Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what percentage of employees in his Department worked (a) in departmental accommodation, (b) from home and (c) at any other location in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
10,860 staff (75.2%) in the Department worked in departmental accommodation, fewer than 5* staff (less than 1%) worked from home and 3582 staff (24.8%) worked from other locations. The staff working from ‘other locations’ are Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) staff working at smaller locations including driving test centres and Goods Vehicle Testing Stations around the country rather than at the main DVSA headquarters.
The data includes the Central department and Executive Agencies and percentages are calculated using figures taken from headcount at the end of January 2018.
It should be noted that these figures are based on agreed location of work from employment contracts.
The Department operates and encourages flexible working and therefore as part of localised non-contractual agreements, more staff may work from home for some of the week however this is not recorded.
*In line with Data Protection requirements, where there are fewer than 5 members of staff, I am unable to disclose further information.
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 his Department's spend on day-to-day goods has comprised fair trade products in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who the lead non-executive director and other non-executive director board members are in his Department.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department’s lead non-executive board member is Ian King. The other non-executive board members are Richard Aitken-Davies, Richard Keys, Tony Poulter, Mary Reilly, and Tracey Westall.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of his Department's Answers to Written Parliamentary Questions in the 2017-18 Session to date have referred to the information requested not being (a) collected or (b) collated centrally.
Answered by John Hayes
As at 19 December, the Department for Transport have answered 1,712 parliamentary questions in the current session. 26 written parliamentary questions (1.5%) have referred to the information requested not being (a) collected or (b) collated centrally in the current session.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to improve social mobility in each of the last seven years.
Answered by John Hayes
Our investment in the country’s transport infrastructure plays an important part in helping people access jobs, training opportunities and crucial services, which are a key enabler of social mobility. Our record shows we have increased investment in transport over the last seven years. This will help improve opportunities for people right across the country.
We take the issue of accessibility across all modes of transport very seriously. The draft Accessibility Action Plan, published in August, is the next step in the Government’s commitment to removing barriers for millions of disabled people to be able to travel independently and confidently.
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 mean average cost of rail travel per mile to consumers by each train operator in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Office of Rail and Road provide information for ‘passenger income per passenger km’ by train operator in their annual publication of UK Rail Industry Financial Information. Passenger income refers to income received by train operators from passenger fares.
The figures have been converted to show the average yield on a ‘per passenger mile’ basis and presented in the table below from 2011-12 up to 2015-16, for which the latest data are available.
Passenger income per passenger mile (£) by franchise; Great Britain
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Essex Thameside | 0.21 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.22 | 0.23 |
Chiltern | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.22 |
Cross Country | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.23 |
East Coast | 0.19 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.21 |
East Midlands | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.24 |
East Anglia2 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.24 |
Greater Western | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.24 | 0.25 |
Northern | 0.15 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.17 | 0.18 |
South Eastern | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.25 | 0.26 | 0.26 |
Southern1 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.25 | .. |
South Western | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
Thameslink Great Northern1 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.25 | .. |
Thameslink Southern & Great Northern1 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.25 |
Trans Pennine Express | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.19 |
Wales & Borders | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.16 | 0.18 |
West Coast | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.23 |
West Midlands | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0.20 |
London Overground | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.29 | 0.30 | 0.28 |
TFL Rail2 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.22 |
Merseyrail Electrics | 0.11 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.12 |
ScotRail | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
Caledonian Sleeper3 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 0.19 |
GB total | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.23 |
Notes
1. Southern merged with the Thameslink and Great Northern franchise in July 2015 to become Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern.
2. TfL Rail began operating in May 2015 and took over Greater Anglia services from Shenfield to London Liverpool Street.
3. Caledonian Sleeper began operating as a standalone franchise from 31 March 2015, having previously been part of the ScotRail franchise.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) physical and (b) mental wellbeing of staff employed in his Department.
Answered by Paul Maynard
In DfT we take a whole person approach to wellbeing, meaning that while we do provide support specifically for physical and mental wellbeing, many of our initiatives are designed to support all aspects of employee wellbeing.
In recent months we have:
Ongoing work includes:
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of his Department's public phone-lines charge members of the public to call.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department, including its Agencies, has 3,187 public phone-lines. The vast majority of these lines are for the general public to make enquiries at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (more than 40 numbers using over 1500 lines) and at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (for example at driving test centres).
Fewer than 1% of those phone lines are free to the caller (via an 0800 number). However, the charges otherwise paid by the caller from a landline will in virtually all cases be at the standard or local rate. Whilst the DVLA publicise two premium rate numbers which the general public can call for translation services, this means that apart from those the Department including its Agencies makes no income from their phone lines for the general public to call.
Charges may be different for a mobile phone depending upon the rate that the relevant network operator imposes, though many people have a free calls allowance as part of their mobile phone package.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department will save by cancelling the Cardiff to Swansea electrification project.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the Hon. member to my response to PQ 8933 answered on 11 September.
From the end of this month, passengers in Wales will benefit from new Intercity Express trains which will each deliver over 130 extra seats, faster journey times and improved connectivity for South Wales to London with 40% more seats in the morning peak once the full fleet is in service. There will be more seats for South Wales passengers by virtue of longer trains and (more frequent services to Bristol and Cheltenham thereby releasing space on London to Cardiff and Swansea services.
Passengers will benefit sooner and experience less disruption compared with putting up intrusive wires and masts along routes where they are no longer required.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to electrify the north Wales railway line.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We continue to work with the rail industry, the Welsh Government and regional stakeholders, including the North Wales and Mersey Dee Rail Task Force and Transport for the North, to see what more can be accomplished to deliver better journeys for passengers and freight customers in the North Wales corridor.
The rail industry’s Welsh Route Study published in March 2016 looked at the case for electrification of the North Wales Main Line (NWML) - including the link from Chester to Warrington - and concluded it had a benefit to cost ratio of 0.35 to 1 if evaluated on the basis of current train services, or 0.58 to 1 if evaluated against an enhanced level of train services for which funding has not yet been identified.
The Welsh Government has recently with our agreement issued an Invitation to Tender for the next Wales and Borders franchise seeking a step change in the quality of rail travel in Wales and the borders region. The competition for the new franchise for the West Coast, the West Coast Partnership, is also underway. This provides vital connections between London, Crewe, Chester and North Wales. We expect the next franchise to be a far more punctual and reliable service and offer better connections between the towns and cities it serves to enable economic growth.