Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Guy Opperman)]

That is a matter for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. I will take it up with the Department and make sure that it writes to the hon. Lady.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

T6. Residents in Harrogate and Knaresborough often face train cancellations, sometimes at very short notice, causing much frustration and inconvenience. A shortage of drivers and train crew is often the cause of the cancellations, and I have raised that with the train companies involved. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to ensure that vacancies are filled and operational training is prioritised?

[Huw Merriman]

That is a challenge. The shortage of crew is largely down to sickness, the level of which is about 8.5%, which is too high. We are working with the operator to ensure that it is working on that, and with the northern rail partnership, to ensure there is more resilience on that line. The training backlog needs to be cleared, working in co-operation with the unions rather than them going on strike. We should be able to ease that backlog and get a better service for my hon. Friend and his constituents.

Road Safety: North Yorkshire

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Keir Mather (Selby and Ainsty) (Lab)]

I am pleased to have the opportunity to use the first Adjournment debate that I have secured to speak about the crucial issue of road safety in North Yorkshire.

I have now been in Parliament for seven months, and some of the most transformative change that I have witnessed in this place has happened when Members have responded to genuinely pressing local need, using every mechanism available to them to fight for their constituents. This is one such case. In my rural constituency, dangerous drivers and inadequate speed-calming measures mean that residents in the communities I represent live in fear. Sadly, according to data provided by the House of Commons Library, there were 36 fatal casualties in Selby and Ainsty between 2018 and 2022. That is second only to the figure in Skipton and Ripon, where 46 fatal casualties occurred during the same period.

The root causes of the issues in my area are clear. Selby and Ainsty has numerous arterial, high-speed roads that pass through village communities with inadequate traffic-calming measures, and rural lanes and streets that were never designed for the motor traffic that we see today. When those infrastructure challenges are combined with the actions of dangerous and reckless drivers, they can have truly lethal consequences.

In the village of Hambleton last month, a person tragically lost their life in a very serious collision. They were attempting to cross the A63, a dangerous main road through the village on which cars travel at unsafe speeds, even though it is surrounded by residential new-build estates and very close to a local school. This was not an isolated incident—there have been numerous accidents on this specific stretch of road—but despite the work of local residents who have set up a road safety action group, the danger remains. I should be grateful if the Minister could provide some advice about what measures are at the community’s disposal and can be pushed so that action is taken—action that I will certainly continue to fight for in this House.

I want to make something very clear: in North Yorkshire, too much of the debate on road safety has been wrongly co-opted into a wasteful, irresponsible and distracting culture war by the Conservative party. It holds a majority on North Yorkshire Council and the executive position for highways, and has 10 of the county’s 12 MPs. If the Conservatives wanted to do something about road safety in my constituency and across the county, they could do so. Instead, they have spent recent months jumping at shadows, fighting anti-motorist policies that do not exist and opposing 20 mph blanket bans that have never been proposed.

All the while, communities in the Selby district are crying out for political representatives who will take the issue of road safety seriously. What is too often forgotten is that when motorists step out of their cars in a village like Cawood or a town like Sherburn in Elmet, they are local people who want to enjoy their communities in safety and with their family. Rather than fomenting divisions that do not exist, the Government and North Yorkshire Council need to sit up, get serious and listen to the concerns of local residents in my area, who cannot wait another day for action to be taken.

The Minister could forgive residents across North Yorkshire for their confusion over the mixed messages they have received from the Conservative party, which has meant that common-sense ways to limit dangerous driving have not been taken. In a piece of literature sent recently to local people in my area, both the local Conservative candidate and the party’s candidate for North Yorkshire Mayor registered their opposition to Welsh-style blanket 20 mph limits, which, to my knowledge, not a single representative of either main party in the county has proposed. In September, however, the very same mayoral candidate, in his role as executive member for highways and transportation on North Yorkshire Council, praised the

“most significant 20 mph zone the council has ever introduced”

in Harrogate. I agree and applaud those efforts, but I ask why there can be a grown-up discussion about road safety in Harrogate, with seven schools having new 20 mph zones placed around them, but in the Selby district we have to deal with unsafe roads and suffer under a Conservative party that is distracted by waging a culture war that simply does not exist.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing his first Adjournment debate. I have to say that I do not recognise his characterisation of the way the local council approaches road safety issues. He gave the example of Harrogate. That particular campaign was started by two residents, Hazel Peacock and Jenny Marks, and it led to a broader community campaign. The issue of 20 mph zones around schools is fairly uncontroversial, particularly when they are adopted alongside such measures as crossings or barriers along the roadside. I have found that introducing simple measures like those has brought communities together, and it might be a way to help the hon. Gentleman in Selby and Ainsty.

