Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to delays in driving test appointments, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the eligiblity of a successful driving theory test from two years to three years.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
During March 2023, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in the Oxfordshire area was 14.3 weeks; the national average waiting time was 15.5 weeks.
People can book driving tests up to 6 months before they take their test.
It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.
The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting times are for a practical driving test appointment in (a) Oxfordshire and (b) England.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
During March 2023, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in the Oxfordshire area was 14.3 weeks; the national average waiting time was 15.5 weeks.
People can book driving tests up to 6 months before they take their test.
It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.
The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) non-disclosure and (b) other confidentiality agreements relating to (i) employment, (ii) bullying, (iii) misconduct and (iii) harassment cases have been agreed by their Department in each year since 1 January 2010; and how much money from the public purse has been spent on (A) legal costs and (B) financial settlements for such agreements in each year since 1 January 2010.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Exit packages are published in DfT Annual Reports and Accounts and all redundancy, severance and other department costs, are paid in accordance with the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (except where instances are detailed in the accounts as otherwise).
In 2015 Cabinet Office guidance outlined that confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements should not be applied in settlement agreements as a matter of course. Since that time, fewer than 5 have been agreed and the values of the packages were reported in the relevant year’s accounts.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to open a fourth round of applications for the Active Travel Fund.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Active Travel England was launched in January 2022 to manage the £710m Active Travel budget and to drive up the standards of Local Authority projects.
Further information on the process will be published shortly.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of officials in his Department involved in recording retained EU legislation for the purposes of the Retained EU Law Dashboard in the latest period for which figures are available and (b) the cost to the public purse of recording that information.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
DfT worked with the Cabinet Office from February to June 2022 to create the Retained EU Law (REUL) dashboard. International Directorate in DfT coordinated this work with the support of policy leads from across the Department and its Agencies. All expenditure was costed within the business-as-usual budgets and there has been no additional non-pay cost to the public purse by creating the dashboard.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage passenger growth and support passenger capacity on the Oxford to Birmingham railway routes.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome that passenger numbers are increasing on CrossCountry routes. It will be for the operator to undertake appropriate, cost effective marketing to promote and encourage passengers to travel on their services.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date his Department plans to restore Cross Country Trains to two services per hour between Oxford and Birmingham.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We would expect Crosscountry to propose the reintroduction of services in future where they are likely to be revenue generative and can be delivered reliably as appropriate for the level of passenger demand.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help improve cycle safety in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is investing £2 billion over five years to deliver safer and better cycling infrastructure in communities across England. I would be very willing to meet and talk about the work of Active Travel England.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the amount of Bus Recovery Grant funding issued in (a) England, (b) Oxfordshire and (c) each local authority in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Bus Recovery Grant is a £226.5m scheme to support bus operators and Local Transport Authorities in England. Most of the funding available will be provided to commercial operators to support services, including those operating within Oxfordshire. The Department cannot provide a breakdown of the level of funding provided to operators in each area due to information being commercially sensitive.
I refer the Hon Member to a previous answer UIN 86153 which provides the Bus Recovery Grant funding allocated to Local Transport Authorities.