Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Minister of State can deposit in the Library of the House a note on his family history, which I feel sure will be eagerly sought after.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In our thriving ports sector, everyone—businesses, unions, thousands of employees—are fearful of the regulation because it threatens competitiveness and workers’ rights and protections. Given that his Department was so badly mauled in the European Committee in September that the Minister had to abandon his motion, why are we still waiting for concrete results? Despite his pledges, the Government got no support for blocking port regulations in Europe in October. If the Government did such a good job in October, why has he failed to bring his motion back to the House, as he promised?

[Mr Hayes]

In the deal we got in October, we got our ports excluded from the majority of this unwelcome, unnecessary and undesirable regulation, and on other matters not included in that exemption we agreed that this House should make the decision. I call that achievement a victory, and the hon. Gentleman would be well advised to welcome it.

Local Bus Services

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

Despite the Secretary of State’s rather Panglossian presentation, the contributions to today’s debate have shown up the failings of our bus network outside London—failings that need correcting now. Members outlined the challenges that we face, and endorsed this party’s belief in the great potential that an energised, accountable bus network could offer people across England, bringing some relief to their cost of living and transport crises.

We have heard excellent contributions from those on the Opposition Benches today, not least from the Chairman of the Select Committee who skilfully deconstructed the myths of deregulation; from my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) who has passionately raised issues with his local operators; from my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) who has done likewise; and from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass) who pointed out that a third of Durham’s budget has gone missing under this Government. In a measured and thoughtful contribution, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South (Mr Harris) talked about the decrease in the number of bus journeys since deregulation in 1985. I say with some hesitancy that the Secretary of State has simply got his figures for outside London wrong. In 2010, the figures were 2,401 billion, compared with 2,291 billion in 2013.

The previous Labour Government started the process of revaluing the bus services that had been deregulated and largely disregarded by the Thatcher and Major Governments. I remind him that in 1997, the Government subsidy for bus services stood at less than £1 million. By the current decade, it had risen to more than £2.3 billion. This Government did not inherit a situation in which buses were a second-class service with a disintegrating network and fleet of vehicles. Sadly, the coalition Government’s double whammy—savage cuts in Department for Transport spending, the 20% cut in operators’ and local government grants—shows that they have been indifferent to those effects. They have retreated to a silo vision of what the bus can do rather than see it as the inclusive driver of economic growth that it should be.

In most areas across England, this coalition Government’s strategy is failing. I have already said that outside London, bus use has reduced and fares have risen by 25%. On-road competition is effectively non-existent in many cases, and the Competition Commission has estimated that the broken market is costing taxpayers up to £300 million a year. Rather than different private companies, or even Whitehall, taking decisions about public transport, our plans would put local areas in the driving seat. Currently, no one is able to provide consistent information to passengers on their bus services or to monitor the performance of bus operators effectively since this Government stopped the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency collecting data on punctuality and left transport commissioners with restricted powers to penalise operators who do not provide such data.

Local co-ordination could include measures to support disabled passengers in franchising agreements, but while this Government have dragged their feet on that process, we will have to do that at local level and build on the excellent accessibility campaigns of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Whizz-Kidz, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and others.

My hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) a former distinguished leader of Manchester council, gave the Government a timely reality check on the issue of hunt the subsidy. That is the answer to Members on the Government Benches: they should start believing in the principles of competition instead of supporting and succouring people who run the present system on subsidy. That is the issue before the House today. I brought this matter up in a debate in Westminster Hall less than a month ago, and my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) provided us with an example. The deregulation system often promotes crude, crazy cartels or de facto monopolies with inefficient bunching on the most used routes and little is done to expand usage on new routes. As my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) said, 45% of that is dependent on subsidy. My hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) echoed that point in a series of excellent interventions.

My hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Gloria De Piero) outlined the case of a local woman studying for a degree in hospitality who is unable to take a job in the city’s hotels because the bus services finish so early that she would not be able to get back home. That built on what my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Andy Sawford) said in his excellent debate in Westminster Hall in June when he quoted a constituent whose local buses stop at 7 o’clock:

“you can’t go to the theatre, adult education, swimming…visit friends, support elderly relatives…anything!”

The constituent added that even though there are medical centres open late in town,

“you can’t have a late appointment if there isn’t a bus running that late. It’s like living under curfew”.—[Official Report, 17 June 2014; Vol. 582, c. 34WH.]

I heard a similar story when I visited Staffordshire this year and heard from our local campaigners about the people who are losing out the most.

Often it is not just individuals but whole communities who are left isolated by inadequate bus services. I have heard from our candidate in Redcar, Anna Turley, about the village of Lazenby. The village used to be one stop on a profitable route, though it required a detour from the main road to reach it. The bus operator has decided to cut out this inefficiency, and with it, the village. Local people on the minimum wage who are having to hire taxis are now paying the price. Those are just the kinds of short-sighted, damaging decisions that communities in charge of their local transport will be able to overturn. Profits will be pooled and reinvested so that, in the interests of all local people, we can unlock the economic growth that comes through access to skills and jobs.

[Luciana Berger]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Marsden]

I do not have time, I am afraid.

Access to affordable transport shows up time and again as a major concern for young people, whether in National Union of Students surveys or in what they have told me in Blackpool in schools and colleges, and at listening events.

Our policies will promote opportunities for people to shift from using cars for short journeys to public transport—that can be a key element in our climate change commitments. They will help in rural areas, where the elderly often experience services being cut and, as a result, have to pay for a taxi to the theatre, which costs 10% of their weekly pension. They will help to bring local authorities and local enterprise partnerships together and engender a real localism, alongside our bold pledge to deliver £30 billion of devolved funding to local authorities in the next Parliament. By engaging with business at every stage, we will make sure that transport, and buses in particular, help to create this virtuous circle, working with LEPs, chambers of commerce and others in a common endeavour. Greater local controls over services such as transport are part of our fundamental response to the English question. Unlike this Government, we do not believe in just one or two initiatives to cover up the reality that their Departments continue, too often, to work in centralised silos.

Labour’s proposals also offer opportunities to communities and local authorities whereby outside visitors—be it to seaside and coastal or rural and inland attractions—are key ingredients of their economic prosperity. These changes will boost people’s confidence in inputting their views. Thanks to the previous Labour Government, and particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South, we are seeing the benefit of this—in Blackpool, for example—and we will see it even more under the new system.

[Luciana Berger]

I am sorry that I did not get to make this point in the debate. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that young people in particular are incredibly affected because this Government took away the education maintenance allowance? The cost of buses in Liverpool is so prohibitive that young people are unable to make choices about their education as they cannot choose colleges that are, in effect, too far away because too many bus routes are involved.

[Mr Marsden]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. She makes a point that she and other Labour Members have been fighting for.

Let me linger for a moment on the word “bus”, which derives from “omnibus”, the great innovation of the Victorian city. “Omnibus” means “for everyone”, but apparently the bus is not omnipresent in the hearts or minds of this Government. Their DFT business plan does not even mention buses by name, and the Transport Secretary’s recent speech to the Tory conference had just a two-word reference to the bus. That is the difference between them and us, and the difference between their policies and the biggest initiative to devolve power and opportunities to communities across England in 100 years. We get it; they do not. They do not see the transformational power that could come with integrated local transport systems. They have not seen the bus as a key agent of change to revitalise our public spaces. Our devolved vision is not only more integrated, but comes with more money—three times as much.

This Government are bequeathing the people of England a fractured landscape in the NHS, in skills and in transport, but we are embarking on a journey to empower people and places across England to work together, and we are placing the bus at the centre of that, as has been done so well in London. Ours is a promise and an opportunity for all—for coast and countryside, for small towns as well as large cities, for north and south, for rural areas and suburbia—and the Labour party will deliver it.

Blackpool Airport

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Monday 3rd November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies), my constituency neighbour, on securing this debate and on giving an excellent speech that summed up most, if not all, of the very strong arguments for why Blackpool should retain its airport in an operational state. He was right to draw attention to Blackpool airport’s long history and tradition, which goes back to 1909, as well as to its contribution during the second world war as the place where thousands of aircraft pilots were trained.

Today we must realise that the airport is of benefit not only to the people of Blackpool and the Fylde, or even to the tens of thousands of passengers who have used it every year for leisure and indeed business travel, and who now find themselves bereft of that opportunity because of what is—we hope—its temporary closure. The airport has the economic potential to be a crucial part of not only the sub-economy in the Fylde area but the economy of the whole of Lancashire, and I want to say a little more on that point.

The hon. Gentleman, quite rightly, referred to operations out of the airport, and at the time of closure the airport site was supporting 11 tenants, with important small businesses employing up to 200 people. That made up about a £20 million contribution to the sub-regional gross value added, and included, as the hon. Gentleman said, commercial passengers, offshore helicopters, general and corporate aviation, fuel sales and estates and commercial land development. Whatever problems there may have been, and whatever the disputes between Balfour Beatty—the owner of the airport—and Jet2.com, we must not lose sight of the fact that the businesses that were operating there were doing so in an expanding economic climate. We need only to look at the map of Liverpool bay—as I have done when wearing my hat as shadow maritime Minister—and at the sheer amount of activity going on to see that, so we must take that point into account. There are strong arguments and feelings among my constituents in Blackpool, not simply because of passenger usage or the airport’s heritage, but because of its economic value.

The issues raised in the debate are crucial. As the Minister knows, there are general problems with smaller airports in the regions. I will not stray from the topic of the debate, but I wrote to the Minister about the regional air connectivity fund. I was grateful for his positive response. As the hon. Member for Fylde has said, the Minister indicated that if new people come in with new flights, Blackpool could bid. However, it is not only a question of the air connectivity fund. It is also a question of what enabling mechanisms there might be for any new bidders to come in and take the airport on. The role of Lancashire enterprise partnership is potentially crucial in that, which is why I am glad that it is seriously considering what it can do with the support of the Fylde coast MPs to get that side of things moving.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the situation for anyone who wants to use the land for building or retail purposes. I entirely concur with his sentiments but, more importantly, so do the two councils—two thirds of the airport is in Fylde and the other is in my constituency, but Blackpool airport retains residual shares. I am glad that both councils have so far indicated that they would set their face against that form of development.

