Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)]

1. What steps she is taking to improve road infrastructure.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

4. What steps she is taking to improve road infrastructure.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

10. What steps she is taking to improve road infrastructure.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Penning]

I will be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend and those council leaders, but I think this is probably a matter for my colleague the Minister for local roads, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker). If he can meet them, that will be fine, although, ultimately, these matters are for the local authorities.

[Gavin Barwell]

Congestion on the A23 is a major problem. Will the Minister or one of his colleagues meet me to discuss what the Department, along with the Mayor of London, can do to improve conditions on that road?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Villiers]

This is exactly the sort of issue that we will consider in preparing our HLOS statement. I recognise the crucial importance for the northern economy of improving rail connections in the north. That is why we have already given the go-ahead to such important parts of the northern hub—earlier than many expected—and we will of course look very carefully at the whole project. It certainly looks to have a good business case, but delivering it will depend on what is affordable.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Justine Greening)]

Earlier this week I announced to Parliament my decision on High Speed 2, giving the go-ahead to a national high-speed network that will dramatically increase capacity and reduce journey times between our cities. Over Christmas, negotiations were concluded on a £188 million deal between Southern and Bombardier which will see 130 new carriages ordered from the Derby-based manufacturer. The Minister with responsibility for roads announced a £2.7 million investment in 3D laser-scanning technology. Before Christmas, I announced funding approval for a further 21 local authority major schemes, on top of the 20 schemes announced by the Chancellor in the autumn statement. The total Department for Transport contribution for all 41 schemes will be up to £972 million.

[Gavin Barwell]

My right hon. Friend referred to the procurement by Southern of more than 130 new carriages. Is that not fantastic news for hard-pressed commuters from my constituency and for Bombardier, its employees and its supply chain?

[Justine Greening]

I absolutely agree. This is a win for everybody concerned. Southern will deploy the new vehicles on its most overcrowded services, which will be of huge benefit and relief to passengers.

High-speed Rail

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the critical issue of freight. I visited Felixstowe port earlier last year and talked to people there about the sorts of challenges they face and the investment that they feel is needed in the network, and I will continue to look at those opportunities. He emphasises the continued need for investment in the current conventional line while we get on with our proposals on high-speed rail.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement on what will be a significant improvement in national infrastructure. May I ask her about Old Oak Common in relation to the connectivity to Crossrail and the Great Western line? Would she also look at the possibility of connecting the high-speed line to the West London line so that people living in south London and the south-east can access HS2 without having to use the London underground?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend raises the right point, which is that the plans for HS2 that we have announced and confirmed today will in future present broader opportunities to us and our transport system. I will be happy to discuss those with him in the coming weeks and years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

I am obviously always interested in ideas for improving our railways. The Government recognise the benefits of co-operative arrangements and mutualisation, and I am happy to meet the Co-operative party to discuss what it would like to do with the railways, and to see whether we can involve it in the reforms that we are taking forward.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

T7. As a south London MP, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will know what a success Croydon tramlink has been. The Mayor of London and Croydon council have recently worked together to buy additional trams to increase the frequency of the service. Will she work with the Mayor in the medium term to extend the benefits of the system to other parts of south London?

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mike Penning]

We work across Government on all such projects. We accept that enterprise zones will bring in more investment and growth, which is what we need to get out of the financial mess that we are in. I am sure that we will meet other Ministers and work forwards, but we have to go through the statutory process first.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

17. Whether he plans to bring forward proposals to prevent unplanned industrial action on London Underground.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers)]

Existing legislation requires trade unions contemplating industrial action to ballot their membership and give due notice to the employer. The Government encourage both London Underground and the trade unions representing its employees to resolve disputes as quickly as possible through negotiation.

[Gavin Barwell]

Given the huge disruption that strikes on the underground cause for my constituents and for London’s economy, is it not about time that there was a no-strike agreement on this vital public service, preferably negotiated with the union, but failing that through Government legislation?

