Oral Answers to Questions

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Keir Mather]

I thank the Lib Dem spokesperson for his question. I can confirm that we have discussed the flow of passengers through member state airports with our relevant partners in the European Commission, and with member states. That is certainly something I have been doing over the past 10 months. We know that there are outstanding issues with particular airports, which we continue to raise, both through our in-country posts and at ministerial level, to ensure that European partners are fully aware of just how seriously we take British passengers being able to travel with ease to their summer holiday.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

10. What steps she has taken to help increase the affordability of bus travel for children and young people.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Simon Lightwood)]

The Government know how important affordable bus travel is for helping children and young people to access opportunities. That is why we are funding free bus travel for kids across England this August; it will help families to get out and about for less during the summer holidays. That builds on local initiatives from Labour Mayors in the west and north-east of England that allow children to travel by bus for free.

[Amanda Martin]

Last week, the all-party parliamentary group for tradespeople hosted a roundtable to discuss the barriers to young people taking up a career in the trades. Travel was raised as a particular issue. While I welcome the Government’s roll-out of new technical colleges, they are simply inaccessible to many young people, especially those in coastal communities, where transport links are poor. Once they qualify, tradespeople rely on their cars and vans to build their businesses and get to their place of work. What steps is the Minister taking, in conjunction with colleagues in the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions, to break down the barriers to opportunity for young people considering these skilled, well-paid careers, and will the Government consider offering driving lessons through apprenticeships?

[Simon Lightwood]

My hon. Friend is right that transport has a vital role to play in unlocking opportunities for young people, as I know from growing up in a coastal community. Through the Bus Services Act 2025, we are giving local leaders greater power to shape bus services around their local needs, including in coastal and rural communities. We have confirmed over £3 billion for buses from 2026-27, which will help to improve connections to education, training and employment. I am sure that my colleagues in the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions will have heard her call for driving lessons in apprenticeships.

Coastguard Volunteers: Remuneration and HMRC Guidance

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered HMRC guidance and remuneration of coastguard volunteers.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Shelbrooke. I welcome the Minister to his place.

This debate is timely, because I am angry and offended by what the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is doing to our coastguard rescue officers. I believe that the changes being introduced, following the recent Court of Appeal judgment, risk hollowing out a crucial emergency service that is relied on by people in my constituency and other coastal and island communities around the country. I believe that the changes should be paused so that a proper and meaningful consultation can be held, and then brought back in a shape that respects the contribution and service given by coastguard rescue officers and secures the future of that service.

I want the Minister to understand just why this matters as much as it does, so let me take the House back to 8 December 1963, some 20 months before I was born. At 3 am on that date, the trawler Margaret Wicks, of Fleetwood, ran aground off the coast of the Mull of Oa, on the island of Islay. The report of that grounding from the time recorded:

“The Margaret Wicks went ashore on the Mull of Oa, a wild isolated part of Islay where there are few roads”—

one, in fact—

“at 3 a.m. on 8th December. Within…hours, the Mull of Oa company, who live in a small isolated community about three miles away, were on the scene. Shortly afterwards the Port Ellen company arrived, having carried their life-saving gear for two miles across very rough, boggy terrain from the road where they had left their lorry.

The trawler was hard ashore, close in under a steeply sloping cliff 250 feet high; and the Volunteer-in-Charge, Mr. John Lockhead, took his men down the cliff to a point about 20 feet above the bows of the stranded vessel, from which they carried out the rescue. A whip and breeches buoy was used, and within half an hour the first survivor was landed. The other 14 were brought ashore uninjured within the next hour. The Islay life-boat and H.M.S. Hampshire were both lying off shore, unable to help because of the rocks which surrounded the wreck.”

One of the men who was part of the Mull of Oa company was my father. He and his friends and neighbours were awarded the Minister of Transport’s shield for best wreck service of the year for 1963-64, jointly with the Lerwick station in Shetland—for obvious reasons, I am relieved that it was called a draw. The rescue of the Margaret Wicks is part of my family’s story.

My father will celebrate his 95th birthday next month. I spoke to him about the rescue last night; he recalled it with total clarity and in great detail. He told the story not boastfully, but with a pride rooted in an understanding that this is part of what it means to be an islander or to live in a coastal community. Our communities produce fishermen and other seafarers, so coastguards and lifeboat volunteers go to those who are in difficulty and distress on our shores because, if it were necessary, we would want the same to be done for those about whom we care.

