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Written Question
Old Oak Common Station: Construction
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to help ensure stakeholders in (a) Wales and (b) the South West receive communications on the potential impact of Old Oak Common station construction work on (i) rail journey times and (ii) service disruption.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Similar to last year, public communications regarding the works are due to ramp up ahead of this year’s Christmas engineering works, in line with usual passenger communications timing. Network Rail is leading the development of a passenger communications strategy working closely with train operators and other industry partners, including Transport for London (TfL). My Department is working with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, TfL and the train operating companies to minimise the impacts of disruption. The most extensive possessions will be in 2026 and 2028 and stakeholders and the public will be informed well in advance.


Written Question
High Speed 2 Line: Old Oak Common Station
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to minimise disruption to South West rail passengers in the context of the construction of the new High Speed 2 station at Old Oak Common.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department is working with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, Transport for London and train operating companies to minimise disruption to South West rail passengers. Diversions of services to other London terminals, such as Euston, is under active consideration. This could provide Great Western Railway passengers access to a central London terminal with numerous onward travel connections. Passengers could alternatively use Ealing Broadway station, as they did successfully during the December 2023 engineering works.


Written Question
Roads: Lincolnshire
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much reallocated HS2 funding has been given to Lincolnshire County Council for road resurfacing.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Lincolnshire County Council will receive a minimum additional overall uplift of £287.7 million between 2023-24 and 2033-34 as a result of reallocating HS2 funding. £4.9 million of this has already been paid out in the current financial year with a further £4.9 million to follow in 2024/25, and Lincolnshire is receiving around 30% more capital funding for highway maintenance in the current financial year than it did in the previous financial year.

Funding allocations beyond 2024/25 are a matter for the next Spending Review.


Written Question
Logistics: Energy
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the (a) cost of energy asset extensions for the logistics sector and (b) time taken to deliver energy asset extensions on the introduction of logistics fleet depot charging.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport (DfT) has established the Freight Energy Forum to address the challenges and provide solutions for the provision of zero carbon energy infrastructure for the freight and logistics sector.

Through the Forum, this government is working with industry to take a holistic approach to understand the future energy demand required for the freight and logistics sector to decarbonise, as this is an essential component in order to determine the energy asset extensions it will need.

As such, an assessment of the cost and potential impact of energy asset extensions or the time it will take to deliver them has not been undertaken. However, we are in regular contact with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) where discussions include the energy infrastructure needs of the freight and logistics sector.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Create Streets and Sustrans report entitled Stepping off the Road to Nowhere, published on 10 March 2024.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is aware of the report produced by Create Streets and Sustrans and will review its findings in due course.


Written Question
Shipping: Pay
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the mandatory employment conditions excluding national minimum wage rates which apply to seafarers working on routes between maritime ports in the territorial waters of (a) the UK and (b) France.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Extensive details of mandatory employment conditions for seafarers are set out in international conventions including the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 and corresponding UK legislation.

In addition to improving working conditions through our Nine Point Plan for Seafarer Protections, the UK continues to play a leading role internationally in improving seafarer welfare.


Written Question
Transport: Planning
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Create Streets and Sustrans study entitled Stepping off the Road to Nowhere, published on 10 March 2024.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government is aware of the report produced by Create Streets and Sustrans and will review its findings in due course.


Written Question
Chiltern Line
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 6 March (HL2701), whether they have received any representations from Chiltern Railways about ending the direct access services between Northolt Junction and Paddington.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

There are no plans to reinstate direct access services from Northolt Junction to Paddington.

Chiltern Railways used to run a twice-daily service from Northolt Junction (i.e. South Ruislip Station) to London Paddington. In December 2018, this route was cancelled with the closure of the Acton to Northolt line to enable High Speed 2 works. Chiltern Railways made representations to alternatively run to West Ealing via the Greenford branch line, however this was not possible due to Crossrail capacity constraints.


Written Question
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey Report, published on 19 March 2024.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously, which is why it has reallocated £8.3 billion of HS2 funding to help tackle some of the issues highlighted in the report in question. This funding will be on top of what local authorities were expecting to receive over the next decade, and will, over time, allow them to transform the condition of their local highway networks.


Written Question
Railways: North of England
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 6 March (HL2700), when they expect the train service specification for the TransPennine route to be finalised and approved.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Network Rail will be using standard industry processes to progressively formalise train service changes as the programme progresses, in line with the TransPennine Route Upgrade’s (TRU’s) key delivery milestones. The last stage of the fully approved timetables will be in place in the early 2030s when the full service uplift, which TRU enables, is able to come on line.