Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of young drivers killed in road traffic collisions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads and continue to tackle this through our THINK! campaign.
We are considering measures to address this problem and protect young drivers, as part of our upcoming strategy for road safety - the first in over a decade.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to penalise offenders who fail to remain at the scene of a serious road traffic collision.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to publish a consultation on the adequacy of fail to stop provisions in the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing the 24-hour time period allowed to report road traffic collisions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the transition to electric vehicles on small businesses that provide repairs to diesel vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government's Industrial Strategy sets out our plans to upskill the nation with an extra £1.2 billion each year by 2028-29 and to deliver more opportunities for people at all stages of life to learn and earn in our high-growth sectors. The newly created agency Skills England will work with partners to assess skills needs at national, regional and local levels, and the Department for Education has committed to a new skills and growth offer to support meeting these needs.
We are evolving apprenticeships into a new Growth and Skills Offer to provide greater flexibility for employers and learners, in line with the Industrial Strategy. The offer will boost skills in the sector through initiatives like the Electrification Skills Network, which supports the development of a nationally consistent approach to electrification skills in parallel to technology; and the Electric Revolution Skills Hub, which connects the Power Electronics, Machines and Drives community through a digital platform that gives access to training, development and jobs across the nation.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of amending the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to include measures to prevent pavement parking.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department held a consultation in 2020 and is working through the policy options to tackle pavement parking and the appropriate means of delivering them. As soon as the Government is satisfied that an optimal solution to this complex issue has been identified, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will respond to her Department's consultation entitled Managing Pavement Parking, which closed on 22 November 2020, by 31 December 2025.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department has been considering all the views expressed in response to the 2020 pavement parking consultation and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. We will announce the next steps and publish our formal response as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of inaccessible (a) public transport and (b) streets on disabled people seeking employment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the importance of accessible streets and public transport to enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity, including ensuring they can access and sustain employment opportunities. As part of our broader mission to break down barriers to opportunity, we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure transport is accessible to all. The Government welcomed the findings of the Transport Select Committee’s report on improving accessibility across the transport network, and we are committed to driving change.
Local authorities are responsible for the design, management and maintenance of their streets. It is for them to ensure they carry out these functions in a way which takes account of the needs of everyone, and complies with the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Department has published good practice guidance on this in ‘Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mobility-making-transport-accessible-for-passengers-and-pedestrians.
In December last year, the government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill which includes a comprehensive package of measures to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of local bus services. We have also confirmed over £1 billion for 25/26 to support and improve bus services and keep fares affordable, including £712 million for local authorities. Local authorities can use this funding in whichever way they wish to deliver better services for passengers, including improving the accessibility of bus infrastructure.
The government also has ambitious plans to reform the rail sector, unifying track and train under one organisation. The cornerstone of the Government’s plan for rail reform is to establish Great British Railways (GBR), a publicly owned arm’s length body charged with running Britain’s railways in the public interest. Accessibility is one of the Government’s six priorities for the railway and will be central to GBR. To support this, the Railways Bill includes legal requirements relating to accessibility that will ensure that the interests of passengers, including those with accessibility needs, will be a fundamental part of decision-making on the railways. We will shortly publish an Accessibility Roadmap for rail that sets out the actions we are taking to deliver a more accessible railway.
We are also committed to developing an Accessible Travel Charter. The charter is a commitment to a shared vision for accessible travel. It will aim to set out what disabled travellers can expect from their journeys and what to do when standards aren’t met, share best practice across organisations and create consistency in end-to-end journeys for disabled travellers.
All of these measures and many more projects and policies within the Department are aimed at making the journeys of disabled people more accessible and allowing them to travel as they need.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Road Safety Strategy will be published.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government treats road safety seriously, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department is developing our Road Safety Strategy with plans to publish it this year. We will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made a comparative assessment of penalty levels for uninsured driving in (a) the UK and (b) other European countries.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not made a comparative assessment of penalty levels for uninsured driving in the UK and other European countries.