Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will grant an immediate emergency exemption of at least six months to allow West Coast Rail company to make a new application for a new exemption certificate.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The decisions on issuing exemptions from safety requirements, including the Railway Safety Regulations 1999, are a matter for the Office of Rail and Road, in its capacity as the independent regulator for rail safety. The Department has no powers to issue exemptions from the safety requirements itself.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will meet the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale to discuss the potential merits of repairing Rigmaden bridge.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
DfT Ministers are always happy to meet with MPs. In this financial year (2022/23), the Department is providing Cumbria County Council with over £33 million in highways maintenance funding.
As per section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, it is up to Cumbria County Council as the local highway authority to decide how best they maintain their respective local highway network, including Rigmaden bridge, based on local needs and priorities.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with the haulage industry since the beginning of 2021.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Secretary of State for Transport has met with representatives of the road haulage industry five times during 2021.
Transport Ministers have also held an additional thirteen meetings with the haulage industry in 2021. This includes a roundtable on addressing the driver shortage jointly held by Minister for Transport Baroness Vere and Employment Minister, Mims Davies MP.
In addition to these meetings, representatives of the road haulage industry meet with Departmental officials on a biweekly basis.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the total amount spent by his Department to research the impact of ending free movement on the haulage industry.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department for Transport has regular discussions with the road haulage industry. We are working together to address the current HGV driver shortage, which is an issue common to many European countries.
The Government has already taken firm action, including through training for jobseekers, additional funding for apprenticeships, and taking measures to increase lorry driver testing capacity to bring new drivers into the industry as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to ensure that HS2 Phase 2b delivers a net gain in biodiversity; and how that net gain will be quantified.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In June 2021, the government announced its commitment that HS2 will aim to deliver a net gain in biodiversity for the HS2 Crewe-Manchester phase, going beyond the existing target to deliver no net loss of biodiversity.
HS2 Ltd reports to DfT on quantification of biodiversity delivery. HS2 Ltd is employing a Defra metric-based approach ('the HS2 Metric'). This metric was last updated in 2020 for Phase 2b to capture the functionality incorporated in the latest Defra biodiversity metric tool at the time (Biodiversity Metric 2.0).
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to introduce a specific support package for the coach industry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are encouraging coach operators to make use of the wide range of support measures the Chancellor announced. These amount to £330 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses. We are continuing to engage with the coach sector to understand what the ongoing risks and issues are, and how these could be addressed in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to electrify the Lakes Line between Oxenholme and Windermere.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
A decision on whether to proceed with developing the next phase of a potential battery electric traction scheme is currently under consideration.
It should also be noted that the local stakeholder priority is for a passing loop to enable a two-trains per hour service using the current new build rolling stock rather than either battery trains or electrification with the current service pattern.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to introduce a stop for High Speed Two at Oxenholme station.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has awarded the West Coast Partnership franchise to First Trenitalia. As well as operating existing conventional services, they are also acting as the Shadow Operator for HS2 services. In this role they will provide advice to the Department regarding the optimum train service that should operate on the West Coast Main Line once HS2 opens, to best serve towns and cities on the route, based on their knowledge and analysis of passenger demand. A final decision on train services will not be made until the appropriate timetable development process begins.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the timetable is for the full Boundary Review of local councils.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has no current plans to carry out a single programme of electoral reviews for all local authorities in England.
The Commission administers a rolling programme of electoral reviews and can include local authorities if they meet one or more of the following criteria:
In the financial year 2019/20, the Commission plans to initiate electoral reviews in 25 English local authorities selected through the criteria set out above.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's news story of 28 June 2018, Rail passengers in the north to start being compensated in early July, what plans he has for compensation to be provided for passengers who are not season ticket holders affected by recent disruptions to train services in Cumbria.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
All passengers are entitled to and encouraged to apply for Delay Repay compensation from their train operator. Both train operators, Northern and TransPennine Express will also be opening an additional compensation scheme to ensure that people who travelled regularly on the disrupted routes, but without a season ticket, will be eligible for compensation. This was announced at the end of July by Transport for the North, which is leading on the design of the scheme. Further details will be announced shortly by Transport for the North and the train operators.