Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the dispute handling plans agreed with train operating companies.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Publishing the Dispute Handling Policy would undermine the rail industry negotiating position during disputes.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Passenger Service Contracts will place a cap on increases to executive pay and bonuses of the (a) the train operator and (b) owning company.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The PSCs remain under development.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that people who present with breast cancer symptoms are seen by a specialist within two weeks of referral.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ states that the number of patients waiting more than 62 days to start treatment from an urgent referral for cancer will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We are providing more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support the recovery of elective services, including cancer treatment. This is in addition to the existing £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund.
This investment is also supporting the launch of community diagnostic centres which will deliver additional capacity for co-ordinated diagnostic checks, enabling faster diagnosis on a range of a clinical pathways, including cancer.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that breast cancer patients begin their treatment within a maximum of 62 days of an urgent GP referral.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ states that the number of patients waiting more than 62 days to start treatment from an urgent referral for cancer will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We are providing more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support the recovery of elective services, including cancer treatment. This is in addition to the existing £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund.
This investment is also supporting the launch of community diagnostic centres which will deliver additional capacity for co-ordinated diagnostic checks, enabling faster diagnosis on a range of a clinical pathways, including cancer.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of likely trends in the number of national rail passengers for the following (a) six and (b) 12 months.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In line with our published guidance, the Department has developed a number of scenarios of possible long-term rail demand to reflect uncertainty including how passengers respond post-covid-19 as well as economic forecasts. The Department continues to consider a wide range of evidence for our project appraisals and policy decisions and seeks to use the most up to date inputs to aid in these decisions.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what budget his Department has allocated for funding redundancy payments at (a) Network Rail and (b) Train Operating Companies.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The department has not allocated any specific budget for funding redundancy payments to Network Rail or Train Operating Companies.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times he or officials in his Department met representatives of (a) Network Rail and (b) train operating companies to discuss the RMT Union's industrial disputes since 25 April 2022; and on what dates those meetings took place.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Ministers and/or officials have been discussing the dispute with industry representatives on an almost daily basis.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much budget his Department has allocated for absorbing risk associated with lost revenue as a result of the recent industrial action by members of the RMT Union.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There is no budget allocated by my Department for absorbing risk associated with lost revenue as a result of the recent industrial action by members of the RMT Union.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the National Rail Contracts place a limit on increases to executive pay and bonuses of the (a) train operator and (b) owning company.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Copies of the National Rail Contracts are published on the Public Register of Rail Passenger Contracts. Workforce-related matters are covered, in particular, in Chapter 2.2 of each NRC.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the rail industry (a) dispute handling policy, (b) reward and people principles document and (c) employment policy framework as referenced in National Rail Contracts.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There is no ‘rail industry’ wide Reward and People Principles document. Likewise, there is no ‘rail industry’ Employment Policy Framework. The definition of both Reward and People Principles and Employment Policy Framework in the operator contracts is broad, and there are likely to be a number of documents that fall within the definition.