Of course, the modern coastguard service is very different from the one that my father was part of in 1963. Now, the crew of the Margaret Wicks would most probably be lifted by helicopter rather than by a breeches buoy, but the same sense of pride and duty motivates coastguard volunteers today as it did my father and his neighbours six decades ago.

I heard that same sense of pride and duty when I met CROs in my office in Orkney on Saturday—incidentally, we were in my office because I was not allowed to meet them in the coastguard station. I heard about the four days that they spent searching the coastline for a young monk who had gone missing from the monastery on Papa Stronsay. I heard from CROs in Shetland about the role that they played a few years ago when a winter storm brough catastrophic failure to the local electricity network, leaving parts of our community with no power for over a week.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Carmichael]

I know of no CRO who gives their time and skills for the money, but the way in which they have received financial recognition in recent years has enabled them to make their contribution. That is especially true for the self-employed: many paid by the hour in their day jobs will lose out financially. They knew that system when they signed up, but now it is being changed and they are expected to carry on as they did previously. That is not reasonable and does not respect the contribution that the CROs make.

[Amanda Martin]

rose—

[Mr Carmichael]

I have spoken to you about taking interventions today, Mr Shelbrooke. So many people are in the Chamber that I am afraid I have agreed to take just one—from the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson), who is running the drop-in session. I hope that somebody has been counting and listing the people in the Chamber, to highlight the importance that we all attach to this issue.

It is critical that the Minister should understand what that sense of pride and duty means. I am afraid that the senior management of the MCA apparently have no understanding of it at all; their handling of the issue has been heavy-handed to the point of being disgraceful. Instead of engaging and consulting, they have produced a scheme that fundamentally rewrites the contract between the agency and the CROs. As a result, we risk seeing CROs walking away from the rescue service, to the point of losing the critical mass of people needed to provide the service.

--- Later in debate ---

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

Diolch o galon i holl wylwyr y glannau am eu gwaith. [Translation: Heartfelt thanks to all the coastguards for their work.]

The economy of Gwynedd is highly dependent on tourism, especially our coastal communities in the Llŷn peninsula and on the Meirionnydd coast, as well as in the uplands of Eryri. To give a snapshot of the impact on population numbers, the year-round population of Abersoch in Llŷn is 600, but that increases to 50,000 in the summer. The volunteer rescue services and the salaried blue light teams are under immense pressure to deal with these numbers, even as things stand. Keeping the public safe under such pressures requires a close-knit response from people who know their local coast and country like the back of their hand, who are prepared to turn out at short notice and who are fully trained to bring a professional response to an ever-changing environment and hazardous challenges.

Gwynedd has eight coastguard stations at Aberdaron, Abersoch, Bangor, Barmouth, Criccieth, Landwrog, Porthdinllaen and Tywyn, and there are at least 80 volunteer coastguard rescue officers in the county. The coastguard rescue teams at these stations provide essential emergency response capability along the Welsh coastline, including search and rescue, missing person operations, flood response, and cliff and mud rescues. They co-ordinate with North Wales police and transport police, North Wales fire and rescue service and the Welsh ambulance service, and with volunteers from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and mountain and cave rescue teams. They even attended the Talerddig train accident in 2024, where there was a fatality. The public do not distinguish between the services. They see emergency responders, they see uniforms and kit, and they trust them—sometimes with their lives.

[Amanda Martin]

Portsmouth coastguard rescue officers responded to 171 incidents last year, and I rise to express my admiration of them and of the coastguard rescue officers in the right hon. Member’s constituency. Does she agree with me and my constituents that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency had a number of options available to it, but it chose to blatantly ignore those options and instead put the burden on the shoulders of the CROs and their families, which is just not good enough?

[Liz Saville Roberts]

I agree entirely. A CRO suggested to me that we should look at the model for retained firefighters. I wonder whether that is something the Minister might consider. Obviously, there will be issues with that model, but other models have been suggested by the CROs.

I have already cited the evidence showing that we need CROs. Now, let me pass on what they have told me about the proposed changes. Teams will be put under extra pressure when—not if—some members cannot attend incidents because they will be out of pocket, whether they are working or for another reason. The exact same issue will arise in respect of essential training sessions. We risk losing officers with decades of experience, skills and local knowledge. Emergency response times will increase when neighbouring teams are called in because local officers are not available; we already know that that happens with the fire service on occasion. Recruitment will be hit as new team members are required to do 10 days’ training without remuneration. This will reduce the pool of people who can afford and are willing to do this work. CROs already feel isolated and ignored; their morale will fall even further.

