Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intercity train services operated by Great Western Railway are operating in unplanned short formation; what is the reason for this; and when the normal operating arrangements will be reinstated.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
1.37 per cent of Intercity Trains were short formed in period 13 (the most recent rail period). Although more reliable than the trains they replaced, Great Western Railway has more intercity sets out of service than normal due to damage caused by infrastructure issues (such as flooding), the long-term crack repairs programme, and the impact of poor performance on the network. Great Western Railway is working with Hitachi Rail Group to resolve this and senior staff at Great Western Railway meet frequently with Hitachi counterparts to ensure that the necessary fleet numbers are available.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - 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 29 April (HL3718), in which circumstances, and why, it would not be applicable to apply the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book to HS2 property compensation cases.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Red Book sets out the approach to be adopted for property valuation. It is not applicable to compensation cases where there is no claim for property value and the claim is limited to disturbance compensation or losses not based on the value of land, such as relocation costs.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether HS2 Ltd and its agents base their offers to acquire property in connection with HS2 upon valuations fully in accordance with (1) the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book, and (2) the compensation code; and, if not, what criteria they apply to property compensation valuations.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HS2 Ltd makes offers to acquire properties under a variety of statutory and discretionary schemes. There is no single or universal process that applies to all acquisitions. HS2 Ltd and its agents apply the Red Book and Compensation Code where applicable, dependent on the circumstances and type of offer being made.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Euston ministerial task force was created; what are its terms of reference; who are its members; on what dates has it met; and whether it intends to publish minutes of its meetings or other relevant papers.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The establishment of the Euston Quarter Ministerial Task Force was announced at Spring Budget on 6 March 2024. It will oversee the next stages of delivery at Euston, set strategic direction and facilitate decision making. Membership of the Task Force will include Ministers from the Department for Transport, HM Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Officials from these Government Departments and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority will also attend. Further details will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to (1) their announcement on 29 June 2022 about the creation of the Road Safety Investigation Branch, and (2) the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 7 March (HL2831), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what progress they have made in setting up the Road Safety Investigation Branch.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is using the Automated Vehicles Bill to enable the creation of a capability within my department to investigate safety incidents involving at least one self-driving vehicle. Further development of this will be dependent on the availability of legislative time in future parliaments.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the latest design for the approach tunnels and grade separation works for the HS2 approaches to Euston; how many station platforms are they designed to accommodate; whether this design has received full safety approval and from whom; and whether they plan to place a copy of the plans in the Library of the House.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HS2 Ltd is responsible for designing and building the Euston Approaches. The Company is continuing to progress with the existing design for the approach tunnels and grade separation in line with the requisite technical, safety and environmental standards at all times. The design of the HS2 tunnels has been refined to minimise ground movement and settlement mitigation measures have been developed to be compatible with the operation of the existing railway. As set out on the Network North Command Paper the HS2 station at Euston will comprise 6 platforms which can accommodate the trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in setting up the Road Safety Investigation Branch.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government introduced the Automated Vehicles Bill to Parliament, which moved to the other place on 20 February. This includes proposed legislation to enable the creation of a capability within my department to investigate safety incidents involving at least one self-driving vehicle.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - 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 20 February (HL2422), whether there are committed sources of funding in place for continuing work on (1) preparing for tunnelling main bores from Old Oak Common towards Euston, and (2) installing boring machines for above main bores; and, if not, why construction is continuing without a committed funding source in place.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The project to deliver Old Oak Common station is fully funded, which includes funding for enabling works and site preparation to allow for tunnel boring machines to be launched to construct the Old Oak Common to Euston tunnels.
As previously stated, the scope and cost estimates for this section of the route are subject to review following the announcement. As set out in Network North, we will appoint a development company to manage the delivery of the station and will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer and ensure that funding is underpinned by contributions from those people and businesses its development supports.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the work on the section of HS2 from Old Oak Common to Euston can be funded by the private sector without taxpayer funding; and what are the sources of funding for continuing work on (1) preparing for tunnelling main bores from Old Oak Common towards Euston, and (2) installing boring machines for above main bores.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in Network North, the Government remains committed to delivering HS2 between Birmingham and Euston in central London as planned. The Government’s ambition remains to make best use of funding from alternative sources to enable the delivery of HS2 to Euston and the creation of a transformed ‘Euston Quarter’. Government continues to define and develop a range of development models and financing mechanisms to best meet the objectives of the ‘Euston Quarter’ while delivering value for money for the taxpayer. This includes consideration of options for using alternative funding to cover the section of HS2 from Old Oak Common to Euston.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in identifying a UK satellite-based augmentation system to replace the functionality of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service; and whether the analysis of the potential benefits of such a system, commissioned from PA Consulting over a year ago, has been completed and, if so, whether they will place a copy of that work in the Library of the House.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 18 October 2023 the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published a Government Policy Framework for Greater Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Resilience. The Framework includes a commitment to develop a proposal for a UK Precise Point Positioning Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) to replace the UK’s use of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, monitor Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and enable GNSS-dependent high accuracy positioning for autonomous and precision uses. The work to develop this proposal is currently under way. The specific analysis delivered by PA Consulting referred to in the question is an interim and partial piece of research, contributing as one input to policy development work, which is being taken forward on a cross-Government basis, coordinated by DSIT. It will be superseded by more complete analysis of the business case for Government action in this space and therefore the report will not be placed in the Library of the House.