Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of passengers who used Swindon Station in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
It is the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) which collects and publishes statistics on use of stations, which can be found at: http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates. The usage of Swindon station shown in those statistics is:
2000-01: 2,064,669
2001-02: 2,011,159
2002-03: 2,117,084
2003-04: -*
2004-05: 2,257,719
2005-06: 2,340,952
2006-07: 2,515,492
2007-08: 2,758,891
2008-09: 2,905,266
2009-10: 2,835,364
2010-11: 3,039,228
2011-12: 3,232,578
2012-13: 3,220,180
2013-14: 3,350,444
2014-15: 3,503,982
2015-16: 3,580,540
2016-17: 3,679,242
* The statistics consistently omit the 2003-04 year due to a change in the statistical series.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will request from Network Rail an assessment of the passenger and rail capacity needs of Swindon Station.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department does not normally undertake its own assessments of passenger and rail capacity needs at individual stations, depending on Network Rail to do that as part of its route planning.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount of litter Highways England has collected in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Highways England is responsible for complying with the mandatory legal requirements under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which includes removing litter on England’s motorways and some trunk roads.
The Department for Transport does not hold information on how much litter is collected. Highways England’s service providers are not required, contractually, to report on the amount of litter cleared from their network.
However, as part of the Government’s Litter Strategy, Highways England has been monitoring 25 national litter hot spots. Over the last 12 months more than 10,000 bags of litter have been picked from these sites.
Highways England continues to review its specifications and contractual arrangements with its suppliers to ensure best value is achieved.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received from local authorities on commencing Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Although there has been no formal assessment of this in recent months, the Department has recently received representations on this issue from the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Local Government Association, both of which called for the commencement of Part 6 on the basis that these powers may help local authorities to manage traffic contraventions and reduce congestion. A number of local and combined authorities made requests for moving traffic powers during devolution negotiations, but these powers were not featured in any final agreements.
Ministers have recently discussed moving traffic powers at meetings with Transport for the North, the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, and the Local Government Association. A wide range of local authorities have also raised these powers at regular engagement meetings.
In addition, the Department receives occasional correspondence from councillors and local MPs enquiring about Government policy and the law regarding moving traffic offences.
There have been no formal Ministerial discussions with individual police constabularies about these powers in recent months.
The Government believes that the police already have the necessary powers to take action where it is needed and has no plans to commence provisions in Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 to enable all local authorities to take on civil enforcement powers for moving traffic offences.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) police constabularies and (b) local authorities on devolving the power to levy fines for moving traffic offences; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Although there has been no formal assessment of this in recent months, the Department has recently received representations on this issue from the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Local Government Association, both of which called for the commencement of Part 6 on the basis that these powers may help local authorities to manage traffic contraventions and reduce congestion. A number of local and combined authorities made requests for moving traffic powers during devolution negotiations, but these powers were not featured in any final agreements.
Ministers have recently discussed moving traffic powers at meetings with Transport for the North, the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, and the Local Government Association. A wide range of local authorities have also raised these powers at regular engagement meetings.
In addition, the Department receives occasional correspondence from councillors and local MPs enquiring about Government policy and the law regarding moving traffic offences.
There have been no formal Ministerial discussions with individual police constabularies about these powers in recent months.
The Government believes that the police already have the necessary powers to take action where it is needed and has no plans to commence provisions in Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 to enable all local authorities to take on civil enforcement powers for moving traffic offences.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of powers available to local authorities to levy fines for moving traffic offences.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Although there has been no formal assessment of this in recent months, the Department has recently received representations on this issue from the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Local Government Association, both of which called for the commencement of Part 6 on the basis that these powers may help local authorities to manage traffic contraventions and reduce congestion. A number of local and combined authorities made requests for moving traffic powers during devolution negotiations, but these powers were not featured in any final agreements.
Ministers have recently discussed moving traffic powers at meetings with Transport for the North, the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, and the Local Government Association. A wide range of local authorities have also raised these powers at regular engagement meetings.
In addition, the Department receives occasional correspondence from councillors and local MPs enquiring about Government policy and the law regarding moving traffic offences.
There have been no formal Ministerial discussions with individual police constabularies about these powers in recent months.
The Government believes that the police already have the necessary powers to take action where it is needed and has no plans to commence provisions in Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 to enable all local authorities to take on civil enforcement powers for moving traffic offences.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the proportion of litter collected by Highways England which was recycled in each year since 2010..
Answered by Jesse Norman
Highways England is responsible for complying with the mandatory legal requirements under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which includes removing litter on England’s motorways and some trunk roads.
Highways England recycles where possible. There is not, however, a requirement to record the amount recycled.
Large debris collected from the network, such as timber, metal, rubber and tyres will be sent for recycling, but the weight or volume is not currently recorded by or for Highways England.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing regional railcards.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A number of regional railcards already exist. These typically arise from local agreements with train operators. As such any proposal for, or development of, new offers or railcards would fall to individual train operators following an assessment of and in response to local demand.
National Railcards are governed by the railcard scheme council and any changes to existing railcards, or new railcards, would therefore be for the industry to propose not Government.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to extend the Network Railcard area to cover Swindon.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The network railcard is a concessionary railcard arising from an agreement between the relevant train operators.
National Railcards are governed by the industry’s railcard scheme council and any changes to existing railcards, or new railcards, would therefore be for the industry to propose not Government.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of hydrogen vehicle refuelling stations.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has provided capital funding to support an early network of hydrogen refuelling stations. £5m has been allocated to build or upgrade 12 stations to enable the launch of fuel cell electric vehicles by vehicle manufacturers. This has helped secure the UK as one of five global launch markets for fuel cell electric vehicles. In addition, earlier this year £23m of extra funding was announced to increase the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles alongside the expansion of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. The funding competition for the first phase of this programme is now closed and all proposals are currently undergoing assessment.