I shall conclude on one important point that the hon. Gentleman mentioned. There are bidders and potential discussions, but as you well know, Mr Deputy Speaker, it is one thing to have bidders and another to close the deal. One thing that might be needed to close the deal is the reuse and remodelling of that extra acreage to which the hon. Gentleman referred. Therefore, I would say both to him—I am sure he would agree—and to the Minister that that could be a crucial enabling facility for getting those potential bidders to sign up to the deal. I therefore ask the Minister to give an assurance that he will discuss the matter with the Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, or at least send the message to him.

Hon. Members are pulling together with Blackpool council and Fylde council. I pay tribute to the work of Blackpool council officers and John Jones, the transport cabinet member. We all want a successful future for Blackpool airport for the sake of the regional economy, and for the people of Blackpool and the Fylde coast, but we need that little bit of extra help and leverage from Ministers and the Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

May I extend the Government’s condolences to the families of the 283 passengers and 15 crew, including 10 British citizens, who were killed? Indeed, at the European Council in Luxembourg, we had the opportunity to express condolences to my Dutch counterpart; a very large number of the casualties came from his country. The ICAO has set up a taskforce to look at the provision of over-flights in conflict zones, and the UK is participating actively in that work.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

May I associate myself with the Minister’s condolences to the families, not least our own UK citizens? After MH17 was shot down, I wrote to the Minister in August to ask how the Government would ensure that all airlines had equal access to recommendations based on authoritative intelligence about safety over specific conflict zones. I also asked him to reconsider his reserved powers so that passengers, pilots and airline staff in the UK could have confidence in the process. His reply was that he was looking into it. After eight weeks in which conflicts in Iraq and Syria have intensified those concerns, what changes has he made?

[Mr Goodwill]

I have already explained that work is being undertaken at an international level. Indeed, the Secretary of State has power to direct airlines not to fly over particular locations and the independent Civil Aviation Authority can issue a notice to airmen—a NOTAM—instructing pilots not to fly over those areas. Ultimately, it is up to the airline and the captain to take the decision, based on the best available information they have.

Transport in the North-East

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

It is a great delight to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Caton. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on securing this important debate, and I emphasise that she has fought consistently and doggedly for better bus services for her community. I am pleased to see the strong representation from MPs across the north-east, who have spoken about their support for better-run services that work in the interests of local people. As a north-west MP, I agree that co-operation between the north-east and the north-west is a key part of the process. I do not have time to go through all the points that colleagues have made, but there is clearly a strong consensus among the Opposition about the need to move forward in this area. As my hon. Friend has said, we must look at new mechanisms and new structures.

I understand the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), who is a doughty defender of his constituents’ interests, and I am sure that those points should be taken forward. It is worth remembering what Nexus has said about the problems with the partnership offer:

“Whilst partnership boards would undoubtedly improve the dialogue between local councils and bus operators, the final decision on routes, timetables and ticket prices would remain firmly in the hands of the bus operators. This creates significant doubt over whether the improvements and savings would be achieved in practice.”

I want to recognise the hard work that Nexus has done over the past four years in pursuit of a quality contract scheme. In many cases, it has innovated where no passenger transport executive has gone before, with, frankly, little support from Government. The final decision must, of course, rest with the locally elected councillors in the combined authority, but the work that Nexus has delivered to them in recommending the quality contract deserves to be received thoughtfully and carefully.

[Mr Kevan Jones]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Marsden]

I am sorry, but I cannot give way because of the time. We need to develop franchising schemes that can help to protect our bus services and their key role in society. Buses are too often the neglected foundation of our communities. As the Institute for Public Policy Research pointed out recently, three times as many passengers use buses as use rail. The Passenger Transport Executive Group has established that in metropolitan areas the bus networks generate £2.5 billion in economic benefits, which is five times as much as the £500 million of public funding that they receive. Buses provide economic and social opportunities, linking passengers up with apprenticeships, skills and jobs, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman) and others have said—not just any jobs, but aspirational, career-building ones. In the north-east, in particular, those benefits are valuable to the more vulnerable in society, who have few other means of getting around: young people, people on low incomes or those who do not want to or cannot afford to get snagged up in environmentally unfriendly congestion.

Too often, government works in silos, and too often, this Government have done so. Ministers must be alive to the possibility that better-run bus services can help to deliver Government objectives. Bus services can be a key factor in reducing energy demands and carbon emissions. The PTEG has shown that the best-used bus services in urban centres can reduce carbon emissions from road transport by three quarters. To meet the Government’s goals, people must have the bus services that they deserve right across the country, not only in London; my hon. Friends have already pointed out the absurd inequality of the funding structures.

Quality contract-type powers have worked before. As someone who grew up in Greater Manchester during the Thatcherite deregulation in the 1980s, I know how the metropolitan county council’s strategic oversight acted as a valuable devolved economic unifier in those areas. The selling off of those companies was accompanied by severe under-investment, which required the incoming Labour Government in 1997 to save what was left of the decimated bus service by boosting support from less than £1 million in 1997 to £2.3 billion in 2012, the latest figure. The previous Labour Government introduced quality contract legislation as a way for properly equipped communities to wrest back some control over services, and we progressively made the process easier.

Although Nexus has embarked on a step change to try to improve its bus services, it has not been given much assistance by the Government. More fundamentally, the Government have completely failed to grasp the value of the bus. It is no exaggeration to say that passenger numbers have fallen in most parts of the country outside London, which is not surprising because the Government have consistently slashed funding. Levels of support will be £500 million lower by the end of the Parliament than they would have been if 2010 funding levels had been maintained. The bus service operators’ grant has been reduced by 20%. According to the Campaign for Better Transport, £56 million of the funding for vital supported bus services has been cut. Freedom of information requests have revealed that council spending on local buses has fallen as a result of local government cuts, with Conservative councils likely to cut the biggest proportion of their bus budget. That has been a disaster for local communities, especially in Tyne and Wear where there are semi-rural areas, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South has said, lack the light rail connections enjoyed by some other regions. I hope that the Minister, who is aware of the difficulties that affect rural communities, understands that problem and recognises that in a place such as Northumberland, which has had to cut its supported services by 19%, things cannot move forward.

An incoming Labour Government in 2015 would support large cities and combined authorities if they wished to establish London-style bus services and structures. We would want to emulate positive approaches to pursuing franchise mechanisms, such as the case we are discussing. The benefits of franchising systems are numerous and vital in today’s circumstances. We need strategically planned bus services that help all our communities, and bus fares that are sensitive to the crisis in the cost of living under the current Government. People have a right to expect cheaper fares through multi-operator tickets, which will give them the lowest fares going, whatever mode of transport they take.

Franchising can offer more frequent and punctual services and build into contracts incentives on punctuality. Such incentives are sorely needed, because Ministers have instructed the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency to stop going out and checking punctuality, which is now left to companies to self-police. The whole passenger transport experience needs to improve, and a franchised approach can take us down that route. Franchising can enable the provision of real-time information on bus stops, stations and the internet, and allow local authorities such as Tyne and Wear to target particular groups of people—perhaps young people—for special concessions.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) vividly pointed out, the deregulated system often promotes crude cartels or de facto monopolies; it can allow inefficient bunching on most-used routes, while little is done to expand usage on new ones; and it often results in the ineffective use of subsidy. It is not the way ahead. Franchising can bring together local authorities, passengers, operators and trade unions to plan and deliver the network. It can create a virtuous circle of co-operation that encourages the devolution of decision making across an over-centralised England. The Government have failed in this area because they have not grasped the elements of the problem. As my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South has outlined, the North East combined authority wants to move boldly on behalf of its residents, and it has chosen to look at recommendations by Nexus for a quality contract.

The Government have not come up with any other alternatives, and they seem to have little vision in this area. Buses were barely mentioned—I think they were given three words—in the Transport Secretary’s speech to the Conservative party conference last month. We recognise the role of buses in the heart of local communities. We pledge that under the next Labour Government, those communities will receive our support to find an easier process if they, too, seek to reclaim control of their buses. Through a combination of their cuts to local government, the lack of an overall strategy and their cuts to the bus funding structure, the Government have reverted to an isolated, siloed vision of what buses can do, rather than the environmentally friendly, socially useful, economic driver that buses should be. From what we have heard today, and from what I know, nowhere in the country needs that thoughtful, integrated, community-driven approach more than the north-east.

Regional Airports

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mike Kane]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his contribution. Rail links are massively important for increasing connectivity between airports and regions. I am reminded of when Manchester won the casino bid in 2008. I do not want to go over the history—

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

Don’t.

[Mike Kane]

But we have to start thinking as a region. The best site might have been in Blackpool, but Manchester won the bid because of not only its corporate social responsibility but the direct flights to a nearby international airport. By increasing rail links across our regions and agglomerations, and across the north as a whole, we can in future act more effectively as a single economy.

London Luton airport has recently received final planning consent for a £100 million development to increase annual passenger capacity from 12 million to 18 million by 2031.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries, and take part in this debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane) on securing it and on making such a forceful case, not just for Manchester airport but for regional airports throughout the country. Indeed, he laid out his case with such aplomb that I thought that a Government so handy about and keen on appointing tsars might make him airport tsar in the near future.

The debate gives us an important opportunity to hear about the great benefits provided by local airports and the significant challenges that they face. That has been reflected in hon. Members’ contributions. My hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) proposed a radical open skies initiative as a potential game changer; the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) clearly outlined the positive signs for Northern Ireland; and the hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) rightly spoke about the situation at Manston. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Members for Luton South (Gavin Shuker) and his colleague on the part they have played in getting the expansion at Luton. He rightly drew attention to the skills and the business opportunities there. The right hon. Member for Gordon (Sir Malcolm Bruce) reminded us, with the sad tale of British Airways’ withdrawal from Aberdeen, of the broader responsibilities that airlines have to their local communities. I cannot forget my parliamentary neighbour, the hon. Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies), who rightly praised Blackpool airport, pointing out its value not only to his constituents, but to mine. Blackpool airport has a distinguished past, with aviation activity since 1909 and mass Air Force training in world war two. Today it offers a wide range of medium-range destinations, not least via Jet2.com.

