Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to raise public awareness of the update on smart motorways in the Highway Code, introduced in September 2021.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Improvements to The Highway Code to improve safety on motorways and other high-speed roads came into effect on Tuesday 14 September 2021, with the publication of a revised edition on the Government website: www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code.
National Highways provided a news release to national transport correspondents, the road safety trade media, and driver and vehicle consumer press including quotes from the Roads Minister, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and road safety stakeholders. The news release generated more than 280 news stories covering the changes in a factual, positive manner, with many offering guides on ‘what drivers need to know’.
The Department pre-briefed influential roads and motoring stakeholders to encourage them to update their members, and National Highways wrote to stakeholders involved in the consultation to thank them and ask them to update members.
The DVSA sent direct emails to the driver, rider, and vocational training sectors, trainer bookers, professional drivers, vehicle operators, Highway Code email alert subscribers and learner drivers and riders, with nearly half a million people notified of the changes.
National Highways and DVSA published links to updated Highway Code pages on their social media channels, amplified by the Department across corporate channels, the THINK! campaign, and tweets from the Secretary of State and the Roads Minister.
National Highways also published a news story on its website and updated its pages detailing progress on delivering the Smart Motorway Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, each linking to The Highway Code on GOV.UK.
National Highways recognise that making drivers aware of the changes requires more than can be done on the day of publication and is seeking out appropriate opportunities to further publicise updates, including:
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review report entitled First Do No Harm and published in July 2020, what recent steps he has taken to progress implementation of recommendation five of that report on the rollout of specialist centres.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There are now eight specialist centres in operation across England to provide services for women with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse. NHS England and NHS Improvement will announce the location of a provider in the south west in due course.
The recommendation of the establishment of specialist centres for those impacted by medication taken during pregnancy remains under careful consideration. We will respond to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review report in full this year.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s policy is on safety inspections of light trailers with regard to the planned cessation of safety checks by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on light trailers weighing more than 0.75 tonnes and less than 3.5 tonnes in September 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not planning the cessation of safety checks on light trailers weighing more than 0.75 tonnes and less than 3.5 tonnes.
The DVSA is actively supporting work to help improve trailer safety. It is running checks throughout the summer to support the ‘Tow Safe for Freddie Campaign’, which has focus on caravans that tend to have greater use in this period. That campaign ends in September 2021, but the DVSA will continue with roadside checks of trailers and its broader educative work.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the guidance published by his Department on 17 May 2021 on bus service improvement plans, whether he plans to publish guidance on the ventilation of buses and preventing the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department for Transport has published ‘Safer Transport’ guidance for operators, which helps transport organisations understand how to provide safer workplaces and services for themselves, their workers and passengers.
The Safer Transport guidance, which is reviewed and updated regularly, includes a section on ‘Ventilation’, which suggests ways in which transport operators could ensure that a fresh air supply is consistently flowing through vehicles.
The Bus Service Improvement Plan guidance, which was published by the Department on 17 May 2021, is intended to help Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) and local bus operators develop an ambitious plan to improve bus services and access new funding, as outlined in the National Bus Strategy.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates he plans to publish the outstanding Post Opening Project Evaluation reports for the smart motorway schemes at (a) M1 junctions 10 to 13, (b) M1 junctions 28 to 31 and (c) M1 junctions 32 to 35a.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Highways England produces Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports ‘1 year after’ and ‘5 years after’, following the opening of a road scheme. It is currently producing: a five-year POPE report on the M1 Junctions 10 to 13; and, 1-year POPE reports on the M1 junctions 28 to 31, and M1 Junctions 32 to 35a. These are expected to be published by Summer 2021.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to (a) reduce or (a) zero rate VAT charges applied to the costs of onsite staff of sheltered housing schemes for older people where those staff are supplied by property management companies.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Although the supply of staff is generally standard rated, in order to keep costs down for older people, the supply of sheltered housing schemes is exempt from VAT, meaning no VAT is charged to the final consumer
Going further would come at a cost to the Exchequer and must be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of relief requests from VAT since the EU referendum. VAT makes a significant contribution to the public finances, raising about £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps to fund key spending priorities including on health, schools, and defence. Given this, there are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of supplies of staff.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure former teachers that are not registered with a teaching agency are able to participate in the Government’s national tutoring programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is an ambitious scheme that will provide additional, targeted support for those children and young people who have been hardest hit from disruption to their education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
There is extensive evidence that tutoring, by trained tutors who may or may not be qualified teachers, is one of the most effective ways to accelerate pupil progress, can lead to positive impacts and can boost catch up for lost teaching time by much as 3 to 5 months.
