Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of bus miles on English roads in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, and (c) 2019.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department publishes estimates of bus miles on local bus services in England up to 2015/16 in statistical table bus0203: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus02-vehicle-distance-travelled#table-bus0203. However, forecasts of these figures for future years are not available.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the benefits of not-for-profit delivery of community transport operators.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government has made no recent formal assessment of the benefits of the not-for-profit delivery of community transport operators. Such operators provide accessible and inclusive transport to communities and people who might otherwise be isolated. The Government’s support for the sector can be seen in the recent Community Transport Minibus Fund, which is providing over 300 organisations with new minibuses to help them continue their work.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) benefits and (b) methods of increasing passenger involvement in bus service procurement.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Procurement of bus services where these are not provided commercially is a matter for local authorities. The Government has made no formal assessment, but would encourage local authorities to consult bus passengers about changes they propose to make to the services they procure. Transport Focus has produced a best practice toolkit to help local authorities do this.
As part of the Bus Services Bill proposals, authorities will be required to consult Transport Focus and other organisations representative of users of local services on their plans to take forward a partnership or franchising scheme. The Bill also requires authorities to give careful thought to how they intend to consult users to obtain views on how well the scheme is working.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to launch its consultation on biofuels; and whether that consultation will address the issues of indirect land use and level of the crop cap.
Answered by John Hayes
We plan to consult later this year on changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation including steps to provide more long term confidence for producers and to address indirect land use change with options to limit the contribution from crop based biofuels.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date his Department plans to open a consultation on biofuels; and if he will take steps to ensure that that consultation addresses indirect land use change and the level of the crop cap.
Answered by John Hayes
We plan to consult later this year on changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation including steps to provide more long term confidence for producers and to address indirect land use change with options to limit the contribution from crop based biofuels.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cyclists died as a result of road traffic incident in each year since 2010 in (a) Redcar, (b) the North East and (c) the UK.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The table below provides the number of cyclists killed in a road traffic accident on public roads in a) Redcar, b) the North East of England, and c) Great Britain.
Year | Redcar constituency | North East England | Great Britain |
2010 | 0 | 4 | 111 |
2011 | 3 | 7 | 107 |
2012 | 0 | 6 | 118 |
2013 | 0 | 6 | 109 |
2014 | 0 | 3 | 113 |
2015 | 0 | 1 | 100 |
The Department does not hold data for Northern Ireland, therefore the table includes statistics for Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom.
These statistics come from police reported data on personal injury accidents on the public highway. The Department does not collect information about accidents that were on private roads, car parks or off-road.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, by what date his Department expects the replacement of Pacer trains on the Tees Valley Line to be completed.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The replacement of Pacer trains across the Northern network will be completed by December 2019, although the timing of when this will occur on individual lines will be a matter for Northern Rail.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve journey times on the Tees Valley Line.
Answered by Andrew Jones
As part of the new franchise award, the Northern franchisee will be required before October 2017 to undertake a feasibility study, identifying options for journey time improvements across the whole network, including services in the North East. This will include possible changes to existing infrastructure, improvements to rolling stock capability and reliability and the implementing of changes to service patterns.
Any resulting changes would be in addition to the local benefits secured as part of the franchise including the withdrawal of pacer trains and the refurbishment of all the existing carriages retained in the franchise long term.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support disabled passengers and passengers of reduced mobility on the Tees Valley Line for the duration of operation of Pacer trains.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Northern franchise was recently awarded to Arriva Rail North, who took over operations in April 2016. Arriva Rail North sets out its policy for providing assistance to disabled passengers and passengers of reduced mobility in its Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP). Publishing commitments to on-board assistance in a DPPP is a passenger train operating licence requirement and is approved by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Arriva Rail North is also required to participate in the national Passenger Assist scheme for pre-booking assistance.
‘Pacer’ trains operated by Arriva Rail North on the Tees Valley Line will be replaced ahead of the 2020 accessibility compliance deadline. From that date, all trains operated by Arriva Rail North will have to be compliant with the accessibility standards mandated by the Persons of Reduced Mobility Technical Specification for Interoperability (PRM-TSI). While Pacers do not meet the standards set out in the PRM-TSI, they do offer wheelchair spaces, audio announcements and manual boarding ramps to assist disabled passengers and persons of reduced mobility when travelling.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, to what extent he plans for the decision on airport expansion in the South East to take account of potential economic benefits outside of London and the South East.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Our global connections are crucial for British business and benefit the whole country. The economic benefits to the UK as a whole, not just London and the South East, will be taken into consideration when making a decision on a preferred scheme for airport expansion, alongside a range of other relevant evidence.