Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the contribution of the Maritime Labour Convention to (a) pay, (b) welfare standards and (c) safety within the UK shipping industry in the last ten years.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK takes seafarer safety and welfare seriously having implemented the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006, in the UK since 2014. The UK takes an active role in the international Committee which keeps the MLC under review. The UK also undertakes and publishes regular post-implementation reviews of its own MLC implementing legislation. The Government is preparing to attend the Special Tripartite Committee at the International Labour Organization in April 2025 to negotiate further amendments to improve safety and welfare for seafarers.
The MLC sets standards on the frequency and composition of seafarer wages but not the level of pay. Within the International Labour Organization, the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the Joint Maritime Commission set the international minimum wage for seafarers.
A joint Tripartite Working Group allows UK shipowner and seafarer representatives to meet with the Government on a regular basis to report safety or welfare concerns that arise.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has for the (a) future and (b) timetable for nationalisation of the Greater Anglia rail franchise; for (i) future investment and (ii) plans for (A) ticket offices and (B) steps free access in Greater Anglia railway station redevelopment; and for (1) overall investment, (2) rail fares, (3) investment in rail infrastructure, and (4) investment in rolling stock in the Greater Anglia region; and what recent estimate she has made of passenger numbers in each Greater Anglia station in each year for the next ten years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department announced in December that South-Western Railway’s services will be the first to transfer into public ownership in May 2025, followed by c2c’s services in July 2025 and Greater Anglia’s in the autumn. The Department will issue an expiry notice to Greater Anglia in due course to confirm the exact transfer date. Public ownership will mean all parts of the railway can pull together for the benefit of passengers, and bringing passenger services into public ownership is the first step in the Government’s wider programme of reform. Through future legislation, we will set out the role Great British Railways will have in fares, ticketing, and other operational aspects of the railway. Fares and ticketing will continue to be the responsibility of train operators until Great British Railways is established.
The Access for All programme has delivered step free access at more than 250 stations across Britain. Ministers are carefully considering the best approach to the Access for All programme, including as it relates to Greater Anglia stations. Greater Anglia has taken steps to improve station accessibility with its work on virtual trains and station tours, and a new accessible footbridge will be installed at Stowmarket during 2025. The business planning round for 2025/26 is currently underway and proposals regarding redevelopments and rail infrastructure will be reviewed with decisions made in due course.
Greater Anglia invested £1.4 billion in new trains for the Anglia region and these new trains are delivering a real change in customer experience.
There has not been a recent estimate of passenger numbers in each of Greater Anglia’s stations in each year for the next ten years.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed rail reforms on commuter services from Bletchley.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Railways Bill will enable the biggest overhaul of the rail sector in a generation. It will create stronger leadership by establishing Great British Railways as a new ‘directing mind’ for the industry, unifying track and train under a single public body to deliver better services for passengers and customers, and better value for money for taxpayers.
The Government launched an eight-week consultation on 18 February seeking views on the key legislative proposals that will form part of the upcoming Railways Bill.
Services from Bletchley will benefit from the changes set out above, alongside the rest of the network.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of slip roads on the A34 in Newbury on passenger safety.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways has undertaken several studies across various sections of the A34 to understand where improvements could be made. In 2017, the Department commissioned National Highways to conduct an in-depth safety review of the route to study incident hotspots. This work identified and delivered £12.1m of improvements to the route between Newbury and Oxford, including to the slip roads at East Illsley, West Berkshire.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the level of weekly passenger demand at the new Tempsford railway station.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No formal assessment on forecast weekly passenger demand at Tempsford has yet been made – however, early work provided by Network Rail and East-West Rail Company has provisionally classified Tempsford as a Category C station, which could see 500,000 to 2,000,000 passengers annually.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no requirement for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend a Department for Transport workplace, including the executive agencies (Active Travel England, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency). A desk booking application is available for staff attending the DfT offices in Birmingham, Hastings, Leeds, London and Swansea, as well as some of the workplaces operated by agencies and Arms Length Bodies, but employees are not required to use them. Touch-down desks and other working spaces are available for staff who attend these locations without booking a desk.
The Arms Length Bodies sponsored by DfT do not employ civil servants and DfT places no requirement on their staff to book desks to attend workplaces.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing drink driving laws in ensuring that repeat offenders cannot reoffend.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is a High-Risk Offender (HRO) scheme for those who have been disqualified by a Court for 2 or more drink driving offences within a 10 year period.
Currently, the practical consequence of becoming a drink drive HRO is that the driver’s licence is not automatically re-issued once the period of disqualification has ended. Instead, the HRO must apply for a new licence and the DVLA will only issue a licence after the HRO has proved their medical fitness to drive. The HRO scheme has thus served an important role in helping to keep unsafe drivers off the roads.
The Drink Drive Rehabilitation (DDR) scheme has been found to be effective in preventing offenders committing repeat drink driving offences. Successful completion of the approved course can see a reduction of not less than 3 months or 25% of the disqualification period imposed by the Court. This gives the offender an incentive to participate in the scheme, with beneficial outcomes to society by reduced re-offending.
Asked by: Jade Botterill (Labour - Ossett and Denby Dale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has plans to provide disabled access at Shepley train station in Ossett and Denby Dale constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are carefully considering the best approach to the Access for All programme. Since April 2024, 19 stations have been completed with a further 8 due to be completed by April 2025. We will shortly be updating MPs and other stakeholders on our approach to Access for All. This Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.
Asked by: Natalie Fleet (Labour - Bolsover)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to protect bus services in Derbyshire that travel to (a) hospitals, (b) leisure attractions and (c) other key out of town locations.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December as part of its ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including ensuring access to vital local services such as hospitals or providing links to leisure attractions. The government has committed to increasing accountability by including a measure on socially necessary services so that local authorities and bus operators have to have regard for alternatives to changing or cancelling services.
In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities, of which East Midlands Combined County Authority has been allocated £40.5 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) Russian (ii) shadow fleet and (ii) trade vessels and (b) other vessels that have travelled to and from Russian ports that have entered UK waters in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave on 07 February 2025, to Question 27704.