Louise Ellman
Main Page: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)Department Debates - View all Louise Ellman's debates with the Department for Transport
(13 years, 4 months ago)
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Mr Hammond
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. A major part of the problem that we experienced yesterday was lack of information flow. Some train operators have already supplied BlackBerrys to on-train crews so that they can be given real-time updates to advise passengers of what is going on. We must take that process further. The least we ought to be able to do for passengers if they find their journeys disrupted is to give them accurate information about what is going on.
Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State called for a review, but what is he doing to ensure that he can get up-to-date information enabling him to act with urgency? What is the role of regional Government offices in working with local authorities to give him a full and up-to-date picture of what is going on?
Mr Hammond
To be clear, I have asked David Quarmby to audit the implementation of the measures that he recommended in his report. Those were not simply about grit. There are recommendations covering a range of areas and modes of transport. We are getting information—not quite in real time, but by 9 o’clock this morning we had a full situation report on rail services and the condition of the strategic road network across the country. The information about what is happening on individual local authorities’ roads is a little more patchy. That issue needs looking at, because the condition of local authority roads can have a knock-on effect on the condition of the strategic road network.