Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide additional resources to support bus services in England so that some of the routes stopped since 2010 can be restored.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The bus market in England is deregulated. Any decision to cut bus routes lies with the commercial operator. In 2016/17 £2.21 billion was provided by the Government to support bus services in England. This support includes local authority payments for supported services, and £250 million of Bus Service Operators Grant payments with £43m of this being paid directly to local authorities to run services that are socially necessary. In 2017 the Government also introduced the Bus Services Act, providing a number of tools to help improve bus services for passengers, and are working with a number of interested local authorities to determine which of the powers provided in the Act are best able to support bus networks in their local areas.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered introducing legislation to reform taxi licensing laws to establish national standards to secure passenger safety.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
At a Westminster Hall Debate last year, the then Minister of State for Transport, the Rt Hon John Hayes MP, announced the formation of a Task and Finish group to consider any regulatory issues and remedies for the taxi and private hire sector. The group is expected to submit its report to ministers shortly.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the report by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust highlighting the number of taxis and private hire vehicles licences which have been granted to drivers with criminal convictions.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is responsible for setting the regulatory structure within which local licensing authorities in England and Wales license taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers.
The Department for Transport will shortly consult on statutory guidance to be issued to licensing authorities; this will propose a range of measures to increase the safety of passengers.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of young people driving vehicles without (1) tax, or (2) insurance cover, as a consequence of not being able to afford those costs.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Her Majesty’s Government has not made any estimate of the number of young people driving vehicles without (1) tax, or (2) insurance cover, as a consequence of not being able to afford those costs.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to improve the arrest and prosecution rates for racist attacks, abuse and graffiti on London's rail network, in the light of the 650 incidents reported since 2013, resulting in only 13 arrests.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government considers the safety of people using the rail network to be of paramount importance. The British Transport Police (BTP) treats racially motivated hate crimes very seriously and a daily review takes place of every hate crime from the previous 24 hours. In line with the College of Policing’s National Hate Crime Strategy, BTP is working with partners to reduce hate crime and every crime is investigated in accordance with the College of Policing Guidance for the investigation of hate crime.
In addition, the London Transport Community Safety Partnership (LTCSP), which brings together Transport for London (TfL), the police and other key stakeholders, is looking at this important issue at a strategic level to ensure a coordinated response. Both the BTP and the Metropolitan Police have stepped up operational activity to provide a visible, engaging, reassuring presence across the TfL network. TfL is also working with community organisations to engage with them on this issue and encourage reporting. TfL provides full support to the police for their investigations, through staff reporting and access to CCTV and oyster card data, to help bring any offenders to justice.