[Keir Mather]

To an extent, I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s sentiment: it is uncontroversial to have common-sense measures such as 20 mph limits in villages, outside schools and in urban areas. I wish the debate was tret with the seriousness it deserves in my part of North Yorkshire by the council’s executive member for highways, who has been able to achieve that work in Harrogate.

By attempting to turn sensible measures, such as 20 mph zones where they are necessary, into wedge issues in my part of North Yorkshire, the local Conservative party disregards the concerns of local residents. Meanwhile, the council is not taking action in villages such as Lumby, Monk Fryston and Hambleton, where the immediate safety concerns are acute and are badly damaging communities. People want their council to get on with making their villages and towns safe. In some cases, the excuses for inaction just do not add up.

I return to the community of Hambleton, where a local person tragically lost their life. The A63, which bisects the village, is a long, straight stretch of road used by parents with prams, elderly residents and large groups of schoolchildren. It is crying out for pedestrian islands, but North Yorkshire Council has argued that footfall on the road is insufficient, using data from a study that was taken during a school holiday. Although I am pleased that the council has committed to reassessing the area due to the fatality that occurred, an accident should not have had to happen for people to realise that action needed to be taken.

In Monk Fryston, over 800 local residents petitioned for a pedestrian crossing on the A64, and they continue to have my full support. North Yorkshire Council has acknowledged, in my correspondence with it, that speeds are excessive on the road, but it has refused to implement the crossing because it says that there is not a suitable location. I know that the installation of traffic-calming measures is a complicated business, but this road is the key link between Selby and Leeds, providing people with access to the A1. Again, the A64 bisects the village, leaving residents on the other side with no access to local amenities. I ask the Minister to join me in putting the case to North Yorkshire Council that Monk Fryston cannot be held back and disregarded any longer in its campaign for common-sense traffic-calming measures.

I now turn to the wider issue of speeding, which I know is of concern to all our constituents. In Brayton, which lies just to the south of Selby, there has been consistent and widespread concern about speeding along Barff Lane. I am glad that by working with local agencies such as North Yorkshire police, residents’ concerns have been heard and measures have been taken to tackle the chronic problem of speeding on Barff Lane. There is now a speed-activated warning sign along the road and North Yorkshire police are in the process of identifying a suitable location for camera van sites, which will do much to ensure that drivers along the road follows the speed limits and will ultimately save lives in Brayton.

Regrettably, speeding is also seen in other places in my constituency, including Cawood, an extremely rural village whose roads are not fit for the amount of traffic that it sees or for cars going at the speed that they do. I recently held a drop-in event for the community there, and a significant number of residents raised the issue of speeding and dangerous driving on Sherburn Street. I want to make it clear that the safety of residents in Cawood should be a top priority for both North Yorkshire Council and North Yorkshire police. Although I have been assured by the council that there are several existing traffic-calming measures in Sherburn Street, they are in reality having a minimal impact on speeding in Cawood. I would greatly appreciate any support the Minister can give me and local residents in working with North Yorkshire Council and the police to push for measures that will provide a lasting solution to this issue.

It is clear that we have a lot to do, both in Selby and Ainsty and across North Yorkshire, to improve road safety. Every single injury and road death in our communities is one too many, and we must all work together to prevent this debate from being reduced to meaningless, wasteful and distracting culture wars when our constituents are crying out for common-sense change. We need to ensure that local families and the communities in which they live are protected across the length and breadth of our great county, and I look forward to working with anyone who is willing to make this a reality.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Guy Opperman)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty (Keir Mather) on securing his first Adjournment debate. I think this is the first time I have had the opportunity to answer questions from him in the House of Commons, so I congratulate him on winning the by-election. My research tells me that he was born in 1998, which is a very scary thought for those of us who well remember 1998. It is of particular concern to me that when he first came to the House, he indicated to me that he used to work for my first parliamentary staffer, Pete McManus, whom he described as my boss. It is a worry when things are so proximate that the age of individual Members of Parliament is catching up on you. I am sure that that is not an issue for anyone else in the House but it definitely is for me.

I take this debate very seriously, and the hon. Gentleman rightly raises the concerns of his constituents. I pass on my condolences on behalf of the Government and on behalf of everyone here today for the recent fatality that has taken place. Before responding to the essence of what he said, I want to make it clear that every death or serious injury on our roads—not just in North Yorkshire but up and down the country—is a tragedy, and we continue to work tirelessly to improve road safety for all users. That is not just drivers; it is also pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists and mobility scooter users. However, the fact is that Britain has some of the safest roads in the world. The most recent records show that 1,711 people were killed and 28,000 seriously injured on our roads. However, that is clearly a tragedy for any individual so affected and for their family, and we want to work to address that.

