Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help the maritime industry to decarbonise.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, Government has committed £20 million to support the development of clean maritime technologies. This programme builds on the vision set out in the Clean Maritime Plan, published in 2019, and underlines our commitment to addressing emissions from this sector while supporting green growth.
In addition, the Government has made good progress on delivering its commitments in the Clean Maritime Plan, including by: launching a round of grants and a clean maritime call of £1.5m to support innovation in clean maritime; undertaking research considering the role of maritime clusters in delivering clean growth; and, exploring the inclusion of maritime elements in the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) for public consultation later this year.
Further plans on the decarbonisation of the maritime sector will be included in the forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan. This will set out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meet Net Zero by 2050.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what financial support his Department is providing to (a) GTR Southern Rail and (b) the rail industry more widely during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The total payments made to all train operators under franchise contracts with Department (including those in public ownership) from 1 March to 20 September 2020 was £4.07billion. Of this, £636million relates to the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise (i.e. GTR). Full payment data for this period has been published on www.gov.uk and we will continue to release periodic updates there in future.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2020 to Question 109771 on roads: death, how many of the accidents in Sussex were found to involve anti-social driving.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Data on fatal road accidents is collected via the STATS19 reporting system. It is not possible to directly identify accidents involving anti-social driving.
As part of the STATS19 collection, police officers attending an accident are able to assign contributory factors, which are grouped into nine categories, including ‘injudicious action’. The injudicious action category includes factors related to speed, following too close or disobeying road signs or markings.
Of the 224 fatal reported personal injury road accidents in the Sussex police force between 2015 and 2019 where a police officer attended the scene and at least one contributory factor was assigned, 40 had at least one ‘injudicious action’ factor assigned.
The number of contributory factors assigned in each category is shown in the table.
Contributory factors assigned to fatal reported personal injury road accidents: Sussex police force 2015-20191
| Number | Percentage |
Road environment contributed | 17 | 8% |
Vehicle defects | 3 | 1% |
Injudicious action | 40 | 18% |
Driver/Rider error or reaction | 140 | 63% |
Impairment or distraction | 77 | 34% |
Behaviour or inexperience | 72 | 32% |
Vision affected by external factors | 5 | 2% |
Pedestrian only (casualty or uninjured) | 36 | 16% |
Special codes | 10 | 4% |
Any contributory factor | 224 | 100% |
1 Accidents where a police officer attended the scene and at least one contributory factor was assigned. Factors can be assigned in more than one category for an accident.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress Network Rail has made on its assessment of the West Sussex Connectivity Study; and when decisions are planned to be announced on West Sussex's development options as part of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline process.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The key recommendations from the West Sussex Connectivity Study included better spacing of services and increasing capacity on services into Brighton in the morning peak.
Work is ongoing between the Department and Network Rail to develop these proposals further and make the case for them to enter the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline so that initial assessment and development can occur.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) Gatwick airport and (b) the aviation sector more widely following the closure of travel corridors until 15 February 2021.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government recognises the challenging times facing the aviation sector due to Covid-19. The sector is crucial to the UK’s economy and businesses across the sector can draw on the unprecedented package of economic measures that have been put in place during this time. This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital (CCFF), business interruption loan guarantee schemes, Time to Pay flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees (the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme). Overall, we estimate that the air transport sector will have received around £2.5 to £3bn of support through the CCFF and Job Retention Scheme by the end of March 2021.
The Government also recently announced the Airports and Ground Operators’ Support Scheme (AGOSS) and the Test to Release scheme, both of which will benefit the sector. AGOSS will provide support for eligible businesses, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities in the 2020/21 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £8m.
Finally, if businesses across the sector find themselves in severe and urgent financial difficulties as a result of Covid-19, even following the Government’s cross-economy interventions, then the Government remains open to discussions about bespoke financial support but only as a last resort.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on its assessment of the results of acoustic camera trials.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department’s initial trials of a prototype acoustic camera have concluded. The Government anticipates the results will be published in the spring following a re-phasing of the work due to pressures arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to bus services in rural areas across West Sussex.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to improving access to transport in rural areas.
The Government pays almost £260 million per year in Bus Service Operators Grant, which benefits passengers by helping operators keep fares down, and enabling operators to run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation, particularly in rural areas.
There is currently a ‘Call for Evidence’ open to seek ideas on what we could include within a Future of Transport Rural Strategy. Views are being sought on: trends in rural areas, opportunities from innovation for rural areas and the approach government could take to help shape these opportunities.
We are also developing a National Bus Strategy for England, which will focus on the needs of passengers so that more people have access to bus services that meet their needs. The Government recognises the importance of good transport links for the sustainability and independence of communities, particularly in rural areas, and the Strategy will set out how national and local government, and the private sector will come together to support this.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to decarbonise the transport network.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are developing a bold and ambitious Transport Decarbonisation Plan to achieve net zero emissions across all modes of transport, which we expect to publish in Spring 2021. It will set out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meet net zero by 2050.
We have already taken significant steps and the Government is going further and faster to decarbonise transport by phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe. Between 2030 and 2035, any new cars and vans sold that emit from the tailpipe must have significant zero emission capability, for example plug in and full hybrids.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access at railway stations for disabled people in (a) Sussex and (b) Arundel and South Downs constituency.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We remain committed to improving accessibility at stations and £383m has been allocated to extend the Access for All programme until 2024. Since 2012 nine stations in Sussex have benefitted from the programme, including tactile paving for visually impaired passengers and platform humps to reduce the stepping distance to the train. Hassocks also received two lifts to provide step free access at the station.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2020 to Question 55079, what assessment he has made of the results of the acoustic camera trials announced in June 2019 to monitor traffic noise; and what plans he has for a wider rollout of acoustic cameras.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department’s initial trials of a prototype acoustic camera have concluded. The outcome of the trial is currently being considered, including what further development would be required to enable the technology to be used for more targeted and efficient enforcement.
It is too early in the development of the device to provide a plan for its introduction, but we are optimistic that it will provide an effective enforcement tool in the future.