I will also quote what one CRO told me, and I have been careful here because CROs do not want their names to be put on the record. We have already heard that they are being threatened by their management, which is frankly appalling, although it gives us a role here as MPs to say the words that really should be coming from their own mouths. This CRO told me their work involved

“People sacrificing time that could be spent with family to go out in all weather, at any time of day or night, to carry out all manner of rescues, from a dog on a cliff to recovering dead bodies.”

That is what these people do.

I have already tabled written questions about whether the Government have assessed how many CROs are likely to leave the service, the impact on public safety and the long-term sustainability of the coastguard if it were to operate on a wholly volunteer model. The Government have not provided any answers to those questions. I therefore ask them again to the Minister, and I look forward to hearing his response. Diolch yn fawr.

Oral Answers to Questions

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Simon Lightwood]

Motorways are already among the safest roads in the country. The number of KSIs on motorways in 2024 represented 3% of the total for England, despite motorways carrying over a fifth of all road traffic. The target reflects that. The approach is challenging but realistic, focused on what National Highways can directly deliver over this period. Of course, that sits alongside wider action in the road safety strategy to dramatically reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries across all roads in Great Britain.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking to help decarbonise the transport sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

Decarbonising transport is vital for our energy security and to make the network fit for the future. We are turbocharging the roll-out of electric vehicles, overhauling public transport, supporting low carbon fuel uptake in aviation, and funding technology innovation for maritime through the multimillion-pound UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions research programme.

[Amanda Martin]

Portsmouth international port has invested significantly in shore power infrastructure, supported by Government funding, to enable ships to connect to grid electricity while berthed, rather than run diesel engines. However, the high cost of electricity is threatening to render the entire investment worthless. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that shore power infrastructure at UK ports is economically viable, given that grid transmission standing charges make shore power significantly more expensive than marine diesel and transmission costs nearly doubled in April?

[Keir Mather]

My hon. Friend is an absolute champion for Portsmouth international port and I am sure that she will be thinking of its 50th anniversary celebrations next week, when it will be bringing its pioneering work with Britanny Ferries on this issue to fruition. I recognise, however, that high electricity prices can impact the economic viability of shore power in the short term. The Government are working to improve shore power connection times, and will continue to engage with the sector and across Government on mitigating high electricity costs. UK SHORE, our £448 million investment in decarbonising maritime, will allow applicants to include onsite energy generation and battery storage to help reduce costs.

Railways Bill

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 10th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

I would like to draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

For decades, my constituents have been dealing with the consequences of the failed experiment of the privatisation of our railways. This Bill begins to put that right. At its heart is the creation of Great British Railways—a single, publicly owned body focused not on shareholders, but on the people who use the railways day in, day out. Government amendment 92 will ensure that the benefits of nationalisation are felt by passengers for decades to come. It prevents future Ministers from undoing this progress and dragging our railways back into the chaos and fragmentation of the past.

My gramps was a train driver, and my amazing auntie Michelle—Michelle Nolan McSweeny—has dedicated her career to the railways, so for me this Bill is personal. I know the pride that hard-working railway workers take in what they do. They want to deliver a quality service for their passengers, but they have been failed by a system that puts profit above people. For too long, our railways have been broken up into pieces—pieces of track, trains and operation—all working under different initiatives. That fragmentation has made it harder to plan properly, invest and deliver the railways that passengers deserve.

A railway works best when it is treated as one. We need the people who run the trains, manage the infrastructure and make investment decisions all to be working together, not pulling in different directions. Every pound generated by our railways should be focused on improving our railway network and supporting development here in the UK. It should not flow out to private interests or be used to support railways elsewhere.

Under privatisation, some of the companies operating our rail services have been owned by overseas interests, including state-linked rail companies from other countries. That means that money from UK passengers has at times helped to support transport systems and priorities outside our own country. Our railways should be an asset that strengthens the UK economy. The fares that passengers pay and the value created by our network should help to fund better services, infrastructure and connections for communities in Britain.

