Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable and process is, including parliamentary scrutiny, for ratification by the UK of the EU-Israel Civil Aviation Agreement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The EU-Israel Aviation Agreement was signed on 10 June 2013. Prior to this it was subject to UK parliamentary scrutiny (EM 16502/12 & 16650/12 dated 4 December 2012). Scrutiny clearance was received from the European Scrutiny Committee on 12 December 2012 and the UK government therefore agreed to the Council Decision to sign the Agreement at the Council held on 20 December 2012.
The Agreement is currently being amended due to the accession of Croatia to the European Union. The Decision to sign the amendment was agreed by Council on 8 October 2014 and is currently being considered by the European Parliament. Once this is complete, the Agreement and the amendment will then be concluded at a later date. The amendment will not be subject to UK parliamentary scrutiny as the European Scrutiny Committees of both Houses have agreed to waive parliamentary scrutiny of all amendments to EU-3rd country agreements, where the sole purpose of the amendment is to accede Croatia to an agreement.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he made to his EU counterparts on delays in the introduction of the revised EU Directive 96/53 on vehicle cab design.
Answered by Claire Perry
Negotiations about changes to EU Directive 96/53/EC are continuing under the Italian Presidency. We support proposed changes to the directive to allow extra length to enable new cab designs, with the timings to be determined in Type Approval legislation. We support the completion of the negotiations as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles have failed MOT tests because of the removal of diesel particulate filters in each of the last three years.
Answered by Claire Perry
The requirement to inspect diesel particulate filters as part of the MOT test was introduced on 19 February 2014; no information is available from before this date. Between 19 February 2014 and 17 October 2014, 347 vehicles with diesel engines failed the MOT test due to a missing diesel particulate filter.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department used in the decision to include the Garden Bridge in the Government's National Infrastructure Plan.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The National Infrastructure Plan 2013 sets out the government's long-term plan to ensure that it can deliver the investment required to meet the UK's infrastructure needs to 2020 and beyond. The Garden Bridge is not one of the Government's ‘Top 40' projects as set out in the Plan, but it is part of the ‘infrastructure pipeline', which includes large capital programmes of investment worth £50 million or over.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicle crossings of the Thames were made through the Rotherhithe and Blackwall tunnels in 2013.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Data for 2013 are not yet available; the remainder of this answer refers to 2012 data.
A table providing the 2012 estimated annual average daily flows (AADFs) for road links covering the Rotherhithe and Blackwall Tunnels (for both directions combined) are shown in the table below:
2012 AADF | Total Motor Vehicles |
Rotherhithe Tunnel | 32,615 |
Blackwall Tunnel | 69,243 |
These figures give estimates of the number of vehicles travelling along individual sections of road on an average day of the year.
To calculate an estimate of the annual usage of the tunnels (for both directions combined); these daily AADF estimates would be multiplied by the 365 days in a year.
AADF data for individual motorway and ‘A' road links for 2000 – 2012 are available on our website, here:
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/gb-road-traffic-counts
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission a study of the case for a new cycle and pedestrian crossing of the Thames east of Tower Bridge.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Transport in London is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) as per the terms of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Any decision to commission a study into a new cycle and pedestrian Thames crossing would therefore be a matter for the Mayor of London.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many journeys through the Rotherhithe tunnel were made by bicycle in 2013.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Data for 2013 are not yet available; the remainder of this answer refers to 2012 data.
A table providing the 2012 estimated pedal cycle annual average daily flow (AADF) for the road link covering the Rotherhithe tunnel (for both directions combined) is shown in the table below:
2012 AADF | Pedal Cycles |
Rotherhithe Tunnel | 239 |
This figure gives an estimate of the number of pedal cycles travelling along the individual section of road on an average day of the year.
To calculate an estimate of the annual pedal cycle usage of the tunnel (for both directions combined); this daily AADF estimate would be multiplied by the 365 days in a year.
AADF data for individual motorway and ‘A' road links for 2000 – 2012 are available on our website, here:
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/gb-road-traffic-counts