The debate is such that we have to touch on what more can be done for the communities that regional airports serve and how Governments have a role in helping the airports to expand. Putting regional airports at the heart of our transport policy as economic generators and job creators in the communities in which they operate reaffirms their role as vital links to national infrastructure, crucial to spreading economic growth more evenly across the regions. UK regional airports served 220 million passengers in 2013, and Manchester welcomed more than 20 million of them. Although overall UK airport use fell during the recession, Manchester increased its share to 9.1%, and other major airports outside the south-east such as Edinburgh, Bristol and Leeds have also increased their share. Experiences vary across different regional airports, so a robust understanding of them and an overarching narrative regarding their needs and opportunities are essential at the heart of Government.

There is no doubting the great economic value that airports create for their communities. They bring trade and tourism into areas and provide jobs, apprenticeships and skills programmes for local people. In meetings with airport operators, I have often stressed how essential it is that they scale up that community engagement and promote what they already do, which can be substantial. I am therefore delighted that the Airport Operators Association publicised that work in its recent report, “Airports in the Community”. My hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East referred to some of that work. Poignantly, in view of what the right hon. Member for Gordon said, Aberdeen airport, apart from the 2,000 jobs on-site, helps to recruit 1,700 overseas students who attend the Aberdeen business school. Newcastle airport employs 3,200 people directly, but supports a further 8,000 jobs in the north-east. The story of airports’ great value is consistent across the country. In the north-west, John Lennon airport has 2,000 people working on-site; Manchester has shown great corporate social responsibility work with its airport academy and its young people’s skills academy, which targets young people in Wythenshawe in my hon. Friend’s constituency. A whole raft of good activity is going on in airports.

Several airports are putting education at the heart of their community outreach. Birmingham has its own flight school, available for pupils across the midlands, and Leeds Bradford offers students across west Yorkshire aviation masterclasses. Those are programmes of real substance. East Midlands airport has won a “business in the community” award and airports of all sizes and resources can make a valuable and prized contribution to their local area. Biggin Hill, central to the heroic fights of the battle of Britain in the second world war, but now a strong local airport, is in the second year of its Nick Davidson memorial flying scholarship. He was a British Airways pilot who pledged to fund a scholarship to train a new young pilot every year. London Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted, while not regional airports, run their own excellent community schemes, too. Heathrow has put 3,500 jobseekers through basic skills training; Gatwick has a scheme to support young entrepreneurs; and Stansted raises substantial sums of money for the local air ambulance trust. The success of those schemes shows the value of expanding them more broadly across all regional airports.

That is one side of the relationship between airports and communities. The other is what can be done by Government and local stakeholders at all levels to support regional airports, to keep their operations viable and to help them to expand into new and prosperous routes where possible. In that, the Government cannot always claim to be keeping up their end of the deal.

In last year’s spending review, the Government announced money for funding public service obligations for new air routes. That funding was increased to £20 million a year and rebadged as the regional air connectivity fund in this year’s Budget. Announcing the scheme in March, the Chancellor named three airports he believed might benefit: Liverpool, Leeds and Inverness. Two out of those three—Liverpool and Leeds—may not qualify for any support under the current rules. European state aid guidance makes clear that the fund should be directed at smaller regional airports with fewer than 3 million passengers. There is support for regional airports with between 3 million and 5 million passengers, but only in exceptional circumstances. Does the Minister yet have an answer as to how to define those exceptional circumstances? If so, can he tell us? It is a year since the funding was first announced, but airports such as Newcastle, Belfast, Liverpool and Aberdeen are in the dark as to whether they can they apply for funding. Can he reassure them that investing scant time and money in making an application to the fund will be anything more than a trip down a blind alley?

The European Commission also wants to prevent airlines from simply switching from one airport to a local competitor, but those rules could end up being highly restrictive. Great city regions, such as Manchester and Liverpool, need to have their own functional economies and access to trade routes. What progress are the Minister and his officials making with the Commission on the regulations to make it easier for all of our regions to get the support they need?

Today’s written ministerial statement on the Davies review lets slip the prospect of slightly more procrastination, with a consultation on guidance for the fund to be announced soon, but not the guidance itself. While we are on the subject of procrastination, what about the rest of the statement, which delays the creation of the Davies’ noise ombudsman until after the election and fails to answer the questions raised by businesses and more generally? The Opposition have been emphatic that dealing with issues of noise and emissions is central to building consensus between regional airports and the communities they serve. Those communities who feel pressure and are concerned about the future might well feel aggrieved if they cannot even start work on those issues now. We need robust evidence to take the debate forward.

The Davies commission pointed out that Government investment would represent only 5% of the typical cost of a new start-up route. Do Ministers foresee that the investment will be a game-changer for regional airports? What support will be available for those airports that will not qualify, because they have more than 5 million passengers, such as Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Glasgow?

All these airports share the need for quality investment in surface access. Consumers think about the whole journey from point A to point B and how easily accessible their local airport really is. Investment in the local roads network is essential, but so is the prioritisation of public transport routes and reducing carbon emissions. We have seen great improvements at airports such as Manchester—the city’s excellent Metrolink will be going to the airport from next year, which is ahead of schedule—and there has also been investment in Gatwick, where renovations to the train station are under way, but smaller airports must not be neglected. One way of ensuring that is for airports to have real influence on local enterprise partnership boards and to benefit from the increased devolution of funding and decision making. The Department for Transport is already a significant contributor to the single local growth fund, which will be top-sliced under Government proposals, so it is essential that the interests of transport connectivity in general and airport connectivity in particular are reflected in the way funding is distributed. How is the Minister monitoring how airports and their communities are benefiting from the bidding stage of the single local growth fund?

The principles and approaches I outline are echoed in the proposals that we in the Labour party have put out to benefit the regions—not just those produced by the shadow Business Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna), and those in the Armitt infrastructure report, but now those in the Adonis document, which looks at devolution and local decision making. We fully recognise local airports’ role as economic drivers, and their potential to prosper with truly devolved local structures and funding. The history of Manchester airport—it stood out against the depredations of Thatcherism in the mid-1980s to construct a model that involved local councils, and it has been able to build on that with the combined authority arrangements—demonstrates that potential. As regional airports look at the increasingly popular point-to-point flights, the national network is increasingly relevant for them.

[Mike Kane]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Marsden]

I’m afraid not, because of lack of time.

There is need for short-term action as well, which includes saying something about expanding the capacity in the south-east. I am sure that the Minister is aware of the letter signed by the 50 business leaders in The Sunday Times this weekend. Given that the ministerial statement says nothing to answer the question of regional airports at all, will he make a definitive statement in the near future? My hon. Friends have talked about air passenger duty, and regional airports feel aggrieved because they feel that long haul has been given benefits, while they have been given none.

In the broadest sense, we must have political consensus on how to move forward on airport capacity. We want to reach that consensus soon in the next Parliament, but it has to be in far more expansive and wide-ranging ways than the Government’s pale version of Michael Heseltine’s vision. The Labour party is determined to ensure that the bright future for regional airports, as highlighted in this debate secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East, comes to pass.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 10th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

I represent a constituency in the north of England and my constituents rely on regional airports. In fact, I would rather call them local international airports. Manchester is one of the premier local international airports and I very much enjoy using it. It has exciting plans for further development.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

Regional airports fear that the Government are not doing enough for connectivity, not least to London. Those concerns are reflected in the most recent Davies commission report. In his Budget, the Chancellor grandly announced more money for the regional air connectivity fund, but name-checked airports that are not currently eligible. The ones that definitely are eligible still have no guidance on how to apply. In addition, Ministers still have no green light from Europe to say that airports with 3 million to 5 million passengers, such as Newcastle, can apply. Only one airport—Dundee—is confirmed to get any money so far. How can we be sure that airports such as Newcastle, Leeds Bradford and Norwich, or anywhere else for that matter, will get more support from the Government by 2015?

[Mr Goodwill]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government are very successful in negotiating in Europe when we need to get a deal. Having spent five years in the European Parliament, I know that we are always keen to engage and ensure that like-minded member states can come to an accommodation. We are optimistic that we can have a positive outcome with the European Commission. We will have further information for airports wishing to apply during the autumn when the details have been hammered out, so that we can comply with the state aid rules and ensure that the money goes to important regional airports such as Newcastle, which I know has aspirations to have flights to the United States.

Bus Services

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Andy Sawford) on securing the debate. He described in some detail the circumstances in his region, Northamptonshire, demonstrating the trueness of the phrase “All politics is local”. The information that he drew on came from the excellent freedom of information request made by the shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), who discovered that Northamptonshire was the hardest hit of all boroughs, with 55% of its funding for local bus services cut since the coalition came to power in 2010.

My hon. Friend the Member for Corby also made the point that the issue truly is a national one. He discussed the challenge faced by the most vulnerable—the elderly and the disabled—as well as issues relating to quality of life, and spoke eloquently of a constituent who saw a new bus stop outside his house when no bus had gone past for years.

I also pay tribute to the other two Members who spoke. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) underlined the fact that bus services are truly a United Kingdom issue and eloquently described the effect on those in rural and sparsely populated areas in his constituency.

My hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) championed the idea of the Tyne and Wear combined authority taking forward a quality contract system. She rightly made the point that constituencies that are urban and semi-rural and that have no light rail connections are particularly vulnerable to the problems in the current context. As she said, we want companies to get a reasonable return on their money, but what is actually delivered is often not reasonable. Excessive profits must be reinvested into the community. Her reference to the Competition Commission report reminded us of some of the issues at stake.

