Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the East Midlands franchise was awarded to Abellio until 2027 before the conclusion of the Williams review.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government will publish a White Paper setting out how we will implement the Review’s recommendations in the autumn. Reform will start as early as 2020. This does not prevent us taking every opportunity in the short term to improve passengers’ experience.
We considered on a case-by-case basis whether to continue with the current franchise competitions and concluded that awarding the East Midlands franchise now would be in the best interests of passengers and taxpayers and would allow planned passenger benefits, such as new trains, to be delivered at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at what stage in the franchise process the decision was taken to exclude Stagecoach from bidding for the East Midlands franchise.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The decision was made shortly before Stagecoach was informed of the disqualification decision on 9 April 2019.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assurances Abellio have provided his Department in relation to the pensions of staff employed on the East Midlands line.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Railways Pension Scheme was established in 1994, replacing the previous British Rail scheme. Contributions in to the Railways Pension Scheme are split according to a shared cost arrangement, whereby employers (the Train Operating Companies) pay 60% and employees pay the remaining 40%. Since franchising arrangements were first introduced Train Operating Companies have been, and continue to be, responsible for paying employer pension contributions during a franchise term.
Under the East Midlands Franchise Agreement Abellio will participate in and become the Designated Employer for the East Midlands section of the Railways Pension Scheme. Abellio will be obliged by the Franchise Agreement to pay the employer contributions required under the schedule of contributions applicable during their franchise term. All of Abellio’s pensions related obligations are detailed in Schedule 16.1 to the Franchise Agreement which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) men and (b) women are employed at grade 7 in the London pay area in his central Department; and how many of each are on the pay (i) minimum and (ii) maximum for that grade.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The number of men and women employed at Grade 7 in the central Department for Transport on the London pay scale as at September 30th, 2018, including those at minimum and maximum pay for the grade, is outlined in the table below.
| At minimum pay for grade | At maximum pay for grade | Total staff at all pay |
Numbers of female staff | 106 | 30 | 232 |
Numbers of male staff | 124 | 70 | 341 |
Grand Total | 230 | 100 | 573 |
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure the availability of a stable and adequate skills base among the workforce in railway occupations.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Ensuring a skillful and resilient workforce remains a priority for the Department, and for Network Rail. Network Rail is continuing to invest heavily in the training of its workforce, both in the short term with £44 million invested in capability last year, and in the long term with £60 million invested in the creation of seven state of the art vocational training centres.
To ensure a skill base in the future workforce as well as the present, Network Rail have opened a new apprenticeship centre at Westwood which will by September this year be fully dedicated to the delivery of high quality residential apprenticeships. This will allow Network Rail to meet its commitment to deliver over 4200 apprenticeship new starters within the company by 2022, and supporting the creation of over 2000 within its supply chain.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of peaks and troughs in National Rail's annual workload on its capacity to retain skilled staff.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Network Rail is responsible for assessing the effect of peaks and troughs in the company’s annual workload on its capacity to retain skilled staff, as an arm’s length body from government.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timescale is for the procurement of electric rolling stock for the Midland Main Line; and whether the electrified Midland Main Line will have new electric rolling stock from the day of its opening.
Answered by Claire Perry
The rail industry is currently finalising the programme for electrification of the Midland Main Line between London and Sheffield and the Department plans to procure electric trains to run on this route as part of the franchising process.
Asked by: Chris Williamson (Independent - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency are responsible for (a) driver and (b) operator compliance in the bus industry.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
It is not possible to determine the number of roles within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) that are responsible for (a) driver and (b) operator compliance in the bus industry, as it forms only a part of a number of roles within the Agency. However, for the financial year of 2014/15, DVSA is budgeted to provide over 38 man-years of resource on the enforcement of the bus industry, for deployment of tasks such as roadworthiness checks, visits to licensed operators and bus operator account management.