Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of plans by HS2 Ltd to put back the development of Phase 1 of the route on communities where preparatory work has begun.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Government announced to Parliament its plans for rephasing some elements of the HS2 scheme on 9 March 2023. The plans were developed in consultation with HS2 Ltd and prioritise opening HS2 services between Old Oak Common in west London and Curzon Street in Birmingham.
My Department is continuing to work through the implications of the funding settlement with HS2 Ltd. If any further decisions are made, they will be announced in due course.
HS2 Ltd will of course continue to engage with affected residents in line with the principles set out in its Community Engagement strategy and will involve, inform, consult and respond to residents as necessary
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if it remains his Department's policy not to reinstate hard shoulders on smart motorways
Answered by Richard Holden
We have paused the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more safety and economic data to make informed decisions on next steps. We will consider alternative options for enhancing capacity on the Strategic Road Network. The Government has acted to improve smart motorway safety, ordering a stocktake in 2020 and investing £900 million to equip them with stopped vehicle detection, enforcement cameras, additional signs and emergency areas.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the number of railway stations in England that do not have disabled access to (a) public lavatories and (b) all platforms.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The 2021 Plan for Rail committed to a comprehensive accessibility audit of all stations in Great Britain which will include disabled access to lavatories and all platforms. Over 85% of stations have now been audited and we expect to finish this work by Spring 2023.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the punctuality of trains at railway stations in (a) England, (b) the West Midlands, (c) Tamworth and (d) Lichfield District; and what steps she is taking to help improve punctuality.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Rail performance ‘On Time’ statistics, measuring the percentage of services arriving at stations within a prescribed time limit are published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) at England and Wales level and at train operator level (rather than station level).
Table 1: The percentage of recorded station stops arrived at within 59 seconds per quarter, in England and Wales | |
Quarter | Trains arriving within 59 seconds (percentage) |
Jan to Mar 2019 | 67.0 |
Apr to Jun 2019 | 69.4 |
Jul to Sep 2019 | 64.8 |
Oct to Dec 2019 | 59.3 |
Jan to Mar 2020 | 65.6 |
Apr to Jun 2020 | 86.7 |
Jul to Sep 2020 | 79.6 |
Oct to Dec 2020 | 75.1 |
Jan to Mar 2021 | 80.5 |
Apr to Jun 2021 | 78.2 |
Jul to Sep 2021 | 74.6 |
Oct to Dec 2021 | 68.2 |
Jan to Mar 2022 | 72.5 |
Apr to Jun 2022 | 72.4 |
Source: ORR Train punctuality at recorded station stops by operator (Table 3133) | |
Tamworth railway station is served by Avanti West Coast Trains, CrossCountry and West Midlands Trains while the two-railway stations in Lichfield District (Lichfield City Centre and Lichfield Trent Valley) are served by Avanti West Coast Trains and West Midlands Trains. Table 2 shows the percentage of recorded station stops arrived at within 59 seconds per quarter for those selected three train operators.
Table 2: The percentage of recorded station stops arrived at within 59 seconds per quarter, in England and Wales by relevant operator | |||
Quarter | Avanti West Coast | CrossCountry | West Midlands |
Jan to Mar 2019 | 50.1 | 52.9 | 62.5 |
Apr to Jun 2019 | 44.4 | 51.6 | 58.9 |
Jul to Sep 2019 | 38.9 | 46.6 | 52.5 |
Oct to Dec 2019 | 34.7 | 40.5 | 45.0 |
Jan to Mar 2020 | 40.4 | 49.2 | 54.7 |
Apr to Jun 2020 | 69.7 | 79.3 | 79.7 |
Jul to Sep 2020 | 60.9 | 67.4 | 73.0 |
Oct to Dec 2020 | 57.8 | 61.3 | 68.8 |
Jan to Mar 2021 | 60.7 | 69.1 | 77.6 |
Apr to Jun 2021 | 60.1 | 66.8 | 72.8 |
Jul to Sep 2021 | 55.8 | 60.5 | 67.8 |
Oct to Dec 2021 | 45.3 | 52.6 | 59.3 |
Jan to Mar 2022 | 51.0 | 60.4 | 65.1 |
Apr to Jun 2022 | 46.5 | 58.6 | 63.5 |
Source: ORR Train punctuality at recorded station stops by operator (Table 3133) | |||
The Department is continuing to work closely with industry to develop and drive through important performance improvement initiatives.
