Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that Network Rail implements the recommendation of the Varley Report 2018.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Following the Varley Report, a target of no net loss by 2024 and biodiversity net gain by 2035 has been set by Network Rail. Network Rail set out further targets on lineside vegetation and biodiversity in their recently published Environmental Sustainability Strategy and will publish detailed plans on meeting these targets and how they are addressing other recommendations in the Varley Report in their forthcoming Biodiversity Action Plan.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that Network Rail takes biodiversity into account when undertaking lineside work.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Network Rail targets have been set to achieve no net loss of biodiversity by 2024 and biodiversity net gain by 2035. Network Rail have committed to publishing a national biodiversity standard by the end of 2021 and will establish a biodiversity baseline, map all relevant data and make that available to their supply chain by 2024.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cars the Government Car Service plans to purchase in the next five years; and what proportion will be (a) petrol and diesel, (b) hybrid electric and (c) fully electric.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government Car Service (GCS) will be replacing cars as they become due for renewal with ultra-low emission and zero emission vehicles over the next five years.
Below is the planned replacement based upon the current budget allocation:
2020 - (a) Petrol x 7, Diesel x0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 4 (c) Electric x 4
2021- (a) Petrol x 3, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 2 (c) Electric x 4
2022 - (a) Petrol x 0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x 7
2023- (a) Petrol x 0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x7
2024 - (a) Petrol x0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x 7
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cars there are in the Government Car Service fleet.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
There are 83 cars in the Government Car Service Fleet.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many petrol or diesel engine cars were added to the Government Car Service fleet in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As part of a planned replacement programme the Government Car Service (GCS) added the following cars to its fleet during the years:
2017 – Petrol x 16, Diesel x 0
2018 - Petrol x 0, Diesel x 0
2019 – Petrol x 8, Diesel x 0
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many hybrid electric cars were added to the Government Car Service fleet in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As part of a replacement programme the Government Car Service (GCS) added the following hybrid electric cars to its fleet during the following years:
(a) 2017 - 0
(b) 2018 - 5
(c) 2019 - 0
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fully electric cars were added to the Government Car Service fleet in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As part of a planned replacement programme the Government Car Service (GCS) added the following electric cars to its fleet during these years:
2017 – 1
2018 – 5
2019 – 6
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when (a) he and (b) his Ministers were made aware that all pacer trains would not be withdrawn from service by rail operators before 1 January 2020.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The first Pacers are due to be withdrawn from service in August and operators are working to remove all of them by the end of the year. No application for dispensations with regard to rail vehicle accessibility standards in respect of the Pacers operated by Northern has been submitted to the Department to date.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many pacer trains are serving stations in (a) Leeds, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.
Answered by Andrew Jones
There is a total of 42 Pacer trains operating in Yorkshire and Humber from Monday to Friday, and 27 of these serve Leeds.
In the UK there are 140 Pacer Trains in service with three train operators which are Arriva Rail North Limited, Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales Rail Services.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which rail operators are running pacer trains on their service.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Arriva Rail North, Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales Rail Services are operators of Pacer trains.