Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle modern slavery in the maritime industry.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
While onboard for surveys and inspections, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspectors assess the working and living conditions for crew including, but not limited to, employment agreements, payment of wages and standards of accommodation. These inspections implement the standards of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, and the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No.188), that came into force in 2013 and 2019, respectively.
Inspectors also interview crew while they are onboard during merchant and fishing vessel inspections and surveys, offering a confidential space for concerns to be raised. If there is any evidence of modern slavery, the matter is followed up and information is also forwarded to HMRC or local police for further investigation, as needed.
Asked by: Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to launch the "local transport alternatives" to HS2 in England.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has made substantial progress on delivering new local transport investments, a core commitment of the Network North Command Paper. The £4.7bn Local Transport Fund and allocations by local authority was announced on 26 February 2024 and the £8.3bn uplifts for Highways Maintenance was announced on 17 November 2023, with local authorities now actively delivering on this record investment.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the reason for removing the roof at Crewe Station and when they expect it to be reroofed, if at all.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The canopies and main trainshed roof have limited asset remaining life and Network Rail expects replacement work to be complete by 2029. The Government has provided £44.1 billion to Network Rail for renewals work during this Control Period (2024-29) which will be used to fund the work.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6880 on Cycling: Pedestrian Areas, whether he plans to develop targeted educational campaigns to improve cyclists' knowledge of pedestrian safety.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England is providing £50 million to expand Bikeability cycle training to a million more young people between 2023 and 2025 as part of a projected £3 billion investment in active travel up to 2025. This will help to improve standards of cycling behaviour by teaching young cyclists the rules of the road. In addition, a THINK! Campaign, with significant media investment, supported the changes made to The Highway Code in January 2022. The campaign aimed to raise awareness and understanding of the changes, helping to improve road safety for people walking cycling and horse riding. It included messaging on the hierarchy of road users, making clear that those road users who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others.
There are no further plans to develop a targeted educational campaign to improve cyclists’ knowledge of pedestrian safety.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve road (a) maintenance and (b) conditions in the North West.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 4 October 2023 the Prime Minister announced an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period from 2023/24 to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.
As part of this, local highway authorities in the North West of England will receive in total a minimum funding uplift of £1.269 billion between 2023-24 and 2033-34. This includes an additional £19 million in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years to allow local highway authorities across the North West to make an immediate start on improving road conditions. Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15138 on Cycling: Pedestrian Areas, how he plans to support the DVSA in increasing awareness of Rule 64 of the Highway Code among cyclists.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Factual awareness-raising and behaviour change campaigns took place in 2022 and 2023, to highlight the changes the Department made to the Highway Code in January 2022, as part of helping to improve road safety for people walking, cycling, and horse riding.
The campaigns were supported by significant media resource: utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand, and social media advertising. This approach has helped the Department and DVSA to increase awareness of the relevant Highway Code rules for cycling.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, how many and what proportion of the Network North projects have an approved business case.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Projects have different business cases during their life cycle. Since the Government announced Network North on 4 October, the Department has been working closely with delivery bodies to establish plans for delivery. Announcements on progress of business cases and delivery will be made as schemes develop.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support those commuting by car between towns and cities in the North West.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Plan for Drivers, published last year, shows that the government is on the side of drivers, including measures to promote smoother journeys and cracking down on inconsiderate driving. We are also investing significantly in the strategic and local road network, including £8.5m allocated to roads across the North West from the third round of the Safer Roads Fund in March 2024, and £1.3bn investment through the Road Investment Strategy in enhancing, renewing and maintaining the Strategic Road Network in the North West in the period 2020 - 2023. In addition, the Network North announcement included an additional £3.3bn long term road surfacing fund for the North for the period 2023-2033. This is in addition to the local transport funding already allocated at the last Spending Review and to what local authorities were already expecting in the future.
Another significant step we have taken to support commuting by cars is, no increase in the main fuel duty rate since January 2011. Furthermore, recognising fuel price volatility, we cut five pence off fuel duty in March 2022. This was extended for another year in March 2023. This cut, along with the fuel duty freeze, saved the average car driver around £100 in 2023/24.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he had discussions with rail unions on taking steps to avoid the strikes that commenced on 7 May 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Negotiations must take place between the employer, which the Rail Delivery Group has done on behalf of the train operators, and the trade union over its dispute. The Government has no role in these negotiations and discussions. We remain committed to supporting the parties in the resolution of industrial action and the Secretary of State and I have previously met with all the rail unions to help facilitate discussions with the rail industry.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans if any they have to provide level access on to trains by (1) lowering the track bed, (2) raising platforms, or (3) purchasing trains with a lower central section between the wheel bogies; and if not, why none of these options is acceptable.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government appreciates how frustrating the issue of the difference in platform-to-train gap can be for passengers with disabilities and we remain committed to ensuring that all passengers have the same opportunities to travel on the rail network.
Gaps can vary at stations across the network, due to both the design of the station and the platforms at the time of construction, sometimes more than a hundred years ago. It also has to vary according to the type of services which use the line, for example, high-speed, commuter and freight trains.
The rail industry takes several approaches to improving the stepping distance between platform and train, for example the Department for Transport has funded a number of raised sections of platforms across the country to provide level boarding on to trains e.g. Harrington, Whaley Bridge and Ty Croes. However, these may not be suitable for all locations.
There are also 378 carriages forming 58 trains currently in service with Greater Anglia that have lower floor sections with in-built ramps. Under delivery are a further 133 carriages forming 35 trains for Transport for Wales and 208 carriages forming 54 trains for Merseyrail, all of which have in-built ramps.