[Graham Stringer]

Does my hon. Friend accept that it is an indication of the exploitation of the travelling public that goes on outside the regulated system in London that the profits made by private bus companies in places such as Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and Merseyside are between 25% and 50% greater than for the same companies operating in London? That is indicative of a failed system that is exploiting the travelling public in the English regions.

[Mr Marsden]

My hon. Friend serves with great distinction on the Transport Committee. He highlights a key issue for us all to ponder. If things can be done in London, they should certainly be examined elsewhere, particularly in areas such as Greater Manchester—I speak as a native Mancunian—where the tradition of good, strong, integrated public transport is sometimes hobbled by practices he mentioned.

All regions have seen support for local services stretched as never before in recent memory, losing an average of 25% of bus funding since 2010. Yet buses remain the most frequently used mode of public transport. Their use is widespread and important outside of as well as in London and our major cities, where media coverage of transport issues is sometimes focused. They are vital in both urban and rural areas, and are a lifeline for groups such as the elderly and disabled people. They also offer opportunities for all passengers to expand their horizons and engage socially in local areas and further afield.

The previous Labour Government showed an unprecedented commitment to strengthening bus services throughout the country. In 1997, the overall level of Government subsidy for bus services—including public transport, the bus service operators grant and concessionary fares—stood at less than £1 million; by the current decade it had risen to more than £2.3 billion. The present Government did not inherit a situation in which buses were a second-class service with a disintegrating network and fleet of vehicles, but, sadly, their cuts to the local government grant and lack of forethought about their effect on local transport demonstrate that they have reverted to an isolated and siloed vision of what public transport can do, rather than seeing it as the environmentally friendly, efficient and inclusive driver of economic growth that it should be.

Campaigning groups such as the Campaign for Better Transport have done some excellent work, particularly in highlighting the value of supported bus services. Such routes are not believed by operators to be independently viable, but often serve the hardest to reach and most isolated communities. The CBT’s research, published earlier this year in the report “Buses in Crisis”, highlighted that in 2013-14 almost 50% of local authorities cut supported bus services, at a total loss of £17 million. Since 2010, more than £56 million has been cut from supported bus services, with many routes and services being cut completely. No wonder that in his foreword to the report the chief executive of the CBT, Stephen Joseph, highlighted the impact of those cuts on two particular groups:

“young people unable to access their place of education or training”

and

“older people who are left in isolation after their lifeline to the outside world has been cut.”

Supported services are particularly important for the elderly. The difficulty of accessing health services can mean that conditions go untreated and undiagnosed, or that the taxpayer ends up paying more for ambulance trips and unnecessary overnight hospital stays because of a lack of transport options. The difficulty of maintaining social links where public transport is poor reduces quality of life and can anger families, especially those in rural areas who cannot easily see their elderly relatives.

The local economy also suffers as shopping centres and services are made inaccessible. Age UK’s report, “Missed opportunities: the impact on older people of cuts to rural bus services”, brings into stark relief the many facets of isolation that the elderly can experience when services are cut; in some places a taxi to the theatre could cost 10% of their weekly pension. People with disabilities also rely on bus services and are hardest hit when support routes are closed, for many of the same reasons. I will come later to other approaches that can improve the services used by disabled people, but the fundamental point is that the service must be operating in the first place.

As we have heard, young people also suffer when services are cut: jobs and training in hard-to-reach areas can no longer be pursued. Young people are among the biggest users of bus services, as the National Union of Students has pointed out. More than 2 million young people come from low-income households, and 64% of jobseekers either have no access to a vehicle or cannot drive. The role that the bus can play is clear: a joined-up network allows aspirations to thrive and prevents young people from being unable to take up job opportunities. It also boosts their productivity, and it is estimated that £1 of public investment in buses can provide between £3 and £5-worth of wider benefits.

We all know from our experience in our constituencies that bus travel is key for young people. My hon. Friend the Member for Corby referred to his experience, and recently I have had a number of meetings with young people in which they have all said that the issue is not simply not being able to get about socially; bus services are a lifeline to their college, as well as to get to job interviews and eventually to take up work. It really is a key issue. My hon. Friend was right to highlight the inconsistency of requiring young people to stay in education until they are 18 when they do not have the wherewithal to do so.

The provision of transport in rural areas, which has already been touched on, can also become a matter of inequality. Recent research by the Centre for Social Justice showed that people who live in rural areas can spend between 20% and 30% more on transport than those in urban households. Such areas therefore have more to lose than most when support for local bus services is reduced. As a former shadow further education Minister, I know how crucial that can be for young people in rural areas who want to access college courses. Campuses in rural areas often require a five to 10 mile journey, as opposed to a one to two mile journey in urban areas.

We also have a right to expect quality provision from bus operators because public subsidy accounts for 45% of bus operators’ revenues. The comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Houghton and Sunderland South on the situation in Tyne and Wear are pertinent. Virtually all the major bus companies have pointed out that cuts at that level have inhibited their ability to provide services. The example of her county council is not isolated. There has been a 50% subsidy cut in Suffolk, a 40% subsidy cut in Hertfordshire and a 30% subsidy cut in Somerset. They are all Conservative-controlled authorities in which issues of social cohesion for the elderly and economic opportunity for the young have not been sufficient to retain the subsidies. Those authorities’ own Government have made their ability to do so even harder.

I commend colleagues who have stood up for their local services, and I commend my hon. Friends who have spoken today. My hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs Riordan) has been fighting for bus services in her constituency, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley (Mr Howarth) has been vocal about services in his area.

What other pressures do local authorities face, and what powers do they have to respond? The LGA has raised concerns that funding has been cut by £261 million and that often it cannot do much about it. Concessionary fares and supported services must work in tandem, rather than competing for an ever-reduced pool of money. People continue to receive the benefits of the bus pass, but we must ensure that its funding reflects the effects of social and independent living. We want actively to explore what more we can do to incentivise and extend bus support for young people so that we make a further impact to bridge the gap to jobs and skills and, incidentally, to make a real impact on economic growth.

Current contract arrangements give little power or incentive for local authorities to have mechanisms to maintain protected services, and the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Corby on quality control are highly relevant. We would increase the amount of money devolved to regional bodies, which would be a major driver of new initiatives and transport projects to improve the quality of services and the transport network for people across those regions.

We must also consider what we have to do to make access a reality for people with disabilities. In the House, we have raised the issues of bus driver training and audiovisual systems. They will not go away, particularly when loud voices from consumer and public organisations are saying that it is time that Ministers heard the clarion call to take a lead on access.

Government at all levels must never lose sight of the fact that bus services not simply are the preserve of bus operators but exist for their passengers. Public transport must never be relegated to the status of a second-class service. A well funded and prioritised bus service can be a key driver of economic growth. The Government need to be fully committed to those ideals to make them a reality, rather than sidelining millions of people to what my hon. Friend’s constituent eloquently characterised as curfew living.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Hammond]

I accept the proposition that locals know what is best for their area, if they wish to go down that line. The hon. Lady will not be surprised to hear that Ministers would probably express the view that that would be ill-advised. I will continue to express that view, but it is for local areas to make that decision.

If we look at ridership numbers since 1997, and indeed at the broad sweep since the second world war, we see declining ridership on buses, but more than 60% of all trips on public transport are still made on local buses. Some 49% of bus trips outside London are made by people who do not have access to a car. Buses are, of course, essential for many people to get to work, education, doctors and hospitals. The bus is a lifeline for many people, particularly in rural areas. Without the bus, those people would be unable to access essential services, go shopping or socialise.

Yet if one listens to the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden), one hears an attempt to portray a network that has fallen apart. Inconveniently, as I have just pointed out, some of the facts do not bear that out. As he will have wanted to acknowledge, the falls in ridership numbers were severe under a regulated regime. Between 1997 and today, the annual fall in ridership, as a percentage, has been almost the same every year. The idea that there has been a complete collapse in bus ridership since 2010 is simply false.

Combined with that is the fact that customer satisfaction with bus journeys is high. In all national surveys, 88% of passengers say that they are satisfied with the service. It is important to recognise, in looking at that number, that under-21s make up about a third of bus passengers, and use among the older generation has increased over the past few years, as the hon. Gentleman would want to acknowledge.

[Mr Marsden]

I accept that bus satisfaction is high, but that prompts the question of whether people are satisfied because they are able to get a bus in the first place. The point that my hon. Friends and I have made is on the disproportionate effect of the coalition’s cuts on key vulnerable groups. The Minister will not find statistics that gainsay that point.

[Stephen Hammond]

The Minister certainly will. I am happy to read out the ridership numbers, but there is nothing in those numbers that suggests there has been an increasing rate of decline in bus use since 2010. That is simply true. I am happy to check my facts in the Library. I have the numbers before me, and I can read them out if the hon. Gentleman wants them. The fact of the matter is that the numbers do not support his argument.

It is true, of course, that bus usage and access to buses are important for a healthy, growing economy. The recent survey by the university of Leeds reinforces that point. Bus commuters generate some £64 billion in economic output, and one in five journeys is a journey to work. Shopping and leisure trips generate annual value of some £27 billion.

The Government, far from what is suggested in some portrayals, remain committed to improving bus services, and expenditure on buses reflects that: 42% of all bus operator income comes from public funds. This year, the Government will spend more than £1 billion on concessionary travel entitlement and more than £340 million in direct subsidy to bus operators in England. More than £300 million has been allocated to funding major bus projects in the last year; that is on top of the provision through the better bus areas fund to deliver improvements in 24 local authorities, which cost more than £70 million, and the £20 million to support community transport. Many bus improvement schemes have also been funded as part of the £600 million local sustainable transport fund.

A total of £95 million has also been provided for four rounds of the green bus fund to improve environmental performance. We are also jointly funding a three-year project with Norfolk county council to determine a delivery model for smart ticketing across England, recognising that smarter ticketing will continue to drive easier access. In the 2013 spending review, we protected bus spending until the end of 2015-16, despite the current economic circumstances. All that demonstrates a commitment that was not recognised in some of the contributions.

