Tag: Daniel Zeichner

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) officials, (b) other staff and (c) contracted workers in his Department are working on taxi and private hire vehicle policy.

Andrew Jones

There are currently (a) two officials, (b) one further official on secondment to the Department and (c) no contracted workers working on taxi and private hire vehicle policy in the Department for Transport. All work in the Buses and Taxis division. The subject forms one part of the officials’ roles. This level of staffing for work on taxis and private hire vehicles is essentially consistent with that going back to 2009/10.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18101, at what stage he plans to be able to predict the geographical distribution of funding for cycling outside of London and the eight cycling ambition cities; and what steps he is taking to identify that geographical distribution.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Due to the inclusion of devolved funding when reporting on overall cycling expenditure, spend is usually reported in terms of regions.

Currently, spend on cycling is £6 per head across England compared to £2 per head in 2010, with spend of £10 in London and the eight Cycle Ambition Cities. Further details of funding programmes will be set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy to be published in summer 2016.

In the meantime, where funding is already allocated then the geographic distribution is known.

Where funding has been subject to formula then the geographic distribution will be known at the point the formula weightings are determined.

Where funding is allocated by competition, then the geographic distribution will be known at the point the results of the competition are announced.

Where funding is devolved, then its geographic distribution is a matter for the relevant local body.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how his Department decides on allocation of funding to research councils; and what assessment he has made of the grounds for significant changes being made to the relative size of allocations to each research council compared to allocations in previous years.

Joseph Johnson

The allocations will be published shortly. As in previous years, the allocations will be made by ministers following discussions with BIS delivery partners.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to give bus and coach passengers statutory rights to compensation for delays in their bus or coach service.

Andrew Jones

Bus and coach passengers already have statutory rights under the services provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If the bus or coach service is not provided with reasonable care and skill or in line with certain information the transport operator has given about it then the passenger may be due compensation, including compensation for delays and cancellations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which bus operators his Department has had discussions with on the Buses Bill; and how many meetings his Department has had with each of those bus operators.

Andrew Jones

Bus operators attended a series of workshops in the Autumn of last year, and since then officials have engaged, on a regular basis, with both large and small bus operators via the Confederation of Passenger Transport and the Association of Local Bus Company Managers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons an annual report on the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy was not published in 2015.

Jane Ellison

The UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy (2013-2018) annual progress report, 2015, was delayed to give the Report a stronger ‘one health’ perspective and to better reflect progress across the four nations, which required additional analytical work. We hope to publish the report shortly.

The Department has just commissioned an independent scoping study to inform the evaluation of the current strategy which will inform any future strategy document.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department plans to spend on walking in each year from 2016 to 2021.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department’s spending on walking programmes is stated in the table below.

Programme	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	Total
Walking	£97.0m	£89.8m	£69.3m	£44.5m	£23.3m	£323.9m

The totals shown above include the Department’s Sustainable Transport Transition Year and Access Fund plus spending by local bodies on walking projects using sums from within current Local Growth Fund and Integrated Transport Block allocations. Not all of the Local Growth Fund is currently allocated, so as future allocations of the Local Growth Fund are made to Local Enterprise Partnerships, the amount supporting walking projects through to 2020/21 is likely to rise.

In addition to the above, from within the record £6 billion allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, this funding can help maintain footways cycleways. Further, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39159, what the figures for his Department’s spending on cycling programmes in each year to 2021 are in real terms.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Programme	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	Total
Cycling	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Real term spending	£185.20	£199.56	£115.07	£87.98	£54.41	£642.23

We have applied the GDP deflator rates to the figures that were provided in response to the original PQ 37870. It should be noted that the future years GDP deflator rates are estimates only.

Note that the above totals include sums from within current Local Growth Fund allocations. Not all of the Local Growth Fund is currently allocated, so as future allocations of the Local Growth Fund are made to Local Enterprise Partnerships, the amount supporting cycling projects through to 2020/21 is likely to rise.

In addition to the totals above, from within the record £6 billion allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, this funding can help maintain footways and cycleways.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations the Minister of State for Universities and Science has made to his European counterparts since the EU referendum on access to EU research grants for UK researchers.

Joseph Johnson

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding and collaboration arrangements continue unchanged, including those that apply to students, researchers, and businesses. I am in close contact with Commissioner Moedas on the topic of Horizon 2020 funding, and I met with the Italian Minister for Education, Universities and Research on 11 July.

The UK is world-class in research and innovation and we play a leading role in major European and international collaboration, including ESA and CERN.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward primary legislation to regulate the taxi and private hire vehicle industries in the current session.

Andrew Jones

Clause 145 of the Policing and Crime Bill currently being considered by Parliament would enable the Secretary of State to issue Statutory Guidance to taxi and private hire licensing authorities so as to protect children, and vulnerable individuals who are 18 or over, from harm.

There is at present no plan to bring forward further primary legislation to reform the legislative framework for taxis and private hire vehicles in the current session.