Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has published guidance to local authorities on the issuing of a conditional offer of fixed penalty where covid-19 restrictions have impacted a person's ability to follow parking laws.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department has published a wide range of guidance to local authorities in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While no specific guidance on this matter has been published, other published guidance, including updated Network Management Duty statutory guidance, has encouraged local authorities to consider the wider impact to their network when implementing changes.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of HGV driver shortages on (a) the road haulage industry and (b) the timely supply of goods and food; and pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2021 to Question 13206 on Visas: Large Goods Vehicle Drivers, what plans his Department has to promote jobs, training, and other initiatives to get more people into HGV driving.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department has held regular meetings with the road haulage industry regarding driver shortages and its impact on supply chains, including a roundtable with ministers.
We are supporting the development of apprenticeships, including a standard to train lorry drivers. A revised standard will be available in August attracting £7,000 in apprenticeship levy funding.
The Department for Work and Pensions is developing a scheme to train jobseekers in HGV driving. The Flexible Support Fund is available to help the unemployed or those in receipt of Universal Credit renew their Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).
The Department has provided a grant for the non-profit initiative Road to Logistics to train military service leavers, ex-offenders and the long term unemployed to move into jobs in the logistics sector, including lorry driving.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department are taking to ensure availability of electric vehicle charging facilities across England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are investing an additional £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll out of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the UK. Today, a driver is never more than 25 miles away from a rapid chargepoint anywhere along England’s motorways and major A roads. The new Rapid Charging Fund will fund new and upgraded electricity connections at motorway and major A road services to support the installation of thousands of new rapid chargers on England’s major roads. By 2023, we aim to have at least six high powered, open access chargepoints at every motorway service area in England, with some larger sites having as many as 10-12. By 2035 we expect the number to increase to around 6,000 high powers chargers across the network. Government is also providing funding to support the installation of chargepoint infrastructure in local communities, at homes, workplaces and residential streets, accelerating the market to provide the infrastructure that is needed to support 100% uptake of zero emission vehicles ahead of need. This year we will publish an infrastructure charging strategy and provisions for chargepoints to be installed in new homes, where appropriate, in England.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 25 March 2021 to Question 173157, how his Department collected the views of people with protected characteristics, such as blind and partially sighted people as part of the recent pavement parking consultation, which closed on 22 November 2020.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department is analysing the high volume of responses to ensure that all views are captured, and Ministers will be carefully considering the consultation findings before deciding the way forward.
We will publish a response to the consultation in due course and it will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
During the consultation, the majority of Departmental staff were working from home to help control the spread of COVID-19. We therefore sought to encourage all replies to the consultation by online survey or by email where this was an easier solution. We worked with disability groups including RNIB on accessibility issues and, in addition, to the online survey, we provided an ‘Easy Read’ version, a fully interactive ‘Large Print’ response form, as well as an audio file. We sincerely hope that the majority of people wishing to respond did have access to the internet, such as from a library or with help from friends or family.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 25 March 2021 to Question 173157, when he plans to publish the results of his Department’s pavement parking consultation, which closed on 22 November 2020.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department is analysing the high volume of responses to ensure that all views are captured, and Ministers will be carefully considering the consultation findings before deciding the way forward.
We will publish a response to the consultation in due course and it will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
During the consultation, the majority of Departmental staff were working from home to help control the spread of COVID-19. We therefore sought to encourage all replies to the consultation by online survey or by email where this was an easier solution. We worked with disability groups including RNIB on accessibility issues and, in addition, to the online survey, we provided an ‘Easy Read’ version, a fully interactive ‘Large Print’ response form, as well as an audio file. We sincerely hope that the majority of people wishing to respond did have access to the internet, such as from a library or with help from friends or family.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to work with Railcard to extend the expiration date of railcards which have expired during the period of national covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department recognises that railcard holders have been unable to use their cards whilst travel restrictions are in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and railcard holders have not been able to benefit to the fullest extent over recent months.
Passenger demand has fallen dramatically over the last year and my Department recognises that recovery is uncertain. We will continue to work closely with industry on initiatives to encourage passengers back to the railway when the time is right.
However, many passengers are able to recover the cost of their railcard in a single trip over the period of validity of their railcard. Having carefully considered the situation, we are not discussing the prospects of offering refunds or extensions for railcard users.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps the Government is taking to ensure the long-term security of the coach sector.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
We are continuing to work across Departments to promote and further the coach sector as a key part of the Government’s forthcoming Tourism Recovery Plan.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to facilitate the continued use of E5 fuel for Classic Car owners.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
On 25th February we published the Government response to the consultation paper “Introducing E10 petrol”. The Government response confirmed our intention to introduce E10 petrol in the standard 95-octane petrol grade by 1 September 2021 and to ensure that E5 will remain available at the higher-octane super grade. The Department has taken the needs and concerns of classic car users into consideration in developing these proposals and understands that many owners of classic cars already use the higher-octane option.
E10 (Petrol containing up to 10% bioethanol)
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to update the Highway Code to prohibit parking on pavements throughout England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department recently carried out a public consultation on possible solutions to the complex pavement parking problem. This closed on 22 November 2020 with over 15,000 responses received. The Department is now carefully analysing the responses, following which decisions will be taken on the next steps.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK road haulage industry of the restriction to a total of 90 days out of 180 for their drivers in EU countries compared to their previous unlimited access before the end of the transition period.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the UK and the EU delivers a good outcome for UK-based international hauliers. The vast majority of journeys to and from the EU will be able to continue without the need for any additional permits, and UK hauliers also retain rights to do work within and between EU Member States, again with no extra bureaucracy. UK hauliers will of course also have to ensure they comply with the immigration rules applied by EU Member States.