Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) enhance rural bus services in (i) Dewsbury constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been allocated over £90 million so far. The Department’s guidance to local authorities on developing their BSIPs explains that these must cover their full area and all local bus services within it. This funding should, therefore, benefit services in Dewsbury.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. West Yorkshire Combined Authority receives over £2 million of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided to support (a) cycling and (b) walking activities in (i) Dewsbury constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the last 12 months, Active Travel England has awarded West Yorkshire Combined Authority £2,530,967 of revenue funding through the Capability Fund, and £17,430,668 of capital funding through the fourth tranche of the Active Travel Fund. This funding has been provided to support active travel as a whole in the region and is not split between walking and cycling. West Yorkshire Combined Authority decides on how this funding is allocated locally.
Annual payments are also made to West Yorkshire Combined Authority for Levelling Up Fund and City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement Schemes. This includes a £330,000 scheme for a Dewsbury-Batley-Chidswell bus, cycling and walking corridor.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on updating circular 01/2007 on Use of speed and red-light cameras for traffic enforcement: guidance on deployment, visibility and signing, published by his Department on 31 January 2007.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department is currently preparing a revised draft of the circular in light of feedback from a range of key stakeholders, including local government and police force representatives, as to what the guidance should contain. We plan to further engage with interested parties on this revision, with a view to publishing in due course.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of direct flights between the UK and Pakistan.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Air services between the United Kingdom and other countries are governed by a portfolio of bilateral air services agreements, which set the framework in which airlines from both countries operate. Our agreement with Pakistan does not place any restrictions on the frequency or nature of direct air services. Any airline from the UK or Pakistan, designated under this agreement, can operate between any points in the two countries.
However, it is for individual airlines to determine whether to take advantage of the rights and routes available to them within any air services agreement. Market conditions, such as the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, often affect the commercial considerations of airlines.
My Department’s officials and the Civil Aviation Authority stand ready to assist any UK or Pakistan airline which wants to operate between the two countries.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps he is taking to improve the accessibility of railway stations for disabled people.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As I mentioned to my hon. friend in the chamber this morning, the Government has recently made £350 million available to add another 209 stations to the Access for All programme. The stations he mentioned (Dewsbury, Shepley and Mirfield) were not successful in that round of money, but I would be delighted to meet and work with him to ensure that those stations get the funding they deserve, because our rail network needs to be accessible for everybody. Furthermore, Dewsbury and Mirfield stations are part of the TransPennine Route Upgrade programme which includes options to improve accessibility.