Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help resolve industrial disputes between rail workers and franchises.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Transport Secretary wants to see an end to the rail industrial disputes, which are affecting passengers, the industry and the rail workers themselves. He is very clear that it is for employers and trade unions to negotiate the details of essential workforce reforms that would enable an affordable pay deal. Discussions are ongoing at a high level between the Rail Delivery Group (on behalf of the train operating companies), and trade unions regarding workforce reform and pay.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is her policy that rail fares will increase in line with the Retail Price Index in 2023.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In August we guaranteed we will not be increasing fares as much as the July RPI figure and we will freeze fares until March 2023.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to take steps to make it easier for blue badge holders to park in town and city centres.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Responsibility for traffic management on local roads and the provision or restriction of on-street parking, rests with the relevant local authority as they are best placed to consider how to balance the needs of residents, emergency services, local businesses and those who work in and visit the area. Local authorities are also responsible for ensuring their roads are managed in a way which meets the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.
The Blue Badge Scheme is a national scheme, the scope and legal parameters of which are set nationally by the Government. Blue Badges are recognised throughout the UK. The provisions granted under the Scheme convey several on-street parking concessions such as being able to park for up to three hours on yellow lines, provided there are no bans on loading or unloading in force, and free of charge and without time limit at on-street parking meters and pay-and-display areas.
The Blue Badge is not, however, a licence to park anywhere. Badge holders are not entitled to park in places where it would cause an obstruction or danger to other road users otherwise, they may be prosecuted or have their badge withdrawn. The Department is currently not intending to make any changes to this.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to allow blue badge holders to park for longer- in areas where time restrictions apply for other motorists.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Blue Badges are recognised throughout the UK and convey a range of on-street parking concessions including being able to park free of charge and without time limit at on-street parking meters and pay-and-display areas.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to restrict the access for parking companies to DVLA records if they are found to have consistently issued unfair parking charge notices.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
The law allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to release vehicle keeper details to third parties in certain limited circumstances, subject to appropriate safeguards. This includes the release of information to help manage parking on private land. To ensure motorists are treated fairly, the DVLA will only provide information to private parking companies that are members of an appropriate accredited trade association and adhere to an enforceable code of practice. If a car parking operator does not comply with the code of practice, it may be suspended or expelled from the trade association, during which time no data will be provided to it by the DVLA.
The DVLA audits external data users to ensure information is requested and used appropriately.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason he plans not to participate in the negotiations between rail operators and unions representing rail workers.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It is for unions and employers to resolve industrial disputes.
In this instance the employers are the rail companies, not the Government.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is planning to take to prevent queues at the Port of Dover.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government has already taken a number of steps, including helping secure additional booths at the Port of Dover for border checks by the French Border Police. We have also instigated weekly meetings between the UK and French border authorities to share intelligence and detailed resourcing plans to ensure border staffing can meet expected demand at the juxtaposed controls.
We continue to work on improvements to border fluidity and, with the Kent Resilience Forum, to support improvements to existing traffic management plans. These are designed to mitigate the impact of any disruption on the road network.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to issue penalties to Avanti due to the reduction in its services; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Avanti notified DfT it would introduce a reduced timetable, in order to reduce reliance on short notice cancellations.
The Department will follow all due legal and contractual processes to determine what action, if any, is appropriate to take regarding Avanti’s performance.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of railway ticket office closures on (a) older people who do not use the internet and (b) other groups who may have difficulty purchasing a ticket online or from a machine.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Passengers should have access to a ticketing system that is user-friendly, where help and advice from a trained representative is available and is accessible to all. While no final decision has been taken on ticket offices, station staff will still provide face-to-face services on the railways, which can be crucial for those who need additional support, and cannot or do not want to use contactless or mobile tickets. We want to ensure that railway staff can help all customers where needed and our reforms will enable us to move staff out of underused ticket offices and provide help where it's most needed in the station.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of retrofitting petrol and diesel vehicles with electric motors as an alternative to purchasing new electric vehicles.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government recognises the opportunities provided by high-quality electric vehicle (EV) conversions. Retrofitted vehicles could help to increase air quality while decreasing carbon emissions and noise pollution. Conversions can also support more challenging use cases, like specialist vehicles and classic cars, to transition to zero emissions.
Government has invested over £80 million in early retrofitting initiatives, including the Zero Emission Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme, which is developing a code of practice for electric bus conversions.