Tag: James Cartlidge

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20232, what progress the Financial Conduct Authority has made in its investigation into issues relating to the Connaught fund.

Simon Kirby

This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government.

This question has been passed on to the FCA. They will reply directly to the Honourable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with bidders for the current East Anglian rail franchise about the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.

Claire Perry

No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.

The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on an (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

Harriett Baldwin

HM Treasury has not made any estimates of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on a (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to amend the current East Anglian rail franchise tender to reflect the closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line and other branch lines in Suffolk in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock.

Claire Perry

No specific discussions with bidders have taken place in regard to leaf fall damage to diesel rolling stock. As a minimum, we expect bidders to deliver on the ambitious performance benchmarks we have set, and to minimise delay and disruption for passengers across the franchise.

The East Anglia Invitation to Tender issued in September sets out that train performance will receive a weighting that is reflective of the level of improvements we want to see.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prudential Regulation Authority’s Draft Supervisory Statement on Buy-to-Let Underwriting Standards, published in March 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the 20 per cent growth in buy-to-let mortgage lending over the next three years on home ownership.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government is committed to supporting homeowners. One part of this commitment is ensuring that there is a level playing field between homeowners and landlords. In the 2015 Autumn Statement, we announced a 3 percentage point increase in the rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax applying to the purchase of additional residential properties, such as second homes and buy-to-let properties; and in the Summer Budget of 2015, we acted to restrict, to the basic rate of income tax, the tax relief on finance costs received by landlords of residential property.

The Financial Policy Committee recently stated that the combination of forthcoming changes to mortgage interest tax relief and the implementation of the PRA Supervisory Statement will probably dampen growth of buy-to-let mortgage lending relative to lenders’ plans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy and guidance of the 13 day closure of the Sudbury to Marks Tey railway line in November 2015 as a result of leaf damage to diesel rolling stock; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

Together with Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) and Network Rail, the Department is very disappointed with the train service that has been provided to passengers on a number of rural routes in Anglia this autumn. In particular, the level of cancellations on branch lines operated by diesel trains has been unacceptable.

Network Rail and AGA have secured the services of John Curley, a respected railway industry professional, to hold an independent review of the factors and circumstances that conspired to affect services so badly. We expect this review to identify the root cause of failures and highlight lessons that need to be learned for the future. We expect corrective action to be taken wherever practicable to avoid recurrence in the future.

I can confirm that the results of the review will be made available to the winning bidder of the current East Anglia franchise competition.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23225, what progress his Department has made on bringing forward changes to secondary legislation that are necessary to implement the relevant provisions of the Pensions Act 2014.

Justin Tomlinson

Work on the changes needed to secondary legislation in relation to the Pension Protection Fund long service cap has begun. I am not, at this stage, able to say when these changes will be brought forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-12-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Financial Conduct Authority will conclude its investigation into issues relating to the Connaught fund and allow those affected to submit claims to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Harriett Baldwin

This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government.

This question has been passed on to the FCA. They will reply directly to the Honourable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue was raised from fines levied on heavy goods vehicles for exceeding weight restrictions on weight restricted roads in the last year for which figures are available.

Andrew Jones

Penalties related to heavy goods vehicles exceeding weight restrictions on weight restricted roads in England outside London are applied under the criminal justice system. I have been advised by the Ministry of Justice that this specific information is not held. Collating this information would incur a disproportionate cost, because individual cases would need to be looked at. My Department does not hold figures for the civil enforcement fines for this infringement applied by local authorities in London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department takes into account cancellation of services when considering the Office of Road and Rail estimated usage of stations.

Claire Perry

The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR’s) Estimates of Station Usage statistics provide an estimate of the number of people entering, exiting and interchanging at the station. Entries and exits are estimated using ticket sales data, using the origin and destination of the ticket.

As Great Britain does not have a fully gated rail network, a complete recording of passenger flows is not possible and as a result, it is not possible to tell whether a passenger has used their purchased ticket or not. Therefore, in the case of cancelled trains, ORR assume that the passenger has still used their ticket, potentially on a later service or via a different route.

More information about how these statistics are compiled is available in the Estimates of Station Usage 2014-15 Methodological Report on the Office of Rail and Road website at http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates.

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