Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2017 to Question 69282, on Volkswagen, how many Skoda cars fixes had been applied to by the time of the (a) January, (b) February and (c) March 2017 meetings.
Answered by John Hayes
Volkswagen provided the Department with the following figures for the number of ‘fixes’ that have been applied to the affected Skoda vehicles in the UK ahead of the January, February and March meetings. I have also included the latest April figures for your information.
| Number of vehicles reported ‘fixed’ on: | |||
17th January | 21st February | 20th March | 10th April | |
Skoda | 22,284 | 25,678 | 28,094 | 29,253 |
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2017 to Question 68777, if he will provide the number of (a) Audis, (b) SEATs, (c) VW commercial vehicles and (d) VW private cars to which fixes had been applied by the time of the January and February meetings.
Answered by John Hayes
During my meetings with representatives from Volkswagen on 16th January and 6th February, I was informed of the overall number of ‘fixes’ that had been applied to the 1.2 million affected vehicles and pressed them to ensure these were being implemented as quickly as possible for UK consumers.
Officials meet with Volkswagen on a monthly basis and are provided with the detailed information requested. This is set out in the table and includes the most recent meeting on 20th March 2017.
| Number of vehicles reported ‘fixed’ on: | ||
17th January 2017 | 21st February 2017 | 20th March 2017 | |
Audi | 142,452 | 175,507 | 197,521 |
SEAT | 15,438 | 25,253 | 29,844 |
VW commercial vehicles | 11,395 | 20,839 | 25,088 |
VW passenger cars | 167,560 | 228,991 | 262,162 |
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many meetings have taken place between Ministers of his Department and Volkswagen's UK representative since December 2016 to discuss Volkswagen's manipulation of emissions tests; and how many cars affected by that scandal had been rectified at the date of each of those meetings.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government takes the actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and we continue to press them to resolve issues including compensation and a warranty for UK consumers.
I have held two meetings with representatives from the company since December 2016 and written to them on four separate occasions. On 16 January I met with Paul Willis, Managing Director of VW UK, and on 6 February I met with Dr Garcia Sanz, a member of the Volkswagen Management Board, and VW UK representatives. By the time of the January meeting Volkswagen had applied ‘fixes’ to 350,000 affected vehicles in the UK and by the time of the February meeting this was 402,000.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles in the Government Car Service have been found to be fitted with emissions defeat devices; and how many of those devices have been removed from such vehicles.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government Car Service have no vehicles fitted with emission defeat devices in their fleet and as such no removal work has been necessary.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the contribution of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Environmental Audit Committee on 25 October 2016, Question 332, what proportion of existing EU legislation within the policy remit of his Department cannot immediately be brought into UK law upon the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government will bring forward legislation in the next session that, when enacted, will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 and ensure a functioning statute book on the day we leave the EU. This ‘Great Repeal Bill’ will end the authority of EU law and return power to the UK. The Bill will convert existing European Union law into domestic law, wherever practical, and in that context all relevant legislation is currently being identified and assessed.
The Government will set out the content of the Bill and its implications in due course.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of UK railway stations have steps but no lift access.
Answered by Claire Perry
Information on the facilities available at individual stations is collected and held by the Association of Train Operating Companies, rather than the Department. However, we understand that around 460 stations in the UK have step free access to and between all platforms. I also note that both railway stations in the Hon Member’s constituency – Wakefield Westgate and Wakefield Kirkgate – are now step free.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a breakdown of the £90 million cost of train wifi by (a) funding source and (b) proposed spend by train operator.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Network Rail penalty to be reinvested into improving mobile communications on trains is £53m. The Department for Transport will work with the railway industry to establish a fund that will prioritise improved mobile communications on metropolitan and commuter train services into major cities across the country.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects to publish the Part 2 report of the Triennial Review of the British Transport Police Authority.
Answered by Claire Perry
We expect to publish the Part 2 Report in the Autumn.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Northern Rail has pledged to invest in station upgrades under the franchise extension announced on 27 March 2014.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The level of investment Northern Rail is committed to for station upgrade works is designated commercially sensitive. This figure has been redacted from the publicly available interim franchise agreement, which is accessible online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern.
Asked by: Mary Creagh (Labour - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential cost to the Strategic Highways Company of carrying full public liability and professional indemnity insurance as proposed in the Infrastructure Bill [Lords].
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Infrastructure Bill includes no measures that change existing legislation on public liability and professional indemnity insurance. The strategic highways company is expected to manage risk and insurance in line with HM Treasury's “Managing Public Money” and the detailed insurance arrangements for the new company are being considered.