Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation Northern Rail has paid to passengers for delays and cancellations since the start of the current franchise.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department for Transport published data (1 October 2018) shows that Northern Rail paid almost £900,000 in passenger compensation since the start of the current franchise to 2017/18. This figure includes other discretionary compensation payments made following complaints of poor service, as well as payments for delays and cancellations.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Northern Rail has been fined for cancellations and partial cancellations since the start of the current franchise.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The number of cancellations and partial cancellations by Northern is monitored by the Rail North Partnership on behalf of the Department and Transport for the North. In line with the provisions of the Franchise Agreement, each year’s results are used to calculate an annual financial ‘performance sum payment’. Northern is required to reinvest this amount into performance improvement schemes aimed at raising performance for the benefit of passengers. The amount of these payments in each year is commercially confidential.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of delay repay for (a) Northern and (b) First Transpennine Express rail services.
Answered by Andrew Jones
DfT published research in October 2018 on the effectiveness of the rail passenger compensation regimes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rail-delays-and-compensation-2018. The operators provide the Department with Delay Repay figures annually which we publish here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/744567/2017-2018-passenger-compensation-figures.pdf
Northern introduced Delay Repay from 15 minutes (DR15) in December 2018.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation Northern Rail has paid to passengers for delays and cancellations since the start of the current franchise.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This government has made it easier than ever before for rail passengers to claim compensation if their train is late or cancelled. 2016/17 figures have been published and I can confirm Northern’s compensation figure was £326k; an 88% increase on the previous year’s figure. Passenger compensation figures are published each year and can be found on the Department’s website. 2017/18 figures will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Northern services have been cancelled due to staffing issues in each month since Arriva took over that franchise.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department does not hold this level of information. Cancellation information provided to the Department by the Train operators are at a total percentage per period basis.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings he has had with trades union representatives in respect of the ongoing Northern industrial dispute.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Transport has not met with trade union representatives in respect with the ongoing Northern industrial dispute. This dispute is between the unions and the train operator, however the Government has been doing all it can to ensure passenger disruption is minimised. Ministers have met with the leadership of ASLEF and RMT to discuss wider ranging issues.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Network Rail has paid out to Northern in compensation for cancellations since Arriva took over that franchise.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
At the end of each Franchisee Year the Department, in accordance with the Franchise Agreement, will calculate the Performance Sum payable by the Secretary of State to the Franchisee or required to be incurred by the Franchisee, these are known as Performance Sum Payments.
Where following calculation of the Cancellations Performance Sum, the TOC Minute Delay Performance Sum and/or the Short Formation Performance Sum, the Franchisee is required to incur expenditure, the Franchisee shall incur expenditure equal to the amount for each to secure improvement to the Franchisee's performance in that area to meet its targets, this is known as Required Performance Improvement.