The Government recognise that improvements can and must be made. In 2012, our document “Green Light for Better Buses” set out our plans for buses. The proposals included reforming bus subsidy, improving competition and incentivising partnership working. The hon. Member for Corby gave a clear example of what partnership working can deliver in his support for Stagecoach, some of the services that it is delivering, and the way that it has improved a number of them. Improving partnership working is increasingly important.

There is no doubt that these are challenging economic times. Government and local authorities have had to make difficult decisions about some spending priorities, but we want to ensure that the bus market is still attractive to all operators—large and small, urban and rural—by ensuring that funding is allocated in the fairest way, giving the best value for taxpayers and ensuring the best service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Member for Gillingham and Rainham (Rehman Chishti) deserves the hearty congratulations of the House, and I feel sure that the award is prominently displayed in his home.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

The Government are blocking an EU directive that bus drivers should have disability awareness training. In January, the Minister promised me a review in March, but in response to a later question he seemed to back off that promise. With my letter on this to his Lords colleague at the end of March still unanswered, when will the Government keep his promise to the House and stop letting disabled people down?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

I will certainly ensure that the hon. Gentleman receives a reply to his letter. I am somewhat surprised that he has not had one already, but I will find out what has gone wrong. As we discussed in Westminster Hall recently, the voluntary approach is working very well with over 75% of drivers having this sort of training, which is important to ensure that disabled people have equal access to all forms of transport.

Access to Ports

Gordon Marsden Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw). My party affiliation in the report is spelled with a small “l”, but I was actually a member of the Transport Committee for at least part of the inquiry, so that is still unexplained.

I want to make a few brief comments on the Government’s response to some of the Select Committee’s recommendations. Point 1 of the response quotes the Select Committee as recommending that the

“DfT should act as an advocate for ports”.

I was somewhat disappointed by the response.

As I said in the previous debate, the road safety Minister, the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr Goodwill), is held in high regard; the shipping Minister, the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond), is also held in high regard by the industry and those of us who take interest in such matters because of the work that he has done. He knows as well as I do the plethora of organisations involved in shipping—the UK Chamber of Shipping, the UK Major Ports Group, the British Ports Association, Hutchison Ports, Peel Ports, the London Gateway, the Port of London Authority, TfL, Maritime UK and others. The industry has really come together in the past five years to speak with one voice, which has given them much greater authority.

To the Minister’s credit, the Government have responded to that and created the joint Cabinet Committee; the Minister has been instrumental in ensuring that that Committee has been organised and that meetings are arranged. My disappointment is perhaps caused by the fact that the Government could have made a lot more of saying, “We are giving leadership.” Their response to the report does not say that they are doing anything. There is a little omission there; they missed a trick in terms of demonstrating just how committed to shipping they have been, and hopefully will continue to be.

I should say that I am in the middle of an Industry and Parliament Trust fellowship on logistics, and I would like to thank Associated British Ports for its assistance. I have visited Southampton, Immingham and other establishments in the course of my fellowship. It has been extremely useful for me to see what is happening on the ground.

I would like to make a couple more comments, if I may. I want to pick up on the points made by my hon. Friend the Chair of the Transport Committee and the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood about short-sea and coastal shipping. Point 6 of the Government response refers to the Select Committee’s disappointment that the waterborne freight grant has been so ineffective, and my hon. Friend asked what its successor is going to be. The Government response states:

“State Aid approval will be needed”—

blah, blah, blah—

“which limits the potential design of any scheme.”

Does that limit the UK’s ability to devise a new scheme? Or does it limit our ability to get the European Commission’s approval because of the 2015 re-start? Is it our responsibility or are we going to have to wait for the Commission?

The Minister knows that coastal shipping is a much-undervalued policy area. Look at the pressure on freight and our major road networks—how much more could be accomplished if we could use short-sea and coastal shipping to take heavy goods vehicles off our roads and transport their cargo by sea? That would be a win-win for everyone concerned, particularly shipping. It would perhaps not be as good for the road freight industry, but that already undertakes a large volume of business. As the Government keep telling us, the economy is picking up, so there should be more freight and more opportunity. Perhaps we should be looking at alternatives.

[Mrs Annette Brooke in the Chair]

I want to look at point 8 in the conclusion of the Government’s response, and return to the point I made at the start of my speech. Will the Minister spell out some more detail on the joint Committee on shipping, how much it has accomplished and what the Government are doing? Will he elaborate on the perennial conflict, raised in point 8, that we in Britain are not nationalistic enough when it comes to promoting our own industries and manufacturing? Look at what the French and German Governments do by way of investing in train companies and in manufacturing infrastructure.

British shipping and ports are proud of what they do. They look to the continent and see state subsidies and Government support, and ask, a little jealously, “Why are there two different rules?” Will the Minister therefore say a little more on the EU versus UK approach? The industry is of course worried about the prospect of a new EU directive, and I know that the Government are doing everything they can to protect our port interest in that respect. Perhaps the Minister would like to reinforce that sentiment.

It is nice to see you in the Chair, Mrs Brooke—I apologise for not noticing the personnel change earlier. My final point relates to what my hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee outlined in her speech. The significance and importance of shipping is all but invisible to the country, other than to those of us who are involved in one way or another. There is a great story to tell about a hugely successful British industry that directly or indirectly employs hundreds of thousands of people and makes a massive contribution to UK GDP.

Given how scarce Government business currently is in the House because of the lack of legislation—we have been criticised in the media for having extra holidays and so on—and the expectation that the legislative programme next year will be equally light, as the coalition partners divest themselves of such activity to reinforce their respective identities in the run-up to the general election, I suggest to the Minister that a debate on shipping in Government time, to promote shipping, ports, coastal shipping, maritime industry, the businesses, unions and personnel, would be supported by everyone. Such a debate would also be welcomed strongly by the industry.

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

I am sorry to interrupt my hon. Friend, but he will be aware that last year there was the highly successful London shipping week, which was warmly praised by all sectors. Some of us hope that such events may go beyond London, with all due respect, but does he agree that that would be an admirable week in which to have such a debate?

[Jim Fitzpatrick]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. London shipping week was an animal created by the new unified voice of shipping, supported by the Government. It was a great showcase and very successful. I know that the plan is to ensure that next time it extends way beyond London to be celebrated in as many of our major ports as possible.

I strongly suggest to the Minister that the debate would be better timed if held in the autumn, six months ahead, so that it could be used as a springboard to promote next year’s UK shipping week. I am sure the Secretary of State for Transport, who I know is sometimes embarrassed by his attitude to aviation because of his aversion to flying, would have no such aversion to leading a shipping debate, and I know his hon. Friend, the shipping Minister, would do an excellent job of winding up such a debate. I am sure the Transport Committee would get behind such an initiative.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Brooke, and to take part in this debate today. Reference has been made to the number of Members present, but I am sure all colleagues here will believe that it is quality and not quantity that counts. The quality of all the contributions we have heard to date has been very good, and I hope my contribution will maintain that standard.

I give a substantial welcome to the Select Committee’s report on access to ports. It celebrates the importance and vigour of our ports, but it also has some sharp words about the Department for Transport’s lack of focus in certain areas. For example, in its summary it says:

“Government policy on who should pay for transport infrastructure relating to ports is…confused in practice and conceptually flawed.”

The report recognises the full economic value of our ports and the extent of their untapped potential for expansion, which are conceptual and strategic issues that we need to pay considerable attention to. It understands the role that Ministers can and should play in actively stimulating and supporting projects to expand ports, and then using those developments to drive within national strategy other policy goals, such as job creation and skills development—as well, of course, as the environmentally friendly movement of freight off our roads and on to the waters.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) pointed out in her introduction to the debate, the Select Committee had earlier gently chided Ministers for the lack of activity on infrastructure. Having helped to get that ball moving, the Committee has now sent a second gentle salvo in the direction of Ministers.

My grandfather and my father both served in the merchant navy. Although I have not yet had a chance to delve into the service records that are now a feast for family genealogists, I know from what my father said in passing to me how familiar he was with some of the ports in the north-west, on both sides of the Irish sea and indeed off the west coast of Scotland. As a historian, I also know how crucial coastal traffic was to the economy of these isles right up until the industrial revolution. “Coals to Newcastle” has, of course, entered the language as a byword for superfluousness, but coals from Newcastle warmed the fires of Samuel Pepys and made the lords of the north-east in Tudor and Stuart times very rich. Of course, ports and the merchant navy also made vital contributions in both world wars, crucially in the battle of the Atlantic during world war two, when convoys carried precious cargo. That contribution should never be forgotten, and never will be. The Select Committee has done us a historical service as well as a contemporary one by reminding us of the great significance of the port sector.

In total, 95% of UK cargo is moved by water, which dwarves the contributions of other modes, such as road, rail and air. The sector employs 117,000 people. The excellent work commissioned by Maritime UK and carried out by Oxford Economics estimated that British ports contributed £7.9 billion to the economy in 2011 and £2 billion to the Exchequer. As with the aerospace industry, with which, as a north-west MP, I am of course familiar, it supports a significant supply chain. As Maritime UK has pointed out, it particularly supports industries that rely heavily on imported bulk raw materials and exporters of finished goods. When ports’ indirect effect is included, it is estimated that the sector supports 400,000 jobs.

All that makes the UK ports system a key element of industrial strategy. Yet there is demonstrable potential for ports to achieve even more. Planning permission has already been granted for projects that would allow the sector to more than double, but many of those works remain stalled because of the complexity of funding applications, and—this is a key theme of the debate this afternoon—lack of connectivity to the rest of the transport network. The cost to the economy if those projects were to remain uncompleted dictates that Ministers must rapidly raise their game and work hard to put ports on the agenda.

Hon. Members have given useful examples of and comments on their own circumstances. I particularly pay tribute to my near constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw), for highlighting the issue of smaller ports—a big issue, across the board—and for reminding us of the potential to keep them in good order, even when they are temporarily mothballed. The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) also talked about the great complexity of the situation in Felixstowe, and the importance of the area.

My hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) was my distinguished predecessor in my shadow role, but he was even more distinguished in government. He perfectly reasonably pointed out how the industry has come together over the past five years, for which it deserves praise. The Government should respond properly to the advocacy that my hon. Friend the Select Committee Chair said was needed.

Many existing ports, as we have heard, face operational difficulties that preclude their expansion. We have heard about the situation in Felixstowe, where the limitations of the local road network mean that only 3% of traffic heading north is freight traffic from the port. The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal mentioned blockages and highway problems. We all have such issues, but doubtless her in-tray, whether digital or actual, has been full of such things since she was elected.

The family of my colleague Russell Whiting, the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Suffolk Coastal, have worked in the port for generations. He is in no doubt of its importance to the area and the wider economy. He successfully campaigned with other members of the community against the plan to impose a toll on the road, which my hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee and the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal mentioned. The initial inclination of Department for Transport officials was to put the burden of funding the improvements on to local people, rather than to use Government funds.

It seems to me, and to Russell Whiting and members of the community—the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal also referred to this—that Felixstowe really needs Ministers to prioritise expanding the single rail line currently shared with passenger trains. What discussions have Ministers had with local bodies about making that a priority in local transport schemes? If Ministers, with the local enterprise partnership and other local bodies, put their shoulders to the wheel, we could have a solution that would expand the port business and bring relief and happiness to communities and freight providers.

In general, we all, including Ministers, need to direct laser-like attention on the potential for rail connectivity to ports. The consortium Freight on Rail, which includes ASLEF, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, Unite, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, the Campaign for Better Transport and many others, made some key submissions to the Select Committee inquiry. It explained that, as well as the traditional bulk markets, rail has an expanding role in consumer rail freight in relation to ports:

“The industry predicts that rail freight overall will have doubled by 2030 with intermodal traffic”.

It added:

“Rail freight…has a much better environmental record than road…UK rail freight produces 70% less Carbon dioxide emissions than the equivalent road journey.”

So the issue affects not only roads but rail, and it is an issue in other places, as we have heard. The Select Committee identified a three-mile bottleneck that limits freight traffic in and out of the port of Liverpool, and referred to similar problems in Heysham. Heysham port also relies on a single route in and out, running through the historic city of Lancaster represented by the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood. That is not fit for use by heavy goods vehicles either. Everyone locally, not least my colleague Amina Lone, has been working alongside the chamber of commerce, local businesses, haulage companies and residents, to make a reality of the much needed Heysham to M6 link road.

The issue has existed for a long time, so I am glad that the road was approved earlier in the year, and that, in the words of the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, the diggers are in. However, given concerns that it may not be completed by 2016 it is essential that there should be no further delays. The broader point is the need to expedite planning processes for ports and prevent years of economic growth from going to waste.

Despite the obstacles sometimes presented, as the Select Committee report illuminates, by lack of joined-up Government policy and limited connectivity, there are great examples of ports that continue to expand. In the coming weeks, DP World Southampton will open a new £100 million container-handling facility. That port is a great asset to the local economy and is considered the UK’s best performing terminal for turning around vessels. It contributes about £1 billion to the economy and supports almost 15,000 jobs. Associated British Ports is right to be proud that it will handle the largest and deepest vessels in the world—to a potential depth of 17 metres—and that our iconic Olympic sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie, will open the facility officially on Monday.

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) for the work that he did for ports nationally as a Minister, and for what he and my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) did to ensure that Southampton’s port received the support it needed to expand. The previous Labour Government invested £40 million in the Southampton to east midlands rail line, and that investment has paid dividends. Ministers must now follow suit and ensure that other ports receive the backing that they need to compete internationally.

A super-port, London Gateway in Thurrock, has also opened in recent months. There again, that means 28,000 jobs in the region, and £2.4 billion to the economy. The developers, DP World, also privately funded works to the local road and motorway infrastructure, widening lanes and upgrading junctions and traffic lights.

The campaign conducted in Dover, involving among others my colleague the Labour candidate Clair Hawkins, demonstrates how important it is that local people should be genuinely involved in ports, instead of valuable local assets just being handed to unaccountable groups that purport to represent the community. There has been a campaign in Dover against further privatisation and for the inclusion of local workers, residents and businesses on the Dover harbour board.

The board has, of course, already established a strongly independent port and community forum, but many people believe that the port also needs changes to the law, so that it can raise the funds it needs. Has a decision been taken—and, if not, when will it be taken—about the future structure of the ownership of the port? I understand that local media reported that it was intended that that should happen earlier this year.

The Select Committee report found that although some ports, such as DP Gateway, could fund their expansion and expected to, others did not. The Government’s blunt response was that

“promoters whose developments would otherwise cause significant detriment to existing network users should be expected to avoid or mitigate such detriment, through traffic management and/or developer contributions to infrastructure improvement, as appropriate.”

That way of looking at the issue is telling, is it not? Is it not a curmudgeonly way of looking at it? Does it not demonstrate a certain mindset that would look at a port’s expansion in a negative light, regarding it as something that must be compensated for and potentially taxed, with no suggestion of what the Government might do to expand and benefit it?

The Department for Transport should act as an enabler, engage proactively with developers and work itself to identify benefits that could be brought to areas by the expansion of ports. That is particularly important, given the new local structures that we now have, based around the LEPs. More must be done to promote the value that ports bring to our economy.

Will the Minister comment on the Committee’s identifying a problem about whether there are enough private investments for port owners to invest? Are the Government correct when they say that ports are now in an excellent position to facilitate and promote growth?

As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside, the Committee has asked the Government to be an advocate for ports. She was somewhat disappointed, as was my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse, that the Government’s response was to encourage ports simply to engage with their LEP. Will the Minister and his colleagues go further and investigate the number of LEPs with ports represented on their board and ask them directly to play their parts in forging links as well? Many LEPs recognise the importance of ports to their local economy, but some do not and those regions should not suffer as a result. Not only do ports provide jobs and support local businesses; they can also stimulate work to expand the local transport network and improve connectivity.

The Government said in their response that they would be happy to challenge those LEPs that do not sufficiently include port development in their plans, but I should like to hear—and other hon. Members would, too—about work that is already being done, specifically, to monitor that.

Ministers have cited the creation of a working group and help to develop a local debate on port master plans, but can we hear something about what concrete successes will emerge from those plans? The Government have said that they will develop new guidance on developer funding. Can they tell us how they are going to do that in practice and who will be consulted? Will the voices of local councillors, trade unions and maritime staff be heard? What is the time frame of the guidance?

Ministers said that the guidance will take account of recent changes to local structures, such as the establishment of the LEPs. It is true that £1.1 billion or £1.2 billion will be granted to the LEPs annually from 2016 to 2020. Of course, that money will be top-sliced from the DFT’s budget. There is no ring fence to ensure that that money will be used for transport projects.

The DFT is being forced to pay the piper—presumably, it found itself without a chair when the Chancellor’s music stopped—but why is it not calling the tune? With such an enormous amount of the Government’s budget being lost, surely Ministers should be taking more of an interest now in how they will be able to oversee the new fund, to make sure it maintains support for transport priorities, such as ports.

Only this week, the Minister’s colleague, the right hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), the Cabinet Office Minister, was expressing doubts about the quality of LEP plans, with fears that the fund is being misappropriated to fund vanity projects. [Interruption.] The Minister might wish to listen to this. He said:

“I am not in the business of funding so-called ‘iconic projects’ that have been hanging about like a bad smell for many years.”

LEPs need to be specific about what they need to deliver—be that more jobs, transport or support for skills. I ask the Minister to heed the words of his colleague and ensure that his own Department is far more proactive and vigorous, when it comes to ports, in establishing just what is being done on the ground with existing funding and the reach of the LEPs. Surely, substantial guidance for port developers navigating the LEP system must be a high priority for Ministers, given that more than £1 billion a year will be going into the single growth fund and on to the LEPs.

In the Transport Ministers’ response to the Committee, they promise to seek clearer guidance at European level on state aid laws. Although the UK Government seem to interpret those rules strictly, we have already heard that other European countries do not seem to do that and seem to provide money more freely. That was one of the subjects I discussed recently when I was in Brussels talking to officials from the European Commission. I am aware that this is a knotty, complex issue, but I would like to know, as my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse mentioned, what specific steps Ministers have taken to get answers about the issue from the European Commission.

Among all the discussion of port strategic partnership plans and national policy statements, surely the key imperative is a practical plan to work more closely across Government. It is not just a question of Ministers collaborating with colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to help ports engage with LEPs; their senior and middle-ranking officials need to, too. Together they must help ports access the funding streams they need and navigate the complex system of planning applications. With the structure of local support for ports changing fundamentally, a unified approach from Departments is more essential.

The coastal and international dimensions of freight provide a valuable service to the economy. The Committee’s report commented on the small take-up of the waterborne freight grant scheme, and my colleague the Committee Chair repeated that. Will the Minister provide the latest figures on take-up and whether these are genuinely new or existing routes that have been supported?

There are several dimensions when it comes to the value of moving freight from road to water. Emissions will be much lower, for example, because of the amount of freight that is shipped rather than delivered by road. However, the intention of the waterborne freight grant scheme could also be affected by the unintended consequences of the regulations on sulphur emissions, due to be imposed on the shipping industry at the start of next year. Several Members of Parliament, particularly those from the east coast, have already raised concern that the regulations will place too great a burden on the industry. Some groups in the industry are concerned that the regulations appear to be an unnecessary step at this stage, when the International Maritime Organisation had already established a reasonable target to be met in the next decade.

When in Brussels recently, I was told that a number of member states had actively supported the new regulations. What position did the British Government, its Transport Ministers and officials, take when the policy was being developed? The cost of complying with the maritime regulations may, as we have heard, leave road or air freight as more affordable options, making carrying the UK flag unaffordable.

