City Council	North East	5.7	–	5.7
Cambridgeshire County Council	East of England	2.2	1.9	4.1
Bristol City Council	South West	1.6	6.2	7.8
Manchester (Transport for Greater Manchester)	North West	20.0	–	20.0
Birmingham City Council	West Midlands	17.0	–	17.0
West Yorkshire ITA (covering Leeds and Bradford)	Yorkshire and the Humber	18.1	–	18.1
Norwich City Council	East of England	1.1	2.6	3.7
Oxfordshire County Council	South East	–	0.8	0.8
Total Cities Grants		65.6m	11.5m	77.2m

In 2014-15 the Department for Transport awarded the Cycling Cities Ambition grants to improve and develop cycling facilities and infrastructure. Some of the cities received their funding upfront in 2013-14 under the Cities Deal arrangement. Only four cities received funding in 2014-15.

REGIONAL FUNDING

REGIONS RECEIVING CYCLE FUNDING	2014/15 – DfT £m	2014/15 – Total (DfT + Local Contribution) £m
East Midlands	3.6	13.4
East of England	4.7	19.3
North East	4.3	17.5
North West	8.7	34.1
South East	10.0	37.8
South West	8.1	37.1
West Midlands	7.3	25.7
Yorkshire & Humber	5.3	28.2
Total Regions Average Funding	52.0m	213.1m

The 2014-15 figures include some funding streams, such as the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, which benefit a range of locations across England and cannot be easily disaggregated. The figures above therefore contain elements of funding which also benefit the eight cycle cities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on implementing the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy.

Jane Ellison

NHS England continues to support implementation of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy. It is working closely with Public Health England (PHE) on a range of preventative issues which support implementation of the strategy and promote wider improvement in outcomes. These include addressing areas such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol together with the further development of NHS Health Checks, where recent research has shown that with appropriate clinical treatment, an estimated 2,500 people will have avoided a major cardiovascular event, such as heart attack or stroke over the last five years as a result of the programme.

NHS England is also working with partners to support actions that promote earlier diagnosis of conditions such as atrial fibrillation, heart failure and valve disease and improved survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest.

NHS England also hosts an expert forum which brings together the relevant National Clinical Directors, national charities, the National CVD Intelligence Network, PHE and the Department. This collaborative continues to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of occasions on which universities have withdrawn offers from international students who have stayed in the country for up to 28 days under the visa grace period.

James Brokenshire

We do not hold information related to general offers by universities to individual international students. The offer is only formalised for Tier 4 purposes when a university generates a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS). The number of CAS withdrawn from students who have overstayed by less than 28 days is not recorded by the department.

All students wishing to extend their leave in the UK must submit a valid application for further leave to remain before their visa expires. Although the Immigration Rules allow students up to 28 days after the expiry of their leave to make an application, there is no grace period within which a student can lawfully overstay. All applications for further leave to remain will fall for refusal if a student has overstayed for more than 28 days, unless there were exceptional circumstances which prevented them from applying within the 28 day period.

The number of CAS which universities have assigned to international students and then subsequently withdrawn before a decision is made by the Home Office, from 5 October 2009 to 30 September 2015, is 103,753.

This figure includes applications made overseas and in the UK and includes withdrawals for a variety of reasons. We are unable to breakdown the numbers into specific reasons without exceeding proportionate costs.

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 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to apply for an extension to the exemption to the European Regulation 181/2011/EU for drivers from the requirement for disability awareness training for personnel of carriers and terminal managing bodies after March 2017.

Andrew Jones

Positive interaction between drivers and disabled passengers can be key to giving many people the confidence to travel by bus, and so I welcome the industry’s continuing efforts to deliver effective disability awareness training within the Certificate of Professional Competence.

Regulation 181/2011 will make such training compulsory for all drivers when the present five year exemption ends in February 2018. The exemption cannot be renewed beyond this date but we are working with bus operators to ensure they have the tools to deliver meaningful training, meeting the needs of drivers and disabled passengers alike.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the effect of ring fencing funding from his Department for the Global Challenges Fund on other scientific research for which his Department provides funding.

Joseph Johnson

Funding for the Global Challenges Research Fund is provided in addition to the existing science and research budget, and is received as a budget transfer from the Department for International Development. The fund will help to keep the UK at the forefront of research into some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including the environment, hunger, poverty and diseases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the quality of local assurance frameworks prepared by local enterprise partnerships.

James Wharton

We have put robust assurance systems in place, with the right balance of central and local accountability. Section 151 officers from the accountable local authorities for each of the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships have written to the Department confirming that their assurance frameworks adhere to our national standards. We have regular discussions with LEPs on their progress with local growth programmes, and an annual performance review with each LEP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 16941, on bus services: disability, what the different potential solutions for achieving better audio-visual information on buses are; and what steps he is taking to achieve better audio-visual information on buses.

Andrew Jones

Accessible on-board information helps many people to feel more confident in taking the bus, safe in the knowledge that they will know when to alight.

The technology for providing information on upcoming stops is evolving, and recent trials have tested lower cost alternatives to traditional systems, wearable devices and smartphone applications.

The Department is supportive of such initiatives, and continues to review the options available, encouraging the bus industry to take the lead in recognising the potential benefits for all passengers and in delivering improvements in accessible on-board information.