Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for the Network Rail to report its study of the North Cotswold Line Transformation Taskforce Option Five.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
I have asked Network Rail to carry out an assessment of the Task Force’s Strategic Outline Business Case, and to work with Great Western Railway to assess the operational aspects of the scheme. I am expecting Network Rail to provide me with the first draft of their assessment by early Summer. This will enable the Department to take an informed decision on the Task Force’s funding request to take the proposal forward. I have also written to Lord Faulkner setting out the way forward.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric car charging points have been installed in (a) Worcestershire, (b) Malvern Hills District Council area and (c) Wychavon District Council area.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government does not hold records of public chargepoints. According to data from Zapmap, as of 1 October 2019 there are 97 chargepoints (of which 46 are rapid) in the Worcestershire area. In the district council area of Malvern Hills there are 12 chargepoints (of which 4 are rapid) and in Wychavon district council, 21 chargepoints (of which 10 are rapid).
My Right Hon Friend the Secretary of State has recently written to local authorities across the country, urging them to take advantage of funding on offer to build up their electric car charging infrastructure and to increase local access to chargepoints for drivers.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the pothole fund he plans to allocate to Worcestershire County Council in each of the next five financial years.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government is committed to improving local infrastructure and expects to announce details of the available funding shortly. Individual allocations of this funding will be subject to Ministerial decisions.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance of West Midlands Railway between Birmingham and Malvern Link.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department and West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) regularly monitor train service performance across the entire Franchise, and meet frequently with West Midlands Trains to support their plans for making services better and hold them to account when things go wrong. Since the timetable change, there has been a 3.89% (38.93% to 35.04%) reduction in right time arrivals in the Great Malvern and Malvern Link area, which is very disappointing. Since April 2019, a new ‘On Time’ performance measure was introduced. This new, tougher measure looks at the performance at every station along the route – not just whether trains reach their destination on time. This shows a collective commitment by industry and Government to provide a service on which passengers can rely.
In response to crowding issues, West Midlands Trains have added extra carriages to the 0650, 0739, 0810, and 0839 departures from Malvern Link, and the 1550 service from Birmingham New Street to Hereford. West Midlands Trains will also retain the Class 153 units until the delivery of their new trains later in 2020. These carriages will provide extra capacity for customers at Malvern Link station. West Midlands Trains has advised us they intend to recruit additional traincrew to make service delivery more robust.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the performance of West Midlands Railway services between Birmingham and Great Malvern station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department and West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) regularly monitor train service performance across the entire Franchise, and meet frequently with West Midlands Trains to support their plans for making services better and hold them to account when things go wrong. Since the timetable change, there has been a 3.89% (38.93% to 35.04%) reduction in right time arrivals in the Great Malvern and Malvern Link area, which is very disappointing. Since April 2019, a new ‘On Time’ performance measure was introduced. This new, tougher measure looks at the performance at every station along the route – not just whether trains reach their destination on time. This shows a collective commitment by industry and Government to provide a service on which passengers can rely.
In response to crowding issues, West Midlands Trains have added extra carriages to the 0647, 0736, 0807, and 0836 departures from Great Malvern, and the 1550 service from Birmingham New Street to Hereford. West Midlands Trains will also retain the Class 153 units until the delivery of their new trains later in 2020. These carriages will provide extra capacity for customers at Great Malvern station. West Midlands Trains has advised us they intend to recruit additional traincrew to make service delivery more robust.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timescale is for the Office of Rail Regulation to approve the opening of Worcestershire Parkway station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Worcestershire County Council and its rail industry partners agreed in December 2019 that the new Worcestershire Parkway station would become fully operational early this year. The Department understands that the date for this will be confirmed as soon as possible, and that the ORR authorisation process is currently underway.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers he has to require West Midlands Railway to compensate passengers for cancelled services.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Franchisees are contractually obliged under their Franchise Agreements to provide compensation to passengers in accordance with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC) and their Passenger’s Charter. All Franchise Agreements require Franchisees to pay the compensation for delays which passengers are entitled to.
West Midlands Railway’s Passenger’s Charter commits them to offer a Delay Repay scheme. This entitles customers holding valid tickets to compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more, regardless of the cause. The Passenger’s Charter was approved by the Secretary of State, and any future revisions to it must also achieve my consent.
The provisions within the Passenger’s Charter are enforced by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) as part of the railway licencing arrangements.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the performance of West Midlands Railway since that company was awarded its franchise.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department oversees the delivery of the West Midlands Franchise in conjunction with the West Midlands Railway Executive (WMRE), a consortium of 14 local authorities. The Department and WMRE monitor the performance of West Midlands Trains (WMT) performance against its obligations on a four weekly basis and meets with WMT regularly (both formally and informally) to discuss these matters. Operational performance since WMT implemented its new timetable in May 2018 has been particularly disappointing and the Department and WMRE are closely monitoring the steps WMT are taking to address the performance problems and, if appropriate, will be using the full range of remedies available under the Franchise Agreement.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the performance of West Midlands Railway against their contractual commitments.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Franchise Agreement with West Midlands Trains (WMT) contains a large number of contractual commitments, ranging from targets for train service performance, customer satisfaction, and service quality, to over 90 committed obligations designed to transform the quality of services operated by the Franchisee.
The Franchise Agreement is available on the Department’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/west-midlands-2017-rail-franchise-agreement
The Department oversees the delivery of the West Midlands Franchise in conjunction with the West Midlands Railway Executive (WMRE), a consortium of 14 local authorities. The Department and WMRE monitor the performance of West Midlands Trains (WMT) against its obligations on a four weekly basis and meets with WMT regularly (both formally and informally) to discuss these matters. Operational performance since WMT implemented its new timetable in May 2018 has been particularly disappointing and the Department and WMRE are closely monitoring the steps WMT are taking to address the performance problems and, if appropriate, will be using the full range of remedies available under the Franchise Agreement.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the additional funding for bus routes announced in the Spending Review 2019 will be allocated to Worcestershire County Council.
Answered by George Freeman
On 30 September, the Government announced a package, worth £220 million, to transform bus services.
This includes an extra £30 million for local authorities in 2020/21 to enable them to improve current bus services or to restore lost services. Further details, including the funding allocations for each local authority, will be announced in due course.
Further details of the package can be found online with the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-better-deal-for-bus-users/a-better-deal-for-bus-users