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