Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions officials of hisDepartment have had with Balfour Beatty on commercial flight operations at Blackpool Airport
Answered by John Hayes
Department for Transport officials have had no discussions with Balfour Beatty about commercial flights at Blackpool Airport, nor on any proposals to sell the airport. These are commercial matters for Balfour Beatty, as the airport’s majority owner.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions officials of his Department have had with Balfour Beatty on proposals to sell Blackpool Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
Department for Transport officials have had no discussions with Balfour Beatty about commercial flights at Blackpool Airport, nor on any proposals to sell the airport. These are commercial matters for Balfour Beatty, as the airport’s majority owner.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will discuss with Virgin Trains the extent to which its franchise agreement permits differentiation in ticket pricing for similar journeys to end from (a) Preston and (b) Lancaster stations.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regular meetings are held with the Franchisee (Virgin Trains West Coast) to discuss various matters including management and monitoring of fares regulation through the Franchise Agreement.
The Franchise Agreement sets out the terms of fares both regulated and un-regulated.
The Government regulates the existence and price of certain rail fares. Through fares regulation the Government aims to strike an appropriate balance between protecting passengers from possible market abuse and allowing train operators scope for innovation.
For unregulated fares Virgin can apply different peak/off-peak restrictions on a long distance route and they can segment the train journey according to market conditions. Unregulated fares include the lower cost Advance purchase fares which have been introduced by a number of operators. This has helped to make some leisure travel services significantly cheaper for passengers who are able to book ahead and commit themselves to travelling on a specific departure, this has also assisted with improved train occupancy.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Virgin Trains on consistency in ticket pricing within their franchise terms.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I regularly meet with all train operators including Virgin Trains and always interested in passenger benefit and value for money.
Fares are made of regulated and unregulated fares. In general the fares that are regulated include commuter fares (in major cities), some weekly, monthly or annual season tickets, day singles and returns as well as some protected fares like long-distance off-peak return fares (formerly Saver Returns).
Train operators set the price of rail fares within the framework set by the government, which places a limit on the maximum amount by which average regulated fares are permitted to rise in any single year. From 2016 to 2020 this limit will be set at RPI (Retail Price Index) + 0%.
Other fares are unregulated, and train operators are permitted to set these on a commercial basis, taking account of competition from other transport modes and the need to attract business in order to grow their revenue.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of average journey times on smart motorways compared with the same journey prior to the introduction of smart motorway technology.
Answered by John Hayes
Highways England’s monitoring of the first two ‘all lane running’ smart motorways - on the M25 between junctions 5 to 7 and 23 to 27 - over their first 12 months of operation has shown that traffic flows have increased, users at peak periods are on average saving time and that journey time reliability has improved.
Highways England is closely monitoring the performance of all subsequent smart motorway schemes that have opened, most recently on the M1 and M6, and their initial data is encouraging. All major road schemes are routinely monitored as part of the Post Opening Project Evaluation programme and this is regularly published on Highways England’s website.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the economic implications of the recent announcement on airport capacity for the North West.
Answered by John Hayes
An expanded Heathrow will better connect people and businesses to new long haul destinations and growing world markets. It will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help secure the UK’s position globally. A new runway will deliver up to £61 billion of benefits to passengers and the wider UK economy.
The Department has undertaken an economic assessment of the impact of a new runway at Heathrow at a national level, taking account of all regions. As with other regions, the North West should benefit from access to new destinations, extra seats and increased frequency of service created by expansion at Heathrow.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that consumers can have confidence in vehicle emissions data.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Consumers must be able to trust data provided to inform their purchasing decisions. That is why the government pushed in Europe for the recently agreed changes to the way emissions are measured.
I am pleased that real driving emissions will be measured from 2017 but, in the meantime, officials are retesting the emission performance of the most popular vehicles in Great Britain. We will publish a report of this work in spring 2016.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that diesel car emissions are tested accurately; and that such emissions tests have not been falsified in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Jones
All new vehicles are tested in accordance with EU law to ensure that they meet the legislated requirements for emissions. There is no evidence that these emissions tests have been falsified in the UK.
The UK has been pressing for action at an EU-level to improve emissions tests and will continue to do so. The current test cycle is recognised as outdated and no longer represents normal driving patterns, and we have been involved in the development of a new laboratory test designed to be more representative of real driving conditions. We anticipate this will be implemented from 2017. In addition, we have been at the forefront of action at a European level to introduce real driving emissions (RDE) testing, which we believe is the best way to ensure tests accurately represent performance out on the road and ensure public confidence.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department is providing to regional airports to promote the use of such airports by commercial airlines.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Aviation Policy Framework states that the Government would be inclined to support threatened routes to London within State aid regulations. We have therefore made funds available via the Regional Air Connectivity Fund to maintain regional air access to London which is in danger of being lost, through Public Service Obligations (PSOs). Last June we announced support for a Dundee-Stansted service for two years; and in October announced a four-year funding deal a service between Newquay and London Gatwick.
The Government has broadened the scope of the Regional Air Connectivity Fund to allow start-up aid for new routes from regional airports handling fewer than 5 million passengers per year, providing applications meet EU aviation State aid guidelines. Airports and airlines have submitted start-up bids, for services largely intended to commence in 2016, to my Department. We will announce a short list of routes for funding later this month, and announce final funding over the summer.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access for people with disabilities at rural train stations.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Access for All programme has delivered 140 accessible routes at stations, with a further 78 due for completion by 2019. More than 1,100 stations have also received smaller scale access improvements and many of these have been at rural stations. Any infrastructure work carried out at stations must meet UK and EU accessibility standards.