Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much it cost to operate the Acceleration Unit in each year since 2020.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The costs for the Acceleration Unit are met out of existing Civil Service staffing budgets.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many projects the Acceleration Unit has advised on since it was established; and if he will make an estimate of the (a) time and (b) monetary savings secured on projects due to advice from the Acceleration Unit.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The time and cost savings generated through the work of the Acceleration Unit can be complex to disaggregate and some of the information is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide Parliament with a report on the work of his Department's Acceleration Unit.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Acceleration Unit performs valuable work at the Department for Transport. DfT oversight and leadership on Project Speed and the secretariat of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council have both been transferred to the Acceleration Unit. The Acceleration Unit also has oversight of the departmental contribution to cross-Whitehall activity in relation to acceleration, particularly work on reforming the planning system, utilities, and how DfT can use improved governance to efficiently deliver projects.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to require Great British Railways to invest in digital signalling across the rail network as part of his next High Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available for Control Period 7.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Office of Rail and Road’s Review Initiation Notice issued on 9 June binds the Department for Transport to provide its High-Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available by 28 October of this year, within which will be set out the Secretary of State’s requirements. Work to produce these documents is ongoing.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held discussions with Transport for London representatives on flexible season tickets for London Travelcards zones 1-8.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Transport in London is devolved and is the responsibility of the Mayor of London and Transport for London, including for fare-setting. Flexible season tickets are a rail-only product that are being introduced across England.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the change in bus patronage as a result of bus franchising and enhanced partnerships compared to operation of the deregulated bus market.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Bus passenger journey statistics are collected and published by the Department quarterly.
The Bus Services Act 2017 Impact Assessment estimates the impact of franchising and enhanced partnerships on patronage. Under franchising, we estimated that there will be a significant increase in patronage as a result of fare simplification as Local Transport Authorities take control of bus fare revenue. Under enhanced partnerships, we estimated that patronage will increase as a result of journey quality improvements.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the outcomes of the Williams Rail Review.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The government intends on publishing a White Paper with details of its plans for rail reform soon.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a progress report to Parliament on the work of his Department’s Transport Acceleration Unit.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since commencing operation in October 2020, the Acceleration Unit has been involved in accelerating projects through the Northern Transport Acceleration Council, the Restoring Your Railways programme and the National Bus Strategy. Among the projects the Acceleration Unit has successfully supported accelerating there is, notably, ensuring the delivery of the first Beeching reversal, the Dartmoor Line into Okehampton, will open later this year 20 months early. It has supported accelerating delivery, unblocking barriers, and driving down cost on this project. Among the many projects the unit is supporting are the new A19 Tees Crossing, improvements to the A59 at Kex Gill, and ensuring the National Bus Strategy was published in March.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proposals his Department’s Transport Acceleration Unit has put forward to accelerate the delivery of transport infrastructure projects.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Acceleration Unit continues to provide the Secretary of State with regular updates and proposals for future projects and is due to discuss its delivery plan for the coming 12 months. The Unit is continuing its work following the publication of the National Bus Strategy. Through the Northern Transport Acceleration Council, 112 projects have been identified with northern leaders, including the Tees Valley hydrogen hub, dualling the A66, Northumberland Line and Hope Valley Line projects. The Unit is also engaged on progressing the Restoring Your Railway programme to delivery and is reviewing individual schemes for acceleration. It has also been commissioned to challenge the Cambridge South rail enhancement project.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to provide statutory backing to the policy proposals in the National Bus Strategy.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Bus Strategy sets out the Government’s vision for bus services, and how it will be delivered through local transport authorities (LTAs) using existing powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to form Enhanced Partnership and franchising arrangements; those powers provide the statutory backing for delivery. The strategy sets out what LTAs and bus operators must do, and from when, in order to access discretionary sources of bus funding, including the £3 billion for buses announced in February 2020.