Transport

Debate between Maria Eagle and Mike Penning

Thursday 3rd November 2011 Ministerial Corrections

[Maria Eagle]

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected change is in the number of investigators at the Marine Accident Investigation Branch over the period of the current spending review.

[Official Report, 31 October 2011, Vol. 534, c. 418W.]

Letter of correction from Mike Penning:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) on 31 October 2011.

The full answer given was as follows:

[Mike Penning]

[holding answer 24 October 2011]: Under plans to reduce its costs in line with the outcome of the October 2010 spending review, the number of MAIB investigators will be reduced from 21 to 16.

The correct answer should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Maria Eagle and Mike Penning

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) (Lab)]

This morning the Transport Committee asked the Government to withdraw their modernisation proposals for the coastguard and consult on revised plans. Its report is very clear:

“The evidence we have received raises serious concerns that safety will be jeopardised if these proposals proceed.”

Despite failing to do so before now, will the Secretary of State finally listen to coastguards up and down the country and abandon his dangerous and reckless plan to close more than half of Britain’s coastguard stations?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Penning)]

We welcome the Committee’s report. If the hon. Lady looks at it carefully, she will see that it actually says that the status quo is not acceptable and that coastguard stations need to close. The process we inherited from the previous Administration had been sitting on their desks for years. We said right at the start of the process that we would listen and come up with proposals after consulting. It is a shame that they did not do the same.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Maria Eagle and Mike Penning

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Penning)]

Legislation dating from the 1930s restricts rallying, time trials and races on highways in the UK. An Act of Parliament would be required to change that. We are looking to deregulate the position so that if local authorities want to hold rallies, time trials or races, they should be allowed to do so.

[Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood) (Lab)]

The winter resilience review commissioned by the previous Government has produced its final report and recommendations, yet the country is in chaos, with passengers forced to sleep at stations, freezing all night on broken-down trains or getting trapped in their cars, all at a cost to the economy of up to £1.2 billion a day. Why are not the findings of the review being implemented? The public do not want the Secretary of State to announce another review by the person who has already set out the blueprint for improvements. They want him to get on and implement the recommendations and improvements. When is the Secretary of State going to get a grip?