Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.7 and 4.57 of the Autumn Budget 2017, what plans his Department has to ensure that the proposed new fleet of Metro rolling stock will be introduced onto the network by 2021.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £337m direct grant funding for a new Nexus Metro fleet and depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Metro is a critical part of both local transport provision and the wider economy in the region, and this investment will be a vital boost to the area, supporting access to employment, education and leisure.
To achieve this result, the Department worked closely with HM Treasury. The committed funding is in response to a business case from the North East Combined Authority. Nexus will manage procurement, delivery and rollout of the new fleet of trains and will report progress to the joint DfT-Nexus programme board throughout this process.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.57 of the Autumn Budget 2017, how much of the National Productivity Investment Fund will be allocated to improving the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £337m direct grant funding for a new Nexus Metro fleet and depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Metro is a critical part of both local transport provision and the wider economy in the region, and this investment will be a vital boost to the area, supporting access to employment, education and leisure. All of this funding is from the National Productivity Investment Fund.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.43 of the Autumn Budget 2017, how much of the additional funding to tackle potholes in England will be allocated to projects in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside local authority and (c) the North East.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The allocation of the additional £46 million funding for repairing potholes as announced in the Autumn Budget 2017 to individual local highway authorities will be announced in due course.
This funding is in addition to over £6 billion funding the Department for Transport is providing between 2015 to 2016 to local highway authorities in England, outside London, to help improve road condition, including repairing potholes. This funding includes £250 million to as part of the Pothole Action Fund.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.46 of the Autumn Budget 2017, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people aged 26 to 30 who will benefit from the proposed introduction of a new discount railcard for that age group in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is working with industry to extend the benefits of discounted travel. The Department has not made estimates of the number of people who will benefit from the proposed railcard on such a geographic basis. All people aged 26 to 30 who purchase a card would be eligible for discounted rail travel under the proposal.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2017 to Question 108535, what funds are available to support replacement of rolling stock on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £337m for a new Nexus Metro fleet and depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Metro is a critical part of both local transport provision and the wider economy in the region, and this investment, which will be direct and not via private finance, will be a vital boost to the area, supporting access to employment, education and leisure. To achieve this result, the Department worked closely with local leaders and with HM Treasury.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much from Highways England's Growth and Housing Fund has been spent on projects in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Growth and Housing Fund (GHF) schemes are identified via competitive bidding rounds run in partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnerships and Combined Authorities, who put forward bids on behalf of their local authorities. These bids are then sifted against the published GHF criteria and, if successful at sift stage, subject to a full scheme appraisal and detailed business case.
At present, none of the Growth and Housing Fund has been awarded to any projects in the (a) Jarrow constituency or (b) South Tyneside Borough area. In the wider (c) North East region, £1.01m has been awarded to the A1 Darlington project.
One bid has been made into the Growth and Housing Fund (GHF) from the Jarrow constituency and the South Tyneside local authority area. In total, seven bids have so far been made into the fund from the North East region.
The bid received in the Jarrow constituency is the A19 Mill Lane scheme. The scheme was subsequently fully funded by the DfT’s National Productivity Infrastructure Fund (NPIF) and has been withdrawn from the GHF.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the performance and punctuality of services on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Responsibility for the operation of the Tyne and Wear Metro is a matter devolved to the North East Combined Authority (NECA), and the monitoring of the performance rests with Nexus (the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive).
Regular updates are provided to North East Combined Authority meetings, where performance is scrutinized and the Department for Transport is provided with performance information on a regular basis.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional transport infrastructure investment for the North East ahead of Autumn Budget 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Secretary of State has regular discussions on a variety of matters with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Government plans to spend out of the Congestion Relief programme on projects in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is committed to tackling congestion across the country’s road network, and has recently announced its intention to form a Major Road Network (MRN) comprising the most important local authority A roads.
The MRN will receive a dedicated portion of the National Roads Fund (NRF), which will be established in 2020/21. The NRF is derived from revenue raised from Vehicle Excise Duty in England.
The Department will be consulting on proposals for the creation of a MRN before the end of the year. The results of the consultation will determine the process of how the funding will be allocated across England.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential economic benefits of (a) introducing new rolling stock and (b) extending the Tyne and Wear Metro for (i) service users and (ii) the local population.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Departmental officials are in discussion with Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Metro, regarding their proposals for new rolling stock and as part of this work Nexus have provided a Strategic Outline Business Case.
The Government has not been asked to consider a business case for the Metro extensions. Assessing the economic case for extending the Metro system is a matter for Nexus and the Tyne and Wear local authorities to consider.