Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of staff who applied for promotion within his Department between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 and identified as (a) BAME and (b) White were successful at each grade; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of resourcing across the Department for Transport (DfT); developing and testing innovative new approaches to attract and hire a more diverse candidate pool. We have clear objectives to increase representation rates to reflect the proportion of BAME individuals in the local working-age population, strengthen our BAME talent pipeline (grades 6 and 7) and our leadership cadre (SCS) as well as increase diversity in roles and professions where BAME staff are underrepresented.
The data provided relates to roles advertised by the Department for Transport on the Civil Service Jobs recruitment platform. Any permanent promotion opportunities within the department would be advertised on the platform to allow fair and open competition with an appointment being made on merit in line with the Civil Service Commissioners principles.
The data provided is based on identifications of applicants who are currently Civil Servants in any government department or agency, and is not restricted to promotions just from the DfT workforce and covers the Department and its four executive agencies. It does not include the diversity of applicants or successful applicants who were applying from outside the Civil Service. The data can be found in the attached table.
The completeness and accuracy of the data above is influenced by the following factors.
For vacancies advertised across government, individuals need to have a verified account to confirm their eligibility as existing Civil Servants. As part of their personal profile, Civil Servants are requested to provide their current substantive grade. If individuals have not completed their personal profile we would be unable to identify whether they were promoted.
For vacancies advertised externally, individuals have the option to use a privately registered account as there is no requirement for them to confirm that they are existing Civil Servants. This means that in the instance that an existing Civil Servant applies for an externally advertised vacancy using a private account, then we cannot identify whether or not the successful individual is being promoted.
In light of this, the data provided may not be comprehensive and would only be indicative of ‘how many and what proportion of Civil Service staff who applied for promotion within his Department between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 and identified as (a) BAME and (b) White were successful at each grade’.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support is available to UK citizens who are stranded abroad with an out-of-date driving licence which is preventing them from returning to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
As a driving licence is not a travel document, an out of date licence should not prevent a UK citizen from returning to the UK. There is no facility to issue temporary emergency driving licences.
UK citizens with an urgent need to travel who do not have a valid passport may be able to apply for an emergency travel document. Information on how to how to apply for an emergency travel document can be found at https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it possible for a UK citizen stranded abroad with an out-of-date driving licence to receive a temporary emergency licence in order for them to return the UK.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
As a driving licence is not a travel document, an out of date licence should not prevent a UK citizen from returning to the UK. There is no facility to issue temporary emergency driving licences.
UK citizens with an urgent need to travel who do not have a valid passport may be able to apply for an emergency travel document. Information on how to how to apply for an emergency travel document can be found at https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to ensure that train operating companies and their subcontractors use a deep cleaning service to help mitigate the spread of covid-19 on public transport.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
To help tackle the spread of coronavirus, rail operators and Network Rail are doing more to ensure our trains and stations are clean. The kinds of steps being taken include a greater focus on cleaning high-touch areas in trains and at stations (such as hand rails and ticket machine screens), more intensive cleaning and ensuring toilets are well stocked with soap.
In addition, they are also ensuring their staff are kept aware of the latest advice to maintain good hand hygiene. They are also promoting the public health advice for everyone to wash their hands regularly and to ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ when they cough or sneeze.