Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has a policy on the timescale for the renovation of public transport.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
In Northern Ireland, transport is an entirely devolved matter.
However, looking more widely, on 12 October 2017, the Secretary of State for Transport published the Final Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for the railway in England and Wales for Control Period 6, which covers the five years 2019 to 2024 and we expect around £47.9 billion to be spent on the railway during that time.
We have some of the most intensively used railways in Europe, and this investment focuses on the essential work needed to ensure their safety and reliability, including funding to support a significant increase in renewals activity compared to the current period, and increased maintenance spend to allow Network Rail to meet the challenges of a busier network.
The renovation of buses is a commercial matter for operators. However, since 2010, the Government has provided £67 million to local authorities in England to retrofit their existing bus fleet to a minimum Euro VI standard. Devolved authorities can implement their own retrofit schemes, with the Scottish Government recently launching the second round of their £7.5 million Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit (BEAR) Programme.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passengers travelled on the public transport without a valid ticket in 2017.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department does not hold this information. Revenue protection is a matter for each transport operator concerned.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure access to public transport by passengers with disabilities.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Government is committed to ensuring that disabled people have the same access to transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else. In July 2018 the Government launched the Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS) which sets out key policy and investment priorities to deliver a wholly inclusive transport system.
The ITS is, however, only applicable to England and, in some areas, Great Britain. Transport is an entirely devolved matter to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle delays to public transport services.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Public transport in Northern Ireland is devolved.
However, looking more widely across the United Kingdom, the bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators or for individual local authorities in the case of services that they support. The Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need to improve local bus services. The Department’s guidance on the Bus Services Act recommends that local authorities work with operators to tackle traffic congestion which can cause delays to bus services.
On 12 October 2017, the Secretary of State for Transport published the Final Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for the railway in England and Wales for Control Period 6, which covers the years 2019 to 2024[1].
This continues funding for the latest stage in the Government’s multi-billion pound investment in railways across the country and we expect around £47.9 billion to be spent on the railway across control period 6. This funding includes more maintenance and a huge uplift in renewals to increase reliability and punctuality for passengers.
The system of franchise competitions has played a significant role in encouraging growth in the rail industry. However, we want to ensure the rail system can continue to deliver benefits in to the future. That is why, on the 20th September, the Secretary of State announced a major review to transform Britain’s railways led by independent chair Keith Williams.
Whilst the review is underway the Department will continue to work closely with industry to deliver improvements in reliability, alongside the record investment we are making in upgrading the rail network and delivering new trains and more seats across the UK.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/railways-statement-of-funds-available-2017 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-48-billion-funding-for-britains-railways
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the safety of passengers from (a) verbal and (b) physical abuse on the public transport network.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Government is committed to reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system. We want to see more and more people using public transport - one of the key ways of encouraging this is to make sure it is a safe option.
The Department works with the British Transport Police (BTP) to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on the railways in Great Britain. Under their franchise agreements, Train Operating Companies are required to work with BTP to manage and reduce railway crime.
BTP also operates a popular dedicated crime reporting text service - ‘61016’ – which allows people to report offences to the police easily and discreetly.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many lorry drivers were fined for driving over their allotted time limits in 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) are responsible for enforcing the drivers’ hours rules. In 2017, in England, Scotland and Wales (for the period 1st January to 31st December), DVSA issued 482 fixed penalty notices and 120 prosecutions that resulted in a fine, for exceeding drivers’ hours limits. During the course of this period a given driver could have been issued with more than one fine.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to road repairs as a result of damage caused by hot weather.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Funding for local roads is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Department for Transport is providing local highway authorities in England, outside London, with £6.2 billion funding between 2015 and 2021 for local highways maintenance. This includes £296 million to repair potholes or to stop them forming. It is for highway authorities to determine whether to use this funding to help repair any roads damaged due to the current hot weather.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to the owners of Heathrow Airport on increasing the number of flights to and from Northern Ireland on daily basis after the expansion of that airport.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Maintaining and enhancing domestic connectivity to Northern Ireland will be one of the key benefits of the expansion at Heathrow. It will ensure increased frequency and greater competition for existing domestic routes, and allow new routes to be served.
The Airports National Policy Statement sets out a clear expectation that expansion should deliver at least six new routes by 2030. This could include Belfast International. The Secretary of State for Transport has also set out a clear ambition for about 15 per cent of slots to be made available from a new runway to be used for domestic routes.
If new capacity, coupled with the commercial incentives offered by Heathrow, does not deliver Government’s expectations, and links are insufficient, then the Secretary of State for Transport has committed to impose Public Service Obligations to support additional domestic connections.
Further detail on the Government’s approach to Public Service Obligations will be set out in the Aviation Strategy Green Paper towards the end of this year.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many pilots were trained in the UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The table below shows the number of pilots who had an initial UK licence issued each year according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s records.
Year Number of pilots.
2015 3670
2016 3609
2017 4193
Figures for the number of pilots trained in the UK are not available. Applicants for a UK 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.