Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason supporting documents for the draft Rail Reform Bill published on 20 February 2024 do not reference the expected £1.5 billion in recurring annual savings after an initial five year implementation period from reforms proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, as referenced on pages 8 and 36 of that plan.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The supporting documents for the draft Rail Reform Bill refer only to costs and savings from a new industry structure. Recurring annual savings set out in the Plan for Rail come from a new commercial model, improvement in fares ticketing and retail, a new industry structure and workforce reforms.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his latest estimate is of the recurring annual cost savings after an initial five year implementation period from reforms proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We're committed to reforming the railways and are getting on with delivering improvements for passengers, freight customers and the taxpayer. Industry experts’ suggested savings are set out in the Plan for Rail.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to pages 8 and 36 of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, CP423, published in May 2021, if he will publish the workings behind the £1.5 billion annual cost savings after an initial five year implementation period expected from reforms to the railway proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We're committed to reforming the railways and we are getting on with delivering improvements for passengers, freight customers and the taxpayer. Recurring annual savings set out in the Plan for Rail come from a new commercial model, improvement in fares ticketing and retail, a new industry structure and workforce reforms.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2024 to Question 6514 on Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries, what the cost to the public purse was of payments made to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World (i) for support of operational movement services, (ii) for business travel and (iii) on Government Procurement Cards in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Between 17 March 2022 and 26 February 2024, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) made payments of £710,388.88 directly with P&O using either physical or virtual GPC cards. This includes transactions by the National Movement Coordination Centre (Army). £182,307.89 was spent through GBT, the MOD's contracted travel management company, primarily for business travel.
There are no transactions recorded to DP World.
This is the total consolidated spend as we are unable to identify separately, transactions specifically for the support of operational movement services.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the procurement of services from (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World by Government departments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) operational performance benchmarks and (b) default performance levels for train operating companies on National Rail contracts.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department holds operators to account for their performance through the National Rail Contracts. Whilst the Department does not publish details of operational performance benchmarks, we require operators to publish performance metrics on their websites and will publish annual performance fees on gov.uk once all performance fees are finalised.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Avanti West Coast on levels of train cancellations.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Officials meet Avanti West Coast’s (AWC) senior management regularly and will continue to closely monitor AWC’s progress to a sustained recovery, restoring services reliably on the West Coast and delivering the kind of service passengers rightly expect. The Rail Minister met with AWC’s Managing Director in January to challenge the operator on its operational resilience and review its plans for continued recovery in 2024. We will always hold AWC responsible for matters within its control.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which train operating companies have notified him that they have not met contractually agreed benchmarks for service quality since 18 September 2022.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Train operators are required to publish their Service Quality Regime (SQR) results on their websites each reporting period, alongside the contractual benchmarks.
The Department regularly discusses and reviews service quality performance with all operators and can take further action where scores are consistently below benchmark. Underperformance also impacts upon the amount of annual performance fee earned by private sector operators.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the SQR (a) data and (b) benchmarks used for train operating companies in financial years (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Train operators are required to publish their Service Quality Regime (SQR) results on their websites each reporting period, alongside the contractual benchmarks.
The Department regularly discusses and reviews service quality performance with all operators and can take further action where scores are consistently below benchmark. Underperformance also impacts upon the amount of annual performance fee earned by private sector operators.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which train operating companies are not meeting contractual benchmarks for service quality.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Train operators are required to publish their Service Quality Regime (SQR) results on their websites each reporting period, alongside the contractual benchmarks.
The Department regularly discusses and reviews service quality performance with all operators and can take further action where scores are consistently below benchmark. Underperformance also impacts upon the amount of annual performance fee earned by private sector operators.