Tom Blenkinsop: DfT: All Documents

Written Question

Bus Services: Visual Impairment

Tuesday 7th February 2017

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve access to bus services for people who are visually impaired.

Answered by Andrew Jones

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) have achieved a step-change in the accessibility of local bus services, including for visually impaired people who benefit from the priority seating, colour-contrasting step edges and hand-holds that it requires. Around 94% of buses in England now comply with the requirements of the PSVAR.

The Bus Services Bill, which is currently before Parliament, includes powers to introduce an Accessible Information Requirement, for local buses throughout Great Britain to provide audible and visible next stop announcements.

I am also preparing to launch a consultation on the Accessibility Action Plan (AAP) which is a cross modal plan to build on our social inclusion agenda by reducing barriers to disabled people accessing transport services.

Written Question

Bus Services: Disability

Tuesday 7th February 2017

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the options available to increase the provision of audio-visual information on buses.

Answered by Andrew Jones

The Bus Services Bill includes powers to introduce an Accessible Information Requirement, for local buses throughout Great Britain to provide audible and visible next stop announcements. The impact assessment for these new powers considered a number of options to increase the provision of audio-visual information on buses and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/561964/bus-services-bill-accessibility-information-requirement-annex-a.pdf

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 12 Jan 2017
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Tom Blenkinsop (Lab - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 23 Nov 2016
Transport: North-east

Speech Link

View all Tom Blenkinsop (Lab - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) contributions to the debate on: Transport: North-east

Written Question

Motor Vehicles: Ownership

Tuesday 18th October 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department holds data on the level of motor vehicle ownership in (a) England and (b) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Jones

The numbers of vehicles registered in England and in the Middlesbrough and East Cleveland constituency at the end of each of the last five years are as follows:-

Year	Licensed vehicles (thousands)	Mid year Population Estimates (thousands)	Vehicles per 1000 population
(a) England
2011	29,069	53,107	547
2012	29,275	53,494	547
2013	29,692	53,866	551
2014	30,361	54,317	559
2015	31,047	54,786	567
(b) Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland
2011	48.2	92.8	520
2012	48.4	92.6	523
2013	48.8	92.5	528
2014	49.9	92.7	539
2015	50.3	¹	¹
Vehicle statistics are derived from the DVLA vehicle register. This is an operational database used to handle the licensing of vehicles registered in the United Kingdom. The number of vehicles are those where the address of the registered keeper is located in (a) England and (b) within the Middlesbrough and East Cleveland constituency. Mid year population estimates published by the Office for National Statistics. 1. figures for 2015 are not yet available.

Written Question

Transport: Infrastructure

Thursday 30th June 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the British steel industry to future transport infrastructure projects in the UK.

Answered by Robert Goodwill

The Department has been working closely with BIS, Cabinet Office and industry to consider how Government can help the UK steel industry meet the challenges it has been facing.

The bulk of infrastructure projects within the Department are being delivered by the Department’s Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB), in particular, Network Rail, Highways England and HS2. Cabinet Office guidance on the approach to steel procurement has been circulated to the Accounting Officers of each ALB and procurement and commercial teams within these organisations are aware of the need to:

Signal the future pipeline of requirements on steel sourcing and best practice in pre-procurement market engagement;

Ensure there is clear visibility of opportunities at sub-contractor level where the source of steel has not been defined by a Tier 1 contractor;

Assess the health and sustainability of potential suppliers in the supply chain at selection stage, including compliance with relevant health and safety and employment legislation;

Ensure that the price or cost calculations are based on an assessment of the whole-life cost and not lowest purchase price;

Take account of appropriate social and environmental impacts at the award stage where they are linked to the subject of the contract.

As with the rest of the materials for construction, steel is procured by the supply chain for the majority of our infrastructure projects. The Department and its ALBs are complying with the Cabinet Office guidance and ensuring that, for instance, where appropriate, assessment of social and environmental impacts are considered as part of the evaluation criteria. The Department and its ALBs also positively encourage bids from British companies and are holding discussions with UK suppliers to make sure they are in the best possible position to win contracts.

Activity currently underway is as follows:

Network Rail

Network Rail buys approximately 120,000 tonnes of steel for rails per annum directly from British Steel in Scunthorpe, which is around 96% of Network Rail’s total aggregated demand by value.

Highways England

Highways England does not procure steel materials directly, however over the last five years Highways England has used a category management framework as the main method of procuring steel gantries for the Strategic Road Network.

To date circa 95% of this steel has been drawn from British Steel in the UK, which equates to approximately 11,000 tonnes of steel. The approximate framework spend is £30 million, of which about 35% will be steel procurement i.e. raw materials, and will equate to around £10.5 million.

Crossrail

The 57km of steel required for the rails of Crossrail’s brand new central tunnel section is being sourced entirely from British Steel in Scunthorpe. This equates to 7,000 tonnes of steel.

Crossrail Ltd does not directly procure steel as this is undertaken by their tier 1 contractors and their supply chains. However, Crossrail keeps an oversight of its critical contracts and estimates that 85% of its supply chain providing steel to the project is UK based.

HS2

It is estimated that HS2 will need approximately 2 million tonnes of steel over the next 10 years. The procurement for the main civil engineering works between Euston and Birmingham is now underway with procurements for the stations and rail systems expected to commence later this year and for rolling stock in early 2017. Subject to Royal Assent, the project will start construction in 2017.

As with the rest of the materials for construction, steel is procured by the supply chain. HS2 positively encourages bids from British companies and is already holding discussions with UK suppliers to make sure they are in the best possible position to complete for contracts for the steel that will be needed for track, concrete reinforcements, overhead wires and other structures.

Written Question

Bridges: Tees Valley

Wednesday 15th June 2016

Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 9.2.7 of the report by Lord Heseltine, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited, published in June 2016, if he will make it his policy to provide a new strategic road Tees crossing.

Answered by Andrew Jones

The first Road Investment Strategy (RIS) recognises that tackling congestion on the A19 is a priority and includes a scheme to widen the A19 between the A1027 (Norton) and A689 (Wynyard).

In addition, the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the local authorities are working in partnership with Highways England to identify options for a new crossing of the Tees to enhance the road network. The Combined Authority has made a bid to the Department’s Large Majors scheme for 2016/17 to develop proposals. The results of bids into this fund are due to be published in July 2016.

Highways England has begun gathering evidence to support the development of the second RIS period which commences in 2020/21. The evidence from Lord Heseltine’s Report will be taken into account in this process.