Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of determining the sequencing of when train operating companies will be brought into public ownership by their operational performance.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has been clear that passenger train operations will transfer to a public-sector operator as current contracts end or reach their contractual break point, avoiding the need to pay compensation to the current operators. The Secretary of State is considering the timing of the transfer of services under each contract and is continually monitoring performance. She will not hesitate to take appropriate action when operators fall short, up to and including termination if the relevant contractual conditions are met.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the transition from private to public ownership on train operating company investment programmes.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The process of transitioning railway passenger services into public ownership should not impact investment programmes. The vast majority of investment is already funded from public sources under current arrangements. Existing projects will be able to continue unless there is a good reason for review. The Department will work closely with private sector Train Operating Companies and Network Rail during the planning process to understand the position of any relevant investment programmes.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress she has made on securing workforce reform as part of pay talks with the rail industry.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Our railways are broken and need change, but we simply cannot do this until we reset our relationships with unions. The breakthroughs on pay will mark a new era of industrial relations, getting unions and TOCs back around the table, and changing the tone of discussions.
The Department has been clear that in return for a fair pay settlement, this reset in relationships will enable a more collaborative approach on tackling long-standing issues that undermine productivity and reliability on the railways. This includes agreement to work together to address industry-wide matters that will improve the operational resilience of the railway, e.g. development of a new industry driver training competency framework and creation of a new joint advisory committee on new rolling stock procurement relating to cab design.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has for the West Midlands Rail Hub.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Following approval of an Outline Business Case, £123m was released to Network Rail in March 2024 to commence detailed design of Midlands Rail Hub’s first phase (for additional services between Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, and Worcester), while subsequent phases are at an earlier stage of development. Subject to future decisions about affordability and value for money, the first stage could be complete by the early 2030s.
The Chancellor set out on 29 July a range of pressures on public spending, including £2.9 billion of unfunded transport specific spending. Following this, the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement on 30 July set out that the Department is undertaking an internal review of its capital spend portfolio. This will support the development of our new long-term strategy for transport. Any decisions about the portfolio will be subject to broader discussions and fiscal decisions made at Budget and Spending Review.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2023 to Question 177803, on Road Traffic Offences: Accidents, when he expects his Department to commence its call for evidence into road traffic offences.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
As noted in the previous answer, we are considering the publication of a Call for Evidence on motoring offences, which we expect to reflect many of the issues that have been brought to our attention and to be published in due course. While the precise content and timings are still to be confirmed, it is expected that it will include aspects of drink and drug driving, failure to stop and report and the opportunity to raise other matters.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of carrying out a consultation on creating an offence of failure to stop in a road traffic collision.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
The Department is expecting to conduct a call for evidence into road traffic offences, which will provide an opportunity to consider this issue among others. This is a complex area of the law, which requires careful consideration to get it right.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) pedestrians and (b) other people were (i) killed and (ii) seriously injured in collisions where the driver of the vehicle left the scene in (A) 2021 and (B) 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
The number of pedestrians and other road users that were killed or seriously injured in reported road collisions that involved at least one of the drivers leaving the scene in 2021 is shown below.
| Killed | Seriously injured |
Pedestrians | 49 | 860 |
Other casualties | 37 | 1,600 |
Data for 2022 will be published in September 2023.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's spending was in Overseas Development Aid on (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) the first 10 months of 2015-16; and what the recipient countries of that aid were.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department for Transport carries out activities in Oversea Territories that feeds into the Overseas Development Aid. The Government published details of Overseas Development Aid at the Spending Review 2015 and further updates will be published in due course.