We can see from across Europe that a more co-ordinated approach can deliver better infrastructure. Strong infrastructure is not just about trains; it is about jobs, housing, businesses and opportunity. We are beginning to see what a different approach can achieve. Last year, South Western Railway became the first railway company under public ownership. At the end of last month, Southern Rail followed. Public ownership operators are performing better on average on punctuality and cancellations compared with those still in private ownership. Avanti, which was referred to by the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew), has cut services and remains owned by the private companies FirstGroup and Trenitalia, which are owned by the Italian state railway.

Under public ownership, South Western Railway has accelerated its plans for new trains and improved driver training, increased capacity and more space on routes into London. It will also provide information and connections to local bus, ferry and transport services to join up the systems locally. Southern Rail’s new publicly owned operator has committed to practical improvements too, including giving passengers direct access. That is welcome, but we must make sure that those promises are properly challenged and scrutinised. Passengers need improvements that they can feel every day, including value-for-money tickets, reliable information, better customer service and better access. People also expect the basics, such as decent wi-fi and connectivity on their journey.

Those improvements matter locally. In Portsmouth North, for passengers using stations such as Hilsea and Cosham, the railway is not abstract; it is a part of everyday life. It is about getting to work, getting kids to school and college, and staying connected with communities. I look forward to working with Great British Railways to ensure that those stations have full accessibility, full safety and extended facilities.

The Bill is about bringing the railways back together and simplifying a system that has become too complex, fragmented and difficult to navigate. Amendment 92 secures this system into the future. I am proud to support the Government’s mission to keep Great British Railways in public ownership and ensure that the mistakes of privatisation are not repeated.

[Alison Taylor (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (Lab)]

Railways are critical for many of my constituents, and I am pleased to speak to the Government’s amendments, particularly the measures that will ensure that nationalisation fully proceeds with no scope for future partial privatisation through the back door.

I welcome this Government’s focus on the railways, as frustratingly only part of my constituency is served by rail. The major towns of Renfrew, Erskine and Inchinnan are railway deserts right now, meaning that residents have to rely on the road network. Since privatisation in 1997, railway connections have felt more fragmented. As a regular traveller southward, I understand how important it is that the Bill will enable the system to work together, as integrated transportation is currently lacking.

The strategic planning that underlines this legislation means integrated track ownership infrastructure, and better management, service and procurement, so Great British Railways will increasingly pay off. I welcome the provisions to allow Scottish Ministers to contribute to the broader strategic planning of the railway system, and the new technical amendments for the transfer of staff under TUPE, which is essential for a smooth transition.

I am encouraged by the inclusion of rail freight in the Bill. In my constituency, Russell’s, a family-run business with a massive distribution depot in Hillington Park, already makes significant use of rail for freight distribution, and it is looking to recommission the existing railway track from Hillington and get it operational once again. I am keen to explore how I can support its aim to transport freight by rail all the way from Hillington to the centre of Europe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

11. What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.

--- Later in debate ---

[Amanda Martin]

Buses in Portsmouth are not meeting the accessibility requirements of visually impaired passengers, and my constituents report that bus colour displays are unsuitable, audio and visual stop announcements are not functioning, and drivers are not calling out stops or identifying visually impaired passengers at bus stops. My team has contacted the council, which has not provided a clear timeline for improving driver training or facilities. What is the Department doing to work with councils and service providers on improving accessibility?

[Simon Lightwood]

I am concerned to hear that. Disabled passengers much be able to use the buses as easily as non-disabled passengers, and from October, most local bus services must provide on-board audible and visual announcements. Our Bus Services Act 2025 will require authorities to publish a bus network accessibility plan, and mandate that all drivers complete disability assistance training. I too will write to my hon. Friend’s local council.

Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill

Amanda Martin Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 4th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (John Grady) for bringing the Bill forward. I also thank the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier) for chairing the all-party parliamentary group for space and for his promotion of the sector.

As the MP for Portsmouth North, I strongly support this pivotal Bill, which will unlock further growth in our already thriving regional space cluster. It will ensure that operators take responsibility but, critically, that their liability is limited. As we heard from my hon. Friend, that statutory provision will bring us in line with our competitors.

Portsmouth and the wider Hampshire region are increasingly central to the UK’s space ambitions. Through initiatives such as Space South Central, we are part of the largest regional space cluster in the country, which generates more than £3 billion annually and employs more than 5,600 people. In Portsmouth, our universities, small and medium-sized enterprises and global industry leaders work in close partnership to pioneer satellite applications, mission design and advanced technologies.

