Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions officials in his Department have had with (a) Great Western Railway and (b) Network Rail on disruption to rail services to and from Wales during the construction of Old Oak Common Station.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department is working with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, Transport for London and Great Western Railway (GWR) to minimise disruption to rail passengers during Old Oak Common construction. Some GWR services will be diverted to London Euston, providing GWR passengers access to a central London terminal with numerous onward travel connections. Passengers could alternatively use Ealing Broadway station, as they did successfully during the December 2023 engineering works.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the problem of criminal gangs intentionally crossing police force borders to exploit weaknesses in policing methods.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know serious and organised crime (SOC) does not respect police force borders which is why all police forces in England and Wales collaborate and share resources, funding and specialist capabilities to deliver Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) to lead complex cross-border SOC investigations. There are nine ROCUs in England and Wales with equivalent capability in London.
Alongside approximately £70m in direct funding from the Home Office in 2023/24, Chief Constables, PCCs and Mayors with PCC functions have recently provided significant resource to the ROCU network by allocating 725 extra officers to ROCUs between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023. Those officers are working in partnership now to tackle drugs supply and enablers, including firearms and criminal finances.
County lines is a major cross-cutting issue involving a range of criminality including drugs, violence, criminal gangs and child criminal exploitation, and involves the police, a wide range of Government departments, local government agencies and voluntary and community sector organisations. County lines gangs often export drugs across county borders from one police force area to another.
This Government is determined to crack down on county lines gangs which is why we are investing up to £145m over three years in our County Lines Programme to tackle the most violent and exploitative drug supply model yet seen. Through the County Lines Programme, we have established dedicated county lines taskforces in the four force areas exporting the majority of lines (MPS, Merseyside, West Midlands and Greater Manchester Police) as well as the British Transport Police to tackle the national rail network. We are also funding the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC), to monitor the intelligence picture and co-ordinate the national law enforcement response. The NCLCC has been vital in strengthening the law enforcement response, promoting best practice, and enabling police forces to work together to tackle this complex issue.
Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 5,600 line closures, over 16,500 arrests and over 8,800 safeguarding referrals. This includes over 2,500 line closures since April 2022, surpassing the Drugs Strategy commitment of over 2,000 line closures by April 2025. Having met this target in half the time, we have now committed to close a further 1,000 lines by August 2024, bringing the total since the Drugs Strategy was launched in April 2022 to over 3,000.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with Avanti West Coast on the withdrawal of the direct Euston to Shrewsbury service.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Department officials routinely engage with Avanti and its Owning Group over many areas, including timetabling decisions.
The Department specifies the train services to be operated by train companies including Avanti West Coast through National Rail Contracts. As part of industry wide efforts to align timetables to changing demand patterns and restore the financial stability of the railway, the Government asked all operators to present cost saving options. Due to very low passenger numbers, the service between Shrewsbury and London is currently operating at a loss of £1.4 million per year. We cannot ask taxpayers to maintain the historically high level of financial support for the industry indefinitely, so the service will be withdrawn from June 2024. West Midlands Railway (WMR) and Transport for Wales provide sufficient capacity for passengers between Shrewsbury and Birmingham, and the Department has agreed that WMR will introduce a second hourly Birmingham to Shrewsbury semi-fast service in June 2024 to operate via the Stour Valley and provide quicker journey time between Shropshire towns and Birmingham.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of Network Rail's Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS) was published by Network Rail in 2020 and primarily recommended electrification as a means to decarbonise the rail network.
The TDNS was used by Government as a guide for decision making. However, alternative traction technologies, such as battery and bi-mode trains, will also play key roles in our transition to Net Zero. We are progressing work on a whole systems approach to decarbonisation by ensuring both track and train are considered.