I want to make a number of points. Speed-calming measures were a massive part of the hon. Gentleman’s speech. Local authorities, as he rightly identified, have powers under the Highways Act 1980 to install a range of traffic-calming measures. Road humps, chicanes and other such features have all been proven to reduce inappropriate vehicle speed, which, as well as reducing the risk of collisions, lessens the severity of any that do occur. There is also the ability to install other measures to improve road safety, such as pedestrian crossings and 20 mph speed limits. The Department for Transport produces a wide range of good practice advice to help our local authorities to design and deliver such measures. It is for the local council to decide what measures may be appropriate in different locations, taking into account a vast number of criteria. The Department does not set numerical criteria for footfall or collision numbers that must be met to justify the installation of such safety measures. Local authorities can choose to set their own criteria, but that is a decision for them.

I now turn to the vexed issue of 20 mph zones. Every Member will be acutely aware that the introduction of a not total but effective 20 mph zone in Wales has been a singularly unpopular policy that has caused great concern, and it is certainly not something that the Government support. On the other hand, as far as I am aware, not a single Member of Parliament is against the concept of 20 mph zones around schools. There has to be a happy medium, and that is a local authority decision. There are all manner of different factors, including how a zone will influence quality of life, road safety, the environment and the local economy. Local authorities should also take into account the Department’s plan for drivers. To assist them, we are updating the 20 mph speed limit guidance for England to ensure consistency.

I asked for the road safety statistics for the hon. Gentleman’s constituency dating back some considerable time, and my source is the STATS19 data adjusted for changes in reporting systems. There were 46 KSI—killed or seriously injured—casualties on an adjusted basis in 2022, compared with 138 in 2009. We all accept that all the numbers are too high. There is much criticism of both the local authority and this Government, but I gently point out that Labour was in government in 2009. There is a significant difference, and the number has been in double figures since 2013. One can bandy around statistics, but it is clear that the number has come down significantly.

There are a couple of key points to note. First, there has clearly been significant investment in North Yorkshire with the A59 Kex Gill scheme, the A164 Jock’s Lodge junction improvement, the A1237 York outer ring road dualling and the A1079 improvement scheme. I merely make the point that those road improvements have inevitably improved safety.

[Andrew Jones]

The Minister will have seen that, yesterday, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was allocated £380 million from the local transport fund. When we have a local Mayor in place, could that money be used to fund road safety improvements through capital projects?

[Guy Opperman]

The answer is yes, quite simply. It is legitimate to say that this new money for areas across the country, which was announced only yesterday, is a result of the Prime Minister’s decision on the second leg of High Speed 2. A £4.7 billion, seven-year local transport fund has been made available to a large number of local authorities outside the city regions—city regions receive city region sustainable transport settlements—in the north and midlands.

The LTF includes £2.5 billion for local authorities in the north and £2.2 billion for local authorities in the midlands, and that funding will be available from 1 April 2025. This allows local authorities and combined authorities to plan and set their processes, to consult in the appropriate way and then to deliver.

The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority will receive £379 million—I correct my hon. Friend by £1 million—from the local transport fund, which will be game changing. There is much criticism of the local authority, but I met Keane Duncan, local representatives and Members of Parliament when I visited the region at the beginning of January. I was impressed by their commitment to try to do transformational work for North Yorkshire, which includes making the case for further funding. As my hon. Friend outlined, we have been delighted to set forth and provide that. It can bring about road improvements, pelican crossings, road safety measures and traffic-calming measures, and can address other particular points. The guidance will be published shortly, but the fact that it is dramatic new money to assist with specific transport policies can only be welcomed.

I wish to make a few extra points. Road safety is determined, fundamentally, by individual drivers. We should all acknowledge that we can throw brickbats at local authorities or Government, but we require drivers to change their ways. When my hon. Friend was in the Department for Transport, he instituted changes to the highway code and to the driving test. The test that those of us of more advanced years took is dramatically different from the one taken by someone of more recent years, and the highway code is also dramatically different. It includes a hierarchy of road users and makes it very clear that there is a greater degree of reliance upon safety; we are conscious that the driver needs to be better qualified. There is no comparison between the old test and the new test. That has made a difference, which can be seen in the reduction in the numbers that we see in the safety statistics. That is just the tip of the iceberg, and I wish to set out some of the other Government interventions that have been made.

The safer roads fund has invested £47.5 million to fund 27 schemes, taking the total funding to tackle our most dangerous roads to £147.5 million over 83 schemes since 2017. We have made interventions to legislate to address some of the most dangerous activity on our roads. Clearly, the rules on mobile phones have changed. We have also increased the sentence for causing death by dangerous driving, or careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs, from 14 years’ to life imprisonment. We have increased the disqualification period for those causing death by dangerous driving or death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs from two years to five.

