Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that there is a safe, alternative pedestrian access provided between St Leonards and St Ives Parish and Ringwood during the bridge works to the A31; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
National Highways will be maintaining the pedestrian access between the Verwood Junction and West Street during construction works. The footway and the site area will be separated by fencing and boarding to ensure pedestrian safety. Any construction activities that require closure of the footway will be for short durations and, where possible, will be completed overnight and well publicised in advance.
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 temporarily extend the validity of driving licences awaiting renewal by the DVLA whilst the backlog of those applications remains outstanding; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services have been available throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union, leaves fewer operational staff on site to allow for social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements and as increased demand for its services has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff.
The number of paper applications awaiting processing fluctuates daily as driving licences are issued and new applications received. Currently, paper applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
There are no plans to temporarily extend the validity of driving licences awaiting renewal.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications to the DVLA for the renewal of driving licences have been awaiting processing for more than (a) one month, (b) two months and (c) three months; and what the timescale is for tackling that backlog.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services have been available throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union, leaves fewer operational staff on site to allow for social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements and as increased demand for its services has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff.
The number of paper applications awaiting processing fluctuates daily as driving licences are issued and new applications received. Currently, paper applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
There are no plans to temporarily extend the validity of driving licences awaiting renewal.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications for provisional driving licences the DVLA has been in possession of for more than seven days; how many of those applications the DVLA has been in possession of for more than three months; and what the timescale is for tackling that backlog.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services have been available throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union, leaves fewer operational staff on site to allow for social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements and as increased demand for its services has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff.
The number of paper applications awaiting processing fluctuates daily as driving licences are issued and new applications received. Currently, paper applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
There are no plans to temporarily extend the validity of driving licences awaiting renewal.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons he has not published a response to his Department's consultation on managing pavement parking, which closed in November 2020; and when he plans to publish a response to that consultation.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department received over 15,000 responses to the consultation. We are carefully considering the consultation findings and will be publishing a response when we have completed this work, which is a priority.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the risk to public health caused by people who have been fully vaccinated against covid-19 travelling together in an aircraft with high efficiency particulate air filters in use; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts
Vaccination greatly reduces transmission and two doses provide a very high degree of protection against serious illness and death. Air conditioning systems on modern aircraft filter cabin air every few minutes through High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. These filters are very effective at capturing airborne microbes in the filtered air and, when coupled with the drawn in fresh air, can help to mitigate the longer-range risk of transmission.
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
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 Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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 Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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 Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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.