The Government still expects electrification to play an important role in our programme to achieve our Net Zero 2050 target, which is why since 2010, more than 1,250 miles of electrification has been delivered in Great Britain, including over 900 miles in England and Wales in the last 11 years.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to help ensure stakeholders in (a) Wales and (b) the South West receive communications on the potential impact of Old Oak Common station construction work on (i) rail journey times and (ii) service disruption.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Similar to last year, public communications regarding the works are due to ramp up ahead of this year’s Christmas engineering works, in line with usual passenger communications timing. Network Rail is leading the development of a passenger communications strategy working closely with train operators and other industry partners, including Transport for London (TfL). My Department is working with Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, TfL and the train operating companies to minimise the impacts of disruption. The most extensive possessions will be in 2026 and 2028 and stakeholders and the public will be informed well in advance.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unlicensed metal recyclers have been prosecuted in the past (1) three years, (2) five years, and (3) 10 years; and what steps they are taking to increase the number of prosecutions.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We absolutely recognise the distress and disruption metal theft can cause, not only to businesses, but also local communities.
The latest published statistics for the year ending March 2023 showed the number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales was down by 54% compared with the year ending March 2013.
The Government supported the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to reverse an upward trend in the level of metal theft through better regulation of the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. The 2013 Act requires anyone carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer to be licensed by their local authority. The Act also provides police and licensing authority officers with a power to issue a closure notice if they are satisfied the premises are not licensed but are being used by a scrap metal dealer in the course of business; and to subsequently apply to the magistrates’ court for a closure order.
The Home Office continues to work closely with the National Police Chief Councils (NPCC) through the NPCC Metal Crime Steering Group, which brings together partner agencies to ensure a robust response to metal theft.
The Home Office also provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures. The Partnership has provided training for over 2000 police officers and other agencies in the responsibilities under the Act and how to enforce it.
Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the ‘Criminal Justice System’ for England and Wales every quarter. This includes ‘summary offences under Scrap Metal Dealers Act’; The statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government who holds responsibility for tackling unlicensed metal recyclers between the different police services and local authorities.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We absolutely recognise the distress and disruption metal theft can cause, not only to businesses, but also local communities.
The latest published statistics for the year ending March 2023 showed the number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales was down by 54% compared with the year ending March 2013.
The Government supported the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to reverse an upward trend in the level of metal theft through better regulation of the metal recycling sector, making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal. The 2013 Act requires anyone carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer to be licensed by their local authority. The Act also provides police and licensing authority officers with a power to issue a closure notice if they are satisfied the premises are not licensed but are being used by a scrap metal dealer in the course of business; and to subsequently apply to the magistrates’ court for a closure order.
The Home Office continues to work closely with the National Police Chief Councils (NPCC) through the NPCC Metal Crime Steering Group, which brings together partner agencies to ensure a robust response to metal theft.
The Home Office also provided funding in the financial year 2020-21 to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures the national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. Membership of the Partnership includes infrastructure companies such as rail, telecoms and utility companies, who work together to monitor trends in metal theft, share intelligence, target offenders and implement crime prevention measures. The Partnership has provided training for over 2000 police officers and other agencies in the responsibilities under the Act and how to enforce it.
Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on the ‘Criminal Justice System’ for England and Wales every quarter. This includes ‘summary offences under Scrap Metal Dealers Act’; The statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a timetable for the development of the (a) strategic outline case, (b) outline business case and (c) full business case for the electrification of the North Wales Main Line.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are working closely with the rail industry to develop the Government priorities outlined in the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which includes an unprecedented £1 billion investment to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line. We are in the early stages of establishing the next steps for the North Wales electrification scheme, including the costs and programme for development and delivery. We will share further information when that work is complete.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to (a) allow multiple train operating companies to operate on each rail line and (b) take other steps to help increase competition on regional lines.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We recognise that competition can be beneficial for passengers as it can drive innovation and improvements to services. We have been clear that, in the right circumstances, open access operators can play a role in increasing this competition and have supported recent applications such as Wrexham, Shropshire & Midland Railway’s application to operate services for customers in North Wales, the West Midlands and on the West Coast Mainline.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's new story entitled New railway station backed for the Vale of Glamorgan, published on 19 February 2024, how much funding his Department has committed to fund the development of a business case for a new station at St Athan.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As part of the government’s plan to grow the economy through continued investment in local transport we have committed to explore options for a new station at St Athan. We are currently working with Network Rail, Transport for Wales, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council to define the scope of business case development required and the associated costs.