We have also undertaken a number of projects to improve the safety of our roads, including the roads policing review, whereby the number of forces putting road policing in their police and crime plans has increased from 15 to 42, with 30 now including road safety. Roads policing has been a strategic policing requirement since February 2023. That sounds techy but it genuinely makes a difference. Our Project RADAR is a systematic investigation that is creating new opportunities to combine and compare data across Departments, arm’s length bodies and policing. That is identifying and intercepting the most dangerous vehicles on our roads. I could go on.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 8th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman]

I have recently come back from a very positive trip to Manchester, where I met stakeholders. I have no doubt that I will be there again soon, and I would be very happy to call in on the hon. Gentleman and his campaign. We have delivered step-free access to more than 200 stations through Access for All, and we have made improvements at 1,500 other stations. I look forward to working with him and his project, which I will visit next time I am up.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

3. What contractual incentives his Department has agreed with train operating companies to encourage more people to use rail services.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Huw Merriman)]

Under the current national rail contracts, train operators earn a fee linked to their performance on addressing key passenger priorities, including punctuality, reliability, service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as revenue growth. While the new passenger service contract is developed, my Department is looking to introduce a stronger incentive for operators to grow rail patronage and revenue.

[Andrew Jones]

My hon. Friend knows my enthusiasm for open access services and the way they bring competition and innovation. That benefits customers by raising standards and therefore encourages more people to use our railways. Does he share my enthusiasm? If so, how will he be promoting open access services? May I gently remind him that I have written to him on this subject with some ideas to promote this way of driving more usage of our rail system?

[Huw Merriman]

I thank my hon. Friend for his letter, for the number of times we have met to discuss this issue and for his enthusiasm, which is shared not only by me, but by the Secretary of State. We saw the authorisation at the end of last year of Grand Union Trains to run services between London and Carmarthen, and we are committed to getting more open access operators, in order to encourage more operators to come to the market. My hon. Friend will know that during the recent rail strikes, open access operators such as Lumo were able to continue to operate. I am meeting the Office of Rail and Road, which is ultimately responsible for the rules in this area, to encourage it to grow open access.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 20th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Holden]

When SNP Members start talking about ferries, we can tell that they think they are on to a good one. It is interesting that they have not raised the subject of motor homes today instead.

Work on the seafarers’ charter continues as we speak, and I will update the House as soon as more information is available.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

10. What assessment he has made of the availability of apprenticeships in the transport sector.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Jesse Norman)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the brilliant work he has done on apprenticeships in Harrogate and Knaresborough over the last few years. I note that some 12,430 new apprenticeships have been created there since 2010. As he knows, the Department is committed to working with the transport industry to create high-quality apprenticeships so that the sector has the skilled workforce it needs. I work closely with the transport employment and skills taskforce to see what we can do to promote apprenticeships still further in the industry.

[Andrew Jones]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. I have been meeting representatives of bus companies that run apprenticeship schemes. They tell me that the rules governing the number of hours per month in the classroom can be problematic for smaller companies when it comes to rostering, and that if there was some flexibility—a change not in the total number of hours, but in the delivery pattern—they would be able to take on more apprenticeships, which they want to do. Will he consider that idea?

[Jesse Norman]

As my hon. Friend knows, the Department for Education published fresh guidance last year on how apprenticeship training can be delivered flexibly to fit business needs. My hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden), the Roads Minister, has been to talk to him and, I believe, has visited the classroom in Harrogate with him, so he can take it from us that we are very much seized of the issue of flexibility and the importance of improving it.

Rail Services

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Harper]

We look at the performance of the rail network overall but, as the Chairman of the Transport Committee said, we need more transparent information. The most important thing is that lots of the issues to do with the performance of train operating companies are partly to do with infrastructure. Passengers do not care what causes the problems, which is why GBR, with its new regional structure, will ensure that we deliver a more joined-up system and better overall performance, which is what is ultimately important for the hon. Lady’s constituents.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. It is very positive that RMT employees at Network Rail are ready to accept the offer, and therefore disappointing that those who work for the train operating companies have not been given a chance to express their views. On the specific points in the negotiations, does he agree that reforms to working practices in order to modernise and bring greater efficiency to the railways are critical to their future? Can he confirm that this is central to the negotiations taking place?

