Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the eligibility age for a free bus pass to 60.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those who have reached state pension age, currently aged sixty-six. ENCTS costs around £1 billion annually and any changes to the minimum statutory scheme, such as lowering the age of eligibility, would need to be carefully considered for their impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.
Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations and extend free bus travel to those not eligible for ENCTS, however, these additional concessions are not funded by central government but by local authorities from local resources, such as council tax. Since 2010/11 almost all of the travel concession authorities in England have offered some form of discretionary concession.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the eligibility criteria are for projects to receive funding under the Local Transport Fund; and whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on how they should consult hon. Members throughout the process.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department will very shortly publish advice for local transport authorities on the scope, process and accountability framework for the Local Transport Fund. It is my intention that locally elected representatives, working with their local MPs, decide how to spend this money to invest in the transport priorities that matter most to their area.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, whether the £150 million funding for improving bus services in (a) northern England and (b) the midlands (i) is ringfenced and (ii) can be used by local authorities to fund bus routes which were commercially viable before the covid-19 pandemic but are no longer.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The new £1 billion Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding for buses in the North and the Midlands, announced on 4 October, will continue and expand the improvements started by the £1.2 billion for BSIPs announced in 2022 and 2023. The first downpayment of £150 million has been indicatively allocated for 2024-25.
The new funding can be used in the same way as existing BSIP funding. LTAs may use the funding to deliver the interventions that they and local operators, where they have an Enhanced Partnership, expect will deliver the best outcomes for passengers. Further details on the terms of funding will follow in due course.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the change in the amount of granite that will be mined as a result of the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2.
Answered by Huw Merriman
No granite would have been mined for the construction of the Phase 2 route from Birmingham to Manchester because granite does not occur naturally in the ground along the chosen route
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of when the full electrification of the Midland Mainline will be complete.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Integrated Rail Plan published in November 2021, set out the electrification of the Midland Mainline is planned to be completed around 2030 (subject to business case approvals).
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the home-to-school services exemption to the Public Services Vehicle Accessibility Regulations beyond 31 March 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Bus and coach operators have already had many years to comply with the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000, and I am disappointed that some operators in the rail replacement and home-to-school sectors are still unable to provide relevant services using compliant vehicles.
When writing to the industry in July to offer further temporary exemptions to 31 March 2022 to enable essential services to operate, the buses Minister Baroness Vere was clear that to be eligible for future (qualified) exemptions beyond 31 March 2022, operators would need to demonstrate steps they have taken to comply with the Regulations.
We are finalising the scope and eligibility criteria for such exemptions and will provide further information in due course.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Red, amber and green list rules for entering England, updated on 8 June 2021, (a) what constitutes as mixing in relation to transit stops and (b) whether a passenger who follows social distancing rules at all times while making a transit stop would be considered to have mixed.
Answered by Robert Courts
Only passengers who are kept separated from other travellers at transit stops, for example on an aircraft, in a train carriage, or in a separate area of a terminal, are considered not to have transited through that country.
The Government expects all operators to manage the risks of COVID-19 transmission. The guidance is clear that social distancing of with risk mitigations should be observed where possible. Where social distancing is not possible, operators are advised to carry out a risk assessment and implement appropriate risk controls. For example, wearing a face covering can play a role in helping us to protect each other.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish (a) the outcome of the Creating a plan to decarbonise transport call for ideas and (b) the Government’s transport decarbonisation plan.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The “call for ideas” was one of several routes for stakeholders to provide their views on decarbonising transport. We received over 7,000 responses from the public all of which have fed into the development of the Transport Decarbonisation Plan. We will be publishing the Plan shortly.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) steps the Government is taking to ensure the safety of blind and partially sighted people at train stations and (b) assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making tactile edging on platforms mandatory.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Operators involved in the management of stations are responsible for ensuring the safety of all passengers on the premises. The Office of Rail and Roads (ORR) is the safety regulator of Britain’s railway and can take enforcement action if these standards are not met.
There are clear safety and accessibility benefits of installing platform edge tactiles. Whenever the industry installs, replaces or renews platform infrastructure they must install appropriate tactile surfaces. Network Rail has also been asked to develop a programme to ensure all platforms have them installed as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of introducing part month vehicle tax refunds.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
It has been a long-standing feature that vehicle excise duty is issued from the first of the month and refunds are issued for complete months remaining. Issuing vehicle excise duty from a date other than the first of the month and refunding for part months would add a large amount of administrative complexity to the vehicle excise duty system. There are no plans to change the current arrangements.