Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help increase safety at regional airports.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Most airport operators are either in the commercial private sector or are public/private partnerships which operate commercially. As such, it is for airports to ensure they adhere to regulations and standards relating to safety and security.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issues either an aerodrome licence or aerodrome certificate to regional aerodromes on the basis that the aerodrome, and its operation, meets the licencing/certification criteria. The CAA establishes an oversight programme for each licensed/certificated aerodrome in which the continued compliance with the regulatory requirements is verified. Additionally, the aerodrome operator is required to have a safety management system, the effectiveness of which falls within the scope of the CAA oversight Programme. These UK regulations are developed and implemented to adhere to and go beyond the minimum international safety Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to use funds saved by the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2f to tackle problems on rail links between Birmingham and Manchester.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As announced in the Network North command paper, every penny of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the North; every penny of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands; and the full £6.5 billion saved through our rescoped approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.
Network North provided £500m to improve rail capacity North of Birmingham and work is ongoing to develop value for money interventions using these funds. This includes upgrades around Handsacre, where the HS2 line joins the West Coast Mainline, and other potential enhancements on the network.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve rail services between Birmingham and Manchester.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In May 2023, CrossCountry increased service frequency to two trains per hour from Birmingham to both Manchester and Bristol.
A new CrossCountry National Rail Contract commenced in October 2023. This will deliver improvements for passengers travelling on CrossCountry services, including between the West Midlands and Manchester. Cascaded additional carriages will be introduced and the entire CrossCountry train fleet is due to be refurbished over the next few years.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for providing feedback on the Full Business Case for the Birmingham Highways Maintenance and Management PFI contract, submitted to his Department by Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Highways Ltd in August 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has funded Birmingham City Council’s Highways Maintenance contract at £50.3 million a year for 13 years and will continue to do so, maintaining the current level of funding to the council at £50 million a year for the remainder of the current spending review period until 2023/24.
After this time, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will become eligible for an additional share of the £8.3 billion as the £151 million for WMCA did not previously include an allocation for Birmingham City Council’s roads. This is part of the £2.2 billion wider funding for East Midlands and West Midlands.
This is in addition to the £1bn of CRSTS funding to WMCA up to 2026/27, and CRSTS 2 indicative funding of over £2.6billion over 5 years from 2027/28 to 2031/32.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to make a decision on the Birmingham Highways Maintenance and Management PFI contract on (a) the total funding and (b) maintenance of Birmingham Highways.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has funded Birmingham City Council’s Highways Maintenance contract at £50.3 million a year for 13 years and will continue to do so, maintaining the current level of funding to the council at £50 million a year for the remainder of the current spending review period until 2023/24.
After this time, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will become eligible for an additional share of the £8.3 billion as the £151 million for WMCA did not previously include an allocation for Birmingham City Council’s roads. This is part of the £2.2 billion wider funding for East Midlands and West Midlands.
This is in addition to the £1bn of CRSTS funding to WMCA up to 2026/27, and CRSTS 2 indicative funding of over £2.6billion over 5 years from 2027/28 to 2031/32.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with rail companies on the affordability of fares.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly meets with the rail industry, on a variety of issues including rail affordability. Following last year’s biggest ever Government intervention to cap rail fare increases below inflation, we will continue to protect passengers from cost-of-living pressures and will not increase next year’s rail fares by as much as July RPI.
We have also introduced several other initiatives to support passengers, including launching flexible season tickets and three new Railcards.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase road safety in inner city areas.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Responsibility for making decisions about the roads under its care, including measures to protect the safety of inner city road users, sits with the relevant Local Traffic Authority (LTA) for that inner city area.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to LTAs on various traffic management measures which impact road safety. A collection of these can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-transport-notes.
Guidance provided by the Department for LTAs is kept updated to maintain the highest road safety standards possible.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will fund more speed cameras in (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is up to the traffic authority and the police to decide whether to use speed cameras and how they wish to operate them. This is a local decision in which the Department for Transport does not become involved.
The Department for Transport provides funds direct to local authorities, which may be used for road safety purposes, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support. This could include decisions on the installation of speed cameras.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to provide additional funding to the Camp Hill railway line in Birmingham for increases in costs arising from the delay in opening that line until the end of 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In Summer 2021 the Department released £59m of Rail Network Enhancement (RNEP) funding towards the delivery of five new stations, including three on the Camp Hill line.
I understand from West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE), who are responsible for managing delivery of the work, that the stations remain on budget despite the recent delay.