[Mr Harper]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s support for reform in general, but this is also part of the deals that have been accepted. On Network Rail, the modernising maintenance programme is central to delivering the savings that will help to fund the pay offer that has been made. We need to see similar reforms in the train operating companies in order to deliver a reliable, seven-days-a-week rail service that is better for passengers, particularly given that we have seen a bounce-back in leisure travel at the expense of commuter rail, which I do not think is going to come back post-pandemic. We need to see a more flexible railway delivering for passengers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 2nd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Harper]

We have extended the bus recovery grant for a further quarter and extended the £2 fare cap, which has been very popular. We are currently working on our plans subsequent to June, but the hon. Member will know that we work very closely with devolved Metro Mayors across the country to devolve central Government funding to them so that they can make the right decisions for their local areas, and we will make further announcements in due course.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

T4. Two weeks ago, I met members of Harrogate Youth Council, who are running an anti-harassment campaign focusing on public transport. Will my hon. Friend tell me what steps the Government are taking to keep people, in particular young people, safe on our buses and trains?

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Huw Merriman)]

I welcome the work of the Harrogate Youth Council. They should be aware that 95% of buses have CCTV. The trains I mentioned coming up to Tyne and Wear have been designed to contain and reduce antisocial behaviour. What I would really love to do is take the Harrogate Youth Council’s ideas and, when I meet the British Transport police chief constable next week, try to match them and feed back to my hon. Friend.

Bus Services: Blaydon

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Richard Holden)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, could you pass on my thanks to the Speaker for his kind letter following my appointment to this role? This is the first time I have spoken from the Dispatch Box, and I am delighted that it is in an Adjournment debate with the hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist), who is my neighbour just to the north. I congratulate her on securing a debate about this vital issue and on the spirit in which she has spoken today.

The hon. Lady works hard to raise the issues that matter most to her and her constituents, and that is why, before focusing on the subject of this debate, I want to take a moment to commend her for her campaign on mental health and suicide prevention, which is a vital matter, particularly for our region. I know that she has spoken candidly and eloquently about it in the Chamber. While we sometimes disagree, we are often in agreement, such as on the European Statutory Instruments Committee of which we were both members for quite a while. I will hopefully be able to show some of that agreement tonight as I go through my speech.

Turning to bus services in Blaydon, I am acutely aware of the issues of which the hon. Lady speaks, because routes such as the 47, X46 and X71 go through my constituency and into hers. We have to work together with leaders from across the north-east to try to address transport issues, and the leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon and I have worked closely, particularly during the pandemic, on the issues facing local transport services. I hope to be able to give the hon. Lady a little more clarity on what is coming forward, particularly on the bus service improvement plan. I fully understand and appreciate the hon. Lady’s concerns. In fact, I would probably be raising them myself had I not been moved to the Front Bench. I assure her that my officials have been in contact with Go North East in advance of this debate to understand further the issues specific to her constituency and across the wider north-east.

The Government are clear that we want public transport to be integral to the future of transportation across the country. Transport networks, and local bus services in particular, are vital to ensuring that communities can stay connected, supporting so many industries and getting employees to work, and to the broader levelling-up agenda. That has never been more important as we seek to recover from the global pandemic. After all, buses are the country’s favourite mode of transport, with more than 4 billion journeys made in 2019—twice as much as the next form of transport.

Turning to the hon. Lady’s points, I will start with BSIPs and then move on to environmental factors, low emission buses, the recovery fund, short-notice cancellations, driver shortages, and ZEBRA funding. On the broader national bus strategy and BSIPs, the Government have committed to investing over £3 billion in this Parliament to deliver improvements to bus services throughout the country. It is one of the largest investments in buses in recent years, and we are on track to meet that commitment, having already allocated £2.5 billion.

Our national bus strategy, published in 2021, sets out how we intend to deliver better bus services for passengers around the country through ambitious and far-reaching reform of how services are planned and delivered. The NBS is explicit about seeking to ensure that the needs of small towns and rural transport users are given equal consideration to those in urban environments and is supportive of improved connectivity and availability of services in rural areas. To deliver improvements around the country, in urban and rural areas, the strategy sets out how our work will fundamentally change the relationship between local authorities and bus operators. Crucially, we want to ensure that local authorities have a pivotal role, working with bus operators, to ensure the provision of bus networks that meet the needs of the local communities they serve.

As a first step, the Government asked every local authority to work with their bus operators to develop a clear, detailed, and ambitious local bus service improvement plan. BSIPs are intended to set out each local authority’s vision for improving bus services in their area over the long term, and to act as a guide to help design local transport networks that are tailor-made for the communities they serve, particularly when it comes to cutting fares and journey times and increasing frequency. In April, after assessing each of the plans, we were pleased to be able to offer indicative funding allocations to support 31 BSIPs totalling over £1 billion in both rural and urban areas.