The Bill’s provision to offer limited Government indemnity to commercial launch providers is critical. It will lower barriers to entry, de-risk new ventures, attract investment and enable orbital missions from UK soil. That is not just theoretical; it has real implications for Portsmouth’s space sector.

Let me highlight some of the potential beneficiaries in my city. The University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation is actively designing small satellite missions, from Earth observation CubeSats to lunar radio probes. Its space mission incubator and CosmoCube projects are prime examples of innovation that stands to gain from accelerated launch capabilities. The university also hosts the South Coast Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications—part of the Satellite Applications Catapult, which supports businesses in satellite development, data-driven services and AI applications. The indemnity will provide confidence to those SMEs entering into new orbit ventures.

In the private sector, global giants such as Airbus Defence and Space operate from Portsmouth’s Hilsea facility. Its multimillion-pound Oberon reconnaissance satellite contract with the Ministry of Defence sustains 1,000 local jobs—roles that will be bolstered by a more robust UK space launch ecosystem. It also provides fantastic apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

Hampshire-based firms such as QinetiQ, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Airbus are deeply integrated into space innovation and, locally, into our communities. With the Bill’s indemnity framework, these organisations—universities and companies alike—will gain access to faster mission approvals and greater capacity to adopt emerging UK launch providers, with results including new jobs, expanded contracts, strengthened regional growth and a win for my city.

Let us consider the Bill’s impact. More research-led satellites such as CosmoCube could be developed and launched from Cornwall or Scotland, but Portsmouth businesses will be able to contribute all the way from design to orbit. Portsmouth’s science, technology, engineering and maths pipeline, from UTC Portsmouth through to the university’s Mission Space programme, will benefit enormously from real, home-grown launch activity. That will inspire students, help retain talent and create new high-tech career paths. Charities and public services will also benefit. Space-enabled monitoring applications powered by data from low-cost satellites could support coastal management, environmental protection and emergency response in my maritime city.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the charity that I am a trustee of, STEMunity, which had a fantastic reception this week and, by working with a number of other charities and public and private sector companies, has introduced young people to the world of space.

This is not just a technical fix of four words; it is a strategic piece of legislation that can help cement Portsmouth’s place in the UK space age—and, indeed, the UK in the world—by reducing risk for our inventors.

Road Safety

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andy MacNae]

I thank the hon. Member for making that point. How we value road safety interventions must recognise the full gamut of those impacts. Far too often, we use narrow measures of cost-benefit. Emergency response, impacts on wider infrastructure and the general feeling of being unsafe are hugely important considerations.

I have tried to highlight a few approaches to identifying areas of risk proactively before collisions occur. Again, we know how to do this. With those risks identified, we also have a range of effective, advanced interventions that we can utilise to reduce the risk of incidents. Average speed cameras have been proven to be particularly effective, yet due to fears about cost and a lack of awareness of advanced technology, many authorities have been reluctant to implement them.

Looking at the evidence, a review by the RAC Foundation found a 36.4% reduction in serious or fatal injuries at sites with average speed cameras installed, with a further 16% reduction in incidents of all severities. In some cases, the installation of speed cameras has reduced incidents by up to 86%. With Lancashire county council valuing the cost of a road-related fatality at £2 million—I do not know how it gets to that figure, but none the less that is the figure being used—it is no surprise that effective safety measures like these save the Government money in the long term.

The College of Policing has found that through a reduction in medical treatment and repair fees, the financial benefits of these schemes exceed their costs by 3:1. On the point made by the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross), that is on a narrow basis, perhaps not recognising some of the wider impacts. The figure only increases when we look at the benefits beyond five years. I urge the Minister to use the upcoming strategy to stress the significant long-term benefits of proactively implementing speed reduction schemes with average speed cameras.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend talked about a number of schemes, but has he looked at the 20 mph speed limit in Wales, which came into force in September 2023? Insurance companies such as Esure have said that it has reduced risk and that it is also beginning to reduce the premium that people pay in residential areas. We do not just have long and fast roads in our constituencies, but also residential areas, where that 20 mph speed limit has an impact.

[Andy MacNae]

There is no doubt that speed limits are a crucial part of this work, as long as they are targeted and appropriate. However, I cite the need for effective enforcement, because if people feel that there are no consequences from breaking those speed limits, they will be broken. Enforcement is a crucial part of the consideration.