As the pandemic has changed travel habits, operators are using this opportunity to reassess their services to ensure they provide rail timetables that meet new passenger travel patterns, are fit for the future, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve facilities for HGV drivers on the M42, including around Tamworth.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring hauliers have access to appropriate services and facilities.
That is why we are investing £52.5 million in roadside facilities in England for HGV drivers on the road. The funding will go towards supporting operators to make improvements such as improving security, sanitary and eating facilities as well as possibly increasing parking spaces for lorry drivers.
We have commissioned a ‘National Lorry Parking Survey’ which commenced in January 2022 and will be used as our primary evidence base to understand what improvements are most needed and where they are needed. The M42 including the area around Tamworth is included in this survey and its output will be used to set criteria for government funding. In addition, once published, the Survey will be available to support planning applications for new lorry parking.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of funding issued under the Active Travel programme has been allocated to improving (a) cycling and (b) walking facilities in Staffordshire.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Over the past three tranches of active travel funding rounds beginning in 2020 a total of £2,385,500 of Active Travel funding has been awarded to Staffordshire. Funding is not defined by the proportion allocated to individual modes of travel. However, whilst it is not possible to determine the funding directly attributed to cycling or walking, the implementation of active travel schemes has a wider benefit beyond the scope of individual schemes, providing benefits to those who are walking, wheeling, or cycling.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of its E-scooter trials as of 5 September 2022; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that (a) the police and (b) local authorities can enforce and encourage responsible E-scooter use.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Department for Transport has in place a national monitoring and evaluation programme for the e-scooter trials. This programme is drawing from a range of data, including surveys with rental e-scooter users and residents. The findings report from this evaluation is due to be published later this year.
It is our intention to use the powers in the Transport Bill to legalise e-scooter use in the future, with robust technical requirements and clear expectations on users. A more appropriate regulatory regime for e-scooters will allow the police to enforce regulations more effectively and focus on those using e-scooters in a way that endangers themselves and other road users or pedestrians. The Bill will also include provisions that will subsequently permit local authorities to manage cycle and e-scooter rental schemes, so that they can tailor services to their local area while still ensuring a baseline national standard of service provision.
No decisions have been made on the details of the regulations for e-scooters or rental cycle and e-scooter schemes, and we will consult before any new arrangements come into force.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many new open access rail operations have been approved since May 2010; and how many such operations were approved between May 2005 and April 2010 under the previous administration.
Answered by Claire Perry
Approval of track access agreements is a statutory function of the independent Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The Department for Transport does not intervene in their decision making.
The Department does not hold this information but the ORR lists all current licence holders on its website.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to better support (a) all new entrants to the railway operation market and (b) open access rail operators.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department is supportive of the principles and the benefits of competition that open access can bring, such as greater choice and lower fares for some passengers. Open access operators have helped to provide new services for passengers and grow new rail markets.
However, these benefits must be set against the need to reduce the overall cost of the railway to taxpayers and balanced against the potential to abstract passenger revenue from franchised operators.
Decisions on granting access rights to operate railway services are the responsibility of the independent Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). ORR does not normally approve access rights for new competing services, including open access services, which would not generate at least 30p of new revenue for every £1 abstracted from existing operators. ORR also takes account of the total amount of abstraction from franchised operators in order to consider the effect this may have on the funds available to the Secretary of State for the purposes of his functions in relation to railways and railway services.
The Department is continuing to develop the franchising approach and to engage with prospective operators about the opportunities within the railways in England and Wales. The pre-qualification process, which is the first stage operators face in the franchising competition process, is designed to ensure a field of appropriately qualified operators to meet the requirements of passengers and the Department; the process has been recently adapted to specifically encourage new entrants and partnerships.
Asked by: Christopher Pincher (Independent - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department has issued to the Office of Rail Regulation on supporting more competition between franchised rail operators and open access rail operators where capacity and appropriate conditions exist.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Secretary of State issued statutory guidance to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) in July 2012. Paragraph 24 provided guidance on access rights. A copy of the guidance is attached and can also be viewed on the GOV.UK website at:
In August 2013 the Department responded to the ORR’s consultation, “Periodic Review 2013. On-rail competition: Consultation on options for change in open access”. A copy of the letter is also attached and it can be viewed on the ORR’s website at:
http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/3752/on-rail-competition-dft.pdf