Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Govia Thameslink on the safety of (a) train drivers and (b) railway staff during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Department for Transport officials liaise with Govia Thameslink Railway on a frequent and regular basis to understand the measures they are putting in place regarding the safety of their staff.
In line with the January COVID-19 lockdown announcement, and guidance from Public Health England, Govia Thameslink Railway has implemented COVID-secure arrangements at all work places across their network. Measures include:
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with stakeholders on Access for All funding for Leagrave Train Station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Leagrave was nominated for Access for All funding in 2019, but was not selected as other stations in the region better met the selection criteria. The Department looks forward to receiving a further bid for Leagrave when we open a new round of Access for All in the future.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of Luton Airport on the ban on international travel during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department for Transport has not had any bespoke discussions with representatives of Luton Airport specifically on the ban on international travel during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021. The Department’s Airports Team however held its regular monthly meeting with representatives of Luton Airport on 7th January 2021 and representatives of Luton Airport attended a pre-departure testing airports round table hosted by the Aviation Minister on 8th January 2021.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions officials in his Department have had with Luton Council on funding for road repairs.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Department for Transport officials have regular meetings with Luton Borough Council on a variety of transport related matters, including on local road maintenance issues. The Department is providing Luton with over £2.3 million towards highway maintenance this financial year. It is for each Council to decide on how this funding is utilised based on their highway asset management strategy, needs, and priorities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the roll-out of SMART motorways.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Highways England’s Delivery Plan 2020-25 sets out the activities and projects Highways England will deliver over the current road investment strategy period. In addition to ongoing work to upgrade sections of the motorway, a priority for Highways England is the delivery of the Secretary of State’s 18 point action plan to raise the bar on safety and increase public confidence in the motorway network.
Highways England will implement the action plan in full and has already completed work, including the provision of 10 additional emergency areas on the M25 and making all emergency areas more visible by introducing a bright orange surface and better, more frequent signs. A nationally-targeted safety campaign to increase road user confidence, including what to do in the event of a breakdown in a live lane, will launch during January 2021.
Highways England will deliver all the remaining actions including the provision of stopped vehicle detection on ALR motorways and conversion of dynamic hard shoulder to ALR.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the criteria are for the establishment of a covid-19 travel corridor.
Answered by Robert Courts
Decisions on International Travel Corridors are currently informed by risk assessments provided by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), working closely with Public Health England (PHE), using methodology endorsed by the four Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the UK.
JBC and PHE monitor over 250 countries, territories and islands daily to inform these risk assessments. Factors taken into consideration include:
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2020 to Question 57393, on Airlines: Coronavirus, whether an airline company has reached the point of all avenues being exhausted (a) before or (b) after proposing a high volume of redundancies.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department for Transport is in regular contact with airlines, airports and unions to understand the impact that COVID-19 is having on the sector and its workers.
We expect companies to pursue all possible actions to preserve cash and maximise liquidity, including engaging with shareholders, lenders and the markets, and utilising all available assets and facilities. However, we do not comment on discussions held with individual companies, as this information is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June to Question 56177 on Travel: coronavirus, on how many occasions he has discussed the 14-day quarantine rule for entering the UK with the Home Secretary.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 11 June 2020, PQ UIN 56177.