Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

Much as it causes me pain, I will agree with the hon. Gentleman. He is absolutely right to say that we need to ensure that the companies in the Sheffield and Derbyshire areas, as well as other companies, are in a position to take advantage of HS2.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Pendle residents are concerned about the state of local roads across our area. Given that the Government have made £6 billion available for pothole repairs, how can we encourage local authorities to deliver the repairs that we all want to see?

[Andrew Jones]

We are providing local authorities with financial support amounting to a record £6 billion between now and 2021 for highways maintenance. We are also encouraging them to look at the way in which they manage their programmes, and 85% of local authorities in England have now signed up to the highways maintenance efficiency programme. This is how we are supporting councils. We are talking about a significant investment here: it is enough to deal with 18 million potholes per year, and it is making a difference to the quality of our road network.

Harvey’s Law

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

I will briefly add my support for this campaign. I have been contacted by numerous constituents about the need for a change in the law, including one who said in an e-mail to me:

“What is the point in compulsory microchipping and identification if they’re not going to be checked by the relevant authorities when an animal is found?”

I could not agree more with my constituent. I hope that the people’s Minister, who is a pet owner himself, will respond to the voices of the people and consider the issue sympathetically.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2014 Commons Chamber

The Leader of the House was asked—

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

6. What plans he has to improve the system of e-petitions.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

9. What plans he has to improve the system of e-petitions.

[The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Tom Brake)]

Following a resolution of the House on 8 May, my office has been working with the Procedure Committee on a collaborative e-petition system. Details of what the new system will look like and how it will operate are still being discussed and developed. However, I can assure Members that before the end of this Parliament a set of proposals for a new e-petition system will be brought before the House for debate and decision.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. My constituent John Clough has sponsored a petition on the change.org website calling for a stalkers register that so far has attracted over 120,000 signatures. Could well-supported online petitions such as Mr Clough’s hosted on sites other than the official e-petition website play a role in influencing the debates here in Parliament?

[Tom Brake]

Clearly the petition of the hon. Gentleman’s constituent John Clough can indeed play a role in influencing Parliament, in that the hon. Gentleman has a number of opportunities to raise it, such as through Adjournment debates, and the Backbench Business Committee remains an option to raise petitions not just on the e-petition site, but any other site.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2014 Commons Chamber

The Leader of the House was asked—

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to support the House in rationalising the processing of written questions and answers and in improving the service to hon. Members.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

The Government are supporting the project being undertaken by the House to enable the electronic exchange of parliamentary questions and answers between Members and answering bodies. All Departments are fully engaged in the roll-out of this exciting project, and my office has successfully transferred to the live system.

[Andrew Stephenson]

Will the Leader of the House tell us what effect the project will have on savings for the House and on the convenience of Members?

[Mr Lansley]

I expect the new system to save significant sums in this Parliament and across Departments, including by reducing the costs of publishing questions and answers. The new system will also improve reporting and transparency for Members and the public, through providing dedicated webpages for written answers.

Disabled Access (Train Stations)

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Westminster Hall

[Rory Stewart]

Absolutely. Indeed, I pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman for the extraordinary work that he did in the 1980s. Yet again, at a time of cynicism about Parliament, cynicism about Back Benchers, and cynicism about what people can contribute, the contribution that he made as an Opposition Back Bencher at that crucial stage was really heart-warming.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is being incredibly generous with his time. I congratulate him on securing this important debate. Does he agree that it is not just a matter of stations but a real lack of consistency between train operators on disabled access? A constituent of mine uses a mobility scooter, and I was told by Northern Rail that because it has 13 different types of train, most with ramps that are steeper than eight degrees and therefore in its eyes unsafe to use, she has to be accompanied by someone to fold and lift her scooter on to each individual train. In other parts of the country, train operating companies have come up with solutions to that. Does my hon. Friend agree that train operators should try to find a consistent common approach to the issue of access for people using mobility scooters? Perhaps the Minister could look at that as part of the franchise process.

[Rory Stewart]

My hon. Friend makes two important points. The first is about the inconsistency between operators, which is something that we have experienced very personally in Penrith. The apparently winning bidder for the west coast franchise committed to install a lift at Penrith station. When that franchise collapsed, having got a written commitment from the chief executive of that group, we ended up going back to Virgin and no such commitment is emerging. Virgin says that it has no interest in the work because it has only four or five years to run on its franchise. That has been a great disappointment for us and illustrates my hon. Friend’s point.

The second, bigger point, and the more important one, is that disabled access at the train station—in other words lifts—is only the beginning and not the end of the conversation. There are any number of other things to be considered. Some of them are to do with changes in technology available to disabled people, the increasing use of mobility scooters and the importance of being able to get them on and off trains and the height of the platforms—in many cases, the platforms are built at the wrong height for people to be able to get off the train. Those may be expensive interventions but they certainly need to be part of our objectives.

Another objective is access to disabled lavatories on board trains. Recently, one of my constituents was seated in the wrong carriage and was unable to access the disabled lavatory. No one was able to assist them to get from one carriage to another, and the result was really distressing.

