Afghanistan

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Thursday 17th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

Perhaps I can take this opportunity to welcome my hon. Friend back to the House. It is great to see him in his place. To answer his point about progress on redeployment, we have got about a third of the way through so far, in terms of equipment such as motor vehicles and major equipment, but also some of the smaller matériel that we need to bring back from Afghanistan. We are on track to bring back all the equipment we want to between now and the end of 2014. As I have said, we will take a close look at value for money as we take those decisions.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

In the summer of 2008, 16 Air Assault Brigade transported a massive power station turbine through hostile and difficult terrain to the Kajaki dam. Five years later, may we have an update on the Kajaki dam mission?

[Justine Greening]

That is a specific project that for some reason is not in my briefing, but I will write to the hon. Gentleman and give him an update on progress.

Afghanistan

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The Secretary of State’s appreciation of Her Majesty’s armed forces will be welcomed in the garrison town of Colchester, home of 16 Air Assault Brigade. Will she give a progress report on the huge logistic achievement of the summer of 2008, when soldiers from Colchester were involved in the transportation of turbines to the Kajaki dam? What has happened since?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman asks a very specific question and it might be better if I reply to him in writing after the statement. Suffice it to say that he is right to point out that our troops have played a critical role not just in combat but in supporting the Afghanistan Government to rebuild some of the infrastructure that the country will need. He mentioned a project in Helmand province. Alongside that, our troops have played key roles in helping with schools, health care and roads—if we are to have a thriving agriculture sector, farmers need to get their produce to market. All that work provided by our troops will be immensely powerful not just in protecting Afghanistan and in working with Afghanistan forces today, but in building the country we hope can be successful tomorrow.

Rail Investment

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Monday 16th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

To reassure the hon. Lady, I should say that we are looking at whether we can commence some of the investment earlier. We have had to set out our basic proposals, of course, but let us be clear: today we are setting out a statement of output—what we want to get out of the railway system. It is now for the industry to go away and look at how it can achieve the outcomes that we are specifying. The midland main line electrification is one of the key, explicit schemes that we have said we want to bring forward. If the industry has a proposal to do it faster than the timeline that we have mentioned, I have no doubt that we will be very interested in looking at it.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The Secretary of State is fully aware of the east of England rail prospectus. I put it to her that for those of us served by the Greater Anglia line, her statement today is very disappointing. When might we expect the entire east of England rail prospectus to be implemented?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman will see improvements in services and capacity over the coming years. Many of the improvements that we are announcing on the network today can improve his area, too—not least through the potential to improve stations and see Access for All stations brought to his area. There is also investment in safety at level crossings and the general pots that we put in place to improve passenger experience and the strategic freight network. There is a huge number of different aspects to the investment, and I am sure that many of them will relate to the hon. Gentleman’s community.

Rail Reform

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware that we earmarked £45 million in the autumn statement to enable us to extend the use of smartcards and Oysterisation further in the south-east. With regard to capacity, we are making a substantial investment with 2,700 new carriages. I would be happy to sit down with him and get his views on how his local area could benefit from that.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Fortuitously, this afternoon I am to meet representatives of Network Rail and Abellio to discuss the deterioration of the service between Colchester and London. Does the Secretary of State agree that the reality and the rhetoric are on different tracks and that if we are to reform our railways and put customers first, the fragmentation of the industry post-privatisation must be addressed? They need to talk to each other more than they do at the moment.

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is the whole point of what we are talking about today: greater collaborative working and formal alliancing where we think that could drive better performance and better value for taxpayers’ money. It is time for the industry to step up to the plate and work together to ensure that our railway system is more efficient than it has been in the past.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Will there be some consistency on brown signs around the country? During the previous Government’s period in office, the Highways Agency removed all three signs welcoming people to Britain’s oldest recorded town. Can the Secretary of State assure us that we will have our signs reinstated?

[Justine Greening]

I think that the roads Minister will be meeting the hon. Gentleman in the next few weeks. We are committed to seeing how we can make better use of brown signs not only to guide motorists to their destinations but to make sure that we in the Department of Transport play our role in helping the tourist industry to do well in this country.

M5 Motorway Accident

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I can absolutely confirm that. I understand that Emma Barton’s boyfriend is with her in the hospital. My hon. Friend’s points underline how for some people this is an unfolding drama: there are some in hospital who, because of their condition, are unaware that they have lost their nearest and dearest. That is another reason why it is right to approach any debate on road safety in an incredibly sensitive manner until the police have had time to conduct their investigation.

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Successive Governments over the past 40 years can be commended on how they have approached road safety. The number of road deaths last year was the lowest since records began 85 years ago, and by the time the previous Labour Government left office, the annual death toll on our roads had been virtually halved. The Secretary of State said that she attached an extremely high priority to road safety, and I welcome that, but there is no need to speculate because it is clear from all the evidence that if an 80 mph speed limit is introduced on our motorways, if moving traffic is allowed on to hard shoulders, and if there is a reduction in the frequency of MOT vehicle roadworthiness tests, the number of deaths, injuries and crashes will rise. Given the increase in the number of serious injuries and deaths in recent months, does she agree that it would be criminal to pursue those three objectives?

Court of Auditors 2009 Report

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Wednesday 2nd February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

Yet again, the European Court of Auditors has failed to approve the European budget. Will the Minister tell us for how many consecutive years that has occurred?

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Fifteen.

[Justine Greening]

In fact, it is 16 years, and the Government view that as completely unacceptable. I hope that the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) will bear with me while I set out some of the steps we have already taken and those we plan to take over the coming months to play our part in getting these issues tackled.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Bob Russell

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

T9. Further to excellent question of the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), can the Minister who was briefed to answer the excellent Question 25, in my name, now give a more substantive answer? What will the Government do to support credit unions such as the excellent one in Colchester?

[Justine Greening]

The best thing that we can do to support credit unions is make sure that they are on a sustainable footing. When I talk to Conservative Members, many of them say that they want to see their credit unions merge. We need to ensure that credit unions can offer a broader range of products to local people, and we need to look at how credit unions operate. Interestingly, although complaints to the financial services ombudsman are broadly increasing, when it comes to credit unions they are falling. The most recently released statistics show that just one in 66,000 complaints related to a credit union. The hon. Gentleman is right to ask how we can support credit unions. The Prime Minister has been supportive of them and we look forward to seeing what more we can do to support them over the coming months.