Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 16 September (HL7652) and (HL7653), when their review of Transport for London's future financial sustainability is due to report.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The review of TfL’s future financial sustainability has now completed and reported to Government. The outputs of this review are informing ongoing discussions between Government, TfL and the Greater London Authority.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made a decision on the Crossrail 2 Strategic Outline Business Case; and if not, when they intend to do so.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Crossrail 2 is a jointly sponsored project between my Department and Transport for London (TfL). We need to collectively ensure that Crossrail 2 is affordable before a decision can be taken about the future of the project.
Following the emergency funding package agreed with the Mayor in May 2020 a Government led review on TfL’s future financial sustainability is being undertaken. The next steps for Crossrail 2 will therefore need to be considered in light of this review and the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the role of the Department for Transport in (1) managing, and (2) setting the budget of, the Crossrail 2 project; and what other organisations will be responsible for the delivery of that project.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Crossrail 2 is jointly sponsored by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Transport for London (TfL). Both organisations therefore fund the development of the project and as part of this agree annual budgets.
As joint sponsors DfT and TfL oversee an integrated project team tasked with the development of the project. This team comprises of TfL and Network Rail staff
In July this year, TfL published a revised budget. This acknowledged that there were some difficult choices on future major transport schemes such as Crossrail 2 and that they needed to be realistic about its affordability over the next decade. Government continues to discuss next steps for Crossrail 2 as a consequence.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 June (HL16465), what assessment they have made of the case for introducing a target time for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to (1) send out questionnaires to doctors to confirm the fitness of someone to drive after having received a request for a licence to be reinstated, and (2) make a decision once it has received a questionnaire back from a doctor, to ensure that the DVLA are delivering an efficient service.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no plans to introduce additional target times for activities within the medical application process. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) dealt with around 750,000 medical cases in 2017/18 and aims to complete 90 per cent of these within 90 working days. In the financial year 2018-19 the DVLA completed 91.7% of cases within 90 working days.
The DVLA aims to deal with all cases as efficiently and as quickly as possible. The length of time taken to deal with an application depends on the medical condition involved and whether information is needed from medical professionals.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 June (HL16465), how long, on average, it takes the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to reach a decision on whether to reinstate a driving licence to someone who had been deemed previously to be medically unfit to drive once it has received the necessary completed questionnaire from a doctor; and what was the (1) shortest, and (2) longest, time taken by the DVLA to reach such a decision after receiving such a questionnaire in 2018.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is unable to provide the information requested as it would require the interrogation of each medical driving licence case and would therefore result in a disproportionate cost to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The DVLA dealt with around 750,000 medical cases in 2017/18. It took an average of 32 working days after the receipt of an application to make a licensing decision.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 June (HL16465), what was the (1) shortest, and (2) longest, time taken by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in 2018 to send a questionnaire to a doctor after having received a request for a driving licence to be reinstated.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is unable to provide the information requested as it would require the interrogation of each medical driving licence case and would therefore result in a disproportionate cost to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The DVLA dealt with around 750,000 medical cases in 2017/18. It took an average of 32 working days after the receipt of an application to make a licensing decision.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency has a target number of days for the processing of applications for driving licences to be reinstated between someone having been certified as medically fit to drive again and the licence being returned.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is responsible for considering the medical evidence and then deciding whether the medical standards for driving can be met. There is no target number of days for reinstating a licence once the decision to issue the licence has been made. however, a licence would be sent immediately.
The DVLA sends confirmation to the applicant that a questionnaire has been sent to their doctor for completion. Applicants may also contact the DVLA in writing, by email or by telephone to make enquiries on the progress of their case.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for the last year that complete records are held, what was the average number of days that people had to wait to have their driving licence reinstated after being certified medically fit to drive again; and what mechanisms are in place to allow people to inquire about the status of their application while it is being processed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is responsible for considering the medical evidence and then deciding whether the medical standards for driving can be met. There is no target number of days for reinstating a licence once the decision to issue the licence has been made. however, a licence would be sent immediately.
The DVLA sends confirmation to the applicant that a questionnaire has been sent to their doctor for completion. Applicants may also contact the DVLA in writing, by email or by telephone to make enquiries on the progress of their case.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what training is given to staff of the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency on communicating with people who have had to surrender their driving licence on medical grounds.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Staff at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) are trained to deal with customers professionally. Communication is tailored to the needs of the individual and all staff are expected to deal with customers with courtesy and sensitivity.