The hon. Member for Blaydon welcomed the £163 million allocated to the North East and North of Tyne Combined Authorities. We have now confirmed final allocations for the vast majority of local transport authorities that have been selected to receive funding to deliver their BSIPs. The Department for Transport has been clear that BSIP funding is conditional on the submission and implementation of a transformational enhanced partnership or franchising arrangement. We are working with Transport North East on developing their enhanced partnership with a view to delivering funding once we are satisfied that it is in place. I assure the hon. Lady that that will happen in the not-too-distant future, and I will be delighted to write to her when it happens and maybe even come to her constituency to launch it in the next few months.

The hon. Lady also mentioned zero-emission buses and levelling up, which are important, particularly in towns that have had diesel buses causing air pollution for too long. The Government are clear that buses have an essential role to play in achieving net zero, driving the green transformation and creating cleaner and healthier places to live. We have supported bus companies in the north-east to introduce net zero buses.

Between 2019 and 2021, Go North East was awarded just under £3 million through the ultra low emission bus scheme for 18 net zero buses and associated charging infrastructure to operate within the Tyne and Wear region. The national bus strategy further committed to introduce 4,000 zero-emission buses and achieve an all-zero-emission bus fleet. That will support our climate ambitions, improve transport for local communities and deliver higher air quality and green jobs in places such as Falkirk and Scarborough. My right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Sir Robert Goodwill), who is chair of the all-party parliamentary group for the bus and coach industry, has already been banging on my door about delivering those jobs in the UK. On my first visit today, to the Euro Bus expo in Birmingham, I saw that there are great opportunities for the UK.

We are making good progress. Since February 2020, we have provided funding to support 2,400 zero-emission buses in England. Our zero-emission bus regional areas scheme has given local authorities nearly £270 million in funding for zero-emission buses and infrastructure. Several buses funded by ZEBRA have already been ordered, including 193 by First Bus, which is the largest single order for electric buses in the UK outside London. I also saw some of the ones that Liverpool has ordered for its metro system today.

I am aware, however, that although 4,000 buses is a good starting point—some of those are still to come—it is only a starting point. We need to go further and faster to decarbonise the whole bus fleet across the whole country. That is why in March, the Government launched a consultation to help to set the legal end date for the sale of new non-zero-emission buses at some point between 2025 and 2032. We will confirm that exact date in due course. We have also launched calls for evidence to decarbonise coaches and minibuses—minibuses are actually one of the big issues.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I am much enjoying my hon. Friend’s debut at the Dispatch Box. Having worked with him previously in the Department for Transport, I know that he is a great champion for buses.

I want to confirm everything that I have just heard. My hon. Friend said that the zero-emission bus roll-out, which has been so successful, is not just for the north-east but for the whole country. Perhaps he will take the opportunity, if he wants to visit the leading low-emission town in the country, to visit Harrogate early in his agenda.

[Mr Holden]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I would be delighted to visit Harrogate at the earliest opportunity, and I hope that he will take me to Bettys tearoom as part of that.

Great British Railways

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

Luckily, I have already answered the hon. Gentleman’s first question. We have certainly not brought Great British Railways to a halt. Again, we said the location of its headquarters will be announced shortly. This has not been stopped, abandoned or any of the other things we are hearing from the Labour party. We are very clear that we want to look forward to a rail network that is seeing massive, almost unprecedented investment, and in which customers can look forward to better facilities and better services that deliver for their communities. I leave it to the hon. Gentleman to look back wistfully at British Rail.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

It is clear we have a very busy legislative programme, but that does not necessarily mean we have to stop things like fares reform, network efficiency, flexible ticketing or encouraging more people back on to our railways. Those things do not need legislation; they just need progression. This time will allow my hon. Friend to ensure a significant role for the private sector in rail reform and, of course, to further consider the merits of York as the location of the headquarters of Great British Railways.

[Kevin Foster]

I could not have put it better myself. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is a range of things we can take forward, not least fares reform and innovative practices such as last year’s rail sale. There is plenty of work that can still be done, and we will certainly be getting on with it.

Zero-emission Buses

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Murray. I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Sir Robert Goodwill) on securing the debate. I, too, am a member of the all-party parliamentary group for the bus and coach industry. It is great to see such enthusiasm for buses. I was the bus Minister for the Bus Services Act 2017, and it was not that easy to generate enthusiasm from colleagues. The situation is much improved.

As has been said already, it is buses that do the heavy lifting of our public transport system. We must remember that carbon emissions from transport are 30% of our total carbon emissions. No progress on getting people to switch modes, on boosting passenger numbers on buses or on removing carbon from our bus networks will mean it is much harder for us to hit our overall net zero objectives. Thus, I strongly support the initiatives to boost the roll-out of zero-emission buses across the country. It has been happening for a little while—as bus Minister I did some of this work, but the work also predated me. The work on that goes back to the last Labour Government, when the technologies became available and the bus Ministers at the time saw the opportunities and grabbed them. It has been happening in stages over a period of time.

