Tag: Lilian Greenwood

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24776, whether his Department has made or plans to make a financial contribution to Transport for London related to the decision to increase the cost of rail fares in London by the retail price index in 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The 2015 Spending Review settlement provided to Transport for London already takes into account its likely income from rail fares in 2016 and subsequent years. The Department has no plans to make any further adjustment to TfL’s funding in respect of this matter.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 2 November 2010 to the Questions from the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish, Official Report, column 702W, on bus services: finance, if he will place in the Library a copy of the equalities impact assessment carried out by his Department of the decision to reduce the value of the Bus Service Operators Grant by 20 per cent.

Andrew Jones

The equalities impact assessment was published in 2010 and can be found at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/165220-/cuts.pdf.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) consultants and (b) permanent staff are employed by Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects division; and how much Network Rail has spent on consultants who work in its Infrastructure Projects division in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Claire Perry

I have requested this information from Network Rail and can confirm that the number of permanent staff in Infrastructure Projects in 2014-15 was 3641 and in 2015-2016 is 4309. During this period Network Rail insourced the High Output Team from Amey which increased permanent staff figures.

Network Rail Infrastructure Projects’ expenditure on companies that class themselves as providing consultancy in 2014-15 was £178,401k, and in 2015-2016 is £154,430k. The majority of expenditure on consultants occurs via Network Rail’s Principal Contractors and therefore is not included above.

We are not able to provide details of the number of consultants because the contract specification for each piece of work is based on the deliverable and not on the number of consultants working on it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 25499, how many of the speed cameras referred to in that Answer had been painted grey on the latest date for which figures are available.

Andrew Jones

We have currently converted five camera sites from grey paint to yellow and we are on track for all working motorway speed cameras to be yellow by October 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s discussion paper on options for supporting English regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution, published in July 2015, what advice he has received from the European Commission on the compliance of the options in that paper with state aid rules; and whether he plans to issue an update to that discussion paper.

Damian Hinds

The Government is carefully considering the responses received to the discussion paper on options to support English regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution and will respond in due course.

The options contained in the discussion paper could each be taken forward in a variety of ways. Any proposals brought forward will be compliant with EU law and the European Commission will be consulted, if required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Enhancements Delivery Plan Update, published in March 2016, page 138, whether Network Rail carried out an equality impact assessment of the proposal to reduce Access for All funding in Control Period 5 from £135 million to £87.1 million in 2012-13 prices.

Claire Perry

The Department will undertake an impact assessment as part of our analysis and response to the Hendy Report consultation. This response is due to be published over the summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24854, on railways: repairs and maintenance, for what reasons Network Rail did not publish its updated Delivery Plan in March 2016.

Claire Perry

Network Rail has completed its internal review of its plans for operations, maintenance and renewals (OMR), but before it publishes a revised Delivery Plan it must obtain agreement to any material differences from the Department for Transport. The Department is expecting to shortly receive the Office of Rail and Road’s review of Network Rail’s targets for train performance at route level, after which OMR plans can be considered in the round for agreement. I expect the Delivery Plan to be published on Network Rail’s website in the near future to assist with industry forward planning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36401, whether the Cabinet Secretary’s involvement in the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s review of High Speed 2 was requested or authorised by a Minister; and what the membership is of the small cross-government team referred to in that Answer.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s (IPA’s) support to the HS2 Programme is part of the normal assurance process for projects of this size, as mandated by Ministers. The Cabinet Secretary’s involvement is also normal for projects on the scale of HS2.

The IPA’s role on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio is to provide expertise in infrastructure and the financing, delivery and assurance of major projects, to support more effective management and delivery across government. The cross government assurance involves relevant experts from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, the Department for Transport, HM Treasury and HS2 Ltd.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37536, on Govia Thameslink Railway Reforms Standards, what the predefined contractual change referred to in that Answer is; and what changes have been made to the cancellation and train operating company Minute Delay benchmarks.

Claire Perry

When competing for the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise the Department for Transport gave all bidders certain assumptions to use in relation to the train services to be provided until December 2015 and informed them where it would be a Change to the Franchise Agreement if the actual position was different. As a result of the Change, the benchmarks were reviewed.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 39089, on railway signals, what the scope of work covered by the installation programme is for the (a) Wales and (b) Romford Rail Operating Centre.

Claire Perry

The scope of works covered by the installation programme at the two Rail Operating Centres includes:

• procurement & installation of hardware and software
• training simulator
• maintenance support
• interface with train control