Returning to average speed cameras, I urge the Minister to consider how sharing best practice between authorities could be improved. As the College of Policing noted, and as I and colleagues have seen all the time, there is a significant variation in the methods used to implement average speed cameras and assess their validity. Many authorities are unaware of the significant cost saving measures that have been pioneered over the last decade and the new technologies that exist.

To take one example, we were told by Lancashire county council that a relatively small average speed system on one key road in Rossendale was unviable as it would cost many millions to implement and maintain, yet when we approached a Home Office-approved supplier recommended by another local authority seen to be a pioneer in the area, we were given a quote of £800,000 for not just that scheme, but three others that together covered all the key risk areas in Rossendale. That huge disparity demonstrates not only how funding might be used inefficiently, but how local authorities are unnecessarily being held back from implementing schemes by an out-of-date view of their costs.

We need to recognise that cost is a genuine factor and that funding models under the previous Government were wholly inadequate, with road safety budgets squeezed alongside other local authority budgets. Under the last Labour Government, we had a system of netting off road fines, which helped to fund road safety enforcement activities. That should be reviewed as a possible funding stream to pay for road safety improvements, increasing policing numbers and making the best use of new and existing technology to reduce road risk. With increased information sharing, clarity over the costs of such schemes and hypothecated funds, there is significant potential to reduce the obstacles to enforcement that local authorities believe they face.

In addition to speed reduction methods, major gains can be made through improving pavements and creating cycle lanes through a genuine safe-system approach. Shockingly, of all road deaths in 2023, 25% were pedestrians, with cyclists accounting for 5%. Despite many local vision zero strategies, our road safety design evidently fails to protect those vulnerable users. I urge the Minister to use the upcoming strategy to encourage councils to meet their ambitions with action, utilising support from Active Travel England and genuinely adopting safe system approaches. That requires proactive interventions, whether through establishing clearer and protected cycle lanes, constructing safe footways or building new traffic lights and crossings where needed.

Another key area that we can tackle is the safety of commercial vehicles, as we have touched on. As I mentioned, there are schools in my constituency that border dangerous roads that are frequently used by large commercial vehicles. Due to the force of impact, HGVs are the second most dangerous vehicles on the road, killing 6.9 people per billion passenger miles—significantly higher than the comparative figure of 1.6 for cars. Considering that, it is completely unacceptable that in 2023, 36% of lorries were seen to exceed the speed limit. Drivers often have minimal oversight and training from companies, which have weak corporate safety standards.

We must proactively recognise and respond to the heightened risk that such vehicles pose. One crucial step could be to incentivise companies to maintain high safety standards in their fleet, be that through offering lower insurance to companies that demonstrate best practice, naming and shaming companies that do not, or even making companies fully liable for work-related collisions.

Alongside that, a variety of other proactive, low-cost methods could be used to improve the safety of our roads—for instance, tightening the regulations on tyre safety. Poor tyres accentuate the impact of speeding or poor driving. Over the past decade, an average of 182 people have been killed or seriously injured per year because of poor tyre conditions. MOTs flag over two million cars with sub-standard tyres each year, 1 million of which are so poor that they are considered actively dangerous. Given the improvements in tyre technology, coupled with the fact that the highest proportion of serious incidents occur in the winter months, there is room for the Minister to consider mandating that all new vehicles be equipped with all-season tyres.

More generally, there are significant opportunities offered by safe vehicle technologies, which can be embedded through advanced vehicle safety regulations. Let me touch on a point raised earlier about driver education, particularly protecting young drivers. This is a complex area, which needs a debate in its own right, but given that 16% of car driver fatalities are younger drivers, there is no doubt that this area really needs attention.

Finally, as we have touched on, increasing devolution is also central to ensuring that communities’ voices are heard. In places such as Lancashire, road safety interventions are still determined on a county level. Officials and county councillors are often very far removed from the roads and communities impacted by their decisions. When this responsibility is held on a unitary level, the voices of communities are louder, and decision makers are much closer to the area in question. Given the widespread local government reorganisation coming in this Parliament, the Minister has a significant opportunity to establish best practice in new unitary and combined authorities. I urge her to seize this unique opportunity, and to provide meaningful support and guidance to these emerging authorities.

