Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of extending the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme to peak-time travel.
Answered by George Freeman
No estimate has been made of the cost of extending the statutory English National Concessionary Travel Scheme to include pre-9.30am travel.
Concessionary travel legislation gives all local authorities in England the power to introduce local concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, including free or discounted travel before 9.30am.
This is the most commonly offered local concession – 69 of the 89 Travel Concession Authorities in England (outside London) offered free or discounted travel before 9.30am to pass holders in 2018/19.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle number plate cloning.
Answered by George Freeman
The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied.
The DVLA visits number plate suppliers to monitor compliance with the legal requirements and works closely with the police and trading standards to share intelligence and support investigations and prosecutions of suppliers who do not comply.
Anyone who suspects that their number plate has been cloned should report this to the police, who are responsible for on road enforcement. Any fines or correspondence received for offences which have not been committed should be returned to the issuing authorities for investigation. Vehicle keepers can also contact the DVLA, to request issuing a new registration number for a vehicle where necessary.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to improve accessibility at Luton station.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Luton is one of the 73 stations announced in April that will benefit from the £300 million Access for All funding available over the next 5 years. The Access for All programme delivers a step free, accessible route into the station and to and between each platform.
Network Rail are working with Luton Borough Council to try to ensure that the Council’s proposals for a wider redevelopment of the station are integrated and allow the Access for All phase of development to commence as soon as possible.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of rail passenger journeys take place (a) wholly and (b) for at least 50 per cent of the journey by distance on electrified sections of the railway network in Great Britain.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Office of Rail and Road publishes data on electrified rail routes in Great Britain. However, this includes routes open to passengers and freight and does not contain a breakdown for passengers only.
The length of network rail operated electrified route in Great Britain was 3,583 miles in 2017-18. This represents 36% of the total mainline railway route.
This data is available at the following link:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/c35e0c28-324f-4168-81b9-be197963f251
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many publicly available charge-points for electric vehicles there were in (a) Luton, (b) Bedfordshire and (c) the East of England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government does not have figures on the total number of publicly available electric vehicle chargepoints. Members of the public and businesses are able to install chargepoints without government support, and information on these are not routinely collected. As at 10th July 2019 the private sector charging point platform Zap-map reported that there are 1,607 in the East of England. Figures for Luton and Bedfordshire are not currently available.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department plans to provide to UK nationals accused of (a) driving offences and (b) exceeding the speed limit when driving their UK-registered vehicle in the EU in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Chris Grayling
All UK nationals must be aware and obey the local traffic laws of the country they are in when driving abroad. Information is available on www.gov.uk which we would urge drivers to read before they travel. If unsure, drivers can also refer to other sites or seek information from recognised driving associations or automobile clubs. The need to be aware and abide with the laws of another country is unaffected by any arrangements to leave the EU.
The Government does not currently provide legal support or advice to UK nationals accused of a traffic offence abroad and there are no plans to provide legal support or advice in the future.