Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) climate change and (b) extreme weather events on the railway network.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail is undertaking a programme of climate change adaptation pathways across the network to develop a long-term strategic adaptation plan and identify priority areas for further adaptation investment. This approach will help identify those parts of the network which may require transformational change to enable safe and reliable services to continue in the future. Network Rail has produced local level weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans. These explain Network Rail’s understanding of how weather and climate change can affect infrastructure at a more targeted, local level.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what emergency plans (a) her Department and (b) Network Rail has made for future extreme weather events.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department requires Train Operating Companies and Network Rail to put in place measures to avoid, where possible, the potential impact of disruption including as a result of weather.
Network Rail owns and is responsible for maintaining railway infrastructure to ensure passenger and freight services operate safely. Officials hold regular discussions with Network Rail and industry to ensure severe weather preparedness plans are in place with clear mitigations to reduce the impacts of weather on punctuality and reliability.
Network Rail Routes liaise closely with Train Operators to ensure comprehensive checklists are in place and to align customer messaging. Extreme Weather Action Telecons (EWATs) are stood up in anticipation of adverse or extreme weather conditions likely to impact upon rail networks, attended by Network Rail, British Transport Police, the Rail Delivery Group, train operators and the Department. EWATs coordinate the response to severe weather, for example by prepositioning people, equipment, assets to at-risk areas and implementing speed restrictions and emergency timetables where appropriate. Where services need to be cancelled, train operators will seek to provide alternative transport where possible, although there may be instances where this is not viable.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which railway routes are most at risk from (a) climate change and (b) extreme weather events.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail is undertaking a programme of adaptation pathways across the network to develop a long-term strategic adaptation plan and identify priority areas for further adaptation investment. This approach will help identify those parts of the network which may require transformational change to enable safe and reliable services to continue in the future.
Further, we recognise that the UK rail network is large and diverse, with different landscapes and communities facing different climate risks. Network Rail has produced a Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation (WRCCA) plan for each of its five regions. This allows Network Rail to better identify, at a regional scale, those routes most at risk from climate change and extreme weather events. In 2026, 14 TOCs will also submit their first WRCCA strategies. As most TOCs operate over confined geographical regions, these will add further detail to our understanding of regional risks.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations she has made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for additional funding to mitigate the impact of (a) climate change and (b) extreme weather events on the railway network.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My department takes resilience of the railway very seriously. The recent Climate Change Committee progress report on adapting to climate change rated plans and policies of the rail sector as being 'good' – one of only three parts of the economy. DfT’s upcoming climate change adaptation strategy will address the recommendations from the progress report within our remit and empower the sector to take further action.
Network Rail is undertaking a programme of adaptation pathways across the network to develop a long-term strategic adaptation plan and identify priority areas for further adaptation investment. This approach will help identify those parts of the network which may require transformational change to enable safe and reliable services to continue in the future. Network Rail has produced local level weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans. These explain Network Rail’s understanding of how weather and climate change can affect infrastructure at a more targeted, local level.
For the current Control Period in England and Wales (CP7 - from 2024/25 to 2028/29) Network Rail will invest around £2.4 billion in activities that deliver primary weather resilience benefits. A large proportion of this is used for core maintenance and renewals activity.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45575 on Orgreave, what her planned timeline is for announcing an investigation or inquiry into the events at Orgreave.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary and the Minister of State for Policing and Crime Prevention have been meeting with a number of stakeholders to discuss the delivery of the Government’s manifesto commitment on Orgreave.
Next steps will be announced in the normal way in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much and what proportion of the UK Hydrographic Office's annual budget was spent on chartering commercial ships in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Year | Cost (£) | Proportion of UK Hydographic Office budget spent on chartering commercial ships (%) |
2015-16 | 25717 | 0.04 |
2016-17 | 34839 | 0.05 |
2017-18 | 44117 | 0.08 |
2018-19 | 0 | 0 |
2019-20 | 0 | 0 |
2021-22 | 0 | 0 |
2022-23 | 52104 | 0.07 |
2023-24 | 0 | 0 |
2024-25 | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the National Shipbuilding Office on the procurement of strategic sealift capacity for operational use after the expiry of the current contract with Foreland Shipping Limited in December 2031.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No decisions have been made on Strategic Sealift. The project team are developing the strategic outline case, and the National Shipbuilding Office is engaged with the relevant parties in this process.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many merchant seafarers were employed on vessels chartered by the UK Hydrographic Office in each year since 2015-16.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Year | Merchant seafarers employed on vessels chartered by the UK Hydrographic Office |
2015-16 | 1 for 66 days |
2016-17 | 0 |
2017-18 | 1 for 20 days |
2018-19 | 0 |
2019-20 | 0 |
2021-22 | 0 |
2022-23 | 2 for 28 days |
2023/24 | 0 |
2024-25 | 0 |
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the UK Civil Hydrography Programme.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency or Cabinet colleagues regarding the UK Civil Hydrography Programme.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the framework agreement between her Department and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was signed; and if she will publish this agreement.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The MCA Framework agreement was published in November 2017.
The Department for Transport has recently updated the MCA framework document, which will be published shortly.