Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason is India not a red list country for the purposes of covid-19 travel restrictions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The government announced on 19 April 2021 that India had been added to the ‘red-list’. A travel ban will be implemented for visitors from India from 4am on 23 April.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of when the DVLA plans to respond to the application dated 30 December 2020 from a resident of Christchurch with driver number NICHO311169DG9SB; and for what reason that response is delayed.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I have asked the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to look into this particular case as a matter of urgency and will ensure my Honourable Friend receives a reply directly.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Transport for London on its policy on restrictions on road space through the Streetspace scheme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The responsibility for transport in London, including the Streetspace scheme, is devolved to the Mayor of London and Transport for London. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that local decisions about street infrastructure take account of the needs and opinions of local people. The Department is not responsible for policing what local authorities implement on their roads.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to extend the time limit between passing Part 1 of the driving instructors’ training and applying for Part 3 of the test beyond twenty four months due to the inability of potential driving instructors to train during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The requirements for the validity period of the part one pass and the wider approved driving instructor (ADI) qualification process are set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to amend them. The two-year limit is in place to ensure applicants have the most up-to-date road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills during the subsequent qualifying tests and at the point they join the Register of ADIs and are allowed to deliver instruction to learner drivers.
The legislation requires that a part three test is booked, not taken, before the expiry of the part one. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has put measures in place to support candidates whose part one pass is due to expire by allowing them to book a part three test online, or if no tests are available they can book a test to hold. Both of these options meet the regulatory requirements.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many members of staff in his Department were (a) working at their normal place of work, (b) working from home, (c) on annual leave, (d) on sickness absence and (e) not working for another reason in the week commencing 7 September 2020; and what plans he has in place to encourage departmental employees back to their normal place of work.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The core department has, over the last few months, flexed to working almost entirely from home, and has continued to deliver against our objectives. From 1 September 2020, our two primary offices in London and Hastings were made Covid secure and were opened to staff with strict social distancing measures in place.
a) Since opening on 1 September, 32% of core DfT staff have returned to their usual workplace, with a) 24% attending during the w/b 7 September;
b) The remainder of staff were either working from home or absent due to annual leave, sickness or other reasons (see below);
c) On average, there was an 8% absence due to annual leave each day during the w/b 7 September;
d) On average, there were 11 absences less than 1% due to sickness each day during the w/b 7 September;
e) On average, there were 51 absences (2%) due to other reasons (including maternity leave) each day during the w/b 7 September.
Our number one priority is the safety of our staff, and we are continuing to look for opportunities to maximise the capacity in our buildings whilst ensuring they remain Covid secure. The core Department’s headquarters, Great Minster House, is currently undergoing a planned refurbishment which is limiting our safe capacity and demand is currently at capacity. As each stage of refurbishment is completed, further capacity will be released with social distancing measures in place to meet the increasing demand, and we are exploring other options to maximise space available for staff to return.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on developing an initiative to support a furlough scheme for (a) luxury coaches and (b) other assets which cannot be used during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
My Department continues to meet regularly with representatives of the coach sector to understand their concerns and identify potential opportunities to support the sector, and have been supportive of the use of coaches to provide additional home to school transport as schools return. We will continue to consider the needs of the wider transport sector and respond appropriately, where necessary.
The Government has announced several measures available to UK businesses, including the coach sector, to financially support them through this time. The measures include:
Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS)
Time to pay (TTP)
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which has been extended until the end of October 2020
VAT deferral
Details of all of the Government’s support measures for businesses is available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test appointments on 14 September will be made available in (a) Poole, (b) Southampton and (c) Salisbury; for what reason it is not possible to reopen the test centre at Gillam road in Bournemouth to help meet demand; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
From 14 September 2020, there will be a up to approximately 700 practical driving tests available in Poole, Southampton and Salisbury. The number of tests available is likely to change depending on driving examiner availability.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will be extending the period in which tests are available from 6 weeks to 18 weeks ahead from 14 September 2020. This will add over 375,000 more test appointments between 14 September 2020 and the end of January 2021.
The DVSA will not re-open Bournemouth driving test centre (DTC) to help meet demand. On 12 August 2019, the DVSA took the difficult decision not to re-open Bournemouth DTC. This is because the property is in a poor state and the DVSA judges the cost of repairing it would be too high.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test appointments the DVSA made on (a) 21 August 2020 and (b) 25 August 2020; how many appointment applicants were unsuccessful on each day; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
On 21 August 2020, 10,637 driving test appointments were successfully booked and on 25 August 2020, 2,150 driving test appointments were successfully booked. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not hold data on how many applicants were unsuccessful booking a practical driving test.
The DVSA’s online booking service reopened to the general public on 26 August 2020, following essential maintenance, and again on 1 September 2020. A limited number of tests were available on both dates. Once these test slots were booked the DVSA closed the online booking system. It will reopen again at 8am on 7 September 2020, when more tests will be available. The DVSA is planning to make around 375,000 tests available on 14 September 2020.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the DVLA to respond to the change of address registration application for an HGV driving licence, reference WM509761918GB, sent by recorded delivery on 7 May 2020; and when the updated driving licence will be returned.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I have asked the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to look into this particular case as a matter of urgency and will ensure my Honourable Friend receives a reply directly.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date he next plans to meet with representatives from bus and coach operators.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Ministers and officials have had regular meetings with key stakeholders, including the Confederation for Passenger Transport, local transport authorities and transport operators in recent weeks to discuss a wide range of matters.
On 23 May, the Transport Secretary announced a further £254 million to help increase bus services across England as quickly as possible as we begin to re-open our economy. This is in addition to the £397 million the Government announced on 3 April 2020 to keep England’s buses running to serve those who need to rely on them. The Government has launched an unprecedented set of support measures to ensure that businesses, such as coach operators, have access to the funds they need to pay essential bills at this difficult time.