I was clear that the technology has presented significant opportunities, and it has been made clear in the debate so far that there are different technologies available. The points on hydrogen made by my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Jacob Young), who always speaks with passion and detail on this subject, were spot-on. The hydrogen opportunity is exciting and it is also changing quite fast.

We have many electric buses in Harrogate and Knaresborough already. They have been delivered by The Harrogate Bus Company and we are shortly due to have some more. There is a £20 million project, which includes £7.8 million from the county council, as part of the zero-emission bus regional areas scheme, or ZEBRA—quite a catchy name—and an investment of £12 million by Transdev, which is The Harrogate Bus Company’s parent company. That will deliver 71 new electric buses for North Yorkshire, with 45 based out of the Harrogate depot, and they will be split approximately 50:50 between single and double-decker buses. The first route to enter into service will be the busy Harrogate to Knaresborough route.

It is also worth noting that as the transition develops, with the buses entering service from summer 2023, dependent on the supply chain—that is the advice I have received from the bus company—that will include the popular 36 route, which is quite famous in the bus world. Stepping on to the No. 36 bus is like boarding an aeroplane and turning left, with libraries and charging points—it is a very comfortable experience. I hope that the Minister will visit and experience that one day.

There are a number of lessons that I would like to share with colleagues about the rolling out of electric buses. It is not as straightforward as just purchasing the buses from the manufacturers—though that is not straightforward either, as has been made clear. There are other things in play here. I want to build on some of the points made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby. He, and all colleagues, are clearly right about the environmental merits of the buses. He also mentioned the longevity of service, with buses entering service and staying there for a long period of time, while churn of the fleet is incredibly helpful in meeting our air-quality objectives. A Euro 6 bus that enters service now is probably replacing a bus from Euro 4 standards, but a Euro 6 bus emits only 4% of the pollutants of a Euro 4 bus. That is not zero-emission but, my goodness, it is significant progress, so fleet churn is quite critical.

I want to highlight some of the lessons we learned from the first phase of electric bus roll-outs in Harrogate. There were operational issues that customers did not see. Quite the opposite, in fact, because customers saw a fantastic new fleet of vehicles that are, by definition, well designed and more modern. They loved the environmental benefits and particularly liked the smooth ride, which is a feature of an electric-powered vehicle anyway, so they were popular with passengers. However, it is not that easy for them to enter service because that may require a reconfiguration of a depot and a transformation of engineering skills at the bus company. If someone has spent many decades working on large diesel vehicles, pivoting overnight to suddenly maintaining electric fleets is not possible, so significant training is required.

The biggest challenge was the electricity supply to the bus station and getting all the underlying utility works done. That was not a straightforward matter and it took a considerable time to get it all right. There are different methods of charging, and in this particular case it is like a train, so a pantograph comes out of the top of the bus, charges in the bus station and then the bus can go off and do its route around town. It is about lots of small charges that people do not even know are taking place as they get on and off the buses because there is a pantograph above them. It is very effective.

I share that information because I think it is critical that the back-office and structural work is considered in the roll-out of electric vehicles. In some parts of the country, significant work will be required to the electricity network, just as for the roll-out of electric charging points.

[Luke Pollard]

The hon. Member is making a sound point. I am concerned that the lack of power connections, not only to bus depots but to our ports, means that many non-standard equipment—buses, JCBs, cranes and other things—that could be electric in the future will not be because they do not have the power infrastructure. Does he agree that we need not only a bus strategy but a power strategy that works with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to ensure that those places get the resources they need to decarbonise?

[Andrew Jones]

Yes, getting power to the right places in the right quantities will clearly be critical. There will be areas where there are greater levels of usage, and we will need to heavily over-invest up front to make that happen. Whether that is best done through BEIS is a different question; I would suggest that a slightly more localised approach might be better. However, the point about power delivery is clearly correct, as is the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough about the up-front investment required. It is an up-front cost, followed by long periods of service. I know that the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard) was talking about the vehicle costs, but that up-front cost must also include the infrastructure.

That is the critical point that I want to make to the Minister. Will she please consider how the roll-out of these vehicles, whether hydrogen or electric, is done? They are fantastic vehicles, will make a huge difference to the quality of life in the areas they serve, and will help hit our net zero objectives. However, we must ensure that the infrastructure in the background is correct, so the work must take place in parallel. Getting that right will help speed the deployment of the vehicles. I know that that is her objective and that she is very passionate about doing this, so that is why I share this information today.

[Mrs Sheryll Murray (in the Chair)]

I call Jim Shannon.

