Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to make a decision on whether people who are double-vaccinated can be exempt from covid-19 quarantine measures.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
From 19 July, arrivals who have been fully vaccinated through the UK vaccination programme (plus 14 days) will not have to self-isolate or take a day 8 test when travelling to England from amber list countries. There are no changes to the green or red list, or for those arriving from countries on these lists.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what methodology his Department uses to allocate countries to the green, amber and red travel lists; and if he will publish that methodology.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.
Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include:
A summary of the JBC methodology is published on gov.uk, alongside key data that supports Ministers' decisions.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Aviation Policy Framework, published by the Government in March 2013, what assessment he has made of the implications of the statement in that policy that the provision and funding of surface access infrastructure and services to airports is primarily the responsibility of the airport operator, on the specific division of responsibility for these enhancements between airport operators and central government in relation to Gatwick; and if he will a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government published its Aviation Strategy 2050 consultation document in December 2018. Among other things, the document makes the case that airports are ‘unique’ multi-modal transport hubs, and should be recognised and treated as such.
As the document sets out, the Government believes that the provision and funding of surface access infrastructure and services to airports is primarily the responsibility of the airport operator. But where there are significant non-airport public user benefits from changes and enhancements to the infrastructure and services, the Government has made clear it would consider making a funding contribution to reflect these.
The Government will continue to review and update the current appraisal methodology to enable assessment of the validity of its funding policy.
The Aviation Strategy 2050 consultation is due to close on 20 June 2019, and the Government encourages all stakeholders to respond to this consultation.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Reigate of 18 December 2018 on 2019 fare changes in the Redhill area.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Honourable Gentleman’s letter was received by the department on 24 December, and we aim to respond to all correspondence within 20 working days. However, I am pleased to confirm that I have already responded.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has received from Govia Thameslink Railway for Network Rail Schedule (a) 4 and (b) 8 payments for service disruption on the Southern Rail network in (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information regarding these payments are published on Network Rail’s website - http://www.networkrail.co.uk/transparency/datasets/ - covering the years up to 2015/16. 2016/17 is not yet available and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) has been and (b) is the projected balance between the fee paid to Govia Thameslink Railway for delivering the current franchise and the income from fares for each financial year of the franchise period.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As was stated when the franchise was awarded to Govia Thameslink Railway, the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise is let as a management contract, where ticket revenues are passed directly to the Government rather than retained by Govia. This means that this franchise does not have premium/ subsidy payments.
In respect of part (a) Prior year figures are published by the ORR: http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/gb-rail-industry-financial-information
In relation to part (b), in February 2015 a Franchise Payment Profile was deposited in the Library of the house; this contained the following information with regard to Govia Thameslink Railway:
Franchises - current as at 25 Feb 2015
Franchise Payment profile to 2023 (in NOMINAL £)
Caveats
All figures are based on current franchise agreements including the current estimates for Control Period 5 and fares policy adjustments. The figures do not include revenue support, revenue share, profit share, or adjustments for GDP.
All figures are subject to change in the future as a result of negotiated contractual changes and changes to inflation indices above or below that assumed.
2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
275,405,206 | 403,760,328 | 424,690,456 | 404,131,348 | 497,212,369 | 587,111,514 | 303,608,193 |
These figures represent the net balance between payments made under the Management Contract and revenue received, and indicate a payment from the Train Operating Company to the department.
The moneys paid to the Department by the Train Operator contribute to the overall budget for the provision of passenger rail services.
This Government is committed to continuing to invest in passenger rail and, for example, we are investing more than £1.6billion of taxpayers’ money in new, longer, and more spacious Thameslink trains. We have also recently announced a targeted £20m fund, to be spent by Network Rail under project board authority, to help get Southern rail services back running as they should.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what payments his Department has made or is projected to make to Network Rail in respect of the rail network used by Govia Thameslink Railway for each financial year of the franchise period.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Transport does not make payments to Network Rail on a route by route basis.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what forecast he has made of the number of households within the 55 day-evening-night equivalent level noise contour of aircraft arriving and taking off at Gatwick Airport in the event that a second runway at that airport was to become operational.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes.
The Airports Commission undertook a thorough assessment of the noise impacts of each of the three shortlisted schemes, across a wide range of metrics, including the 55 day-evening-night sound level.
The Government continues to consider the comprehensive evidence published by the Airports Commission, including on the noise impacts of the three schemes.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) night period and (b) night quota period aircraft movements there were at Gatwick Airport for each International Air Transport Association season between winter (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2015-16.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government only sets restrictions on the number of flights between the hours of 2330 – 0600 - in the period known as night quota period and therefore we only have movement figures for this and not the wider night period hours of 2300 – 0700.
It should be noted that some flights take place during the night quota period but do not count towards the movement limits under the night flight restrictions. These include movements due to certain types of delays, to those issued dispensations by the Government, or to those by aircraft below a certain noise volume.
Two figures are given below for each aircraft season. The first refers to those that count towards the night movement limits at Gatwick Airport, and the second is the total number of movements that did not count towards these limits. This information is also available on the Gatwick Airport website: http://www.gatwickairport.com/
Period | Number of movements | Total number |
Winter 2007/08 | 2929 | 62 |
Summer 2008 | 10618 | 90 |
Winter 2008/09 | 2145 | 62 |
Summer 2009 | 9099 | 76 |
Winter 2009/10 | 2199 | 103 |
Summer 2010 | 9875 | 120 |
Winter 2010/11 | 2160 | 91 |
Summer 2011 | 9859 | 85 |
Winter 2011/12 | 1411 | 62 |
Summer 2012 | 9837 | 92 |
Winter 2012/13 | 1603 | 53 |
Summer 2013 | 9998 | 96 |
Winter 2013/14 | 1510 | 83 |
Summer 2014 | 11147 | 138 |
Winter 2014/15 | 1756 | 135 |
Summer 2015 | 11149 | 401 |
Winter 2015/16 | 1872 | 169 |
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average number of (a) seats available and (b) passengers is on train services running from Gatwick Airport to London Bridge during the 0700 to 1000 weekday peak period.
Answered by Claire Perry
While Govia Thameslink Railways provide us with information on capacities and passenger numbers arriving at London Bridge, it is not possible to provide numbers of passengers who boarded at Gatwick Airport railway station.