Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to announce additional access for all funding for railway station accessibility; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
We have announced the funding currently available for the 2019-2024 rail Control Period. In addition to the 73 Access for All stations announced last year, we will shortly be announcing additional projects selected to benefit from £20m of Mid-Tier funding. Future funding decisions will be made at a later time. However, I would like to assure you that I am committed to improving access at all stations, and will continue to seek further opportunities, and funding, to make more improvements.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of innovation in the delivery of bus services funding; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
In 2018/19, bus operators received around £2.1bn of support from the public sector, with around £1bn of funding for older and disabled people’s concessions and £850m of subsidy for socially necessary services provided by local authorities and funded via MHCLG’s Revenue Support Grant.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides £250m of support to local authorities and bus operators via Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG). In October 2019, the Government committed to review how BSOG is paid to ensure it supports the environment and improved passenger journeys.
In October 2019, the Government published A Better Deal for Bus Users, which sets out the Government’s plans for buses, including providing local authorities with an additional £30m of funding in 2020/21 and publishing a buses strategy.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the costs to haulage companies of theft from commercial vehicles in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport does not routinely gather data on, or formally assess the economic impacts of, crime against commercial vehicles.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on insurance premiums of theft from commercial vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Theft from commercial vehicles is not a risk required by law to be covered by motor insurance although it can often be purchased as an added extra.
The setting of premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers and the Government does not generally intervene or seek to control the market.
The independent financial services regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, regularly monitor the insurance market to make sure that it functions well.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of accessibility at Marks Tey railway station.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Marks Tey station currently has step free access to both platforms but no step free interchange between them.
Much of our station infrastructure is Victorian and is therefore not accessible to many disabled passengers. In recognition of the scale of the problem there has been, over successive administrations, a gradual improvement approach and stations have been selected for funding through a prioritisation and assessment process.
All of the available Access for All funding has now been allocated to projects until Spring 2019. We are committed to continuing to invest in the accessibility of the railway after 2019 and will confirm the way in which we will deliver this later in the year.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a new round of access for all funding to improve railway station access for the disabled and other vulnerable users.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government’s Statement of Funds Available for Control Period 6 (2019-2024) published on 12 October includes funding for continued investment in the accessibility of the railway.
We will confirm the way in which we will deliver improvements to accessibility later in the year.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made in introducing flexible ticketing for part-time commuters.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has amended the process for re-letting franchises so that bidders are now required to give customers who work or commute part-time a better value for money option than buying multiple return journeys.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on securing a new round of access-for-all funding to improve railway station access for disabled people and other vulnerable rail users; and what assessment he has made of the need for better accessibility at Marks Tey railway station.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State is in regular contact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about future rail funding and last met him on Monday 26 June to discuss the high level desired outcomes from the rail network for the next investment period.
Marks Tey station currently has step free access to both platforms but no step free interchange between them.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2016 to Question 43142, what progress he has made on providing a further round of accessibility funding for (a) lifts and (b) other accessibility devices at mainline railway stations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We remain committed to improving access at stations and building on the success of the Access for All programme. We will therefore be seeking additional funding for the programme in the next rail control period from 2019 to 2024 and we will announce later this year the Government’s railway funding and high level strategy for this period.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on passengers of recent changes to car park charges at franchisee controlled railway station car park on the Greater Anglia franchise route.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made. Car parking charges are a commercial matter for the operator.