Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the (a) number and (b) frequency of bus services serving (i) the North West, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) Wallasey constituency in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Data on vehicle miles on local bus services by local authority and regional area, including Merseyside and the North West region, is available for the years 2013/14 to 2016/17 in the data table BUS0208 in the Annual Bus Statistics for each respective year at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-statistics#published-in-2018 .
Bus operators must register their services with a Traffic Commissioner in the traffic area in which the service operates. The Traffic Commissioners’ annual reports provide information on the number of live local bus registrations in the North Western Traffic Area as at 31 March of each year; this information can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/traffic-commissioners-annual-reports. The report for the year ending March 2010 can be found here: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20131113220328/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-annual-reports
Figures for Wallasey constituency are not held.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of bus journeys made in (a) the North West, (b) Mesrseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The table below shows the number of bus passenger journeys in each year since 2009/10 for the North West and Merseyside. In 2016/17, 408.5 million passenger journeys were made by local bus in the North West. In Merseyside ITA, there were 105.3 million bus passenger journeys made by local bus in 2016/17. Figures for Wirral and Wallasey constituency are not held.
Passenger journeys on local bus services for the North West and Merseyside ITA, from 2009/10
Year | North West | Merseyside ITA |
2009/10 | 463.9 | 112.7 |
2010/11 | 457.0 | 110.8 |
2011/12 | 439.5 | 110.1 |
2012/13 | 434.5 | 109.2 |
2013/14 | 434.1 | 103.6 |
2014/15 | 426.9 | 103.0 |
2015/16 | 413.1 | 102.0 |
2016/17 | 408.5 | 105.3 |
Source: DfT Local bus passenger journeys, BUS0109a
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has allocated from the public purse to roads and highways in (a) Merseyside and (b) Surrey in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
a) Merseyside (part of Liverpool City Region)
The boroughs of Merseyside are joined by the neighbouring borough of Halton in Cheshire to form the Liverpool City Region.
(i) Local major schemes
In the last seven years (2012/13 to 2018/19 inclusive) the Government has committed the following on local major schemes:
In the last seven years (2012/13 to 2018/19 inclusive) the Government has committed the following on local major schemes:
Capital Grant | £m |
Liverpool City Region Total | 106.5 |
Liverpool City Region also received a £53.3m revenue grant. This was paid to Halton Borough Council and comprises £3.5m towards the running costs of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board and £49.8m Availability Support Grant (the latter being the first two years’ payments towards the cost of the 30 year contract to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new bridge and associated road infrastructure).
(ii) Local highway maintenance
Highways Maintenance
2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
£k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k |
15,044 | 14,689 | 16,496 | 14,197 | 16,914 | 16,455 | 16,482 | 16,467 |
Integrated Transport Block
2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
£k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k |
13,517 | 12,980 | 12,980 | 18,254 | 10,069 | 10,069 | 10,069 | 10,069 |
(iii) Strategic Roads
Budgets are not held by Highways England in the format requested. The Road Investment Strategy settlement is distributed to the various major projects that Highways England is committed to delivering and also to defined operational regions that are responsible for maintenance, repairs and local improvements.
b) Surrey
(i) Local major schemes
Surrey received £16.4m for Walton Bridge.
(ii) Local highway maintenance
Highways Maintenance
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
£k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k |
16,284 | 15,362 | 17,022 | 16,840 | 16,714 | 16,259 | 16,288 | 16,272 |
Integrated Transport Block
2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
£k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k | £k |
7,320 | 6,629 | 6,629 | 9,411 | 4,784 | 4,784 | 4,784 | 4,784 |
(iii) Strategic Roads
Budgets are not held by Highways England in the format requested. The Road Investment Strategy settlement is distributed to the various major projects that Highways England is committed to delivering and also to defined operational regions that are responsible for maintenance, repairs and local improvements.
Note
In addition both Merseyside and Surrey have access to Local Growth Funding (LGF) managed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and to which this Department contributes. LGF supports schemes that facilitate economic growth and housing – these include transport schemes in both Merseyside and Surrey.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the answer to FOI request ID3000 by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the reduced capacity at New Brighton lifeboat station since July 2016, what plans he has to restore New Brighton lifeboat station to full operational capacity.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
New Brighton Lifeboat station is currently operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Operational capacity at any independent RNLI lifeboat station is a matter for the charity to consider.
In coordinating a response to any incident, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will consider the range of resources available to them, on an incident‑by-incident basis, before tasking the most appropriate asset.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many days of operational capacity have been lost at New Brighton Lifeboat Station in Wallasey as a result of the RNLI's decision of July 2016 to reduce the number of volunteers it uses.
Answered by John Hayes
In coordinating a response to any incident, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will consider the range of resources available to them, on an incident‑by-incident basis, before tasking the most appropriate asset.
Operational capacity at any independent RNLI lifeboat station is a matter for the charity to consider.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to comments made by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer at a meeting in Birkenhead on 4 May 2015 and pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2016 to Question 45786, whether he plans to directly intervene in the review of the Mersey tunnel tolls to reduce the cost of those tolls.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Under the Mersey Tunnels Act 2004, the power to set tolls for the Mersey Tunnels is vested in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, who own and operate the Tunnels. The Combined Authority has already reduced the cost of tolls to fast tag users and will consider its strategic approach further, to inform the forthcoming report on its Review of tolls. This Review will inform the decision on future toll levels, which will be taken locally by the Combined Authority, as required by the Mersey Tunnels Act.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the review of the Mersey tunnel tolls.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Review of the Mersey Tunnel Tolls is being undertaken by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. I welcome the decision taken at its February meeting to reduce the cost of tolls to Fast Tag users. This was implemented from the 1st April this year, bringing significant benefits to local people. The Combined Authority is continuing its Review of tolls, to ensure that a sustainable long term position can be reached. I understand that an update report is due to be presented to the Authority this Autumn.