Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

The newly established transport employment and skills taskforce is already taking steps to identify and address the shortage of skills and jobs across the transport sector that we face now, and it is thinking about how we tackle this for the future. We are supporting new HGV driver training through apprenticeships and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to support jobseekers to become HGV drivers. We want to make sure that we grow this pool. This is a challenge not only in the UK, but across the world, and we want to make sure that we are at the front end of bringing these new young people into this industry.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

11. What recent discussions she has had with Transport for London on its progress on making the agreed savings under the long- term funding settlement of 30 August 2022.

[Mr Speaker]

Minister, welcome.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Katherine Fletcher)]

Well, this is not remotely intimidating!

The longer-term settlement agreed with the Mayor in August sets a framework for Government funding until March 2024 and gives certainty on transport in London. It is based on commitments made by the Mayor during previous agreements and it is now down to the Mayor and Transport for London to deliver. Progress under the most recent funding settlement will be regularly monitored to ensure fairness to the national taxpayer.

[Bob Blackman]

I thank the Minister for that answer.

May I also commemorate the tragedy that took place 70 years ago last weekend at Harrow & Wealdstone station, in my constituency? A number of events were held in Harrow to commemorate that event, and I thank the Minister of State, Department for Transport, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) for mentioning it.

On the long-term settlement for TfL, the Mayor has committed £500 million-worth of savings, but thus far we have heard nothing about what savings are to be made, and it appears that no progress has been made. Will the Under-Secretary commit to holding the Mayor to account and making sure that those savings are resolved before that funding is provided to TfL?

[Katherine Fletcher]

The long-term funding settlement does not include a condition that requires the Mayor to make or report on specific savings targets. It is for the Mayor and TfL to deliver within the funding outlined in the settlement, which provides security until March 2024 and is, I remind my hon. Friend, the fifth package of support the Government have provided to TfL for covid recovery. I remind the House that TfL was originally set up to be independent of central Government in terms of its income and spend. The current settlement returns to that model as a whole, and it is for the London Mayor to decide how he controls his costs and looks for efficiencies within TfL. We will continue to monitor his progress to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used fairly to support London’s commuters.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lucy Frazer)]

The hon. Member will know that the Government have taken a variety of actions and considered very carefully the position in relation to P&O. He talks about the Insolvency Service and, obviously, this is a matter for it.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T4. Over the summer, the Mayor of London conducted a consultation on expanding the ultra low emission zone across outer London. Two thirds of those responding said that they do not want it and that they want it stopped. Clearly, the Mayor is preparing the ground to introduce this against Londoners’ wishes, so will my hon. Friend on the Front Bench—whoever is going to answer—agree that we should completely reject this imposition on motorists in outer London and make sure that the Mayor cannot use any of the subsidy that is being provided to Transport for London to introduce such a scheme?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Katherine Fletcher)]

With a daily charge of £12.50, I can understand why my hon. Friend’s residents are concerned. I remind him that the Mayor’s powers do not allow for revenue-raising schemes in their own right, but only those that deliver policy outcomes such as those relating to air quality and/or congestion. The consultation, which has been run by the Mayor, is now closed and we are expecting a response this year. I understand that my hon. Friend may have concerns about how responses have been considered as part of that consultation, and I would support him in directing them directly to the Mayor, Sadiq Khan.