Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will continue to support the bus industry after the end of March when the existing revenue support mechanisms expire; and what plans they have to give Traffic Commissioners notice of that decision in order to plan for any service withdrawals.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made available nearly £2 billion since March 2020, through emergency and recovery grants, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the bus sector. This support is currently in place until the end of March 2023. The Department is actively considering its support for the bus sector from April 2023 and will set out further details shortly.
We are actively engaging with operators, local authorities, and the Office of the Traffic Commissioner to ensure they are aware of this and that they receive sufficient notice. We welcome the recent statement published by Traffic Commissioners that they will seek to support operations with the notice period for changes to registrations.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make upgrades to smart motorways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have paused the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more safety and economic data to make informed decisions on next steps.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to respond to the Roads policing review consultation, which was launched on 13 July 2020.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The call for evidence saw 149 responses submitted, many of which were incredibly detailed. We will publish once we have given the responses our full consideration.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their annual report Reported road casualties Great Britain, published on 29 September, what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of recorded road casualties in 2021 when compared to 2020 figures; and what steps, if any, they plan to take in response.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There were an estimated 128,209 reported road casualties of all severities in Great Britain in 2021. This was an increase of 11 per cent compared to 2020, but 16 per cent lower than in 2019.
Recent trends in road casualties have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, they showed signs of a return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing compared to 2020 when casualty numbers were low, largely as a result of periods of lockdown resulting in a reduction in road traffic.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution the lack of electrified diversionary routes makes to delays on railways; and what investment plans, if any, they have to deal with such situations.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since 2010, more than 1,200 miles of electrification has been delivered in Great Britain, including almost 800 miles in England and Wales in the last four years.
This increases the number of routes which can be used by electric trains, with further investment in electrification planned.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support significant reductions in bus fares in locations where (1) elasticities of demand are likely to be high, and (2) costs to government are low, to help restore patronage to buses and support wider reductions in traffic congestion.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Evidence suggests that where people’s travel is more discretionary or where people have alternative travel options, passenger demand tends to be more price sensitive. Some operators run fares promotions to benefit from these elasticities at off peak times or when there is more spare capacity on buses. The Government has piloted initiatives to reduce fares in places such as in Cornwall, to help us understand how cutting prices effects patronage.
The Government has also provided over £2.5 billion in new funding to support improvements to bus services and are on track to meet the commitment of £3 billion new funding invested in buses in this parliament. This includes £1.1 billion in new funding for bus transformation deals to deliver London-style fares, infrastructure, and service improvements.
In addition, the Government spends over £200m every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant to keep fares down and maintain an extensive local transport network. A further £42m is provided annually through this grant directly to Local Transport Authorities to subsidise socially necessary bus services
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why a franchise was let for the operation of East Midlands Trains in 2019 when insufficient rolling stock was available to meet the commitments of the franchise.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The East Midlands Railway (EMR) Franchise was let in May 2019 with suitable plans in place for trains to deliver the contracted service. Since then the pandemic and its impact has caused delays to the delivery of trains expected from other operators.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to require the restoration of the hourly train service between Nottingham and Lincoln.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The weekday timetable currently provides an hourly direct service between Nottingham and Lincoln, with the exception of three gaps in each direction spread across the day. With EMR we will continue to monitor demand on this route and keep under review if further services can be operated.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the low market share of railway journeys between Nottingham and Lincoln; and the role of the (1) emergency timetable, and (2) frequent cancellation of services, in this low market share.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No assessment has been made of rail’s market share of journeys between Nottingham and Lincoln, although for rail demand itself, EMR will monitor usage of their services.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the using British Rail Class 222 units from the Midland Main Line to add services to the principal stations in (1) the East Midlands, (2) Lincoln, (3) Nottingham, (4) Derby, (5) Leicester, and (6) Birmingham; and what conversations they have had with Midlands Connect about such a change.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No formal assessments have occurred regarding the Class 222s being used for additional services in the East Midlands after the full introduction of new Class 810s. We currently expect that, after the future planned fleet introductions and cascades, EMR will have sufficient and appropriate rolling stock to meet its post-Covid service requirements, although we will keep this under constant review.