Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how vehicle battery technology will develop; and what is their estimate of the number of (1) electric vehicles there will be, and (2) charging points that will be required, in the next (a) five, (b) 10, and (c) 15, years.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government recognises the important future role batteries will have as a primary energy source for vehicles. The recently announced Faraday Challenge is a £246m commitment to battery development in the UK to make the most of the automotive electrification market opportunity.
We expect most motorists to continue to charge at home, but we have put in place support schemes for those unable to do so with schemes to fund domestic on-street, off-street and workplace chargepoints. As announced at Autumn Budget 2017, a new £400m electric car Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (£200m new Government investment to be matched by private investors) will accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure by providing access to finance to companies that deliver chargepoints.
The Government is due to publish a strategy on Government support for the transition to zero emission vehicles by March 2018.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding they allocated to (1) the Highways Agency, (2) local authorities, and (3) other bodies, for the construction and maintenance of roads and pavements in the last financial year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
In 2016/17, Highways England spent £3.1bn in total in covering construction and maintenance of the Strategic Road Network, and the Traffic Officer Service.
The Government provided a total of £137.6m to local authorities from the local majors programme for the construction of new local roads.
The Government also allocated £1.029 billion to local authorities for highways maintenance in England outside London This was made up of £826m highways maintenance block needs element, £50m highways maintenance block incentive element, £103m highways maintenance block challenge fund and £50m Pothole Action Fund. A further £258 million was provided to local authorities in England outside London for small scale transport improvements through the integrated transport block.
The Mayor of London receives an annual grant from the Government for transport including rail, underground and roads, so the Department does not hold a breakdown of the expenditure.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the target dates for opening each stage of HS2 to passenger travel.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Phase 1 (London to West Midlands) of HS2 is scheduled to open to passengers in 2026, Phase 2a (West Midlands to Crewe) in 2027, and the rest of Phase 2 (Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Yorkshire) in 2033. The project remains on time and on budget.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the current maximum passenger carrying capacity from London to Birmingham by rail; and how much additional capacity they estimate will be added by HS2.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Department for Transport considered the impact of HS2 on the West Coast Main Line rail corridor in the Supplement to the October 2013 Strategic Case for HS2. The increase in peak-time seats on Birmingham services associated with HS2 (the Phase 2 “Y“ shaped network) was estimated at 97% compared to today’s capacity. HS2 was also estimated to increase PM-peak, standard-class seats from Euston from 15,869 to 39,566 across all Intercity West Coast (ICWC) services.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much compensation was paid to passengers for delays and cancellations by each train operating company during the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The compensation figures for all Train Operating Companies operating Delay Repay covering the years 2009-10 to 2014-15 are published on the GOV.UK website, and a copy of the full figures is provided in the attached document. Overall figures are below. Figures for the 2015-16 financial year for all Train Operating Companies are expected to be published on the GOV.UK website later this year.
Amounts in £ (000s)
2014-15 - 25,623
2013-14 - 22,608
2012-13- 12,603
2011-12 - 8,021
2010-11 - 3,256
2009 -10 - 2,981
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the amount of compensation due to passengers for delays and cancellations which was unclaimed from each train operating company during the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Department for Transport has not made an estimate of unclaimed compensation. The Office of Rail and Road considered this issue in its response to the Which? super-complaint on passenger compensation and has committed to working with the industry to agree a set of indicators that will show how the take-up of compensation is changing over time.
We are also working with the industry as it develops improvements to make the compensation process as easy for passengers as possible, including further automation. A number of train companies have already introduced fully automated compensation and other are planning to do so.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have made to, or discussed with, train operating companies to simplify procedures for passengers to claim compensation for delays and cancellations.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) is leading the industry’s response to the Office of Rail and Road’s recommendations following the Which? super-complaint, and we are discussing this with them as they lead efforts to raise standards.
Actions already taken by the RDG include:
The Department for Transport requires bidders for new franchises to put forward proposals to make the compensation process swift and simple.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect each train operating company to implement passenger compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
On 13 October 2016 the Secretary of State for Transport announced an improved compensation scheme for passengers if their train is more than 15 minutes late. We will implement the policy in the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, which includes Southern, within months. Following its introduction on GTR services, ‘Delay Repay 15’ will then be rolled out across the network starting with the new South Western, West Midlands and South Eastern franchises. All franchise competitions let by the Department for Transport (DfT) will include requirements to introduce this policy and the DfT is exploring opportunities to roll this out for all DfT franchises during this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with train operating companies about eliminating or reworking the role of conductors on trains.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The roles and duties of on-train staff are the responsibility of the train operating companies, though the Department for Transport does on occasion in the course of its various meetings with franchised operators discuss developments on current staffing issues.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions over each of the last five years Network Rail has been fined for breaches of health and safety legislation; and what safeguards are in place to ensure that fines are not passed on to the taxpayer or passengers.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Network Rail has been fined fifteen times over the last five years for breaches of health and safety legislation, however the incidents that these fines correspond with took place over the last thirteen years (2003-2016). All fines must be paid out of existing budgets and no additional funding will be made available by government and no extra can be raised from track access charges.