Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to update the Government's Aviation Policy Framework following the publication of the Airports Commission Final Report; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Airports Commission is set to publish its final recommendations in the summer of 2015. It will be for the Government of the day to decide how to respond to those recommendations and whether to update the Aviation Policy Framework.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the recommendations in the report by Sustainable Aviation on Sustainable Fuels UK Roadmap, published in December 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government agrees that sustainable biofuels have a valuable role to play in reducing carbon emissions from transport, and particularly in sectors where there are limited alternatives such as aviation.
We also recognise that we have world class research capabilities in the UK, and share the ambition in the Sustainable Aviation’s report for the UK to become a global leader in the advanced sustainable fuels market.
To that end we launched a competition on 10 December which will provide £25 million of capital funding for the construction of demonstration-scale advanced biofuel plants in the UK.
We do not currently intend to revise the current policy framework (for example to make Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates available to aviation fuel suppliers) while discussions are continuing on accounting for indirect land use change under European targets. Meanwhile, we have established a Transport Energy Taskforce of experts from the aviation industry, NGOs and the fuels and automotive industry to examine options to meet our renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets, and provide greater certainty to industry. The report by Sustainable Aviation provides valuable input to this work.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding was allocated to projects related to increasing the number of journeys on foot (a) between 2005 and 2010 and (b) between 2010 and 2014.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department supported the following walking initiatives during financial years 2005/06 and 2009/2010: £2.5m for the Active School Travel programme between 2009/10 and 2010/11, £5m from Department of Health for cycling and walking as part of an obesity initiative in 2009/10, and £700k for the Schools ‘Finding New Solutions’ programme in 2010/11.
Between 2010 and 2014, the primary source of funding for walking initiatives has been the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The Fund is a £600m grant programme for local authorities that currently supports a range of sustainable transport projects across England. While this funding can be used for a range of transport interventions, many projects support walking either directly or as a secondary benefit (such as cycleways that can also be used by pedestrians).
Due to the varied nature of the individual projects and the range of transport modes benefitting, it is not possible to place a precise figure on the amount of Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant being spent directly on walking. However, the latest annual report for this programme suggests that around 20% of the funding in 2012/13 was spent on projects that directly benefitted walkers. We can therefore assume that between financial years 2010/11 and 2014/15, approximately £120m will be spent on schemes that directly benefit walkers. This is a conservative estimate that does not consider projects where pedestrians are the secondary beneficiaries of a scheme, or projects that are 100% focussed on walking (such as Durham County Council’s ‘Walk to Schools outreach’ programme, which is receiving £4.8m in funding).
In addition to this, all cities in receipt of the Department’s Cycling Ambition grant programme needed to demonstrate how their proposed designs would benefit walkers as well as cyclists. To support this, the Department worked with the Department of Health to make £1.2m in funding available to ensure walking is considered alongside the wider Cycling Ambition Grant programme. This funding has been shared between Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich.
Local authorities are also welcome to participate in the Department’s School Award Scheme, operated by Modeshift. This scheme promotes walking and cycling to schools and is benefitting from £840,000 between 2014 and 2016.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish reported road casualty figures by severity for each (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency for each year from 2003 to 2013.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The attached tables contain reported road casualty figures by severity for each (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency for each year from 2003 to 2013.
Equivalent tables covering the years 2010 to 2013 are available for the public at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras30-reported-casualties-in-road-accidents. These tables are updated each year.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of planned spending on (a) cycling, (b) walking, (c) public transport and (d) roads contained in local growth plans in each local enterprise partnership area in each of the next six years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The estimated spending figures are as per the attached table. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have varying degrees of freedom to vary spend between projects and between years. The published Growth Deals did not allocate funding to specific years other than 2015/16. The figures provided are therefore for all years 2015/16 to 2020/21 inclusive.
Spend has been designated according to the primary mode of the schemes individually named in growth deals. Many of those designated as ‘road’ and ‘public transport’ also include some cycling and walking infrastructure. Spend designated as ‘mixed’ includes individual schemes and packages where there is no single dominant mode, but within which sustainable modes, including cycling and walking are significantly represented. This includes the West Yorkshire Transport Fund where the individual schemes were not announced in the Growth Deal. An estimated breakdown of modal spend within these schemes and packages could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The figures in this table relate to the new projects announced in growth deals in July 2014. The Local Growth Fund also includes £1.6bn of transport spending over the same six year period that had previously been allocated to individual major schemes and local transport bodies. The Department has also committed significant expenditure outside the Local Growth Fund, for example, an additional £114m to further the work of the Cycling Ambition programme.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report published by Living Streets and Transport Research Laboratory entitled, A Review of Pedestrian Walking Times and Time Needed to Cross the Road, if his Department will conduct an assessment of the road safety benefits to pedestrians of adjusting the time to cross at signalised crossings.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department notes the recommendation that the relevant guidance on this subject should be updated.