[Mrs Villiers]

Of course, I am well aware of the Mayor’s ambitions to get a no-strike agreement, which I think would be very positive if he could negotiate it with the unions. With regard to changing strike law, the Government are not rushing to any kind of confrontation with the unions, but Mr Crow and his colleagues at the RMT must recognise that the more irresponsibly they behave, holding London to ransom, the more they strengthen the argument of those who want a change in strike law.

--- Later in debate ---

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

1. What assessment she has made of the effects on women workers of proposed reforms of parental leave.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

7. What assessment she has made of the effects on women workers of proposed reforms of parental leave.

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Minister for Women and Equalities (Mrs Theresa May)]

Our proposals for a new system of parental leave will protect mothers’ rights while giving families more choice and flexibility over how they can share their work and caring responsibilities. The proposals mean that working mothers will be better able to keep in touch with their employer, and they will also aid career progression for working mothers and help to tackle pregnancy discrimination.

[Mrs May]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that issue. I think that the reforms will reduce the gender pay gap, because the division of caring responsibilities between parents is one of the underlying issues. The current arrangements for parental leave reflect an expectation that the mother will stay at home and care for the children. Those arrangements urgently need reform. Although we will use a range of approaches to reduce the gender pay gap, this is an important element.

[Gavin Barwell]

In the light of the Prime Minister’s speech about the importance of men taking responsibility and a more active role in the upbringing of their children, is it not time for a much more flexible system, which encourages and allows them to do that?

[Mrs May]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. That is precisely what our flexible parental leave proposals, on which we are consulting, will do. Crucially, they will not only allow the father and mother to share parental leave, but will enable them to take time off together in the early stages following the child’s birth, if that is what they want. It will be possible for fathers to be much more involved in the very early stage of their child’s life.

Rail Investment

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

The hon. Lady will have noted that the last Government failed to deal with the issue of the electrification of the midland main line. I thought for a minute that I was going to get a bid for a tramway extension to London; to be honest with the hon. Lady, I prefer the option of midland main line electrification. There is a strong business case for electrifying the midland main line. The Government strongly support electrification, but we have, of course, to work within the envelope of affordability. We will be looking at projects for the next Network Rail investment control period, which begins in 2014. Midland main line electrification will have a strong case for inclusion in that programme.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the decision to proceed with the entire Thameslink programme, including the vital redevelopment of London Bridge—and the news that that will be done in a way that does not disrupt commuter services in south London. There is also the additional rolling stock for Thameslink, which should have a knock-on benefit for Southern passengers. It would be greedy to ask for more in this control period, but may I ask my right hon. Friend to consider improving the west London line in the next control period, so that south London, Gatwick, Surrey and Sussex have access to the High Speed 2 route?

[Mr Hammond]

I do not think I said that there would not be any disruption to commuter services during the massive reconstruction of London Bridge station; I certainly hope that I did not. I said that the reprofiling we have done will reduce the risk of serious disruption during that period. However, it will be a very major reconstruction project, and some disruption is inevitable. On west London services, of course we will examine proposals over the next couple of years as we prepare for the next Network Rail investment control period. Furthermore, the Mayor of London has an input into rail investment decisions for London commuter services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 17th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

My constituents do not want the pollution that additional runways at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick would entail, but they do want shorter queues, fewer delays and better service. Does my right hon. Friend agree that there are plenty of ways of achieving that through improving operations at those airports?

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers)]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. That is why the Secretary of State has established a taskforce to look into the ways we can make good on our promise to make Heathrow better. We have rejected a third runway because of the huge environmental damage it would cause, but there is more we can do to improve the regulatory structure and we are bringing forward legislation on that to incentivise the airports to focus on the quality of service for passengers. We need to keep security measures under review so that passengers are kept safe and we can mitigate the hassle that those measures cause. We need to work with the stakeholders and the airlines to get the right solution to integrate high-speed rail with Heathrow, to provide a viable alternative to having many short-haul flights and to relieve overcrowding problems at the airport.