To conclude, this is a matter of which Britain should be proud. All Back Benchers and all parties—all the way from Northern Ireland, through the Labour party, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives—have done an extraordinary amount to show what Britain means in terms of disabled rights and disabled access. This is also a Government who are proud of their infrastructure investments and their contribution to employment through infrastructure, particularly through railways. We must put those two things together. If we can do that, we can look forward to a day when all hon. Members will be able to access the wonderful conditions that are now available at Winchester station. All Members who have gathered today to talk about the problems of access in their own constituencies will be able to get to where we would like to be at Penrith, which is a world in which the millions of people using trains, including the 7.5 million tourists who go to the Lake district every year, will step off that train on to Penrith station and see a brand-new lift, and they will see it not just as an article of public convenience but a symbol of British civilisation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 28th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I should inform the House that the present Clerk of the House presented me with a signed copy of the sixth edition of his well-thumbed tome upon my election to the Chair. I hope that the House will feel that I have gained greatly from reading it cover to cover.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

7. What progress the Commission has made on reducing the subsidy on food and drink served in the House. [Official Report, 9 May 2013, Vol. 563, c. 1-2MC.]

[John Thurso]

The cost of the catering service is expected to have been reduced by £1.1 million over the past three years. It stood at £5.9 million in 2010-11 and £5.1 million in 2011-12. The forecast cost for the current financial year is £4.8 million. The current aim is to reduce the cost further so that by 2015 it should be reduced by £3 million, roughly half of what it was at the start of the Parliament.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s answer, but recent media reports that the subsidy for Parliament’s 19 restaurants, nine bars and the coffee shop has actually increased over the past year were met with dismay from many of our constituents across the country. In addition to what he has said today about reducing the cost of the House catering facilities, I urge him to look at moving even faster on the issue to ensure that all subsidy is removed as soon as possible.

[John Thurso]

We are certainly seeking to reduce the cost wherever possible, but there have been changes in the way we operate that make turnover more difficult. I point out that the key gross profit, or kitchen profit, made by the House’s outlets is fully comparable to what we would expect to find in industry. It is the other costs, caused largely by our sitting arrangements and the staffing required for that, that put us over into subsidy. That is the area currently being tackled by the business improvement plan.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 18th October 2012 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

1. What assessment he has made of the potential for reintroducing the Colne to Skipton rail link.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mr Simon Burns)]

The Department for Transport has not made an independent assessment of the economic benefits arising from reopening the Skipton to Colne line. Where local travel needs are the central objective, we look to the local authorities concerned to take the first step in evaluating benefits and prioritising available resources.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I hope the Minister has seen my early-day motion 479, setting out the work of the Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership campaign group, which is fighting for the line to be reopened. Will he meet with me and representatives of SELRAP to discuss the huge potential benefits of reopening the line?

[Mr Burns]

I hope my hon. Friend is reassured when I say that I have seen and read early-day motion 479. I am more than happy to meet with him and, if he agrees, I think it would be sensible to meet with the relevant local authorities as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman feels an Adjournment debate coming on. We shall no doubt discover whether that is the case.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

11. What steps her Department is taking to improve the punctuality of trains.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Norman Baker)]

The Office of Rail Regulation and I have made it clear to Network Rail and train operating companies that current trends in performance are causing concern and that we expect industry-wide action to get performance back on target as soon as possible. The industry has agreed a plan to achieve just that.

[Andrew Stephenson]

The recent letter from the Office of Rail Regulation to Network Rail raises serious concerns over the delay per incident rate on the rail network, which is going up. What discussions has the Minister had with the ORR, Network Rail and the train operating companies to address that specific problem?

[Norman Baker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that it is a worrying trend that the delay per incident rate is increasing. I have discussed the matter with Network Rail and the train companies. It is difficult to get to the bottom of it and it appears that there is no one simple explanation. A number of steps need to be taken by Network Rail and the train companies to deal with this issue. To answer his question directly, I am meeting both parties in about an hour.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hammond]

I am pleased to see that British Airways, along with BAA, now accepts the finality of the coalition Government’s decision that we will not allow the building of a third runway at Heathrow airport. However, that is not the end of the matter. We have to provide for aviation growth in the south-east of England, and in the UK as a whole, in order to meet the needs of a growing economy in future. That is why we have launched a scoping document and will bring forward a new sustainable aviation policy by the end of next year.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

T9. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on what progress has been made on the reopening of the Todmorden curve, which will provide a faster rail route between East Lancashire and Manchester?

High Speed Rail

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Monday 20th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am not sure that that will be practical, in view of the number and frequency of the roadshow events. I can absolutely assure him that I will attend at least one—probably more than one—but I certainly cannot promise to attend all of them. Perhaps I might elaborate on this point. We intend to hold specific, locally focused roadshows at multiple points along the line of the London to Birmingham part of the route, where the exact route alignment has been defined. We envisage that those discussions will mainly be about local impacts. We also intend to hold a series of more broadly based meetings across the UK to discuss the broader principles of high speed rail and some of the more strategic issues about the route choices.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement, which I believe will help address the north-south divide. Has he made a detailed estimate that is available to Members of the huge economic benefits of this scheme to the north of England?

[Mr Hammond]

A full business case showing the economic benefits of the proposed railway will now be updated on the basis of the route that I have set out today. That will be published at the commencement of the consultation in February.