Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent on heavy rail infrastructure in (a) England and (b) Wales in each of the last five years up to and including the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Between 2018-19 and 2021-22, £46.7bn was invested on High Speed Two infrastructure; Network Rail Operations, Maintenance and Renewals; and the Rail Network Enhancements Portfolio. Figures are sourced from DfT and NR published accounts and Network Rail reporting is consolidated for England and Wales. By its nature, expenditure on the railway in any one particular part of the country is likely to also benefit passengers from outside that immediate area who use that railway.
An annual breakdown is included in the table below:
2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
10.3 | 10.0 | 12.0 | 14.4 |
*Figures are in £billions, in nominal prices
** Rail Network Enhancements Portfolio figures do not include 3rd party-funded delivery
*** 2022-23 outturn data is provisional and excluded
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on implementing the recommendations of the Union Connectivity Review.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Secretary of State for Transport, Department for Transport officials and I have regular discussions with colleagues across Government about Lord Hendy’s of Richmond Hill’s independent Union Connectivity Review. We are engaging with the devolved administrations and with other stakeholders to consider his recommendations and will publish our response as soon as is practicable.
I also recently made visits across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to meet with key stakeholders and visit a wide variety of transport connectivity projects.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's commitment to build 40 new hospitals, where those hospitals will be located.
Answered by Will Quince
The locations of the announced schemes in the New Hospital Programme, along with hospital upgrades and other investment in equipment and technology, are available at the following link:
https://engage.dhsc.gov.uk/nhs-recovery/buildings/
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on the implementation of pension dashboards.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has made significant progress in implementing pensions dashboards, working in close collaboration with key delivery partners including the Pensions Dashboards Programme which is part of the Money and Pensions Service, the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Following extensive consultation with industry and other interested parties, the Department laid the draft Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022, in Parliament on 17 October 2022. This was an important milestone, setting out detailed requirements for occupational pension schemes and for organisations seeking to provide a qualifying pensions dashboard service. The Regulations were subsequently approved in Parliament on 16 November 2022 and are due to come into force this winter. Alongside this, the Financial Conduct Authority intends to publish final rules for personal and stakeholder pensions shortly and The Pensions Regulator is providing support to help schemes meet their connection deadlines, including through guidance and writing to schemes at least 12 months ahead of their deadline.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme is responsible for delivering the digital architecture that will make dashboards work. They published their latest progress report on 26 October 2022 outlining key milestones and next steps, such as finalising a suite of operational and technical standards for dashboards. The Programme intends to consult on design standards this winter. The PDP has consulted on the data, technical, code of connection, and reporting standards relating to dashboards and will publish a response later this year. The overall delivery timetable remains on track with the Programme focused on building and testing the digital architecture to enable the first cohort of schemes to connect from April 2023.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with counterparts abroad about ensuring that the standards of nursing education in their countries meet the requirements of the NHS; and what recent discussions he has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on their acceptance of the qualifications of foreign nurses applying to work in the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
There have been no recent discussions. As the independent regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council define the requirements for overseas nurses applying to work in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 80942 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund, when he plans to have finalised the validation of investment plans; and whether he plans to notify local authorities (a) when their plans have been assessed or (b) when all assessments have been completed.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 80942, on the 14th November 2022. Further to this, local authorities will be notified when validation has been completed.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 76136 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund, when he plans to announce the date by which his Department will have finalised its assessments and notified local authorities of the outcomes.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Once the validation of investment plans is finalised, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will promptly communicate to local authorities the date upon which they will be notified of the outcomes of their investment plans.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether all local authorities have received a response to their investment plans under the Shared Prosperity Fund allocations; and when local authorities which have not received a response will do so.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are finalising the validation of UK Shared Prosperity Fund investment plans and will be notifying lead local authorities of the outcome in due course.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the introduction of the Investment Zone initiative in Wales.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Government is committed to boosting growth across the whole of the UK. We will work with devolved governments and other partners to agree how we can deliver Investment Zones in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Discussions are ongoing with the Welsh Government, and we want to ensure Investment Zones maximise the value of both reserved and devolved levers.
Asked by: Rob Roberts (Independent - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps she has taken to increase (a) the number of driving instructors and (b) practical driving test availability.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) licenses approved driving instructors for them to provide paid tuition.
To help increase practical driving test availability, the DVSA is recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
The DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, with several measures in place to do this.
These include: