Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Trenitalia's operation of the Essex Thameside train line, what steps he is taking to help ensure that rail customers are not charged unexpected currency conversion fees when purchasing travel tickets.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Customer should not be charged unexpected currency conversion fees when purchasing travel tickets. However, there was an instance in August 2019 when Trentialia c2c launched their new Sigma Ticket Vending Machines, where a software issue led to a limited number of customers being charged in Euros. As soon as this was discovered the issue was rectified, those customers were reimbursed. Since then there have been no similar issues with charging in other currencies.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of new ticketing technology on the Essex Thameside train line.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Officials are aware of a number of technical issues experienced with the new ticketing technology being implemented at stations and ticket offices across the c2c network. As a consequence, Trenitalia c2c are providing regular updates to the Department on the measures being taken to rectify and improve the technology in order to ensure smooth, reliable and user-friendly ticket purchasing facilities for all customers on the route.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of restrictions on aircraft (a) noise and (b) emissions at Southend Airport.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The management of aircraft noise and emissions at Southend Airport and restrictions to ensure compliance with any limits is the responsibility of the airport and the relevant planning authorities. It is not appropriate for the Government to intervene in this process.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received on (a) noise pollution and (b) emissions from aircraft at Southend Airport exceeding legal limits.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Since the Secretary of State was appointed in July last year, the Department has received one representation related to noise pollution or emissions from aircraft at Southend Airport. This included the topics of night flights and air quality at Southend Airport and came from my Honourable friend himself.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received on (a) noise pollution and (b) emissions from aircraft at Southend Airport.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Since the Secretary of State was appointed in July last year, the Department has received one representation related to noise pollution or emissions from aircraft at Southend Airport. This included the topics of night flights and air quality at Southend Airport and came from my Honourable friend himself.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to allocate additional funding to local authorities who own aerodromes to release the economic potential of those facilities.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Most airport operators whether in the commercial private sector, or in public/private partnerships operate as private commercial undertakings.
In this regard, the UK’s aviation industry operates essentially without subsidy. It is therefore for local authorities to determine any additional funding for any aerodromes they own. Additionally, provision of public funding for airports needs to comply with the European Community State aid guidelines for airports and airlines.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of pilots that are trained in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The table below shows the number of pilots who, according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s records, had an initial UK commercial licence issued each year.
Year Number of pilots .
2013 1883
2014 1894
2015 1850
2016 1776
2017 1960
Figures for the number of pilots trained in the UK are not available. Applicants for a UK commercial pilot’s licence are not necessarily trained in the UK, and many pilots come to the UK for training but will have a licence issued by their own national aviation authority.
The Government will explore current and future skills shortages in aviation, such as pilot training, as part of the Aviation Strategy which is due for publication in 2019. This will be a long term strategy to 2050 and beyond.
The Aviation Strategy ‘Next Steps’ document, published April 2018, highlighted a number of considerations for Government to address skills shortages. These included further collaboration between industry and education providers, realising the full potential of General Aviation training grounds and work to better understand the extent of such skills gaps and how these may affect the aviation sector in future.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many commercial pilots were trained in the UK in each of the last five years of which information is available.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The table below shows the number of pilots who, according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s records, had an initial UK commercial licence issued each year.
Year Number of pilots .
2013 1883
2014 1894
2015 1850
2016 1776
2017 1960
Figures for the number of pilots trained in the UK are not available. Applicants for a UK commercial pilot’s licence are not necessarily trained in the UK, and many pilots come to the UK for training but will have a licence issued by their own national aviation authority.
The Government will explore current and future skills shortages in aviation, such as pilot training, as part of the Aviation Strategy which is due for publication in 2019. This will be a long term strategy to 2050 and beyond.
The Aviation Strategy ‘Next Steps’ document, published April 2018, highlighted a number of considerations for Government to address skills shortages. These included further collaboration between industry and education providers, realising the full potential of General Aviation training grounds and work to better understand the extent of such skills gaps and how these may affect the aviation sector in future.