Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the maximum percentage of spoil from the HS2 development that could be transported by rail if Network Rail allows up to seven spoil train pathways per day.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HS2 Ltd are currently undertaking design and construction planning to identify and confirm volumes of excavated material that will be removed by rail and road from Euston station. Details are expected at the end of 2018.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the percentage and volume in millions of cubic metres of spoil from the HS2 development that will need to be transported across Camden by HGV lorries as a result of recent revisions to the plans for the HS2 throat and HS2 station design at Euston station.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HS2 Ltd are currently undertaking design and construction planning to identify and confirm volumes of excavated material that will be removed by rail and road from Euston station. Details are expected at the end of 2018.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2016 to Question 41593, when the additional works on passenger train impacts from any transportation of excavated and construction materials at Euston is planned to be completed.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The detailed timetable for this work is being developed with Network Rail. However, we would hope that it would be complete in early 2017. This work will be undertaken in close dialogue with the Greater London Authority, London Borough of Camden and Transport for London.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2016 to Question 41593, for what reason HS2 Ltd is supporting a two rather than three railhead option at Euston for the transportation of excavated and construction materials.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The decision to pursue a two railhead solution was based on a detailed consideration of the environmental, socio-economic and value for money benefits of that option as compared to the value for money disbenefits of the option that included a third railhead. HS2 will, however, continue to seek ways to mitigate the construction programme impacts and to respond to feedback, which will include exploring, during the detailed design phase, additional and/or alternative opportunities to move material by rail including, but not limited to, the third railhead option.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to substantially reduce the number of heavy goods vehicles on the roads around Euston; and if he will make it his policy to encourage the use of rail to transport excavated and construction materials in that area during the development of High Speed 2.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
As set out in Information Paper E13 (Management of Traffic during Construction), HS2 Ltd has a policy of using rail to transport bulk excavated material over long distances, wherever reasonably practicable. In addition, the Secretary of State has provided an assurance to the London Borough of Camden and Transport for London to seek to maximise, as far as reasonably practicable, the movement of material by rail at Euston. A detailed study has been undertaken to explore how this could be achieved, which has highlighted a number of technical options which are currently being assessed with respect to the impact on passengers, the environmental and socio-economic impacts and impacts on the HS2 programme. An initial decision on how to proceed will be made following the completion of this assessment.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) single adult males and (b) single adult females were in reciept of support under the provisions of section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in December 2015.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Home office publishes statistics on those supported under section 4 at the end of each quarter in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release.
Of the 3,821 main applicants and dependants that were supported under section 4 as at the end of December 2015, 1,948 were single adults. Where the gender of the main applicant is recorded, 1,544 of these were males and 335 were females.
The data relating to single adults is a subset of figures published in Table as_18_q, in volume 4 of the latest Immigration Statistics release, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how long the Semaphore system was subject to a national power outage between 12 and 17 June 2015.
Answered by James Brokenshire
For reasons of national security we do not comment on operational issues relating to border security systems.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people on the Warnings Index her Department knows to have entered the UK since 6 May 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
It is longstanding policy not to disclose details of records which may be held in relation to individuals’ arrival in the United Kingdom as to do so would not be in the interests of national security.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the Semaphore eBorders system has been affected by a national power outage since 6 May 2010; and when each of those power outages (a) started and (b) ended.
Answered by James Brokenshire
For reasons of national security we do not comment on operational issues relating to border security systems.
Asked by: Keir Starmer (Labour - Holborn and St Pancras)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to publish asylum support statistics by gender as part of the Government's quarterly immigration statistics.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The information published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics is kept under review, taking into account the needs of users, burdens on suppliers and producers, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. There are currently no plans to publish data relating to asylum support statistics by gender.
Statistics on asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95, Section 4 or Section 98 support are available in Tables as_16_q, as_17_q and as_18_q of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015