Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the Government has made in improving the connectivity of the Wolverhampton South West constituency to the rest of the rail network.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The recently awarded £1.05 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement will enable West Midlands Combined Authority to review its priorities and the value of commencing early business case development for schemes such as the new railway station proposed at Tettenhall.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding her Department provides to local authorities to support the delivery of effective road safety interventions.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Road safety is a priority for the Government and the Department for Transport is working with road safety stakeholders and local authorities to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads. We have some of the safest roads in the world, but the Government is not complacent and there is more work to be done.
The Secretary of State for Transport has committed to tackling dangerous cycling by making sure that we will be able to prosecute dangerous cyclists more easily. Our award-winning Safer Roads Fund has seen the Department funding local authorities £100 million across England to fix the 50 most dangerous “A-roads”. This fund is expected to save 1,500 lives over the next 20 years and is already improving safety for all road users.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost of train fares in (a) the West Midlands and (b) across the UK.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Increases to regulated rail fares in England will be capped and tied to the Retail Price Index (RPI) figure for July 2021 (3.8 per cent). The Government has deliberately continued to use the July RPI figure as it was lower than subsequent months. In addition, as in 2021, we have temporarily frozen fares for passengers to travel at the lower price for the entirety of January and February 2022, with fares changing on 1 March 2022.
The fares rise in the West Midlands will be in line with the national rise. Rail fares outside England are a devolved matter and decisions regarding fares increases are for the devolved administrations.
We have recently introduced flexible season rail tickets, in England, which provide better value to most two to three day-a-week commuters than buying daily tickets or traditional seasons. We have also saved a generation of passengers a third off their rail fares, including the 16-17 Saver and 26-30 Railcards and, most recently, the Veterans Railcard. Railcard discounts are available UK wide.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support road safety for deaf and blind people.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government takes road safety very seriously. Any death on the road is completely unacceptable, and while the UK has some of the safest roads in the world, we will continue to focus on making them safer through our new integrated strategy to boost safety for all road-users, the Road Safety Strategic Framework.
Those most at risk when using the highway, such as deaf and blind people, are one of our priority groups, and recent proposed updates to The Highway Code specifically consider the needs of those groups to ensure they are safe in their interactions with other road users. We are also currently preparing updates to the Guidance on the use of Tactile Paving Surfaces and Inclusive Mobility. These support local authorities to deliver accessible transport and pedestrian environments.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage train operators to operate more affordable and flexible services.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, published May 2021, contains a number of passenger-focused reforms that will bring in improved services and encourage the use of rail. The Spending Review 2021 confirmed £5.7bn of funding over three years to support essential rail services, and will see Government investing £360m in modernising ticketing and retailing systems, delivering a major overhaul to the way in which rail travel is bought and paid for.
There are a number of railcards available that offer discounts against most rail fares. We have saved a generation of passengers at least a third off their fares through the 16-17 and 26-30 railcards and went even further in November 2020 by extending these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.
We have introduced flexible season tickets across England this year; tickets launched on the 21 June and became available for use on the 28 June. This is a national product, priced to provide better value and convenience for commuters travelling two to three days a week.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to support recruitment and retention in the transport logistics industry.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have taken decisive action to address the acute HGV driver shortage, with 30 specific measures taken by the Government already. These include providing support and training for new HGV drivers, expanding HGV driver testing capacity and improving licencing processes. We are also investing £32.5 million in improving roadside facilities for hauliers. We will continue to encourage the road haulage industry to make employment as an HGV driver more attractive.
Furthermore, in partnership with the Freight Council and our Future of Freight programme, we are working with industry to identify how recruitment and retention across the entire freight and logistics sector can be improved for the long term.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the transition to active travel options, such as cycling and walking.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department is investing an unprecedented £2 billion in active travel over the course of this Parliament. This is the biggest ever boost for walking and cycling and it will enable delivery of the Prime Minister’s long term cycling and walking plan, Gear Change, published in July 2020.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) roads are adequately maintained and (b) potholes are fixed promptly.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department is providing over £5 billion of investment for highways maintenance to eligible local highways authorities in England, outside of London, over this Parliament.
Well-planned maintenance to prevent potholes and other defects from forming in the first place is vital, and the Department advocates a risk-based, whole life-cycle asset management approach to all aspects of the local highway network.
To assist local authorities in treating potholes and other road defects, the Department worked with the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to publish Potholes: a repair guide.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support the transition to electric vehicles with sufficient supply of electricity.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
To prepare for this the Government is working with Ofgem, the independent regulator, and the energy industry to plan for electric vehicle uptake and ensure the energy system can meet future demand in an efficient and sustainable way. The capacity market is our principal tool for ensuring security of supply. It has successfully brought forward a diverse range of new capacity, such as renewables, storage and gas plants, to replace older capacity as it retires off the system. We are confident it will enable us to meet energy demand, including that arising from greater uptake of EVs, in the future. The UK electricity market is already set up to bring forward investment in generation to meet demand. For example, the Contracts for Difference scheme supports significant investment in low carbon generation.
EVs also offer new opportunities for consumers to be part of a smarter and more flexible energy system. Smart charging can help reduce constraints on the network by shifting charging to off-peak periods. In 2019 the Government consulted on mandating that all private charge points sold or installed in the UK must have smart functionality and meet device level requirements. We intend to lay the relevant legislation later this year.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on the development of local cycle lane networks in the last five years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
At the time of the February 2020 report to Parliament on the delivery of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), published at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936926/cycling-and-walking-investment-strategy-report-to-parliament-document.pdf, a total of around £2.4 billion of investment in cycling and walking was projected over the five years from 2016/17 to 2020/21. Over half of this funding has gone into providing better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. A further £250 million of active travel funding was provided in 2020/21 at the start of the pandemic. The details of how the funding was allocated over the years 2019/20 and 2020/21 will be set out in the next CWIS report to Parliament in due course.