Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many passengers, and (2) what volume of cargo, travelled from (a) Tunisia to the UK, and (b) the UK to Tunisia, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of passengers and volume of freight carried by air and by sea between Tunisia and the UK directly in the last five years are given in the attached tables.
There were no direct sea journeys carrying passengers to or from Tunisia from the UK in the past 5 years. Data on country of destination for indirect voyages (such as cruises) are not collected by the Department.
The latest year of data available, and is published on GOV.UK, is 2019 for air freight and passenger statistics and 2018 for port freight statistics. Statistics relate to direct freight and passenger journeys between the UK and Tunisia.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 28 January (HL412), whether they will now answer the question put, namely what provisions any such legislation will include to protect the rights of railway managers dealing with strike action.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The purpose of Minimum Service Level legislation is to ensure that the right to take strike action is in future balanced with the rights of others who are disproportionately impacted by strikes. This would include the rights of rail managers.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 7 January (HL62), what estimate they have made of the cost to the economy of the South Western Railway strikes which began on 2 December 2019.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in our manifesto commitment, we are concerned about the impact of strike action on passengers and intend to implement Minimum Service Level legislation to ensure that the right to strike is in future balanced with the rights of passengers, who are being disproportionately adversely impacted by strikes.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 7 January (HL63), when they intend to introduce legislation to guarantee that, in times of strike action on rail, a pre-agreed minimum level of train service is provided; and what provisions such legislation will include to protect the rights of railway managers.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is the Government’s intention to introduce a Bill during this parliamentary session. The purpose of Minimum Service Level legislation is to ensure that the right to take strike action is in future balanced with the rights of passengers, who are being disproportionately impacted by strikes.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 7 January (HL62), what assessment they have made of the impact of the South Western Railway strikes that began on 2 December 2019 on (1) schools, and (2) hospitals, in areas served by that franchise.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is concerned with the impacts these strikes are having on business and the travelling public including those travelling to work, hospitals or places of education whether as workers, patients and students or as teachers or health workers. The Government will be undertaking detailed assessments in the process of preparing Minimum Service Level legislation.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) social, and (2) economic, effects of the South Western Railways strikes which began on 2 December.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The RMT’s decision to take industrial action is completely disproportionate. Every single train which did not run as a result of these totally unnecessary strikes affected thousands of passengers during an incredibly busy period for the railway. The impact is on not only commuters, but also on a whole range of people who rely on the railway – children travelling to school, outpatients travelling to hospital appointments and small businesses that count on the railway bringing in customers and suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban strikes on the railways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will introduce legislation to guarantee that, in times of strike action on rail, a pre-agreed minimum level of train services is provided. The purpose of this is to ensure that in future, the rights of those wishing to take strike action are balanced with the rights of those who need to travel and who rely upon the railway to go about their daily lives.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the provision of rail transport between Yeovil and Taunton; and what comparison, if any, they have made of the journey time between those towns by car and by rail.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made no assessment of the provision of rail transport between Yeovil and Taunton, or any comparison of the journey times between the two towns by car and by rail.
However, it is committed to upgrading the A303 and A358 to provide a high quality dual carriageway from Taunton to the M3.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of re-connecting Minehead station to the rail network in the South-West of England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Great Western Railway is planning a limited weekend service this summer to Bishops Lydeard providing a direct connection between the national network and the privately-operated West Somerset Railway, which operates train services to Minehead.
Any development of a year-round regular direct national rail service to Minehead would need to follow the principles set out in A Strategic Vision for Rail, published on 29 November 2017, in which the Secretary of State said that "the challenge to our partners is to work with Government and the industry to develop compelling proposals for the next generation of rail schemes". He also made clear that all schemes for reopening railway lines would need to demonstrate a strong business case where they are seeking any available Government funding.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 27 March (HL14667), what assessment they have made of whether timetable bids for later trains within the Network Rail Framework could be considered if they are approached by the franchisee, South Western Rail.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
South Western Railway has applied to Network Rail to run later services to Yeovil for the timetable change on 15 December this year. The new timetable is currently being developed through the rail industry's timetabling process led by Network Rail.