Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to increase the speed with which HGV licence applications are processed; how many additional staff have been hired by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the last six months; what assessment he has made of the average time applicants must wait for a substantive response to correspondence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is prioritising applications for vocational driving licences, including those for HGV entitlement. There is no backlog for provisional vocational licences and these are being processed within the normal turnaround time of five working days. The DVLA has significantly increased the processing of vocational licence renewals and has moved more staff into this area. Given this, the DVLA expects to be processing applications for both provisional vocational licences and renewals within normal turnaround times by early November. The large majority of those applying to renew an HGV licence can continue driving while their application is being processed.
In the last six months the DVLA has employed 180 new staff and is currently recruiting more.
Information about the average time taken to reply to correspondence is not available.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of housing providers inflating rents, and therefore amounts received from local authorities for providing housing, by means of intra-company sales at inflated values.
Answered by Will Quince
DWP is working closely with MHCLG to develop a package of measures to improve the oversight of supported housing, including ensuring quality standards and value for money for taxpayers.
The supported housing sector provides essential accommodation and support for the most vulnerable members of society to live as independently as possible in their community.
Most supported housing is provided by well-run providers/landlords with a strong social mission, whilst providing high quality care and support services themselves or through third parties.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that deprived rural and coastal communities receive a fair allocation of per capita spending on public infrastructure.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government’s levelling up agenda aims to spread opportunity and investment across every region and nation of the UK—including in rural and coastal communities. We will deliver this pledge by boosting jobs, wages and prospects for all communities. At Budget the Government also announced policies that will benefit those communities most in need, including the first round of the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund—designed to drive regeneration in places that have received less Government investment in recent years. On top of this, the next £5.2 billion Flood and Coastal Defence programme kickstarts in this month, and we are allocating £1.2bn over four years to support the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband in hard-to-reach areas—the start of our £5bn UK Gigabit programme.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure that the implementation of the principle of local governance of national parks remains effective; and what assessment he has made of the compatibility of that principle and the introduction of a National Landscape Service.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Landscapes Review recommended that the current system of local governance for National Parks should be reformed, and set out a number of specific proposals for how it should be changed to inspire and secure ambition in our national landscapes and better reflect society. It also recommended that a new National Landscapes Service is needed to ensure that our protected landscapes can achieve more than the sum of their parts for people and for nature.
The government will work with our partner organisations to consider carefully the importance of effective local governance as we develop our response to the review, including any changes to local and national governance structures. We will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the transport infrastructure needs of rural and coastal communities in the South West region.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Local areas are best placed to assess their transport infrastructure needs. With DfT funding, the two sub-national transport bodies in the South West, Peninsula Transport and Western Gateway, are in the process of developing transport strategies for their regions which will look at the entirety of the South West’s transport needs.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to administer covid-19 vaccinations to inmates in prisons.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has agreed that it would be difficult to advise additional prioritisation of detainees above the wider population based on the potential increased risk of exposure in a detained setting alone.
The overarching priority for the vaccination programme continues to be to reduce mortality, morbidity and hospitalisation and the JCVI has that priority should be based on age as the strongest indicator of risk of serious outcomes and clinical risk factors. Therefore, inmates in prisons will be prioritised for vaccination according to their own age and clinical risk along with the rest of the population.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the safety of smart motorways; how many fatal accidents have occurred on smart motorways since their introduction; and what guidance has been issued to motorists who break down on smart motorways and who are unable to reach a refuge area.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, published by the Department in March 2020, provides a table in Annex D, page 76, showing the number of reported fatal casualties between 2015 and 2018. This is reproduced here:
Road Class | Number of Reported Fatal Casualties | |||
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
Conventional Motorway¹ | 81 | 72 | 83 | 67 |
Controlled Motorway¹ | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
Dynamic Hard Shoulder¹ | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
All Lane Running¹ | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
All SRN ‘A’ Roads² | 132 | 154 | 145 | 165 |
Sources: 1 - STATS19, Highways England Statistics on motorway fatal casualties in England from 2015-18. 2 - STATS19, DfT Statistics on fatal casualties on the Strategic Road Network in England from 2015-18
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan also took account of the fact that different types of roads carry different quantities of traffic. It found that the fatal casualty rate (per hundred million vehicle miles) over the period 2015-2018 was lower on controlled (0.07), Dynamic Hard Shoulder (0.07) and All Lane Running (0.11) motorways than conventional motorways (0.16).
The latest strategic safety evidence, which includes data for 2019, will be published as part of the one-year stocktake progress update report which will be published shortly.
Highways England recently launched a national public information campaign to help drivers know what to do in a breakdown on motorways. Its main message informs drivers that if you breakdown, ‘go left’. Guidance is also contained in the Highway Code. Improvements to this guidance is currently out to public consultation (closing date for responses 29 March 2021). https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/he/highway-code/.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help alleviate the environmental impact of (a) polystyrene bodyboards and (b) other disposable beach products.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We know that when polystyrene bodyboards and other items used at the beach are littered they can have harmful impacts on the environment. The Government is committed to encouraging local solutions for local problems. This is particularly relevant in dealing with litter and fly-tipping issues, which require a local approach, tailored to the characteristics of the area and the community in which the problems occur.
The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse advises councils to monitor and clean beaches below the high-water mark areas as appropriate. Beaches present unique challenges. They may not always be cleaned to the maximum standard possible because of the terrain, conditions, accessibility and the need to be sensitive to habitats. The duty body should do as much as is practicable. It is recommended that councils and beach managers are aware of the different types and nature of beaches in their areas and carry out regular monitoring and suitable cleaning.
The Government's Resources and Waste Strategy for England published in December 2018 sets out our plans to reduce plastic pollution and move towards a more circular economy. This builds on the commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. The measures set out in the Strategy will help our society move away from a 'take, make, use and throw' approach regarding resources and materials to where we reuse, recycle, and repair more and waste less. Our Environment Bill will enable us to significantly change the way that we manage our waste and take forward a number of the proposals from the Resources and Waste Strategy.
In general, we prefer to help people and companies make the right choice, rather than banning items outright. There may, however, be times when a ban is appropriate as part of a wider strategic approach. Which is why we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in October 2020. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/ or materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to rail services for residents of Torridge and West Devon constituency.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
My Department has not undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of access to rail services for residents of Torridge and West Devon. Those residents are likely to benefit from the reintroduction of rail services between Exeter and Okehampton to be funded by the Government as a Restoring Your Railway initiative. I understand the Rt. Hon. Member has sponsored three bids for the third round of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, the outcome of which will be announced in the summer.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the 2019 Landscapes Review; and when he plans to publish the Government’s response to that review.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The independent Landscapes Review, led by Julian Glover, set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
We welcome this ambition, as the government is committed to ensuring our protected landscapes flourish as havens for nature and are places that everyone can visit and enjoy.
The Landscapes Review included recommendations for long-term structural changes, such as creating a new National Landscape Service and changing National Park and AONB statutory purposes, that would require legislation were they to be taken forward.
We are taking time to carefully consider the recommendations and working with partner organisations to inform and develop our response to the review, which we will publish in due course.
In the meantime, we are working to implement the ambitions of the Review on the ground now. For example, we are leading a £5.77m cross-governmental project to test nature-based social prescribing in seven test and learn sites, run national experimental work to understand its scalability, and deliver a robust project evaluation. This will help improve mental health and wellbeing by connecting more people to nature, including in protected landscapes.
The £80m Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which launched in September 2020, will kickstart a programme of nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. Some of these projects will help deliver on the Landscape Review's recommendations, such as the proposal to give every child a night under the stars in a national landscape.