In March 2015, I announced a £50 million investment to deliver improvements across the South Western franchise before the end of the current franchise in 2017. This package of improvements included an additional Monday to Thursday late night service from London to Woking, and new ticket machines at Woking and London Waterloo Stations.

An additional 108 carriages are being added to the South Western franchise which should all be in passenger service by March of this year, with a further 150 carriages on order and due to arrive in 2017. These additional carriages provide additional capacity across a number of the routes operated, including those serving Woking.

The Department is running a competition to award the next South Western franchise, which is expected to start in 2017. The detailed franchise specification will be finalised following analysis of the responses to the public consultation, which closes on 9 February. It is expected that bidders will be asked to make proposals to provide capacity where it is needed most.

With regard to road links, Highways England is currently making improvements to the nearby M3 by constructing a smart motorway between junctions 2 and 4a (13.4 miles/21.6km). The aim of smart motorways is to help relieve congestion by using technology to control traffic flows, to assist in the management of incidents and provide information to road users. They deliver these benefits at a significantly lower cost than conventional motorway widening and with less impact on the environment during construction. This is achieved by converting the existing hard shoulder to a permanent running lane. Work started in November 2014 and is expected to be completed towards the end of June 2017.

In March 2015, I announced a £50 million investment to deliver improvements across the South Western franchise before the end of the current franchise in 2017. This package of improvements included an additional Monday to Thursday late night service from London to Woking, and new ticket machines at Woking and London Waterloo Stations.

An additional 108 carriages are being added to the South Western franchise which should all be in passenger service by March of this year, with a further 150 carriages on order and due to arrive in 2017. These additional carriages provide additional capacity across a number of the routes operated, including those serving Woking.

The Department is running a competition to award the next South Western franchise, which is expected to start in 2017. The detailed franchise specification will be finalised following analysis of the responses to the public consultation, which closes on 9 February. It is expected that bidders will be asked to make proposals to provide capacity where it is needed most.

With regard to road links, Highways England is currently making improvements to the nearby M3 by constructing a smart motorway between junctions 2 and 4a (13.4 miles/21.6km). The aim of smart motorways is to help relieve congestion by using technology to control traffic flows, to assist in the management of incidents and provide information to road users. They deliver these benefits at a significantly lower cost than conventional motorway widening and with less impact on the environment during construction. This is achieved by converting the existing hard shoulder to a permanent running lane. Work started in November 2014 and is expected to be completed towards the end of June 2017.

No decisions on either further government investment in Crossrail 2 or the final route for Crossrail 2 have been made. The National Infrastructure Commission has been asked to provide advice to the government by Budget 2016 on the best approach to large-scale investment in London’s transport infrastructure and this will include consideration of Crossrail 2.

Their advice will help inform decisions on any next steps for the scheme and therefore, prior to their advice, the Secretary of State is not in a position to make an assessment on the potential merits of an extension of Crossrail 2 to Woking.

However, Transport for London and Network Rail analysis shows that Crossrail 2 would release capacity for additional services on the South West Main Line into Waterloo. This would mean that destinations across the region, including Woking and other towns and cities not on the proposed route, would benefit from more frequent and reliable services into London.

National Health Service workforce data is not available at constituency level. Such information is available in the following table. Due to differences in boundaries, primary care trust (PCT) data from 2010 to 2012 is not comparable to clinical commissioning group (CCG) data in 2013 and 2014.

General practitioners (GPs) by selected area in England: Headcount and full-time equivalent 2010-2014

Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) General and Personal Medical Services Statistics

Notes:

Data as at 30 September 2014 for each year. NHS workforce data is not available at constituency level. Woking constituency is contained within and serviced by NHS North West Surrey CCG. Prior to 1 April 2013, Woking constituency was contained within and serviced by Surrey PCT. Due to the differences in boundaries, PCT data from 2010-2012 is not comparable to CCG data in 2013 and 2014.

The HSCIC seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses.

There are currently no general practitioner (GP) practices in Woking receiving funding from the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund (known formerly as the PM Challenge Fund).

Information on the availability of GP appointments in Woking is not collected centrally. GP practices are responsible for managing their appointments in accordance with the needs of their patients.

The Government is committed to improving access to GP and primary care services. We have invested in the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. This includes longer opening hours – such as evening and weekend hours – but also different ways of accessing services, for example telephone and Skype consultations. Across two waves of the Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and 18 million patients.

There are currently no general practitioner (GP) practices in Woking receiving funding from the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund (known formerly as the PM Challenge Fund).

Information on the availability of GP appointments in Woking is not collected centrally. GP practices are responsible for managing their appointments in accordance with the needs of their patients.

The Government is committed to improving access to GP and primary care services. We have invested in the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. This includes longer opening hours – such as evening and weekend hours – but also different ways of accessing services, for example telephone and Skype consultations. Across two waves of the Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and 18 million patients.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.