Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with UK airport operators on (a) airport parking charges, (b) advertising of airport parking charges and (c) increases in airport parking charges for passengers who do not book in advance.
Answered by Jesse Norman
It is for airport operators as commercial businesses to manage and justify their parking charges and advertising of parking charges. Parking arrangements are subject to contractual agreements between airport operators and car parking companies and covered by consumer laws. The Department for Transport expects car parking at airports to be managed appropriately and consumers treated fairly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to regulate emissions produced by private planes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is taking active measures to reduce emissions from aviation whilst retaining ability to fly. The aviation sector, including business aviation, is important for the whole of the UK economy, making an important contribution in terms of connectivity, direct economic activity, trade, investment and jobs.
The Department's Jet Zero Strategy shows how the sector can achieve net zero aviation by 2050 without Government intervention to limit aviation growth. The Department will achieve its targets by focusing on new fuels and technology, which have economic and social benefits, without limiting demand.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) expand the National Highways tree-planting scheme and (b) replace dead trees planted under the scheme.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
As part of its Net Zero Plan National Highways has committed to planting at least an additional 3 million trees by 2030. This commitment is being delivered now and will continue through RIS2 and beyond.
The early establishment years are particularly challenging for tree success and the early survival rate is very dependent on prevailing climatic conditions. National Highway’s Chief Highway Engineer is overseeing a rewrite of specifications for highways, including landscape and ecology planting and maintenance.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of electric vehicle charging points in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Overall, it is estimated that there are 468, 579 charging devices / sockets as of July 2023. As of 1 July 2023, there were 44,020 public charging devices in the UK, according to data supplied by Zapmap. As of 1 April 2023 (the most recent public data available), there were 339,775 charging devices installed through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), 40,333 devices installed through the Domestic Residential Scheme (DRS), 2,347 sockets installed through the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grants scheme (EVCG), and 42,104 sockets installed through the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the limits on the volume of liquid passengers may take onto a flight.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK has among the highest aviation security standards in the world. UK airports are currently upgrading their security equipment, which is expected to offer the opportunity for passengers to be able carry larger volumes of liquids when travelling.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he made of the causes of coach delays at the port of Dover.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Delays can be caused by a number of factors, at Easter this was principally due to high levels of demand exceeding capacity to handle, together with many coaches arriving well before their allotted sailing times. The first weekend of the Easter holidays saw higher than expected coach volumes travelling outbound via the port of Dover leading to longer processing times for border checks. New systems and processes to handle coaches were implemented at the Port for May half-term leading to minimal delays.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans steps to make roll bars mandatory for all quad bikes.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to UIN 186617.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had discussions with (a) British Airways and (b) other airlines on the potential for electric aviation.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The adoption of zero emission flight, including electric aviation, is considered at the Government and industry forum the Jet Zero Council (JZC) including its Zero Emissions Flight Delivery Group. The JZC is co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for Transport, Business and Trade and Energy Security and Net Zero with industry members including British Airways.
The Government is investing a record £685 million over three years into R&D in the UK aerospace sector through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme. In February the Department for Business and Trade announced £113 million of co-investment with industry in three Rolls-Royce-led projects on hydrogen and Vertical Aerospace work on battery-electric aircraft.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of low traffic zones.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the Active Travel Fund (tranche 2). As part of this evaluation, there will be an impact evaluation of low traffic neighbourhoods.
The evaluation is being conducted in line with the Government’s guidance on evaluation; the Magenta Book. Study design and all materials produced as part of the evaluation are rigorously quality assured by government analysts, to ensure products meet the standards set out above. The evaluation methodology and data collection methods will be subject to independent scrutiny in the form of peer review.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the bulk purchasing of driving test slots.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recognises there is a high demand for learners who are wanting to take their car practical driving test.
The DVSA has a 24-week forward booking window and tests are not available to book beyond this. As the booking service is live, test appointments can also become available to book through other candidates cancelling, or rescheduling, their test.
The DVSA is aware of apps or bots that constantly search its systems for driving test slots. The DVSA does not employ, encourage or licence anyone to provide such a cancellation service checking for newly open slots. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can result in people paying more for a test than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.
To ensure its booking system is used correctly, the DVSA has:
- stopped accepting new automatic online registrations to use its tests booking service – any new applications must be made by email, where they will be thoroughly checked by the DVSA.
- stopped accepting any new registrations from companies who do not directly employ a driving instructor.
- removed registrations not linked to driving instructors.
- reduced the number of times a driving test appointment can be changed from 10 to the pre-pandemic limit of 6 and updated the test booking service terms and conditions to make it clear that users must not book tests and sell them for profit.
Users found breaching the terms and conditions may have their accounts closed.
The DVSA is continuing to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system. This is having a positive impact. Following recent changes, there has been a significant drop in traffic to these services because the DVSA is successfully identifying and blocking apps or bots.
The agency will also continue to inform candidates of the official channels for booking a test. The DVSA has taken measures to encourage learners to use the official booking site on GOV.UK by ensuring that it appears as high as possible on popular search engines and by promoting the official website on social media.
As a result of the measures already taken by the DVSA, overall, since April 2021, approximately 900,000 additional car test slots have been created. On average, the DVSA is creating around 37,000 extra car test slots each month.