Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to update the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's health and safety guidance on load securing for HGV lorries.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) keeps its health and safety guidance on load securing for heavy goods vehicles (HGV) under continuing review. The DVSA updates its guidance when necessary to reflect changes and developments within the transport industry, to help ensure HGV drivers are fully aware of their responsibilities.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that cargo transported from abroad adheres to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's health and safety guidance when it is transported in Britain.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has facilities to check the security of loads carried on foreign heavy goods vehicles (HGV) entering this country at all its ports. The agency also has strategically placed check sites around the country for checking the safety of vehicles, including the security of their loads, regardless of whether they are foreign or based in Great Britain. The responsibility for making sure the load a HGV is carrying is secure before driving rests with the driver and operator.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that non-UK based hauliers comply with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's health and safety guidance on load securing for HGV lorries when transporting cargo in Britain.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has facilities to check the security of loads carried on foreign heavy goods vehicles (HGV) entering this country at all its ports. The agency also has strategically placed check sites around the country for checking the safety of vehicles, including the security of their loads, regardless of whether they are foreign or based in Great Britain. The responsibility for making sure the load a HGV is carrying is secure before driving rests with the driver and operator.
The DVSA’s ‘Guide to maintaining roadworthiness’ is aimed at all haulage operators using British roads, not just those based in Britain. It reflects advice contained in the ‘European Best Practice Guidelines on Cargo Securing for Road Transport’. If the DVSA finds a load on a HGV of a non-UK based haulier to be unsafe, the DVSA (or the police) can take enforcement action. This could result in the issue of a prohibition notice to prevent the vehicle from moving until the load is made safe and/or a fixed penalty fine.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of HGV lorry accidents caused by improperly secured cargo moving within a vehicle.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department for Transport holds information on whether an ‘overloaded or poorly loaded vehicle or trailer’ is recorded as a contributory factor in reported personal injury road accidents. In 2017, there were 33 HGVs (1%) involved in accidents in Great Britain with a contributory factor of ‘overloaded or poorly loaded vehicle or trailer’ recorded by the police attending the scene. The Department does not hold specific data on whether cargo was moving within the vehicle.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's policy is on sending out reminders to drivers to renew their road tax; and for what reason some drivers do not receive reminders.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) issues vehicle excise duty reminders to customers up to four weeks before the tax expires. The DVLA issues more than three million reminder letters each month. Complaints about non-delivery are rare, which suggests that the service works well for the majority of vehicle keepers.
Occasionally vehicle keepers may not receive a reminder. This is often because the keeper may have moved house and not advised the DVLA of the new address, or the letter may have gone astray.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of drivers that have received fines for not renewing their road tax since the removal of the physical tax disc.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These range from reminder letters, penalties and court prosecutions through to the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras, wheel clamping and the removal of unlicensed vehicles.
The last Roadside Survey in June 2017 showed that more than 98% of vehicles were properly licensed. This demonstrates that the vast majority of motorists comply with their legal obligations.
Since the tax disc was abolished in October 2014, the DVLA has issued 4.4 million penalties to registered keepers of unlicensed vehicles.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2018 to Question 183872 on Bus Services: North West, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the decline in bus journeys in (a) the North West and (b) Merseyside.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The department has not made an assessment of the reasons for the fall in bus journeys in the North West and Merseyside.
It is important to consider the fall in bus journeys in the context of a broader decline in overall trips. Data from the 2017 National Travel Survey shows that trips have fallen 9% since 2002 in England.
There are a number of factors that may explain the fall in bus patronage on local bus services specifically.
These include:
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department allocated to bus services serving (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wallasey constituency and (d) Surrey in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
£250m of Bus Services Operators Grant (BSOG) payments are made to bus companies and local authorities. BSOG spend figures have been published on Gov.uk annually since the 2010-11 financial year. Details can be found via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-services-grants-and-funding#bsog-spend
Up until 31 December 2013 Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) was paid directly to bus operators and was not split between commercially run or subsidised bus services. From 1 January 2014 local authorities have received funding equivalent to the level of BSOG which would otherwise have been paid to operators for running subsidised services in 2014. BSOG spend figures are only broken down to upper tier local authority level. It should also be noted that the local authorities listed in the tables are derived from the address given on the BSOG claim form. It does not follow that the services to which the claim relates were necessarily all or partly conducted in that area.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many supported bus services have been provided in Wallasey constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Up until 31 December 2013 Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) was paid directly to bus operators and was not split between commercially run or subsidised bus services. We are therefore unable to provide figures for this period. From 1 January 2014 local authorities have received funding equivalent to the level of BSOG which would otherwise have been paid to operators for running subsidised services in 2014. Details of the amounts paid to local authorities each year can be found on the “Payments to Local Authorities” tab of the relevant spreadsheets published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-services-grants-and-funding#bsog-spend