The reference to the UK flag is important, as shipping and ports are a key unifying factor in the UK. The fact that Scotland contributes more than a quarter of total GDP and employment in the UK ports sector adds a powerful dimension to the debate taking place about independence.

In conclusion, we welcome the focus placed on the economic importance of ports as a result of the Select Committee’s report. We urge Ministers to heed its call for a more dynamic, active and intelligent Government who will act as a true advocate for ports. The development of skills must be put at the heart of initiatives developed, as the Committee’s report on shipping strategy, which has just appeared, emphasises in a different context. We need to see transport and the contribution of ports not in a separate box, but as part of an ambitious and integrated industrial partnership that will confer benefits—not just on local communities, but on the whole country—as ports spur international trade and sustainable economic growth.

The Government who fail to deliver connectivity and decent access to our ports will not be able to utilise the full potential of those ports to deliver skills, jobs and economic growth.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond)]

Mrs Brooke, it is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon. I should like to put on the record that I apologise to you for not being here at the start of the debate. Through you, Mrs Brooke, I particularly wish to apologise to the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman). As she knows, the debate was due to start slightly later and I was coming back from the west country, where I was looking at other transport infrastructure this morning. I am pleased that the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby, was able to make some detailed notes on the hon. Lady’s comments. I will try to deal with some of her comments now and I hope that she will forgive me if I miss any. My officials will certainly respond to her if there is anything we have left out.

We are grateful to the Committee for securing this debate on a subject of great importance, as a number of hon. Members who contributed to it attested. We welcomed the report and the inquiry on the basis that they presented everyone with the opportunity to take stock of the situation with ports in England and Wales. It is right to make the point that it is difficult to overestimate the huge economic importance of ports to our country. They are key.

I am pleased that the report recognises, as we all do, that the connectivity of major ports was a problem and that it welcomes some of the new infrastructure announcements. The hon. Lady is right that the final few miles to a port gate are often a problem, but much work has been done on rail network and road network infrastructure to address that key connectivity point. A number of Members, particularly the hon. Lady and my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey), have talked about the A14 and welcomed its construction and the abandonment of tolling. To be clear, the statement on community consultation will be published in the next few weeks. The pre-application consultation will start in April 2014 for 10 weeks. That will explain the details of the scheme and why the improvements are needed. Construction work is still expected to start in December 2016 and to be completed by the end of the decade.

The hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside raised some other points about private sector involvement and coastal shipping, and I will pick those up in some of my later remarks. I reassure her that this Government have, right from the outset, supported investment in ports and the connectivity and infrastructure around them. We set out our response to the Committee in some detail in writing. Although I will touch on a number of the subjects today, it is not appropriate for me to repeat the response at length. It recognised the responsibilities the Government have, and we have shown practical examples of working in partnership with the ports industry to ensure the complementarity of the infrastructure either side of the port gate. I will talk a little more about the review of the guidance on developer funding. In direct response to the hon. Lady’s question, the Department will review that guidance and is reviewing it this year. She also asked about freight grants, which were addressed at paragraph 6 of the Government’s response to her Committee.

There were some questions about the planning system. There has been some huge simplification through the national planning policy framework and the coastal concordat, and the advice that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its unit have given on habitats cases is helping to inform ports. I recognise that there were some problems in the beginning, particularly with the Marine Management Organisation and its lack of consultation with some of the ports. Harwich Haven had a problem that was brought to me, which I met the chief executive of the MMO to discuss. The MMO has recognised and addressed some of the failings in its consultation procedures. To ensure that those failings are addressed for the benefit of ports, I have a bi-monthly meeting with the MMO to ensure that it takes into account ports consultation, even though, as my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal rightly pointed out, it is not absolutely in my direct jurisdiction, as it is under DEFRA’s. To conclude that point, we held a maritime round table on environmental requirements, particularly planning requirements, at the industry’s request last autumn. At that meeting, the chief executive of the MMO and officials and the Minister from DEFRA responded to a number of a criticisms of how the system had been working and how some of the changes had been made.

My hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) made what I might describe as a predictably forceful contribution. He is absolutely right that all ports are a national asset. He is right to celebrate that, while for many years the port of Heysham lacked a road, the Government found the funding for the local authority scheme on the A6 Lancaster road. The road is now under construction and it is for the local authority to complete the scheme. I commend him on his campaign for that road, which would not have happened without him. He will, I am sure, continue to make the point forcefully to the Government. He rightly points out the need for road access to Glasson dock. He knows, as I do, that it is for Lancashire county council and the local enterprise partnership to prioritise that as a local major scheme. It could be funded through the growth deal scheme.

The shadow Minister made some comments about the growth fund, but he should be aware that a Transport Minister sits in on all the discussions and a Department for Transport representative or official has been on most of the visits. To believe that the Department is not taking what I can only describe as an active, full and comprehensive part in that process would be to misunderstand what is happening in government.

My hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood was right to talk about the Mersey dredge. I know that a lot of people are concerned, but it was a truly exceptional grant. None the less, other major dredges are going on, and they have all been commercially funded. I encourage him to work with the local port to ensure that it sees the benefits of commercial funding. If he feels that there is a truly exceptional case, I am sure he will continue to make it.

I am grateful for the kind words of the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick), who was the Minister responsible for shipping in the previous Government. He talked about what the Government should have said in our response. I will ensure that we do not miss a trick in blowing our own trumpet slightly more loudly. I will address the point about waterborne freight rates in a moment. He is right that the maritime roundtable we established has brought together parts of industry with senior Ministers and senior officials from all the relevant Departments: the Department for Transport, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and DEFRA. Senior officials connected with that group are working all the time. He is absolutely right that we should perhaps be saying a lot more.

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s contribution to London international shipping week, where he was almost as omnipresent as I appeared to be. Pretty much everywhere I went, I met him and the Select Committee Chair. It was a great success and will happen again in 2015. Perhaps it should be called UK shipping week. I have already had pitches from Felixstowe and a law firm in Ipswich to host a professional services conference during a future shipping week. Some 60 or 70 events took place during that week in London and more widely.

The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse is also right that we should set out much more clearly the huge amount of work that goes on to help the shipping and ports industry in practical ways. He will remember from when he was a Minister that one of the great advantages of being a member of a UK Government is that on international business one can talk about the benefits of the UK and what the UK does well. A month ago, I went to Singapore to address some of the maritime issues that we face there. One part of the visit was working with UK Trade & Investment to sell the benefits of the UK flag and the UK ship register. I was delighted that, a week before that visit, one of the Singaporean companies put eight flags back on the British register. As a result of that visit, we have nine expressions of interest from other shipping companies to put more flags back on the register. It is important that the Department for Transport work with UK Trade & Investment on visits such as those and remembers the whole access issue. People often recognise London as the global centre for maritime professional services. We needed to remind the Singaporeans of that, because they are catching up fast and working hard at that. None the less, it is hugely important that we stress the benefits of the UK flag and what UK shipping and UK maritime are doing.

The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse is quite right about state aid, which the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Mr Marsden) mentioned. It is indeed a knotty and thorny issue. State aid on ports and the port services directive is a live issue. It is absolutely crucial that the UK Government stand up for British interests on the port services directive, and we are doing so actively. We are working hard to ensure—as the Government have done twice previously, at least once on the watch of the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse—that elements detrimental to UK interests are not included. He will appreciate that the part in question of the port services directive would bring some financial transparency to ports for the first time ever. It may well be of interest to see what sort of state aid is provided, not always correctly, to certain international ports. Therefore, while the UK Government are keen to ensure that we exclude everything, we will be considering carefully whether it is beneficial.

The point about state aid is a live one in the UK. It is directly due to the pressure brought by this Government and the Dutch Government, in collaboration with several other Governments, that an active discussion is now going on within the Commission about how state aid is applied, what it is doing and whether it is being used to distort international positions. The hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse was right to bring the issue up. At one point, I was about to say to him that flattery would get him almost everywhere. It almost did in this debate. I am grateful for his remarks about some of my work, in terms of what a Minister can and should do in this area. He obviously recognises that.

I welcome the support of my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal for the A14. I hope she heard me say a few minutes ago that there is no delay to the project. I congratulate her, and my hon. Friends the Members for Bury St Edmunds (Mr Ruffley) and for South Suffolk (Mr Yeo), who were instrumental in asking the Government to change their mind and reconsider the tolling. I praise her campaign and that of other Suffolk MPs; it was why the Government had another look at the proposals. She was right to highlight some of the issues that would have been caused for her constituents, and potentially for those using the road from the port, and the Government have been right to listen.

My hon. Friend also discussed the resilience of the Orwell bridge. I particularly remember the onion incident. I know that transport is a serious matter, but sometimes one is allowed to smile. That incident gave a lot of amusement to broadcasters up and down the country as they announced it. The Highways Agency’s route-based strategy study programme is considering all future needs of both the A14 and the A12 corridors, and it will consider the Orwell bridge. The programme is due to report in March 2015. I heard her forceful case for the electrification of Felixstowe. She is right to welcome the opening of the Ipswich chord next week; it will bring huge benefit to the freight network around Felixstowe.

I heard what my hon. Friend said about dualling and level crossing improvements. I know that Hutchison Whampoa has had discussions with Network Rail about that, which it is obviously free to do. I will talk a little more about developer contribution in a moment, but she will understand that it is not about asking ports to contribute directly to the infrastructure; it is about situations in which development is going on around the ports and the usual planning process applies, some of which involves section 106 agreements. I know that Hutchison has been discussing, and is free to discuss, section 106 agreements on partial dualling or level crossing, but the last time I was in Felixstowe—I think it was late last spring—I was pleased to see work going on to make new improvements to rail access and facilities.

Finally, the hon. Member for Blackpool South started by saying that what mattered was the quality of contributions to this debate, not the quantity. That has been absolutely true. His speech had a consensual start, and then he pointed out that the Select Committee had done some gentle chiding of the Government. That is absolutely right. It is the Select Committee’s role to hold the Government to account, and it is the Government’s role to respond to it and, we hope, to address its recommendations.

