Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the economic impact of the Midlands Rail Hub project.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Network Rail submitted the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for Midlands Rail Hub in August 2019, it was assessed in line with the HMT Green Book and approved by Ministers.
The next stage is the development of the Outline Business Case which is being progressed by Network Rail with input from Midlands Connect, the Department expects to receive initial reports in 2022.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to roll out flexible ticketing in the East and West Midlands to encourage passengers to use public transport.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
We have introduced new flexible season rail tickets across England this year, including the East and West Midlands. Tickets were launched on the 21 June and became available for use on the 28 June.
We are also working with local authorities and the bus and technology sectors on establishing a model for multi-operator bus ticketing and on further developing existing smart card ticketing offers.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve response times from the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency to correspondence from hon. Members.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to answer 95 per cent of hon. Members correspondence within eight working days days. Given the impact of the pandemic and industrial action taking place at DVLA 90% correspondence is being answered within ten working days. The DVLA also offers hon. Members a dedicated phone line for their use. Relevant information is taken during the call and hon. Members receive a call back from a specialist team within three working days.
Additional resource is being utilised in the relevant teams and every effort is being made to direct resource to the most critical work to ensure that customers in the greatest need are dealt with as a priority.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding he has allocated to Birmingham City Council for the repair of potholes in the last 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Birmingham City Council, as the local highway authority, is responsible for the maintenance of its local road network. Birmingham City Council has a Highways Maintenance Private Finance Initiative project for the comprehensive upgrade and maintenance, over 25 years, of their highway network.
The project commenced operation on 7 June 2010; the Department is providing over £1.2 billion towards the £2.7 billion total cost.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve rail services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Passengers in the West Midlands will see the introduction of two new fleets of electric and diesel trains on local services commencing later this year. Cross Country is also adding carriages to some of its local services into Birmingham in 2021.
The West Midlands network also plans to grow by adding new stations on existing lines to serve communities that lost their rail services during the 20th century. These include three stations on the Camp Hill Line in south Birmingham, and two in the Black Country to serve the towns of Willenhall and Darlaston.
On infrastructure, the Department is working with Network Rail and Midlands Connect to develop an Outline Business Case for the Midlands Rail Hub. This work will further develop infrastructure proposals to enable up to ten additional trains per hour to serve central Birmingham.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the review published by Public Health England on 2 June 2020 entitled Disparities in the risk and outcomes of covid-19, what steps he is taking to increase protections against covid-19 for (a) taxi drivers and (b) bus drivers in (i) the West Midlands and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
On 12 May, the Government published guidance for passengers and transport operators to help them keep themselves and their staff safe, including how social distancing rules should be interpreted to do this. The Department is working with transport providers, their representative groups, and local authorities across England as they seek to implement this guidance. This guidance will be kept?up-to-date?as restrictions on travel change.
As the Prime Minister announced on 10 June, the Government will be expanding targeted testing of occupations and groups at higher risk, including those individuals working in front line jobs, which bring them regularly into close contact with the public. This will help us learn more about who is at higher risk and how the virus is spread.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has allocated to the West Midlands for projects relating to his Department's cycling and walking investment strategy in the last three years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Funding for cycling and walking comes from a variety of Government and non-Government sources. Government funding includes ringfenced and non-ringfenced funds. Over the last three years, local authorities in the West Midlands have received a total of approximately £56 million from ringfenced funds including the Cycle City Ambition fund, Bikeability and the Access Fund, and approximately £63 million from non-ringfenced funds including the Local Growth Fund, Transforming Cities Fund and National Productivity Investment Fund. The Department intends to publish further details of the funding that has been made available to local authorities for cycling and walking when it reports to Parliament later in 2020 on the progress that has been made in delivering the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding he has allocated for the repair of roads in Sutton Coldfield in the last two years for which information is available.
Answered by George Freeman
Birmingham City Council, as local highway authority, is responsible for the maintenance of its local road network, which includes Sutton Coldfield. Birmingham City Council has a Highways Maintenance Private Finance Initiative project for the comprehensive upgrade and maintenance, over 25 years, of their highway network. The project commenced operation on 7 June 2010 and the Department is providing over £1.2 billion towards the £2.7 billion total cost.