Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Civil Aviation Authority on the implications for its remit of the draft Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Answered by John Hayes
The Secretary of State for Transport has had no discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority on the implications for its remit of the draft Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he will publish the (a) business case and (b) payment schedule for the £30 million allocated to the Garden Bridge project in the National Infrastructure Plan 2013.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Garden Bridge business case was published in May 2014. A copy can be obtained following this link:
https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/garden-bridge-strategic-outline-business-case.pdf
The full £30 million of Government’s contribution was provided to Transport for London (TfL) in 2014/15 via their general grant. A funding agreement was signed which required, among other things, that TfL would jointly manage phased drawdown of both ‘their’ £30 million and ‘ours’ according to certain conditions:
https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/garden-bridge-funding-agreement.pdf
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will place in the Library all information his Department holds comparing the (a) miles per gallon, (b) cost and (c) emissions of (i) premium and (ii) non-premium (A) diesel and (B) petrol.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government publishes a broad range of information on their performance and emissions. To help consumers to make an informed choice when buying a new car, on fuel costs and environmental impact, the Vehicle Certification Agency produces guide lists. These estimate the fuel consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2), and other emissions performance figures of new cars, currently on the market in the UK. An electronic version of the latest edition has been provided to the House Library.
The Department for Transport produces a range of statistics on air quality and other emissions by mode and vehicle as part of the energy and environment datasets (TSGB03) on the gov.uk website. We do not publish comparative data on the air quality emissions associated with different fuel types. Information on all sources of air pollution can be found in the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory at http://naei.defra.gov.uk/. Progressively tighter emission standards are reducing pollutant emissions from all vehicles.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change also publishes weekly, monthly and annual typical prices of road fuels and petroleum products on the gov.uk website. This data includes super unleaded and non-premium unleaded petrol, and diesel.
The greenhouse gas emissions associated with diesel and petrol will vary depending upon the source of the materials and process used to produce both the fossil and renewable content of the fuel. The Department does not hold information on the carbon dioxide emissions associated with fossil diesel and petrol, and premium and non-premium grades. However, the Renewable Energy Directive sets a default energy content of 32 megajoules per litre for petrol and 36 for diesel, and a greenhouse gas emission of 83.8 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule - this equates to atypical emission per litre for petrol of 2681.6 grams of CO2 equivalent and 3016.8 grams of CO2 equivalent per litre for diesel.
Through the administration of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation the Department collects information on the carbon and sustainability characteristics of the renewable content of fuel reported under the scheme. This data is published quarterly on the gov.uk website. The latest published data covering the period 15 April 2014 to 14 April 2015, shows that bioethanol, blended with petrol, delivered greenhouse gas savings of 62% compared to fossil fuels and biodiesel, blended with diesel, achieved 75% greenhouse gas savings. The figures exclude emissions from indirect land-use change.
Super unleaded petrol, the premium grade, has a separate specification to regular unleaded petrol. This limits the oxygen content and a higher minimum for octane number. Some vehicles could be more fuel efficient when using this petrol if they have been designed to respond to using such a fuel as they will be able to develop more power from the fuel. While diesel may be marketed as premium on the basis of additives to the base fuel, all diesel is supplied to one standard EN590.
The Department does not have any information regarding the comparative fuel efficiency between super and regular unleaded petrol. However, the influence of fuel upon mileage, is much smaller, in general, than is the influence of other factors such as the vehicle itself (for example, its size, weight, power) , the way that the vehicle is driven, and the road conditions (for example motorway or urban driving).
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff are employed in his Department's headquarter buildings.
Answered by Claire Perry
The number of staff employed in the Department’s headquarter buildings is 6621. The Full Time Equivalent is 5996.99
These figures include the central department and it’s agencies except Highways Agency who do not have a headquarters building.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many desks are in his Department's main building; how many such desks are (a) owned and (b) leased by his Department; and what the cost is per desk of leasing.
Answered by Claire Perry
There are 1,477 owned desks in the Department’s main headquarters building. The Department does not lease any desks.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimates he has made of the cost of (a) adding a third lane on the A1(M) north from Scotch Corner to Edinburgh, (b) dualling of the A66 on all single carriage sections between Middlesborough and Carlisle, (c) dualling of the A1 north through Northumberland, (d) extending the metro to Washington, through Gateshead and Whickham to Consett, to Durham, (e) building a new bridge over the Wear at Sunderland, (f) building a Durham bypass, (g) building an Allerdene bridge over the A1(M) at Low Fell and (h) introducing integrated Oyster-style ticketing across the North East region and across buses, metro and trains.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department has not completed recent cost estimates for the transport proposals referred to. However, in terms of the strategic road network, this Government has allocated funding for, and the Highways Agency has started construction on, upgrading the A1 between Leeming to Barton to motorway standard which will create a continuous motorway standard route from London to Newcastle (via M1/A1M). Construction has also recently started on the A1 Coal House to Metro Centre improvement scheme in Gateshead. In terms of future proposals for the strategic road network, the Department is currently undertaking specific feasibility studies to identify solutions to address notorious and long standing hot spots on our national road network, including studies on the A1 North of Newcastle and the A1 Newcastle/Gateshead Western bypass.
The detailed scope of work for these studies were published in April this year and are available from the Government’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-road-network-the-scope-of-6-feasibility-studies
The Government has committed to report progress on the studies at the time of the 2014 Autumn Statement.
In addition, as part of its investment planning process, the Highways Agency is developing route strategies for the entire strategic road network, including the A66. The route strategies will allow further consideration of the future investment proposals as part of the Department’s longer-term investment planning process.
In terms of the proposals for local transport improvements, responsibility for their development, including producing cost estimates, rests with the relevant local transport authority – in this instance, the North East Combined Authority.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 367W, on the River Thames: bridges, in what year or years the £30 million allocated to the Garden Bridge in the National Infrastructure Plan 2013 is projected to be spent.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Should the business case demonstrate that the project represents good value for money, Government will agree the detailed terms of funding with the Garden Bridge Trust.
Whilst the payment schedule has not yet been determined. It is likely that the funding will be released in tranches throughout the project, as it reaches agreed milestones.