Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many funds are allocated to local authorities by his Department through a process of competitive bidding; and if he will publish the names of those funds.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department for Transport publishes data on government grants spending annually including, grants provided to Local Authorities. The most recent grants data relating to the financial year 2019/20 can be found at DfT 19/20 Grant data . Details of grant schemes and individual awards are published online.
In 2019/20 Local Authorities received funding from ten grant schemes via a competitive bidding process. These are set out below:
• Safer Roads
• Access Fund
• Local Growth Fund
• Large Local Majors
• Local Resilience Forums
• City Scheme
• Low Emission Taxi
• Low Emission Bus
• Opening LA transport data
• Transforming Cities Fund
The Department is currently reviewing its grant data for 2020/21 and will be published by the Cabinet Office in March 22.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the value of introducing priority driving tests for key workers, so that people entering frontline roles are not delayed by the existing DVSA backlog of assessments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
To help stop the spread of coronavirus, routine driving tests have been suspended in all areas of England, Scotland and Wales.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will respond to requests for driving tests from organisations on behalf of frontline mobile emergency workers, who require a driving licence to carry out duties in their employment role. This is a limited service subject to examiner resource and is restricted to candidates working in health and social care, and public bodies providing a service in the national interest. The DVSA will contact eligible organisations to explain how to nominate candidates; candidates cannot apply themselves.
Approved driving instructors and trainers can return to work only for the purpose of supporting a mobile emergency worker with a booked test.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to amend the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to promote private investment in green hydrogen production facilities at sites not directly adjacent to renewable energy production sites.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department has been considering with industry experts how to enable the more cost-effective development of new electrolysis facilities by allowing them to be located more closely with demand, rather than having to be limited to being built adjacent to renewable energy production sites. We plan to consult on potential changes to the RTFO scheme later this year; this will include proposals on how renewable hydrogen can be further supported.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the implications are for the construction timetable of the HS2 eastern leg following his announcement to defer decisions on that leg until the completion of the Integrated Rail Plan.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to taking forward HS2 to transform our national rail network, bring our biggest cities closer together and level up opportunity across the country. On the Eastern Leg we have time to consider the best approach to get the most benefit for the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East, and want to ensure that this is well integrated with plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail and similar rail projects to get the best out of the significant investment in rail. The Integrated Rail Plan will confirm the form, scope and phasing of the HS2 Eastern Leg, and will be published later this year.