Tag: Lilian Greenwood

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s policy is on maintaining an intercity standard train service between (a) Norwich and London, (b) Ipswich and London, (c) Colchester and London and (d) Chelmsford and London.

Claire Perry

In our invitation to tender for the East Anglia franchise we have asked bidders to:

• As a minimum meet the train services we have specified in the invitation to tender and to develop train services that are attractive to passengers within each of the different Market Segments served by the Franchise which includes the Intercity Services that offer long distance rail services between London and Norwich operating on the Great Eastern Mainline and calling at the stations you mention. This includes train services between Norwich and London that have a journey time of 90 minutes or less each weekday and between Ipswich and London that have a journey time of less than 60 minutes.

• Furthermore they have been asked to implement a rolling stock fleet solution that delivers the train services to consistently high standards of rolling stock availability, reliability and presentation through effective management, maintenance and improvement of rolling stock assets. As a minimum this includes ensuring that all rolling stock that forms part of the Train Fleet is compatible with the infrastructure throughout the Core Franchise Term and any Extension and has an internal lay out and facilities appropriate for the Market Segments served.

I look forward to saying more in the coming weeks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on his Department’s plans for electrification of the Midland Main Line.

Claire Perry

The Midland Main Line programme will deliver electrification of the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Kettering and Corby by 2019 and from Kettering to Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby by 2023. Following the vote taken by the British people for the UK to leave the European Union on 23 June their will must be respected and delivered. The Prime Minister has been clear that the negotiation for Britain’s future relationship with Europe will need to begin under a new Prime Minister. In the meantime, the Department continues working to deliver the Government agenda, including the above electrification programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to publish legislation to create the National Infrastructure Commission as a statutory body.

Mr David Gauke

The National Infrastructure Commission has a crucial role to play in setting out the country’s infrastructure priorities and it has already made an important contribution through its first three reports.

The Commission is an important part of the government’s overall approach on infrastructure, and we remain fully committed to it. We are considering how it can best support the government’s new industrial strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation the Government is liable for in its contract with Agility Trains in the event that the new IEP fleet cannot be introduced according to its planned timescales due to delays to either (a) the Great Western Mainline electrification programme or (b) East Coat Mainline IEP enabling works.

Mr Robert Goodwill

During the period 2009-10 to date, the following numbers of ministers have been entitled to use Government cars:

2009-10	4
2010-11	4
2011-12	4
2012-13	4
2013-14	4
2014-15	5
2015-16	5

As a result of a series of changes, including closure of the Government mail service, overall operating costs have fallen from £20.956m in 2010/11 to £6.325m in 2014/15. During the same period the number of vehicles in the GCS for use by ministers have fallen from 227 to 78.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20640, how many miles of track will be electrified by the end of Control Period 5 under the timetable for project delivery contained in Sir Peter Hendy’s review of the rail upgrade programme.

Claire Perry

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20640, we remain committed to our modernisation programme of over 850 miles of electrification.

Sir Peter Hendy’s review of the rail upgrade programme details that the vast majority of programmes and projects will go ahead for delivery by 2019 (the end of Control Period 5).

However, some schemes are more immature in their development and, whilst schemes in this category will have significant delivery within Control Period 5, these schemes will span more than one control period.

Electrification provides long-term efficiencies for the railways, but it is just one element of a wider set of railway upgrades to provide better journeys for passengers and freight users.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department’s roads reform programme evaluation, An overarching, monitoring and evaluation framework, published in March 2015, has made in evaluating the effectiveness of the roads reform programme.

Andrew Jones

In March 2015 the Department published an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework for the Roads Reform Programme. This document explained that the programme evaluation will draw upon evidence generated by Highways England, the Office of Rail and Road, and Transport Focus, complementing this evidence with additional data collection where required.

Since publishing this framework, a range of relevant evidence has been produced, such as the National road users’ satisfaction survey 2014-15 and two publications on Road users’ priorities for improvement covering car and van drivers and motorcyclists, and HGV drivers, respectively. The Department is planning to commission a suitably qualified supplier shortly to begin to use this evidence in performing an evaluation of the Roads Reform Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) suicides and (b) attempted suicides were recorded as having taken place on the strategic road network in each year since 2009-10; and what work Highways England has undertaken with the Samaritans related to suicides on roads.

Andrew Jones

Highways England records details on its Command and Control (C&C) database, of incidents that occur on the strategic road network, but only when the Traffic Officer Service have an awareness or involvement. Therefore due to the current Traffic Officer network coverage, the majority of incidents recorded occurred on the motorway network.

The following table records the number of incidents coded as ‘suicide/suicide attempt’ on the C&C database and reflect those incidents that the Traffic Officer Service have been directly involved in or have been reported to them:

Year	Number of suicides/attempted suicide incidents
2009/10	93
2010/11	125
2011/12	110
2012/13	84

In April 2014 a review of the database was carried out and the closure code for ‘suicide/attempted suicide’ was changed. This created significant anomalies in the data capture which means that the 2014/15 data are not robust. We are in the process of verifying the data and will be in a position to provide the figures later this year.

Highways England (formerly Highways Agency) has worked closely with organisations such as the Samaritans in helping to prevent further suicides on the strategic road network. Highways England has commenced work to take forward a Suicide Prevention Group. This group will comprise of relevant stakeholders such as the Samaritans, emergency services and our service providers to develop and co-ordinate delivery of an action plan to reduce the number of suicide attempts on the strategic road network. We are also working closely with both the Samaritans and Network Rail to identify best practice following their success in reducing suicide attempts on the rail network.

Known suicide hotspots are investigated to look at possible improvements, such as raising the height of the parapets on bridges and introducing or improving crisis signing. Highways England consults The Samaritans when undertaking this work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26134, what the reason is for the difference between the data series given in that Answer in relation to suicides and suicide attempts on the Strategic Road Network and the data given in the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 19015 asked by the hon. Member for Huddersfield; and if he will update the figures given in the Answer of 15 December 2015 to include the number of suicides and suicide attempts on the Strategic Road Network in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to date.

Andrew Jones

The difference in the data given is due to the ‘Command and Control’ database, used by Highways England to record all incidents on the Strategic Road network, being reconfigured in April 2013 to improve the consistency of the data recorded. This has led to improved accuracy, particularly when logging types of incidents and the method for recording ‘suicides’ or ‘attempted suicides’ was also adapted.

In 2015 there were 790 incidents logged as suicides or attempted suicides.

In 2016 – from 1^st January to 21^st February – there have been 120 such incidents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 10 December 2015, Official Report, column 1132, on smart ticketing, whether the £80 million funding referred to has been allocated to the South East Flexible Ticketing programme; and what proportion of that funding his Department has so far spent on which elements of that programme.

Claire Perry

Smart ticketing was taken forward by the Coalition Government after 2010. I can confirm that £80m was allocated to the South East Flexible Ticketing (SEFT) programme. So far, £39.11m has been spent on the SEFT programme to develop a central back office for the entire rail industry to use and towards the costs to train operators of new infrastructure and upgrades.

We are working with the industry to find the best way to deliver smart ticket solutions that meet customers’ needs and take advantage of technological improvements, so ensuring that everyone is benefitting from 21st century ticketing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 28078, what plans his Department has for spending the remaining £40.89 million that was allocated to the South East Flexible Ticketing programme.

Claire Perry

The Government is fully committed to modernising rail ticketing and to honouring the contractual commitments made under the South East Flexible Ticketing programme. Beyond that we are working with industry to find the best way to deliver smart ticket solutions that meet customers’ needs and take advantage of technological improvements, so ensuring that everyone is benefitting from 21st century ticketing.