I would say gently that I listened to the hon. Gentleman’s points initially. For many years, there has been an infrastructure deficit in terms of connectivity to ports, which the Government are seeking to redress. That is key. The Government were already addressing some of the Select Committee’s remarks and recommendations. On my watch, we have established the high-level maritime forum for the industry, Ministers and senior officials. We have now developed a ports strategy and a shipping strategy, which have been published and shared with the Select Committee. We have had high-level consultations with the industry about sulphur. It is clear that the EU will proceed with the regulations. One thing this Government have secured is a look at the new regulations that will take effect from 2020 and involve an even bigger cost to the industry.

Working with the International Maritime Organisation, we have also secured a review of the 2020 proposals. It is clearly key that that review should happen next year rather than in 2018. Otherwise, the availability of fuel and the implementation of the new legislation will have a huge impact on British shipping.

[Mr Marsden]

I am grateful to the Minister for laying out the detailed programme of Government activity in the area. I asked a specific question about the position of Her Majesty’s Government when the original regulations were introduced. I would be grateful for a response on that. Also, as he said he was drawing to a close, I raised the issue of the future structure of ownership for the Dover harbour board. Can he enlighten us further as to whether any progress has been made on that?

[Stephen Hammond]

I am afraid I am about to disappoint everybody. Far from drawing to a close—

[Mr Marsden]

Sorry. You said “finally”.

[Stephen Hammond]

“Finally” in terms of the point about sulphur. There is so much to tackle on this fascinating subject that I must disappoint hon. Members. I probably have at least another five minutes yet to go, and perhaps more.

The Government’s position has been clear. We have sought to challenge the regulations, but we are now ensuring that we work with the whole industry to mitigate the cost to industry. Therefore, I—or my officials, to be more precise—have held detailed negotiations, and I chaired a roundtable with the abatement technology manufacturers, colloquially known as scrubbers, and the industry to ensure some progress. Clearly, for some, the cost of retrofitting is prohibitive, and the cost is unwelcome to a number in the industry, but the key point is that the 2015 regulation will happen. We have tried several times to secure agreement at EU level. We proposed several mitigation measures, but were not supported by other EU members on that matter. However, we have global support at the IMO to hold an early review of the availability of fuel in 2020, which I am currently actively pursuing.

I want to make a few remarks about some of the other important issues that have come up. We need to continue to support a multi-modal approach to distribution from ports, recognising the congestion issue and the benefits that road and coastal shipping can bring. In practice, most ports, in particular the smaller ones, are still, as several hon. Members have said, heavily reliant on road connections. Hauliers need to be able to access ports efficiently and need journeys to and from inland destinations to be as reliable as reasonably possible. Infrastructure and its maintenance—working with local authorities on local roads, but local highways authorities on strategic roads—are clearly important.

Ports themselves have an important role to play in local road connectivity. Several ro-ro and container ports have introduced advanced lorry-booking systems and contingency arrangements to deal with disruption, which has led to huge improvements in the delays that road hauliers used to experience. The Department for Transport has been assessing the benefit of such procedures in time savings and reliability for HGVs. Such schemes continue to offer benefits and it is possible to get more.

Bottlenecks still exist on links to important ports, however. There is an ongoing task for the DFT and ports in our strategic partnership to facilitate the growth in trade and a strong recovery in the wider economy by ensuring that we continue to put the right road links in place. Good access to ports from the strategic road network will be considered through the Highways Agency’s programme of route-based strategies and the Department’s programme of feasibility studies. Six such studies are in place and aim to identify and fund solutions to major congestion on the strategic road network. The studies will report in time for this year’s autumn statement. Several studies have direct relevance to the accessibility of ports, in particular the A47 to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft study, and the A27 to Portsmouth, Shoreham and Newhaven corridor study.

The Government have announced plans to create a local growth fund from 2015-16 onwards. It will be a pot of £2 billion a year until 2021 and all LEPs will have the opportunity to bid for that funding through their strategic economic plans, which are due to be submitted to the Government at the end of the month. As I have said, the DFT is actively involved in those bids, has been working with the Minister responsible for cities to examine the bids and has encouraged bids that recognise the importance of transport and, where relevant, access to ports. The fund will allow local areas to prioritise infrastructure schemes that they deem essential for their economic growth. It is now for LEPs to get involved to agree what schemes they want to bid for through their strategic economic plan. It is a competitive process, with the strongest bids likely to receive a big, rather than proportionate, slice of funding.

Developer contributions for major schemes were set out in DFT circular 02/2013, which explains how the Highways Agency engages with communities and developers. It is primarily about responding to development proposals that affect existing trunk roads and seeks to support environmentally responsible development while safeguarding the primary function and purpose of the strategic road network. Where ports promote development that will affect the trunk road network, the principles set out in the circular will apply, including how development impact will be assessed and under what circumstances mitigation will be sought to ensure that the strategic road network is able to accommodate existing and development-generated traffic. Exactly what the Government are expecting has been set out pretty clearly for developers. As part of the ports strategic partnership, we will be reviewing developer guidance this year to ensure that it covers all the relevant points. If further specific clarity is needed, I anticipate that the review will lead to an addendum to the circular.

On rail access to ports, the past seven years have seen some significant rail freight infrastructure investment. A further £200 million has been ring-fenced for the strategic freight network in the next control period from 2014 to 2019. That money is being spent on projects identified by the rail freight industry as key to its needs. A significant proportion has been given to gauge clearance, facilitating the transport of shipping containers by rail from ports to inland distribution hubs.

The Felixstowe to Nuneaton route has been much mentioned. Through a combination of transport innovation fund and strategic freight network funding, gauge clearance out of Felixstowe to all major routes will be complete by the end of this year. Other major developments include the Nuneaton north chord, which opened in 2012, and the Ipswich chord, which I was delighted to visit last week. The Ipswich chord is a fantastic piece of engineering, with the tightest acceptable curve on the UK rail network. It will reduce a significant bottleneck for freight, saving between 45 minutes and 75 minutes, and will bring benefits to passengers at Ipswich and to the south and north, because the freight that previously had to go into Ipswich could hold up passenger trains. It is an important part of the Felixstowe to Nuneaton route enhancement. My hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal will know that it is one of the Government’s top 40 investment projects, and Network Rail is looking at several additional enhancements that could be taken forward on this route over the next control period and will be seeking the rail freight industry’s views on how they should be prioritised. I recognise the case being made for the electrification of the line out of Felixstowe, but it is important that we get the freight network right first.

Much good work has been done out of Southampton, and I am happy to acknowledge that some of it happened under the previous Administration. Gauge enhancement work between Southampton and the west coast main line was completed with funding under this Government, ensuring electrification out of Southampton, which is part of the “electric spine”. As part of huge investment in Southampton port and rail infrastructure, Freightliner has put in six extra lines into Southampton.

Network Rail works closely with the rail freight industry to establish priority areas for the allocation of strategic freight network funding. We are beginning to see a huge amount of freight travelling by rail. Only five years ago, Tesco told me that it did not anticipate moving much of its freight by rail; now, some 40% of Tesco goods are moved by rail.

The Government have always supported the transfer of freight from road to rail, and the Department provides freight grants to encourage that modal shift to rail, or water, where the cost of the alternative mode is higher than road and where there are environmental benefits. Freight grant schemes, where they are in place, are reckoned to remove some 800,000 lorry journeys from Britain’s roads annually and save some 120,000 tonnes of CO₂ through the modal shift. The waterborne freight grant is designed to encourage the start-up of new services. It recognises the higher start-up costs for coastal shipping through a higher initial grant rate, declining thereafter. The service has to be viable at the end of the grant.

I have already made some comments about state aid, but state aid clearance for both grant schemes ends on 31 March next year, and the Department is reviewing freight grants. We are looking at stakeholder suggestions for a scheme similar to the mode shift revenue support scheme—it provides grant funding to rail and inland waterways—which would be better for coastal shipping than the current format. State aid approval would need to be secured for the scheme, the potential of which we are actively studying.

Much has been made of several ports around the country. I commend the work of the Highways Agency with London Gateway on the improvements to the M25 and its junction 30, including the A13 and on to the junction with the A126. That scheme has been key to reducing congestion by the non-London Gateway traffic. It also allows for the ability to work with London Gateway to ensure that the port and the freight coming out of it will no longer be a congestion concern, as was anticipated. In due course, there will need to be an amendment to the London Gateway Port Harbour Empowerment Order 2008. The deed of variation is being sought, and that will facilitate the mitigation and the contribution from London Gateway. The Highways Agency and London Gateway together are making some substantial progress.

The hon. Member for Blackpool South challenged me about Dover. I have to commend the excellent work of the revitalised and changed Dover harbour board since January 2013, when I changed the chairmanship. George Jenkins has done excellent work with the board, which has had three new non-executive directors appointed to it through the independent process over the past year. There has been a revitalisation of relationships with port operators and a willingness to communicate with community groups, to ensure, following the decision not to proceed with the privatisation scheme, a resolution that is acceptable to the harbour board, with its aspirations, and the community of Dover, which has regeneration aspirations. Foremost in that campaign has been my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke), who has been a formidable campaigner to ensure that community interests are recognised in the port. He has stood up for what he believes is right for the port. I am pleased that there has been significant negotiation between the harbour board and community interests, as well as with the Department for Transport. To use that favourite phrase, I am anticipating making an announcement in the near future.

We have had the opportunity to speak about various ports this afternoon, but I am in danger of making my longest ever speech in this Chamber—or indeed in the House of Commons. I therefore again thank the Committee for its work on the report and for securing today’s debate. The quality of Members’ contributions have shown that shipping and ports in their constituencies are vital not only to this country’s regional interests but to our national interests. I assure the House that the Government have never been more aware of that essential contribution. I intend to continue to ensure that we have a coherent approach throughout Government to such a vital national industry.