Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that train stations in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey are fully equipped with tactile paving along platform edges.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I have asked Network Rail to develop a programme to aim to install platform edge tactile strips on every platform in Great Britain.
I will make a further announcement in due course.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that relief crews are able to take over from UK seafarers who have remained at sea as a result of the outbreak of covid-19 so that they can return to the UK.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
UK has not placed restrictions on the transit and transfer of seafarers and I personally wrote to the International Maritime Organisation, the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation on 23 March 2020, confirming that the UK will continue to meet its international obligations related to the transit and transfer of seafarers and highlighted that the UK is fully committed to the welfare of all seafarers regardless of their nationality, asking other States to follow this example.
The Government has ensured quarantine requirements for those travelling into UK, announced on 22 May, do not apply to crew or marine pilots travelling in the operation of their duties.
The Government is continuing to monitor the welfare of all UK seafarers and is working to support employers in their repatriation efforts for all non-essential staff.
The Department is currently considering the framework, recently developed by the International Chamber of Shipping and other organisations, which has been supported and circulated by the International Maritime Organisation, in more detail to see what more can be done to further facilitate crew changes in UK.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to remove the off-peak travel limit on over-60 bus passes to allow elderly people who have been asked to self isolate due to covid-19 access supermarkets during the morning.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are acutely aware of the issues around the time restrictions of the current concessionary travel scheme and are considering next steps as a matter of urgency.
The Government is very pleased to see that some local authorities and operators have already agreed to provide free morning travel to concessionary pass holders due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In addition, free or discounted travel before 9.30am is the most commonly offered discretionary concession, with 68 of the 89 Travel Concession Authorities in England outside London (predominantly local authorities) already offering free or discounted morning travel to older person’s and/or disabled person’s concessionary pass holders.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
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 ensuring that airline staff receive a salary when flights are grounded as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Since the Covid-19 outbreak the Department has been in frequent contact with aviation industry stakeholders to understand more about their position and the support they need. Last week Government announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms continue to keep people in employment.
This will allow businesses to put workers on temporary leave and the Government will pay them cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2500 per month, providing they keep the worker employed.
The Scheme will cover the cost of wages backdated to 1 March. It will be open initially for at least three months with the option to extend for longer if necessary.
There is no limit on the amount of funding available for the Scheme, and all UK-wide employers with a PAYE scheme will be eligible. Further guidance will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the titles of the reviews that his Department is undertaking.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department currently has two formal reviews on matters of public policy or delivery. These are the Williams Rail Review, chaired by Keith Williams, and the independent review into the High Speed 2 (HS2) project, chaired by Doug Oakervee.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase bus use in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey constituency.
Answered by George Freeman
The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision are primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. The Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need to improve local bus services and increase passenger numbers.
The Government wants to see a long term, sustained improvement in bus services. On 30 September last year, the Government announced that it will develop a national bus strategy for England, to underpin that ambition. Further details on this will be announced in due course. Alongside the commitment to a national strategy, we announced a package of measures worth £220 million, to transform bus services across the country. Those measures include creating ‘Superbus’ networks with higher frequencies and lower fares, trialling demand-responsive transport solutions in rural and suburban areas, and creating an all-electric bus town or city. We will shortly seek expressions of interest for those funds. We will also provide an extra £30 million in 2020/21 for local authorities, including the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, to improve current supported bus services and to restore lost bus services where most needed.
The Government also continues to support bus services through the Bus Service Operator’s Grant (BSOG). £250m of BSOG payments are made to bus operators and local authorities. Bus operators and community transport organisations in the North West were paid a total of £28,029,122 BSOG in 2018-19 to help meet some of their fuel costs in running local bus services. Local authorities within the North West received a total of £7,896,387 in BSOG during 2018-19 to support subsidised local bus services. In addition to this a further £13,150,811 was devolved to Great Manchester Combined Authority for services running within the Greater Manchester area.
BSOG spend figures are published on Gov.uk and can be found via this link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-services-grants-and-funding. There are no specific figures for Wallasey, which is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
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 (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey constituency.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In response to passengers’ needs, Northern introduced, in the December 2019 timetable, an extension of the Alderley Edge to Southport route which now takes customers into Manchester Piccadilly. It also secured a recent agreement with ASLEF to improve the reliability of Sunday services which will significantly reduce cancellations in the North West. Also, in December, Trans-Pennine Express (TPE) introduced a brand new service between Liverpool and Glasgow with three services running in each direction every day.
The introduction of new trains by both TPE and Northern also means an improved customer experience and faster journey times, connecting passengers to cities across the network.
Trains services in the Wirral and Wallasey are provided by Merseyrail, the management of which is a devolved responsibility of Liverpool City Region.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of new funding for road maintenance will be allocated to (a) Liverpool City Region and (b) Wirral council.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government is committed to improving local infrastructure and expects to announce details of the available funding shortly. Individual allocations of this funding will be subject to Ministerial decisions.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cessations of bus services (a) his Department and (b) Traffic Commissioners were notified of in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wirral in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Freeman
Changes to bus services are notified to the Traffic Commissioners.
The Traffic Commissioners’ Annual Report for 2018-19 is due to be published in the Autumn. The latest published data from the Traffic Commissioners regarding the number of cancelled registrations can be found online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The numbers of cancelled registrations will not be the same as the number of cessations of bus services: a registration that is cancelled may be complemented by a new service introduction that is an exact match or a slight variation to the one which has been cancelled.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the £200 million of increased funding to transform bus services announced in the Spending Round 2019 he plans to allocate in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey.
Answered by George Freeman
On 30 September, the Government announced a package worth £220 million to transform bus services.
We will shortly be seeking expressions of interest from local authorities and bus operators in developing an all-electric bus town or city. Up to £50 million will be invested to contribute to new buses and the supporting infrastructure.
We will also be seeking expressions of interest for the new £20 million fund for trialling on-demand services in rural and suburban areas.
The Government will also pay an extra £30 million directly to local authorities in 2020/21 to enable them to improve current bus services or to restore lost services.
The Government will fund a 4 year ‘Superbus’ pilot in Cornwall to bring down fares. We are also exploring whether a further pilot could be developed to decrease fares and improve frequencies in an urban area through the local authority and bus operators entering into a partnership to deliver a Superbus network. The local authority would provide capital investment in bus lanes and other bus priority measures, in exchange for the bus operators delivering high frequency services.
Further details of the package can be found online with the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-better-deal-for-bus-users/a-better-deal-for-bus-users