Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to reduce waiting times for driving license applications.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s online services are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days. There are also no delays in straightforward paper driving licence applications which are being processed within normal turnaround times.
Driving licence applications where a medical condition must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer. The length of time taken depends on the condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from third parties, for example doctors or other healthcare professionals, before a decision on whether to issue a licence can be made.
It is important to note that the majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they have not been told not to drive by a doctor or optician.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what further steps his Department are taking to improve safety on all lane running smart motorways.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Overall, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are the safest roads on the Strategic Road Network. We want all drivers to feel safe and we have paused the rollout of smart motorways not already in construction while we collect more data. During the pause, we have committed £900m for safety improvements across the network including building more emergency areas.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of restoring the Burscough Curves.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The proposed Burscough Curves project was assessed as part of the Restoring Your Railway programme after a bid was made under the third round of the programme’s Ideas Fund. The assessment concluded that the project was not appropriate for funding through the Restoring Your Railway programme, however may be a strong candidate for future development. The feedback recommended that the Promoter, Lancashire County Council, re-submit a proposal through the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP) process.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the requirements of the Bus Services Act 2017 are met in good time.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Bus Services Act 2017 does not contain any time constraints on the introduction of Enhanced Partnerships (EPs) or franchising. However, since publication of the National Bus Strategy, all local authorities in England are pursuing either an EP or developing a franchising business case.
We know that the provision of audible and visible information onboard local services can support a range of passengers to travel confidently. The 2021 National Bus Strategy included a commitment to use powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to make Accessible Information Regulations, subject to final analysis, and we continue to work towards this goal.
We have now delivered the core components of the Bus Open Data digital service, data standards and the majority of the bus industry is compliant with the regulations. The current focus is working with non-compliant bus operators to support publication, enabling app developers and technologists to use the service.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of fatalities on smart motorways.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government has acted to improve smart motorway safety, ordering a stocktake in 2020 and investing £900 million to equip them with stopped vehicle detection, enforcement cameras, additional signs and emergency areas, while pausing the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more data.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the safe and effective management of smart motorways.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government has acted to improve smart motorway safety, ordering a stocktake in 2020 and investing £900 million to equip them with stopped vehicle detection, enforcement cameras, additional signs and emergency areas, while pausing the rollout of new smart motorways to collect more data.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that UK seafarers impacted by the sanctions on Russia are adequately supported.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Government has introduced a range of Transport Sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. These measures are intended to ratchet up the economic pressure on Russia, signal our support to Ukraine, and to degrade the Russian shipping sector. We also recognise the importance of protecting seafarers and their welfare whilst achieving this goal.
The Government continually seeks to ensure sanctions measures are carefully targeted and avoid unintended consequences. Economic sanctions come under the remit and responsibility of HM Treasury and its Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). If a person or organisation is subject to financial sanctions and requires access to frozen funds in order to pay for goods and services, it is incumbent on them to seek a licence from OFSI. This includes the release of funds for the purpose of paying seafarers.
OFSI prioritises cases where there are issues of personal basic needs and/or wider humanitarian issues at stake which are of material impact or urgency, or which are deemed to be of particular strategic, economic or administrative importance. My Department has engaged regularly with OFSI on this matter to ensure cases of seafarer remuneration are considered and prioritised where possible.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the effect on rail users of scheduled Manchester rail timetable changes due to take effect in December 2022.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government set up the Manchester Recovery Task Force in January 2020 to address the unacceptable levels of train performance in the north west of England following the late change to the May 2018 timetable.
The task force, which includes Transport for the North and Transport for Greater Manchester, consulted on a number of options and took account of the more than 800 responses to identify the optimal service for users and the Northern economy.
Northern Trains and TransPennine Express, working with Network Rail and other train operators, used this assessment to develop the timetable which will come into force in December 2022 and which will improve performance significantly while still meeting the journey needs of the vast majority of regular travellers on lines into Manchester.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the financial impact on the (a) hospitality sector and (b) rest of the UK economy of the rail industrial action on 21, 23 and 25 June 2022.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government regrets that the trade unions have chosen to go ahead with the strikes. These strikes are impacting local businesses and the ability of the general public to get to school, hospital and work.
The Government and rail industry, including Network Rail, have worked together and continue to work together to ensure plans are in place to minimise disruption allowing for freight and passenger services to remain operational where possible. The Civil Contingencies Secretariat is also convening ministers daily during the strike period to assess operational response and impact.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has estimated the cost to the economy of the three days of strike action to be at least £91 million: Rail and tube strikes to cause hit of at least £91m to the UK economy (cebr.com)
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that airline customers receive (a) fair and (b) considered compensation for cancelled flights.
Answered by Robert Courts
There is already a framework of legislation in place to protect consumer’s rights when travelling by air, including when and what compensation is due in the event of cancellations. It is of vital importance that passengers know their rights. Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority already provide to passengers on what to do if something goes wrong with their flight. To further support this, we are developing an Aviation Passenger Charter, alongside industry and consumer groups, to further support passengers to understand their rights, responsibilities and reasonable expectations when travelling by air, from booking to if something goes wrong, including flight cancellations.
We also recently consulted on a range of consumer policy reforms, including additional powers for the Civil Aviation Authority to enforce consumer rights, mandatory alternative dispute resolution for all airlines operating in the UK, to enable individuals to seek redress. We are currently reviewing all responses and will set out next steps in due course.
Air passenger rights remains a key priority for Government, which we recently reaffirmed in the Flightpath to the Future publication, which commits to ensuring consumers are protected and have the confidence to fly. We will continue to work with the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure consumer laws are being adhered to and consumers protected.