Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of air traffic controllers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The recruitment of air traffic controllers is a commercial matter for the private businesses that operate air traffic control services.
However, the Department is working with industry and other Government Departments, as part of the Generation Aviation programme, to support medium and long term recruitment.
This work includes the promotion of air traffic controller careers, and co-operation with industry and the Department for Education to review current apprenticeship standards so as to encourage greater uptake.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with his Japanese counterpart on increasing cooperation between the UK and Japanese (a) railway, (b) automotive and (c) other transport sectors.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Honourable Member will note that the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon. Mark Harper has had a number of discussions this year on increasing co-operation with our international partners on a range of transport related matters. In June this year, he travelled to Japan to attend the G7 Transport Ministers Meeting alongside the transport ministers or representative of the Minister for each of the G7 countries. Whilst there, he took the opportunity to meet with the Japanese Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to discuss the challenges that both transport sector in both Japan and the UK. He also met representatives of Japanese companies investing in the UK to discuss the challenges that face the UK transport sector as we plan to improve transport for users, meet our environmental targets and support the PM’s priorities including to grow the economy. Those meetings with a range of transport companies across the rail, automotive, and maritime sectors also discussed closer trading links and cooperation. Officials at the Department for Transport continue to work closely with Japanese officials in order to share knowledge on key transport issues and increase co-operation between the two countries.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to increase the number of public electric vehicle charge points in Bolton.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is supporting local authorities in England through its £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has been allocated £16,158,000 of capital funding and £1,440,000 of capability funding through the LEVI Fund, to transform the availability of charging infrastructure across the area, including Bolton.
Since 2017, local authorities across the UK have also been able to apply to the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS). Over 190 local authorities have been awarded grants through ORCS, which will see more than 18,000 chargepoints installed. To date, GMCA and Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council have not applied for ORCS funding.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of public transport services operating between Greater Manchester and Bolton.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Regarding train services, this was reviewed as part of the work of the Manchester Taskforce, which concluded that increasing the train lengths to meet capacity was the priority, rather than adding more services, as this would provide an improvement in operational performance. This was implemented as part of the timetable change in December 2022. The successful implementation of this timetable, which has significantly reduced delays within Manchester, is the first phase in the Manchester Taskforce programme. Last month this government announced a further £72m infrastructure package around Manchester Victoria to make train journeys for passengers more reliable in Greater Manchester. In addition, Network Rail are also electrifying the route between Wigan North-Western station and Lostock Junction near Bolton in a £78 million upgrade. Electrifying the route will complement the electrified line between Preston, Bolton and Manchester which was completed in 2019, and the project provides train operators with more operational flexibility to deploy trains to the Wigan and Bolton areas.
With regard to local transport services, the Government has invested over £3.5 billion in buses and light rail since March 2020, including our recently announced package of up to £300 million to protect and improve bus services long-term. The Government believes that Local Transport Authorities, working closely with operators, are best placed to determine the shape and structure of their local transport network to deliver high quality services for passengers.