Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to address cross-border working by private hire vehicles.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) are permitted to undertake pre-booked work outside of the area in which they are licensed. PHVs are subject to a triple licensing lock; the operator fulfilling the request, the driver and vehicle must all be licensed by the same local authority. The Government is aware of the challenges out-of-area working can present to licensing authorities, but also sees the value this system provides in meeting otherwise unmet demand in areas where drivers might not be immediately available.
The Government is responsible for setting the regulatory structure within which local licensing authorities in England license the taxi and private hire vehicle trades. The Department for Transport's Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards recommends enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for taxi and private hire vehicle drivers. All licensing authorities require these checks.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the end of the plug-in car grant in June 2022 on the consumer uptake of electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Since June 2022, the UK’s zero emission vehicle market has continued to grow. According to industry statistics, so far in 2022 there has been a 38.4% increase in the sale of battery electric vehicles compared to the same time period in 2021 and over one million plug-in vehicles have now been registered in the UK.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential impact of the decision to apply Vehicle Excise Duty on electric vehicles from 2025 on the uptake of electric vehicles before the Autumn Statement 2022.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMT is responsible for setting tax rates, including vehicle excise duty and company car tax rates, and they carry out assessments relating to fiscal measures they take.
The Government will continue to support the uptake of zero emission vehicles to meet our 2030 phase out date for petrol and diesel cars and vans through preferential tax measures and accelerating the rollout of charging infrastructure for those without off-street parking as well as rapid charging on motorways.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish revised national road traffic forecasts to replace the 2018 forecasts that predate the net zero target.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The department regularly reviews evidence and data on the drivers of travel demand and will publish an update to the 2018 Road Traffic Forecasts in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the business case for the Lower Thames Crossing.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The business case for the Lower Thames Crossing was published by National Highways on 26 October.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he intends to publish the Road Safety Strategic Framework.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Road Safety Strategic Framework will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of public electric vehicle charging points in disrepair.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government does not collect or hold data on the operational status or condition of public or private chargepoints.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to publish data from the monitoring and evaluation programme on e-scooters in advance of bringing forward legislative proposals on the future of transport.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department will be publishing a full set of findings from its evaluation of the e-scooter trials in a report in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish data from the monitoring and evaluation programme on e-scooters.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department will be publishing a full set of findings from its evaluation of the e-scooter trials in a report in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 8 June 2020 to Question 49717 on Cycling and Walking: Finance, when he will publish the Cycling Insights part of the research commissioned by his Department to assess what funding is required to meet its targets for increased cycling and walking by 2025.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The publication of this part of the research was delayed in 2020 owing to the pandemic and other pressures. However, this research underpinned the development of the second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS2) which was published on 6 July 2022.