Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the criteria was for the selection of bids for funding for the Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity competition.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The aim of the Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) Fund is to secure, by way of a grant, investment in English maritime ports that improves the resilience of the relevant ports to handle potential disruption from a no deal EU exit on 31 October, and also enhance ports’ resilience capabilities to maximise post-EU exit trade opportunities.
The bids received from ports for grants from the Fund were carefully assessed by officials at the Department for Transport and technical advisers against the following pre-determined criteria:
Delivery date of the project
Capacity & capability to be delivered
Project deliverability & cost
Longer term resilience benefits.
The 16 bids that performed best against these criteria were duly selected for grant funding, as announced by the Secretary of State on 26 September.
The bid assessment process should ensure that bids selected represent value for money. Further, the Department will now be monitoring successful bidders under the terms of grant agreements to make sure that the projects are delivered on time and on budget, so that grants are spent effectively and appropriately. Grants will only be paid in arrears following evidence that the work has been completed. Further, as per best practice for HMG grants, a review will be carried out at an appropriate time to assess the benefits of the scheme.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Operation Yellowhammer HMG Reasonable Worst Case Planning Assumptions, what estimate he has made of (a) the reduced flow rate in the Port of Holyhead and (b) the potential effect of reduced flow rates on traffic congestion on the A55 and surrounding roads in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and if he will place in the Library copies of all research undertaken by the Government on the effects of leaving the EU without a deal on the (i) Port of Holyhead and (ii) local transport infrastructure.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department for Transport (DfT) carried out an assessment into the potential traffic disruption on the roads surrounding at the Port of Holyhead as part of its ongoing no deal planning assumptions. These findings have been shared with the relevant stakeholders, such as the Welsh Government and Local Resilience Forum (LRF) to allow for discussions to take place to fully understand their potential implications.
It is now for the LRF to consider how this impacts on their traffic management plan and whether any amendments are required.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many non-disclosure agreements in relation to preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal his Department has signed with (a) private organisations and (b) public organisations between (i) 23 June 2016 and 22 August 2019 and (ii) since 22 August 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
81 Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) relating to Brexit Preparations, including those signed for commercial purposes, have been signed between DfT and its stakeholders between June 2016 and 22 August 2019.
Government has listened to industry concerns that NDAs have hindered constructive debate and exchange of information, restricting industry’s ability to help their members prepare for Brexit. Since 24 July 2019, the Department has not signed any new Brexit related NDAs.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average price-per-mile to consumers for rail travel in each (a) nation and region of the UK and (b) rail franchise.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Office of Rail and Road publishes information on passenger income per passenger kilometre in UK Rail Industry Financial Information 2017-18. Passenger income refers to income received by franchised train operators from passengers through ticket sales but does not include other passenger income from catering and car parks.
The following table sets out passenger income per passenger kilometre for the nations of Great Britain in 2017-18. Figures for Northern Ireland and the regions are unavailable:
| England | Scotland | Wales | GB total |
Passenger income per passenger km (£s) | 0.15 | 0.10 | 0.14 | 0.15 |
The following table sets out passenger income per passenger kilometre for each rail
franchise in Great Britain in 2017-18:
| Passenger income per passenger km (£s) |
Essex Thameside | 0.14 |
Chiltern | 0.13 |
Cross Country | 0.14 |
East Coast | 0.14 |
East Midlands | 0.16 |
East Anglia | 0.16 |
Great Western | 0.16 |
Northern | 0.12 |
South Eastern | 0.17 |
South Western | 0.15 |
Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern | 0.17 |
TransPennine Express | 0.12 |
Wales & Borders | 0.12 |
West Coast | 0.15 |
West Midlands | 0.12 |
London Overground | 0.17 |
Merseyrail Electrics | 0.08 |
ScotRail | 0.12 |
TfL Rail | 0.16 |
Caledonian Sleeper | 0.12 |
GB total | 0.15 |
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average price-per-mile for bus travel in (a) each region of the UK and (b) each bus franchise operating in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department has not made a recent assessment of the average price per mile for bus travel. The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding setting the level of fares, is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators.
Bus Open Data powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 will require bus operators in England to open up route and timetable, fares and tickets and real time information for passengers from 2020. These improvements aim to remove uncertainty in bus journeys, improve journey planning and help passengers secure best value tickets.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants in his Department have been seconded to (a) the Department for Exiting the European Union and (b) the Department for International Trade in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested for all three years can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
However, of the information that is more readily available, the Central Department and its Executive Agencies does hold information for the previous year which is as follows:
| Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) | Department for International Trade (DIT) |
1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019 | 7 | 5 or fewer |
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many ministerial directions have been issued by Ministers in his Department in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In the last eight years, ministers have issued the following number of ministerial directions:
Year | Number of ministerial directions issued |
2015 | 2 |
2016 | 1 |
2017 | 1 |
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of HS2 funding (a) has been spent, (b) will be spent in the 2019-20 financial year and (c) will be spent after the end of the 2019-20 financial year in each (ii) nation and (ii) region of the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
A total of £5.5 billion has been spent between financial years 2009/10 and 2017/18, covering both HS2 Ltd and Department for Transport expenditure. We are unable to report spend beyond the end of 2017/18 financial year until the HS2 Ltd and DfT annual accounts are published. This spend includes Land & Property and HS2 Ltd core programme group expenditure.
Substantial construction spend will be seen across the whole of the UK. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority published a report in 2018* on UK transport investment allocated across regions, with analysis of where HS2 construction costs were expected to fall. The analysis takes a cost approach, apportioning spending according to the full length of route included in each region, and using industry benchmarks to weight the sections of route involving tunnels to reflect the increased cost of tunnelling.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) total route length, (b) train stations, and (c) level crossings that are the responsibility of Network Rail Wales.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Network Rail’s 2019-2024 Strategic Business Plan for the Wales route states that it operates and maintains 1,487 track miles of railway in Wales and the Border counties of England. It also states that the route includes 1,150 level crossings.
It gives a figure of 246 stations on the route, but these are not managed directly by Network Rail, and are instead the responsibility of train operating companies.