Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the change to the overall cost of building the Birmingham to Crewe section of HS2 which will result from the proposed delay to building this section.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is transparent on cost pressures and publishes six-monthly parliamentary reports on HS2, providing progress updates on the programme. It will take some time to fully understand the impact of the 9 March announcement on HS2 and we are using this time to invest in more mature designs and delivery approaches with a view to ensuring the programme is delivered in the most cost-effective way and protecting the Government’s commitment to delivering HS2 from Euston to Manchester.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the current specification given to HS2 for the building of Old Oak Common Station includes a requirement that disabled passengers must be able to embark and disembark from all (1) HS2, (2) Great Western Railway, and (3) Elizabeth Line trains, without needing to use manual boarding ramps.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The High Speed platforms at Old Oak Common Station have been designed to enable level boarding. Passengers using the conventional rail platforms at the station will join services using several different types of rolling stock and the railway will also be used by important freight services. To ensure the railway can be used by all of these train services and provide maximum availability and resilience for passengers, there needs to be consistent platform heights across the conventional station platforms, which means level boarding will not be available on Great Western Railway and Elizabeth line services. The station is fully compliant with Network Rail standards.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 20 June (HL8309), what is the closing date for initial responses for operators regarding the provision of passenger Wi-Fi on trains; and what is their timeframe for considering the options before they report on their conclusions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is due to receive initial responses from operators regarding the provision of passenger Wi-Fi on trains in the coming weeks. There is no set timeframe for considering the options presented by operators.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when, if at all, they plan to introduce any legislation that will be required to implement their plans announced in response to their Aviation Consumer Policy Reform Consultation; and whether they intend to introduce a single ombudsman for the sector as part of their proposals for alternative dispute resolution.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The legislative reforms outlined in the Government response to the Aviation Consumer Policy Reform Consultation will be taken forward when parliamentary time allows. In the meantime, the Department will work with the industry and associated stakeholders to drive forward improvements for aviation consumers.
In relation to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), this will include exploring ways to improve the ADR process, and keeping under review whether the current ADR model works best for the aviation industry, or whether an alternative, such as a single ombudsman, would be more effective.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Department for Transport's Acceleration Unit, what progress has been made to (1) speed up the delivery of transport infrastructure projects, (2) implement policy initiatives and programmes in relation to the Government's agenda, and (3) publish the total expenditure to date of the Acceleration Unit.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
(1) What progress has been made to speed up the delivery of transport infrastructure projects?
The Acceleration Unit was set up in 2020 to focus on unblocking project delivery and identifying ways to speed up the realisation of benefits from the Department for Transport’s infrastructure portfolio. During its time, the Acceleration Unit worked closely with sponsors, delivery bodies, HM Treasury and others to deliver against this agenda, supporting Project Speed and other acceleration opportunities. This has resulted in an increased focus in our delivery bodies and sponsor teams on both project specific barriers, as well as ways of speeding up our overall delivery systems.
The Department has now reorganised the way it delivers the work of the Acceleration Unit to reflect current circumstances and to best meet its needs. This builds on the success of what the Acceleration Unit has achieved and will allow the Department to continue to improve programme delivery.
(2) What progress has been made to implement policy initiatives and programmes in relation to the Government's agenda?
The Department continues to develop and implement policies to deliver the Government's agenda and is working with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on planning reforms. On the 23 February this year the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) Action Plan was published, which sets out how these reforms will be delivered across government. The reforms will provide greater clarity and certainty to all stakeholders who use the NSIP system, making the NSIP consenting process better, faster, greener, fairer and more resilient, so that it can deliver against government's ambitions for major infrastructure.
(3) publish the total expenditure to date of the Acceleration Unit
The total expenditure of the Acceleration Unit was £1,270,824. This figure includes all costs related to the Unit, such as staff salaries, consultancy support, and business travel and subsistence. The figure represents the total for financial years 20/21 up to and including 23/24. The costs for the Acceleration Unit have been met from existing Civil Service budgets.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the 43.1 per cent increase over the past year in the cost of motor insurance for comparable insurance cover, as reported by ONS; and what discussions they have had with representatives of the motor insurance industry to encourage them to reduce the burden on motorists.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is working hard to help support people with the cost of living. Whilst we have made no particular assessment in this case, we do engage regularly with the insurance industry on a range of topics.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that Avanti will reduce the number of services they will run between North Wales and London for a period covering the whole school summer holidays, what assessment they have made of Avanti's compliance with the terms of their contract during that time; and what assessment they have made of the impact of this reduction in service on the tourism industry in the areas served by this route.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Department for Transport officials and Ministers regularly meet Avanti West Coast (AWC) senior management to hold them to account for matters within their control. Since AWC drivers largely ceased volunteering for rest day working in July 2022 the company has made significant progress and reduced Avanti-caused cancellations to 1.4 per cent at the end of May, while running more trains than before July 2022. AWC informed the Department in advance that it anticipated needing to temporarily remove a small number of services in order to ensure reliability for passengers. Reducing services to a level operable without rest day working will reduce the incidence of unpredictable short notice cancellations which are especially disruptive to passengers.
The Government and AWC have taken care to minimise the impact on passengers and to protect the important tourist traffic to North Wales.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they were informed in advance of plans announced by Avanti to reduce the number of services they will run between North Wales and London for a period covering the whole school summer holidays; and if so, when they were informed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Department for Transport officials and Ministers regularly meet Avanti West Coast (AWC) senior management to hold them to account for matters within their control. Since AWC drivers largely ceased volunteering for rest day working in July 2022 the company has made significant progress and reduced Avanti-caused cancellations to 1.4 per cent at the end of May, while running more trains than before July 2022. AWC informed the Department in advance that it anticipated needing to temporarily remove a small number of services in order to ensure reliability for passengers. Reducing services to a level operable without rest day working will reduce the incidence of unpredictable short notice cancellations which are especially disruptive to passengers.
The Government and AWC have taken care to minimise the impact on passengers and to protect the important tourist traffic to North Wales.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their plans for new guidance to replace Southern Access to Heathrow: Strategic Objectives, published on their website on 4 November 2019; and, further to the answer by the Minister of the State for Transport on 22 July 2020 (HC Deb col 2268), in which he said that he was keen to “move forward at pace”, what specific steps have been taken to progress this since that date.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Government remains committed to improving rail access to Heathrow airport and our ambition is that any Southern Access to Heathrow scheme is funded and delivered by the private sector. Proposals need to be developed in a way that does not require government funding and secures significant benefits. We continue to discuss options and engage with the promoters as they work to resolve these outstanding issues.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the outcome of their consultation on 'Protecting the public from repeat drug-driving offenders' which closed on 28 June 2022.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government intends to conduct a call for evidence on parts of the Road Traffic Act. Although details are still being worked on, this would be expected to include issues around drink and drug driving, and the offence of failure to stop and report.
The Government holds the view that a response to both calls for evidence should be published together. This will enable a more co-ordinated approach to be taken in addressing many of the issues.