Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support local authorities' delivery of the Transport decarbonisation plan.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is supporting local authorities to decarbonise with funding and tools, helping them to build their capacity and capability. Key programmes include the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which supports local delivery of transport decarbonisation alongside other government objectives.
The Government has also established Active Travel England to help local authorities deliver high quality walking and cycling schemes and last month announced an additional £56 million of public and industry funding to support the rollout of local electric vehicle chargepoints across the country.
The Government will shortly be consulting on new Local Transport Plan (LTP) guidance that will support better and more integrated strategic planning and provide new guidance to authorities in quantifying the carbon impact of their plans. This is in addition to work underway to update its Local Authority Transport Decarbonisation Toolkit on a range of interventions.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of (a) the results of Germany's recent rail ticket subsidy scheme and (b) the potential merits of applying a similar approach to public transport in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In considering any new rail fare discounts, the Government would need to carefully consider the potential benefits to passengers, costs to taxpayers and impact on the operation of the railway.
On 3 September, the Government announced plans to provide up to £60 million to help bus operators cap single fares on most services in England, outside London, at £2 per journey. The fare cap will run for three months from January to March 2023 and could help millions save on travel costs.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to encourage people to choose to travel by rail instead of by car in order to reduce demand for petrol and diesel and lower vehicle emissions.
Answered by Kevin Foster
As set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, supporting people to choose sustainable travel choices, including rail, has the potential to reduce carbon emissions and fuel demand, whilst also improving congestion and air quality.
We are continuing to work with the sector to tackle the challenges that continue to face the railway as it recovers from the pandemic. We remain committed to reforming our railways, improving journeys for passengers and creating a better, more modern UK rail industry.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2018 to Question 135108 on Govia Thameslink Railway: Compensation, how much compensation (a) has been paid and (b) is due to be paid to his Department by Network Rail.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
We do not know how much compensation has been paid to DfT so far by NR as a result of these additional works as Schedule 4 payments cover all possessions not just the additional £300m works. However, the value in relation to the £300m works to date will be minimal as Network Rail have accounted for a total of £1.53m in Schedule 4 compensation during the financial year 2017/18 (in relation to c£45m of works). This Schedule 4 figure covers all operators affected (eg Southeastern) and includes both the loss of revenue and cost elements.
As the £300m is being used for a number of schemes which have yet to be completed, the amount of compensation due to be paid is as yet unknown.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2018 to Question 133572, whether any funding allocated by his Department to Network Rail for improvement works on the Southern and Thameslink networks will be paid back to his Department in compensation for disruption during those works.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Compensation is paid by Network Rail to Train Operating Companies for planned disruption on the network (Schedule 4 Payments). No compensation will be paid to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) as a result of the works referred to in Question 133572 although it will receive some of the money to pay for additional costs it may incur as a result of the disruption to passengers, for example bus replacement services – according to usual industry processes.
For other franchises, some compensation would normally be paid to franchisees to reflect the loss of revenue resulting from the engineering work impact. Again this is part of standard industry practice. For the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise, as the Department for Transport takes revenue risk, this compensation will be paid to the Department.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the £300 million allocated by his Department to Network Rail for improvement works on the Southern and Thameslink networks will be paid to Govia Thameslink Railway in compensation for disruption during those works.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
No compensation will be paid to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). Some of the money will be used to pay for additional costs incurred by GTR as a result of the disruption to passengers, for example bus replacement services – according to usual industry processes. For other franchises, some compensation would normally be paid to franchisees to reflect the loss of revenue resulting from the engineering work impact. Again this is part of standard industry practice. For the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise, as the Department for Transport takes revenue risk, this compensation will not be paid to GTR.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value of the revenues paid to his Department were under the management contract for the (a) Thameslink, (b) Southern and (c) Great Northern parts of the franchise in each year since 2014.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
These figures are published annually in the Go Ahead group accounts at:
https://www.go-ahead.com/en/investors/results-reports-presentations.html
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the net difference was between the payments made by his Department under Govia Thameslink Railway's management contract for the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise and the fare revenues paid to his Department through that franchise in each year since 2014.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
These figures published annually by the Office of Rail and Road at:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/95218cca-408d-4047-83ce-a542c53b59e6
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value of fines per year imposed on Govia Thameslink Rail were in respect of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise since the launch of that franchise in 2014.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Penalties of £2.3m were imposed in the first year of the franchise for GTR's performance against Cancellations and Peak Short Formations benchmarks. In July 2017, GTR agreed to fund a package of performance and passenger improvements worth £13.4m. This included, contractual penalties of £2.4m for GTR’s performance for the year September 2015 to September 2016, and a settlement of the performance regime for the next two years (September 2016 – September 2018 of £5m for each year).
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps (a) his Department and (b) Network Rail are taking to ease peak-time overcrowding for Brighton Main Line passengers on platforms 15-19 at London Victoria.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Network Rail are working on a programme of improvements across the station including additional electronic signage, mobility assistance, additional seating and new information pods. Network Rail are also working with the Department on long term plans to improve passenger flows and reduce peak time crowding.