The Department expects to bring the successor to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, which will include all pedestrian crossing types, into force in 2015.
Pedestrian walking speeds and crossing timings are matters for guidance rather than legislation. The Department intends to produce a new chapter of the Traffic Signs Manual on traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, bringing together and updating existing advice. A timetable for publication has not yet been set.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to promote telematics in cars (a) for young drivers and (b) generally.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department is conducting focus groups with young people, parents and employers to gain a better understanding of their perspective on the safety of young drivers, including the use of telematics.
During a meeting with the insurance industry, the Department agreed to commission new research into how telematics can change the behaviour and attitudes of learner drivers. We are currently working with insurance companies to encourage participation before tendering the research.
We will publish the findings of both the focus groups and research in due course.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings he has had with (a) the Mayor of London and (b) officials from Transport for London within the last 24 months regarding the tolling of proposed river crossings east of Tower Bridge that are included within the Mayoral Transport Strategy; and how that will impact on traffic levels at the Dartford Crossing.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Secretary of State for Transport has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which a range of London transport measures are discussed. Other Ministers also discuss various London transport issues and projects with senior officials from Transport for London.
The Mayor of London wrote to the then Secretary of State for Transport on 1 June 2012 to request the designation of the proposed Silvertown tunnel as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The Secretary of State responded on 26 June 2012 outlining her agreement to grant the request.
On 16 July 2013, the Mayor of London wrote to me to respond to the Department's consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing proposals.
The Department's review of options for a new Lower Thames Crossing included a sensitivity test to assess whether the proposed Silvertown Crossing scheme would be likely to impact on the forecast flows for the existing Dartford crossing, and any potential new crossing. The conclusion of that test was that the effect was likely to be negligible. The review findings were published in May 2013 as part of consultation on the options.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings he has had with (a) the Mayor of London and (b) officials from Transport for London within the last 24 months regarding proposed river crossings east of Tower Bridge that are included within the Mayoral Transport Strategy; and how they impact on the options for the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Secretary of State for Transport has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which a range of London transport measures are discussed. Other Ministers also discuss various London transport issues and projects with senior officials from Transport for London.
The Mayor of London wrote to the then Secretary of State for Transport on 1 June 2012 to request the designation of the proposed Silvertown tunnel as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The Secretary of State responded on 26 June 2012 outlining her agreement to grant the request.
On 16 July 2013, the Mayor of London wrote to me to respond to the Department's consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing proposals.
The Department's review of options for a new Lower Thames Crossing included a sensitivity test to assess whether the proposed Silvertown Crossing scheme would be likely to impact on the forecast flows for the existing Dartford crossing, and any potential new crossing. The conclusion of that test was that the effect was likely to be negligible. The review findings were published in May 2013 as part of consultation on the options.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what written correspondence he has had with (a) the Mayor of London and (b) officials from Transport for London within the last 24 months regarding the tolling of proposed river crossings east of Tower Bridge that are included within the Mayoral Transport Strategy; and how that will impact on traffic levels at the Dartford Crossing.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Secretary of State for Transport has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which a range of London transport measures are discussed. Other Ministers also discuss various London transport issues and projects with senior officials from Transport for London.
The Mayor of London wrote to the then Secretary of State for Transport on 1 June 2012 to request the designation of the proposed Silvertown tunnel as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The Secretary of State responded on 26 June 2012 outlining her agreement to grant the request.
On 16 July 2013, the Mayor of London wrote to me to respond to the Department's consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing proposals.
The Department's review of options for a new Lower Thames Crossing included a sensitivity test to assess whether the proposed Silvertown Crossing scheme would be likely to impact on the forecast flows for the existing Dartford crossing, and any potential new crossing. The conclusion of that test was that the effect was likely to be negligible. The review findings were published in May 2013 as part of consultation on the options.