To wrap up, considering the reactive and inefficient approach to road safety that the Minister inherited from the previous Government, I urge her to utilise her upcoming road safety strategy to move the country towards a preventive, community-led and statistics-informed model of road safety, alongside a sustainable funding approach. Central to that approach, I call for the following measures to be given detailed consideration within the road safety strategy: first, ending the safety postcode lottery via a robust, mandated national road safety strategy, based on a community-led, data-informed, safe system approach and, within that, prioritising lived experience and perceptions of safety over arms-length data.

--- Later in debate ---

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

I welcome this important debate. A number of causes for concern are being raised with me by my constituents, and all of them are preventable. First, abandoned cars are routinely being left at the side of a road in my constituency, usually near car dealerships, with no MOTs or insurance. They can sit there for weeks, and they cause a hazard, because local schoolchildren are having to walk around them. One constituent contacted the council, only to be told that it was not the council’s responsibility and the constituent should go to the police. The police said, “Go to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency”, and the DVLA said, “Go back to the council.” Someone needs to take responsibility; that is vital.

The second problem is congestion. Cars pull up in bus lanes where there are no double yellow lines, near hospitals, when roads are jam-packed with buses. No one can get in or out, and that causes not only delays but accidents and damage to vehicles. Congestion, and accidents, are also caused by narrow streets and roads that are used as rat runs, with cars running all the way down them. Residents of Oakwood Road have been pushing for a one-way street, although there are speed bumps, because it would help with the flow of traffic and also with safety; the street in question is very near a school.

Finally, there is the serious issue of zebra crossing safety. A lack of signage means that crossings are ignored. One, in Baffins, is next to a sixth-form college and also near schools, and hundreds of pupils cross the road every day, but that zebra crossing and others are often ignored.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Minister.

Bus Funding

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

I am delighted to confirm that Shropshire’s resource departmental expenditure limit allocation is £3.1 million, so the hon. Lady has already had a further £600,000 out of today’s statement.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

The Government’s biggest reform to England’s bus system in 40 years sees the people of Portsmouth having power put back into the hands of our communities. Today’s funding, the cutting of red tape and the ending of the postcode lottery will ensure that bus routes are where they are needed, allowing everyone to access work, medical appointments and social life. Can the Secretary of State inform people in Portsmouth North how the funding award and the landmark buses Bill—soon to be tabled—will support these welcome changes to truly put people first?

[Louise Haigh]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for standing up, for Portsmouth and its people, as she always does. Today’s funding settlement will be ringfenced towards buses to ensure that Portsmouth gets both the level of funding it needs and, crucially, the flexibility and control to deliver it where it is needed most. Portsmouth will be able to avail itself of the powers we will announce in the coming weeks to take back control of its bus services and to deliver routes, services and fare levels that are right for the people of Portsmouth.

Driving Test Availability

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

Thank you, Sir Roger, for your chairmanship. It is a pleasure to speak in the debate, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) for introducing it. During covid lockdowns, 850,000 tests were cancelled, and the service has been struggling ever since. The demand for driving tests currently outweighs availability. Since 2023—so for over 18 months—the average wait time for a driving test in Portsmouth has been stuck around 24 weeks, but in 2019, it was eight weeks, so that is an increase of 200%. As we have heard, the true figure may well be bigger, because people are logging on and seeing 24 weeks and no appointments, so they could be waiting for longer.

In the Portsmouth test centre, the pass rate is about 50%, so the average person is taking two tests and leaving at least a year to be test ready. That is causing huge financial and emotional impacts. In some cases, it impacts on people’s opportunities to go to work and live their lives. As we have heard, there is sometimes a need to retake their theory test.

While many people are experiencing worse—I know we are not the lowest in the table—it is not a race to the bottom. My constituents have written to me to describe their distress at being unable to book a test in a reasonable time, and at the extortionate prices levied by touts who are reselling them, using the bot software that we have heard about. Like others, I welcome and echo the sentiments expressed about the Transport Secretary’s willingness to tackle that as a key priority for the Labour Government.

Additional funding is required to tackle the enormous backlog in tests. That could be directed towards making additional driving test slots available, recruiting and retaining more examiners, and putting in place laws to stop those bot blockers. By doing that, we could improve the technology of the booking system to detect those problems, because the chief executive of the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency, back in 2023, described the booking system as “end of life”. I would like to hear what we are able to do.