Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Network Rail's (a) board and (b) wider governance arrangements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
a) In line with corporate governance best practice Network Rail (NR) appoints an independent company to undertake regular reviews of the effectiveness of the Board. A review is currently in progress. The Secretary of State and Rail Minister will meet regularly with the Acting Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Network Rail to discuss the performance of the company.
b) DfT and Network Rail have a Framework Agreement in place setting out how the Department and Network Rail interact in terms of corporate governance and financial management. DfT and Network Rail will be reviewing the Framework Agreement to ensure that the governance arrangements will be fit for purpose as the rail industry is reformed.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the number of passengers electrocuted on trains in each of the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There have been 198 recorded incidents of passengers being injured through electric shocks on trains in the last five years. The breakdown per year is provided below:
Year | Reported electric shocks to passengers on board trains resulting in injury |
2019 | 30 |
2020 | 16 |
2021 | 37 |
2022 | 57 |
2023 | 35 |
2024 (incomplete year) | 23 |
During this period, there were zero passenger fatalities on trains as a direct result of electric shocks.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the rail network enhancements pipeline.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Rail Enhancements Portfolio has been managed in line with the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline policy since 2018. As part of this Government’s refreshed approach to capital investment in the transport network, we expect to consider all aspects of our spending plans and principles to ensure that they deliver a unified system for railways; bringing together infrastructure with services for the benefit of passengers and the taxpayer.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of overcrowding on the Durham Coast Line during peak periods on the health and safety of passengers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Rail North Partnership (RNP), through which the department jointly manages Northern Trains’ contract with Transport for the North, monitors operators’ planned train deployment to ensure this falls within the requirement on them to match capacity to demand. While we have no evidence passengers’ safety is being compromised, RNP will discuss the loading on Durham Coast services with Northern and ensure it takes the actions open to it to meet its targets
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce overcrowding on the Durham Coast Line during peak periods.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Rail North Partnership (RNP), through which the department jointly manages Northern Trains’ contract with Transport for the North, monitors operators’ planned train deployment to ensure this falls within the requirement on them to match capacity to demand. While we have no evidence passengers’ safety is being compromised, RNP will discuss the loading on Durham Coast services with Northern and ensure it takes the actions open to it to meet its targets
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expediting the application by Grand Central Rail for four daily calls at Seaham train station on Grand Central's North East services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Access to the rail network is ultimately a decision for the ORR in its role as regulator for the rail industry. We will continue to work with ORR through the consultation process.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Network Rail requires its contractors and suppliers to limit the use of zero hours contracts.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Network Rail has Key Performance Indicators in its key labour contracts which measure the use of zero-hour contracts and encourages their reduction.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of vehicles on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database are not taxed in (a) England and (b) Easington constituency.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The outcome of the most recent roadside survey, which provides an estimate of the number of unlicensed vehicles in traffic, was published in December 2023. This showed that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were correctly licensed, which equates to an estimated 498,000 unlicensed vehicles and an evasion rate of 1.3 per cent. The estimated evasion rate in England was also 1.3 per cent. This information is not held by parliamentary constituency. A copy of the roadside survey can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2023/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2023.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of vehicles on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency database do not have a valid MOT in (a) England and (b) Easington constituency.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) database records every vehicle that has an MOT, and the dates the MOTs were carried out. Authorities, such as the Police, have access to that data should they need to check if a vehicle has a valid MOT. There is no comparable database for vehicles which do not have a valid MOT.
As such, it is not possible to determine the number, or proportion, of vehicles being used illegally without an MOT in England or the constituency of Easington.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department last (a) reviewed the evidence base underpinning its demand forecasts and (b) update its forecasts of travel demand across modes as set out in its Transport Analysis Guidance.
Answered by Anthony Browne
We review evidence underpinning our transport demand forecasts across modes regularly and publish forecasts every few years, consistent with the proportionate update process in the Transport Analysis Guidance. Projections of travel demand across modes were last published in 2022 which included, for the first time, a set of Common Analytical Scenarios to illustrate the impact of different plausible futures on demand. The projections are available online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tempro-downloads. The Department will publish an update in due course.