High quality tuition is one of the fundamental principles of the NTP, and the Department has worked closely with delivery partners to ensure it can be delivered across the programme.
Whilst we recognise that the education and experience of tutors is important to the delivery of high quality tuition, even tutors with relevant qualifications will require training to ensure that delivery is in line with the model offered by the Tuition Partners’ pillar of the NTP.
Opportunities to become a NTP tutor are available through approved Tuition Partners who are responsible for recruiting, training, and deploying tutors. Further information on each of our tuition partners can be found here: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/ntp-tuition-partners/ntp-approved-tuition-partners.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of the take-up of zero emission vehicles on receipts to the Exchequer from fuel duty in (a) 2025, (b) 2030, (c) 2040 and (d) 2050.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the transition towards electric vehicles and the phase out of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will make a vital contribution to this.
The interim Net Zero Review report in December last year highlighted that structural changes in the economy related to net zero will have fiscal implications. Much of the revenue from fossil fuel-based taxes is likely to be eroded during the transition to a net zero economy. However, there is currently a high level of uncertainty regarding the effect on receipts.
As we move forward with this transition, the Government will need to ensure that revenue from motoring taxes keeps pace with this change, so that the Government can continue to fund the first-class public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure schools and colleges are (a) trained to identify neurodiverse learners and (b) equipped to develop strategies to improve education outcomes for neurodiverse learners.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The SEND Code of Practice is clear that schools (and further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies) are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support that they need.
One of the ways of ensuring that children with SEN are identified and receive good support is through the work of SEN Co-ordinators (SENCOs). All schools (including academies) must have a qualified teacher designated as a SENCO. SENCOs play an essential role in schools, supporting teaching staff to meet the needs of pupils with SEN and ensuring that schools have a clear and effective approach to inclusive education.
The department recognises the importance of teachers developing and building on their awareness and understanding of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our school-led system places the responsibility on schools to determine the training and support required by their staff to meet the needs of children with SEND, within their approach to school improvement, professional development and performance management.
The performance of all teachers in maintained schools must be assessed every year against the Teachers' Standards, which set out that teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including pupils with SEN, and that teachers must be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support their pupils.
Through our contract with nasen, we have funded the Whole School SEND consortium to produce information for families and resources for schools (including training to support teachers to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak). This activity complements their wider programme of work to equip the workforce to deliver high-quality teaching for all children with SEND, for which we have provided funding of over £6 million since 2018.
For those working with children with autism, the department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to staff in early years settings, schools and colleges. To date, the AET has trained more than 287,000 people – not just teachers and teaching assistants, but also receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers, promoting a whole-school approach to support for pupils with autism.
Regional networks have also been established to promote the use of the training developed by the AET in schools, and we encourage schools to access this training. The AET has also developed national standards for autism support and a progression framework for those who work with children who have autism. These are available from their website at: www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason a new design of surveillance camera has been installed at the (a) A55 near Chester and (b) A158 at Wragby; and which agencies access the data obtained by those cameras and for what purposes.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Highways England is not aware of any new cameras being installed on any section of the A55 near Chester that forms part of the Strategic Road Network (SRN), for which it is responsible. The A158 is operated and maintained by Lincolnshire County Council, and it would be for the Council to comment on any new cameras implemented on it.
Local authorities are free to make their own decisions about the roads under their care, provided they take account of the relevant legislation. They are responsible for ensuring that their actions are within the law and are accountable to local people for their decisions and their performance. Local councillors are responsible for ensuring that local decisions about street infrastructure take account of the needs and opinions of local people.