Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has reduced the funding available to develop the winning design of the Transport Systems Catapult All Aboard competition into a working prototype from £100,000 to £50,000; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The All Aboard Competition was funded by the Transport Systems Catapult, who agreed to invest up to £150,000 in total. This funding covered the development and delivery of the competition and all project management, marketing and administrative costs associated with running the competition, as well as up to £50,000 to develop the winning design into a working prototype.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government on the economic potential of small airports and their effect on local and business communities.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Secretary of State for Transport has not held discussions with Department for Communities and Local Government ministers on the economic potential of small airports and their effect on local and business communities.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of Pricewaterhouse Coopers' final report on the closure of Manston Airport; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Coalition Government appointed consultants PriceWaterhouse Coopers in March to undertake an independent review of the process on decisions about the future of Manston Airport. PriceWaterhouse Coopers’ report is being finalised and it would not be appropriate at this stage to pre-empt what its findings will be.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Pricewaterhouse Coopers' final report on the closure of Manston Airport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of that report on the powers available to local authorities to support small airports.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Coalition Government appointed consultants PriceWaterhouse Coopers in March to undertake an independent review of the process on decisions about the future of Manston Airport. PriceWaterhouse Coopers’ report is being finalised and it would not be appropriate at this stage to pre-empt what its findings will be.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 5 March 2015 to Question 225927, if he will raise with his EU counterparts a proposal to establish an EU-wide study into the potential effects of repeated exposure to toxins inside aeroplanes.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department four published reports into cabin air were sent to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for their consideration. EASA are responsible for determining the requirement for and specification of any additional monitoring on board commercial aircraft.
I understand they have recently launched a Preliminary Cabin Air Measurement Campaign. This campaign will develop the methodology including equipment to be used, to perform cockpit and cabin air measurements. This will be followed by a large scale project of in-flight testing of cabin air quality.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 5 March 2015 to Question 225928, what (a) recent discussions he has had and (b) discussions he plans to have with the Civil Aviation Authority on its work reviewing the evidence for the possibility of genetic factors which might influence individual susceptibility to environmental toxins.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department four published reports into cabin air were sent to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for their consideration. EASA are responsible for determining the requirement for and specification of any additional monitoring on board commercial aircraft.
I understand they have recently launched a Preliminary Cabin Air Measurement Campaign. This campaign will develop the methodology including equipment to be used, to perform cockpit and cabin air measurements. This will be followed by a large scale project of in-flight testing of cabin air quality.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 5 March 2015 to Question 225929, if he will discuss with the Civil Aviation Authority the feasibility of making the monitoring of toxins inside aeroplanes mandatory on UK aeroplanes.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department four published reports into cabin air were sent to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for their consideration. EASA are responsible for determining the requirement for and specification of any additional monitoring on board commercial aircraft.
I understand they have recently launched a Preliminary Cabin Air Measurement Campaign. This campaign will develop the methodology including equipment to be used, to perform cockpit and cabin air measurements. This will be followed by a large scale project of in-flight testing of cabin air quality.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the winner will be announced of the Transport Catapult competition for the design of audio-visual systems on buses.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The winner of the ‘All Aboard’ technology competition was announced on 13th March 2015. Further information can be found on the Gov.uk website here:
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Government spent on the Bus Service Operators Grant in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; and how much it intends to spend in 2015-16.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The figures for Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) in England for those three years (rounded to the nearest £m) are as follows:
· 2013-14 - £298 million;
· 2014-15 - £251 million (estimated);
· 2015-16 - £240 million (projected).
Since 1 October 2013, the BSOG which was previously paid to bus operators for running bus services under franchise to Transport for London (TfL) in London has been incorporated into the general grant paid to TfL and the Greater London Authority. The figures given above exclude some £47 million paid to TfL/GLA in this way for 2013/14 and some £93 million paid to them for each of 2014/15 and 2015/16.
So, the figures given for the three years above are made up of (i) BSOG paid to bus companies and community transport operators for running services outside London, (ii) BSOG devolved to local transport authorities in the five areas which have been designated as Better Bus Areas, and (iii) BSOG for tendered (non-commercially viable) services outside London for which the funding has been devolved to individual local authorities since 1 January 2014.