Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any social events took place between three or more people within his Departmental buildings between (a) 5 November 2020 and 1 December 2020 and (b) 16 December 2020 and 22 February 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This information is not collected. At the time, staff were expected to work from home and undertake meetings remotely, wherever possible.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of law enforcement for crimes involving the illegal dumping of commercial fishing equipment in UK waters; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The UK has been party to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships (MARPOL Annex V) since 1988, and the international requirements have been implemented in UK law through the 1998 and 2008 UK Regulations. Under these Regulations, discharge of all garbage into the sea is prohibited with very limited exceptions and in all cases the discharge of plastic is prohibited. In 2020 the Regulations were further revised to reflect the current international requirements.
During the 2020 revisions, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out a thorough review of the existing offences and penalties. As a result of this review, the scope of the type of garbage which may not be discharged to sea was widened. Under the 2020 Regulations it is an offence to fail to report the discharge of fishing gear which poses a significant threat to the marine environment or navigation.
The UK’s Port Waste Reception Facilities Regulations (S.I. 2003/1809) put legal obligations on ports and vessels to manage ship generated waste including fishing gear. The MCA has received ministerial approval to review the UK’s current regime on Port Waste Reception Facilities and this review will start in spring 2021.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the income of private sector bus operators that has been met by (a) Government and (b) local authorities since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) was established to help protect and increase bus services, allowing people?travelling to hospitals, supermarkets or their place of work to get to their destination safely and quickly, while helping ensure there is enough space for them to observe social distancing guidelines. There will be a reconciliation process after every 12 weeks of funding to ensure that no operator is made better or worse off by providing these services with government and local authority support. This will include collecting data on how much of their financial shortfall has been made up by local authority support.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the additional costs incurred by (a) private operators of national rail services and (b) light rail and tram systems as a result from covid-19 have been met by the public purse.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the government has approved £3.5bn of additional expenditure to ensure that vital rail services continue to operate. From this additional expenditure, £2.9bn relates to the 2020/21 financial year. It is not yet possible to provide an estimate of the total cost incurred to date
On 23 May, £29m in support was announced to cover five light rail systems in England. This is intended to cover all reasonable additional costs incurred due to COVID-19 over the period of funding and allow them to operate a full service.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date he confirmed emergency funding arrangements for (a) private operators of national rail services, (b) private operators of bus services, (c) Transport for London and (d) light rail and tram systems.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government recognises the importance of keeping public transport services running, and to provide stability and certainty to the transport industry at this turbulent time. The Secretary of State confirmed funding arrangements for a) national rail services on 23 March; b) bus services on 3 April and 23 May; c) Transport for London on 14 May; and d) light rail and tram systems on 24 April and 23 May.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many audits there have been on payments made to bus operators through the Coronavirus Bus Services Support Grant to date.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant of £167m initially, and a further £254m, for restarting services will help protect and increase services, allowing people?travelling to hospitals, supermarkets or their place of work to get to their destination safely and quickly, while helping ensure there is enough space for them to observe social distancing guidelines. The level of support offered to bus operators is based on the actual mileage of services provided to ensure that payments are only being made for buses that actually ran. Due diligence checks are made on every operator applying for the scheme, and there will be a reconciliation process after every 12 weeks of funding to ensure that no operator is made better or worse off by providing these services with government support.