Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the capacity and the availability of seating for passengers on peak services on High Speed 1 trains between Ebbsfleet and London St Pancras.
Answered by Claire Perry
No such assessment has been made by the Department but franchisees have an obligation to minimise overcrowding. Therefore it is the Train Operating Company running the service that is responsible for what rolling stock it allocates to which service, both in type and in quantity.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Kent County Council for local road maintenance for (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.
Answered by Andrew Jones
This Government is providing both tools and funding to local highway authorities in England, outside London, to tackle the condition of our local road network. In the Spending Review 2015, the Government announced that we are allocating a total of £6.1 billion funding for local highways maintenance between now and 2021. This funding includes an additional £250 million between 2016 and 2021 for a potholes action fund to improve local roads, to promote innovation within the sector and to ensure that taxpayers get greater value for money.
For Kent we are providing the following funding for local highways maintenance for the financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17:
Funding Stream | 2015/16 £m | 2016/17 £m |
Highways Maintenance Block Needs Element | 27.277 | 25.006 |
Highways Maintenance Block Incentive Element |
| 1.377 |
Pothole Action Fund |
| 1.473 |
Total | 27.277 | 27.856 |
Further details of the funding we are providing to all local highway authorities in England outside London can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/6-billion-funding-to-tackle-potholes-and-improve-local-roads
Local authorities are able to use revenue funding for maintaining their local highways and this is allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road accidents have taken place between Junction 2 and Junction 30 of the M25 in each of the last four years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The part of the M25 between Junction 2 and Junction 30 is classed as the A282.
The number of reported personal injury road accidents occurring on the A282 between Junction 2 and 30 for the years 2011 to 2014 are as follows:
| Fatal | Serious | Slight | Total |
2011 | 0 | 5 | 39 | 44 |
2012 | 1 | 3 | 35 | 39 |
2013 | 0 | 5 | 44 | 49 |
2014 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 44 |
Data for 2015 will be available in June 2016 when it is first published. Damage only accidents are not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of what the average journey time southbound between junction 30 and junction 2 on the M25, between the hours of (a) 6am to 9am, (b) 11am to 2pm and (c) 4pm to 7pm in each of the last six months.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Average journey time data between J3 and J30 travelling northbound and between J30 – J2 southbound on the M25 is not available. Highways England measures average journey times between J2 – J30 northbound and between J29 – J1B southbound on the M25. Average monthly journey times between July and December 2015 for the morning peak, inter-peak and evening peak periods are set out in the table below. All of these average monthly journey times are quicker than comparable data for journeys prior to the introduction of Dart Charge in November 2014.
Month | Time | Northbound J2 - J30 | Southbound J29 - J1B |
July* | 6am - 9am | 10:13 | 12:12 |
11am - 2pm | 15:23 | 12:17 | |
4pm - 7pm | 16:52 | 12:51 | |
August | 6am - 9am | 09:22 | 10:43 |
11am - 2pm | 18:27 | 12:01 | |
4pm - 7pm | 18:34 | 10:55 | |
September | 6am - 9am | 09:48 | 11:55 |
11am - 2pm | 11:11 | 10:49 | |
4pm - 7pm | 15:26 | 11:32 | |
October | 6am - 9am | 10:58 | 12:00 |
11am - 2pm | 13:25 | 11:27 | |
4pm - 7pm | 15:33 | 13:17 | |
November | 6am - 9am | 11:42 | 12:15 |
11am - 2pm | 10:40 | 11:55 | |
4pm - 7pm | 18:23 | 13:14 | |
December** | 6am - 9am | 10:53 | 12:40 |
11am - 2pm | 12:26 | 11:18 | |
4pm - 7pm | 22:41 | 17:04 |
* Speed limit increase on 27th July.
** The technology used to monitor journey times at Junction 1B became faulty in the southbound direction on 5 December. This means southbound December data is for 01/12/15 to 05/12/15
All of these average monthly journey times are quicker than comparable data for journeys prior to the introduction of Dart Charge in November 2014.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average journey time northbound between junction 3 and junction 30 on the M25, between the hours of (a) 6am to 9am, (b) 11am to 2pm and (c) 4pm to 7pm in each of the last six months.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Average journey time data between J3 and J30 travelling northbound and between J30 – J2 southbound on the M25 is not available. Highways England measures average journey times between J2 – J30 northbound and between J29 – J1B southbound on the M25. Average monthly journey times between July and December 2015 for the morning peak, inter-peak and evening peak periods are set out in the table below. All of these average monthly journey times are quicker than comparable data for journeys prior to the introduction of Dart Charge in November 2014.
Month | Time | Northbound J2 - J30 | Southbound J29 - J1B |
July* | 6am - 9am | 10:13 | 12:12 |
11am - 2pm | 15:23 | 12:17 | |
4pm - 7pm | 16:52 | 12:51 | |
August | 6am - 9am | 09:22 | 10:43 |
11am - 2pm | 18:27 | 12:01 | |
4pm - 7pm | 18:34 | 10:55 | |
September | 6am - 9am | 09:48 | 11:55 |
11am - 2pm | 11:11 | 10:49 | |
4pm - 7pm | 15:26 | 11:32 | |
October | 6am - 9am | 10:58 | 12:00 |
11am - 2pm | 13:25 | 11:27 | |
4pm - 7pm | 15:33 | 13:17 | |
November | 6am - 9am | 11:42 | 12:15 |
11am - 2pm | 10:40 | 11:55 | |
4pm - 7pm | 18:23 | 13:14 | |
December** | 6am - 9am | 10:53 | 12:40 |
11am - 2pm | 12:26 | 11:18 | |
4pm - 7pm | 22:41 | 17:04 |
* Speed limit increase on 27th July.
** The technology used to monitor journey times at Junction 1B became faulty in the southbound direction on 5 December. This means southbound December data is for 01/12/15 to 05/12/15
All of these average monthly journey times are quicker than comparable data for journeys prior to the introduction of Dart Charge in November 2014.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the effects of Operation Stack on motorists in Kent.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Operation Stack is led by Kent police, with the support of all other emergency services, Highways England, Kent County Council, and many other key partners. Steps taken to mitigate the latest Calais disruption include:
The Government is looking to all parties, including Eurotunnel and Port of Dover, Kent County and Local Councils, Kent Police and the Highways England to play their part in working towards, implementing and then reviewing and managing the various solutions.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time taken was by drivers to travel (a) clockwise and (b) anti-clockwise between junction 29 and junction 2 of the M25.
Answered by John Hayes
In 2013, the last year for which full data is available, the average time taken to travel on the M25 between junction 29 and junction 2 was 15 minutes, 3 seconds clockwise and 14 minutes 39 seconds anti-clockwise.
Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people were prosecuted for failure to pay vehicle excise duty in (a) Dartford constituency and (b) England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not hold this data broken down by parliamentary constituency. Figures are not held specifically for England and Wales. The table below shows the total amount of prosecutions for the offence of keeping or using an unlicensed vehicle in England, Scotland and Wales in each of the last five years.
Year
| Total number of prosecutions
|
2009/10
| 64,408
|
2010/11
| 53,648
|
2011/12
| 44,159
|
2012/13
| 29,035
|
2013/14
| 25,044
|
The DVLA operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These range from reminder letters and penalties through to court prosecutions and the wheelclamping and/or removal of unlicensed vehicles. These measures have helped to improve compliance and the latest estimates show that vehicle excise duty evasion is at a historic low of just 0.6%.