Tag: Lord Bradshaw

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give effect to the sections of the Traffic Management Act 2004 that allow for the enforcement of moving traffic offences by wardens employed by local authorities in England.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

London local authorities already have powers to enforce moving traffic contraventions alongside the police under London specific legislation. The Government however has no plans at present to enable moving traffic enforcement by local authorities outside London as the police already have the necessary powers to take action where it is needed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the conclusion by the Office of Road and Rail that it will be possible, by 2021, to run 7.5 long distance trains per hour on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in an operationally robust timetable, in the light of the eight interventions to improve the ECML identified in the 2011 Initial Industry Plan by Network Rail at a cost of £500 million, and the later announcement of funding of £240 million.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government understands from work carried out by Network Rail that under the current plans for enhancement works on the route, 7.5 high speed paths would be available from 2021, although the detailed implications for the timetable and train performance have yet to be examined.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the economic impact on the bus industry of increased traffic congestion, in particular in respect of (1) bus speeds, (2) the deployment of additional vehicles to maintain service intervals, and (3) the attractiveness of the bus as a means of travel; and whether they have discussed this subject with the bus industry and local highway authorities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Managing traffic congestion on the local road network, over which most buses operate, is the responsibility of local highway authorities.

The Government recognises that traffic congestion impacts on the punctuality and reliability of bus services and continues to work collaboratively with the bus industry, local authorities and other stakeholders to promote effective strategies to tackle this issue, such as operator/authority partnership working and the introduction of bus priority measures.

The average traffic speed on locally managed ‘A’ roads in England is estimated to have decreased by 3.3% since 2014, when the Department started measuring speeds over the full 24 hours of the day.

Bus punctuality data is collected and managed by local authorities, and published by the Department for Transport in online statistical tables.

The Department publishes two measures of bus punctuality for frequent and non-frequent bus services. A frequent service is one that has six or more buses per hour.

For frequent services, statistics by local authority are available in table BUS0903. This measure represents the excess waiting time arising from irregular gaps between services.

The proportion of non-frequent bus services in England running on-time is published in table BUS0902. Both tables are attached to this response.

The latest statistics show that in 2014/15, 83% of non-frequent services ran on-time compared with 80% in 2009/10. ‘On-time’ is defined as one between 1 minute early and 5 minutes 59 seconds late.

Ministers and officials have discussed the issue of congestion with Greener Journeys and representatives of the bus industry and local authorities, including at an event in the House of Commons on 14 September.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what local authorities are permitted to spend profits from parking enforcement after covering enforcement costs; and what assessment they have made of how much such profit local authorities make from such enforcement.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Unfair parking fines push up the cost of living and undermine the high street. Local authorities should be making it easier to park to support local shops, local jobs and tourism by increasing footfall. Making parking more difficult stifles local trade, driving motorists into the arms of internet retailers and out of town superstores.

Existing legislation clearly restricts the purposes for which monies generated from parking may be spent by local authorities to off-street parking, transport and environmental improvements.

The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities to publish a breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority’s parking account. This includes details of revenue collected from on-street parking, off-street parking and Penalty Charge Notices and a breakdown of how the authority has spent a surplus on its parking account.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Office of Road and Rail has adequately evaluated the impact of inter-city trains on the East Coast Main Line sharing the tracks approaching London with Thameslink services providing 24 trains per hour through the core section.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

No such assessment has been made by the Government. However, in making its own assessment, the Office of Road and Rail were aware of the requirements of the planned Thameslink service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the bus industry to meet the challenges arising from the need to deal with levels of air pollution in cities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government has introduced several measures to encourage the uptake of environmentally friendly buses.

The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred low emission buses. The winners of LEBS was announced on 25 July, building on the success of the Green Bus Fund, which ran to 2014. Under the Green Bus Fund, £89million of Government funding helped to purchase over 1,200 green buses.

The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive.

The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19^th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements.

The Government has also invested over £26million since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000’s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 17 December 2015 (HL4437), whether any independent research has been undertaken recently into the number of town-centre shoppers who use public transport and the relative value of shopping trips made by public transport users and shoppers who travel by other means.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Department of Transport is aware of three recent reports. Greener Journeys released “Buses and Economic Growth” (2012), which was funded by Greener Journeys members, and “Buses and the Economy II” (2014), which was part-funded by the Department for Transport. These reports consider the number of people who travel on shopping trips by different means of transport, including buses, and the value of their spending. Passenger Transport Executive Group (PTEG), now Urban Transport Group, released “The Case for the Urban Bus” (2013), which considers the extent to which people use buses for shopping trips in metropolitan areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Office of Road and Rail’s recent proposals for the East Coast Main Line services take fully into account the needs and expectations of passengers using stations south of Doncaster, in particular Newark, Grantham and Lincoln.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) has granted Virgin Trains East Coast’s application to run additional services on the East Coast Mainline.

It will be for Network Rail and the relevant train operators to work together through the normal industry processes, under the oversight of the ORR, to ensure that the future mix of services provides an effective level of connectivity to meet the needs of passengers from these and other stations on the route.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 20 September (HL1612), why their estimates of the financial impact of the Office of Road and Rail’s decision on the East Coast Main Line and other associated franchises are considered commercially sensitive” information when they will need to be disclosed to any bidders for future franchises.”

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The information is considered commercially sensitive because of the impact it could have on a listed company if released at this time. This information would only be disclosed to franchise bidders on a confidential basis at the time a franchise is re-let. However, under the normal process we would expect bidders to make their own revenue forecasts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 16 December 2015 (HL4139), what assessment they have made of whether the police have sufficient officers to undertake enforcement action to deal with moving traffic offences outside London.

Lord Bates

The Government has not made any assessment of this nature. It is a matter for chief officers, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners to decide the size and makeup of their workforce, taking into account local priorities.