Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people aged over 70 have applied to renew their driving licence by using the DVLA’s (a) online and (b) postal service in each of the last five years, by age of applicant.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The table below shows the number of applications received from those renewing their driving licence at the age of 70 and over either online or by post in the last five financial years. It has not been possible in the time available to break this down by age of applicant.
| Online applications age 70 and over | Postal applications age 70 and over |
2015-2016 | 720,152 | 1,068,060 |
2016-2017 | 843,947 | 1,079,017 |
2017-2018 | 897,577 | 990,243 |
2018-2019 | 907,005 | 1,117,544 |
2019-2020 | 1,128,344 | 1,012,176 |
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to protect bus routes in the North West from closure.
Answered by George Freeman
The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions on subsidised bus services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.
The Department provides around £43 million every year of Bus Subsidy Operators Grant (BSOG) directly to English local authorities to support local bus services. The government recognises the importance of these services and to improve current bus services, or restore lost services where needed, the government will provide an additional £30 million of funding.
The Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need, such as Franchising and Enhanced Partnerships to improve local bus services and increase passenger numbers. We are working with interested local authorities to determine which of the powers provided are best able to support bus networks in their areas.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of bus provision in Worsley and Eccles South.
Answered by George Freeman
The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions on subsidised bus services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.
The Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need, such as Franchising and Enhanced Partnerships to improve local bus services and increase passenger numbers. We are working with interested local authorities to determine which of the powers provided are best able to support bus networks in their areas.
We are committed to implementing the UK’s first-ever long-term bus strategy, accompanied by a long-term funding settlement. The strategy will focus on the needs of passengers so that more people want to use the bus and set out how national and local government and the private sector will come together to achieve this.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of new funding for road maintenance will be allocated to (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Salford City Council.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government is committed to improving local infrastructure and expects to announce details of the available funding shortly. Individual allocations of this funding will be subject to Ministerial decisions.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase access to rail services in Walkden.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Northern is introducing refurbished trains that meet modern accessibility standards in the coming months, and these will serve Walkden. They will provide audio visual passenger information systems and wheelchair spaces among other accessibility features for disabled passengers.
In addition, Northern is required to spend at least £250,000 on station accessibility improvements in each year of its franchise and in addition deliver 10 accessible hub stations.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department used to decide not to award Walkden Station funding from the 2018 Access for All programme.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Stations were selected for this funding against a range of criteria including annual footfall, the incidence of disability in the area, and the availability of third party funding for the project. The Department also took into account local factors such as proximity to a hospital. Stations were also chosen to ensure a fair geographical spread of projects across the country.
The programme was heavily subscribed, meaning that many strong nominations were not successful, including Walkden.