Tag: Lilian Greenwood

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of Clause 21 of the Bus Services Bill on the ability of Transport for London subsidiaries to bid for local bus service contracts on routes wholly outside of London.

Andrew Jones

Transport for London is not considered as a ‘relevant authority’ for the purposes of clause 21 of the Bus Services Bill, and as such the Bill does not affect anything Transport for London may do under its existing powers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33921, on Thameslink railway line: rolling stock, what measures have been put in place relating to evacuation safety risk; and whether his Department has received any other representations on safety relating to Class 700 trains.

Claire Perry

Comprehensive emergency plans are in place between Govia Thameslink Railway, the Thameslink train operator, and Network Rail to ensure the safe evacuation from the tunnelled section of the Thameslink core route between St Pancras International and Blackfriars stations, should an evacuation of a train be required. These plans have been prepared in consultation with the Office of Road and Rail, the rail safety regulator, and the emergency services. My department has not received any other safety representations relating to the operation of the new Class 700 trains.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 27762, on roads: suicide, how many suicides or attempted suicides have been recorded on the Strategic Road Network in 2016 up to the most recent period for which figures are available.

Andrew Jones

Highways England’s systems are used to record incidents that occur on the Strategic Road Network.

Between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2016, the number of incidents defined as either suicide or attempted suicide was 568.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what section 54 undertakings have been given for which rolling stock fleets; and what the (a) owning group and (b) terminating date is for each such undertaking.

Paul Maynard

The table below represents the expiry dates of the Section 54 undertakings in England and Wales which have been entered into between the Secretary of State and the owners of the rolling stock. Since September 2014 the Department has not entered into any Section 54 undertakings. Our current policy is that trains should be purchased in the market and the owner should take residual value risk.

The Scottish Government has powers which it can exercise in relation to Section 54.

Class	Owner/Lessor	No of vehicles	Current lessee	Expiry Date of Section 54
800 / 801	Agility Trains East	497	Virgin Trains East Coast	27.5 years after the Actual Acceptance Date of the first set in the fleet.
800 / 801	Agility Trains West	369	First Great Western	27.5 years after the Actual Acceptance Date of the first set in the fleet.
180	Angel Trains	25	First Great Western	31 December 2016
700	Cross London Trains	1140	GTR	21 March 2036
377	Porterbrook Leasing	792	GTR	07 March 2022
390	Angel Trains	574	Virgin Trains West Coast	31 March 2022
221	Voyager Leasing	102	Virgin Trains West Coast	31 March 2019
444 / 450	Angel Trains	733	South West Trains	23 April 2025
455	Porterbrook Leasing	364	South West Trains	01 February 2018
707	Angel Trains	150	South West Trains	31 March 2019
350/1	Angel Trains	120	London Midland	23 April 2025
350/3	Angel Trains	40	London Midland	19 September 2018
395	Eversholt Rail Group	174	South Eastern	17 years from Acceptance Date of last initial unit which was 2009.
333	Angel Trains	64	Northern	24 July 2020
350/4	Angel Trains	40	TPE	19 September 2018
165	Angel Trains	89	Chiltern	31 December 2018

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 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Oral Answer of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport of 28 January 2016, Official Report, columns 408-9, on rail infrastructure South-West, what progress his Department has made on funding the technical feasibility study referred to in that Answer.

Claire Perry

We are absolutely committed to making sure that the South West has the best infrastructure possible and we are determined to do everything possible to stop damage like we saw in 2014 happening again. That is why we have invested £31 million into improving the resilience of the route, Network Rail spent £40 million on repairing and strengthening the line at Dawlish after the extreme weather, and routine maintenance continues to strengthen the line further.

We are working with Network Rail and the Peninsula Rail Task Force as they explore the potential for longer-term improvements in the area, and decisions on funding for these improvements will be taken in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to data table BUS0842, published in Department for Transport Statistics, what guidance his Department gives to travel concession authorities for reporting purposes on the definition of commercial youth concessions.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport’s annual Concessionary Travel Survey asks the following question in relation to commercial concessions available to young people, of which there is specific guidance repeated below:

Question 19: Do the main bus operators in your authority / scheme offer commercial concessions to young people in 2015/16?

This question concerns commercial concessions only i.e. those controlled/managed/funded by a bus operator. We are aware that you may not know of all the youth schemes offered in your area, but any information you can supply here does offer us a useful starting point for gathering further information from operator websites.

If possible please specify the name of the operator, the age group (e.g. 16-18) covered, the fare charged (free, half, flat), time period (term-time only/all year, 8.30-10.30) and any other relevant information. You will have an opportunity in Q21 to tell us about any youth schemes that your Travel Concession Authority (TCA) controls/manages/funds.

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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