Transport

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I will make a few points, but I will be particularly aware of the time and make sure that I do not overrun, so that other colleagues can get in. First, I agree strongly with the point made by the Minister of State, Department for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson), that Government support for the transport sector during the pandemic was very strong. It was necessary in the emergency that we faced. However, the message to people to avoid public transport, while I understood its point, undid some of the progress that had been made in getting people back on to public transport in the first place. Our task now is to encourage people to resume using public transport and to ensure that the Government investment programme surges ahead, although I recognise fully that these are tough times in transport planning, given all the uncertainties. We are still facing problems from the pandemic, when things like train driver training were cut back, but it is a bad mistake to think that the current level of passenger demand has stabilised and is somehow fixed and that service levels can be cut back accordingly.

We have seen some of the implications of this locally on the Leeds-Harrogate-Knaresborough-York line. The services that have been cut back are the early morning services to Leeds, although many people from Harrogate commute to Leeds for work. Some will now find it impossible to be in work on time. For other service users, it is now impossible to connect with the Leeds to London services that get into our capital before 10 am. That is not good enough for business people, and Harrogate has significant conference business at its convention centre, with many people travelling to it from across the country. Other rail cuts have created long gaps in the evening services and an earlier finish on the Knaresborough service. These cuts are obviously bad for our night-time economy.

It is not great to see these things because we had been making such great progress after all of the years of Labour’s no-growth northern franchise. We have got rid of the Pacers, we have much better rolling stock and we have more services, especially the six direct London services per day using the new Azuma trains. I have taken this matter up locally, specifically with the chair of Northern Rail, Robin Gisby, with whom I had a very positive meeting. It was clear that he recognised the significance of the services that have been cut, and he is working on reinstatement for later this year. Getting more drivers through training is a necessary ingredient for progress.

I recognise the challenges in resuming full pre-pandemic levels of operation. We have lower demand at the moment, as well as operational issues. We can see comparable issues in other sectors of the economy and in our public services, but lots of people have worked hard to secure the rail improvements we have enjoyed over the last 10 years and lots of people need the services that have been lost. Those services have a disproportionate economic impact, which is why we need them back at the earliest opportunity. May I ask the Minister to focus on ensuring that the operational side of the catch-up is delivered as fast as possible? I recognise that this is the industry’s responsibility, but pressure from the Minister can help.

I would like to switch modes and talk about buses. We have many electric buses in Harrogate already. There was a step change in 2018 when a fleet of eight electric buses went into service. That funding came from a green bus fund initiative, which ran for many years. Before anybody intervenes, I acknowledge that I am indeed marking my own homework here, as a former bus Minister, but the point is that we are now seeing comparable initiatives all across the country. Indeed, only in the last few weeks the Harrogate Bus Company and North Yorkshire County Council, under the excellent leadership of Councillor Don Mackenzie, have won approval for their bid to the Government’s zero emission bus regional areas—ZEBRA—scheme. The county council has secured £8 million and the Harrogate Bus Company is investing £12 million to create a scheme that will bring 39 electric buses to Harrogate and, especially, to Knaresborough.

I would like to share the experience we have had in Harrogate. The bottom line is that the new electric buses are very popular, and the customer response has been excellent. I have checked this with the bus company and with passengers. People like the ride quality and the quietness, alongside the fact that the vehicles are bright, airy and pleasant to be in. They are obviously also emission free, which is highly popular. When the new buses arrive, I know that they will be popular too. The point of mentioning this is to encourage the Government to put as much pace as possible into the Bus Back Better campaign. The 4,000 zero-emission buses that will come from it will be popular. They will drive passenger usage, they will help to deliver our net zero objectives and as the buses will be built across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, they will help to deliver on the levelling up agenda. There are not many policy areas that can tick that many boxes, so please can we look at how the zero emission schemes have been implemented? There are lessons to be learned there, and those lessons will speed deployment. More wins, more quickly.

I have a moment left, and I have one further ask of Ministers. Will they keep the House informed of progress in the single leg pricing rail fare reform trial? Again, I must be up front about the fact that my fingerprints are on this issue. This trial is about simplifying fares on the London to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh routes so that passengers can mix and match to get more flexibility and therefore better deals. Initial feedback from LNER has been positive. I am not surprised by that, because we have seen passenger benefits. If Ministers could keep the House informed, that would be great. If the trail remains successful, perhaps it could be rolled out into other areas of the country so that more passengers can get better deals.

Lastly, there has been an enormous amount of hot air today from the Opposition Benches. The Labour Government did nothing to invest in rail during their time in office. We have listened to Labour Members suggesting that they would spend billions of pounds without identifying where the money would come from. Their track record is woeful. I ask them to consider how many miles of electrified railway the Labour Government delivered during the course of their term in office. It was woeful. They should not try to hide from their record. They should recognise that things have changed under this Government.

[Several hon. Members rose—]