Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the funding allocated to Network Rail for Control Period 6 has been spent.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
As of 1st February 2020, Network Rail has spent £7.2bn in Control Period 6.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the funding allocated to Network Rail for Control Period 5 was spent on (a) maintenance of existing infrastructure, (b) renewals of existing infrastructure and (c) enhancements and new projects.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In Control Period 5, Network Rail spent:
£6.658bn on maintenance of existing infrastructure
£14.295bn on renewals of existing infrastructure
£16.025bn on enhancements and new projects
In Control Period 5, Network Rail’s spending was funded through a combination of government loans and grants; charges paid by train operators; and income from other sources such as property. It is not possible to separately identify how much of each funding source was spent across Network Rail’s specific activities.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the funding allocated to Network Rail for Control Period 5 was unspent.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In Control Period 5, Network Rail received funding from Government through a combination of loans and grants. All of this funding was spent.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with the Office of Rail and Road on the market study into the supply of signalling systems.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The Office of Rail and Road has made the Department aware of the market study, but there have been no substantive discussions with DfT Ministers or officials.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the length of leases of rolling stock operating on the rail network; and what the end dates are of those rolling stock leases.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The length of rolling stock leases is a commercial matter for the train operating companies to negotiate with rolling stock owners to meet their particular business needs. The Department makes available public register versions of franchise agreements, which set out the lease periods in the relevant schedules. They can be seen at www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-register-of-rail-passenger-franchise-agreements.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Airport Commission's final report on airport capacity, published in 2015, what recent estimate he has made of demand for airport capacity.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department published detailed forecasts of aviation demand in 2017, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-aviation-forecasts-2017 and carried out further analysis of aviation demand in 2018 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/714069/making-best-use-of-existing-runways.pdf
In addition, the Department has been carrying out further analysis to support ongoing policy development, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require airlines to display the level of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions a flight generates alongside price and ticket information.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that the fight against climate change is the greatest and most pressing challenge facing the modern world. We are planning to shortly update the Government’s position on aviation and climate change for consultation.
The Government launched its call for evidence on carbon offsetting in transport on 18th July 2019, which closed on 26th September. The call for evidence covered how to help consumers better understand the emissions from their journeys and their options for offsetting those emissions. This included looking at whether travel providers/companies should be required to offer offsets to their customers. We are analysing the responses and they will be published in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the surface land transport upgrades which are necessary to facilitate a new runway at Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Airports National Policy Statement sets out that it is for an applicant to demonstrate how it will improve surface access and mitigate the impacts of expansion at Heathrow. The expansion of Heathrow Airport will be fully funded and delivered by the private sector.
Where there are significant non-airport public user benefits from changes and enhancements to surface transport infrastructure and services, the Government has made clear it would consider making a funding contribution to reflect these.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the Crossrail 2 project; and what the status of that project is.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that Crossrail 2 could provide a crucial solution to address capacity issues on London’s rail and tube networks, while also improving connectivity across London and the South East.
I am keen to see a realistic and achievable 50% funding proposal from London regarding Crossrail 2. Officials continue to work with TfL on this funding proposal and the next steps for the project.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for the Crossrail 2 independent affordability review.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Crossrail 2 Independent Affordability Review, chaired by Mike Gerrard, has provided interim recommendations to the Secretary of State for Transport and Mayor of London this summer, including recommendations for further work to ensure the scheme taken forward is affordable. Further work is now being taken forward to inform the next steps for the project and complete the Review.
Following the additional work, we expect to publish the findings of the Gerrard Review in due course.