Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the efficiency of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s total workforce of more than 6,000, just under 35 per cent are working from home. The staff working from home are mainly from support areas, including Human Resources, Commercials, Finance, Policy and Communications. Most operational staff work on site in order to process the 60,000 items of mail the DVLA receives daily which must be dealt with in person.
Information on the amount of correspondence awaiting a substantive response is not available. The DVLA is working hard to process applications and answer correspondence as quickly as possible. The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the DVLA is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. Industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. Throughout the pandemic the DVLA has been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA continues to explore opportunities to improve the time taken to deal with paper applications and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is looking to secure extra office space to accommodate more staff as surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of staff at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing agency are working from home.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s total workforce of more than 6,000, just under 35 per cent are working from home. The staff working from home are mainly from support areas, including Human Resources, Commercials, Finance, Policy and Communications. Most operational staff work on site in order to process the 60,000 items of mail the DVLA receives daily which must be dealt with in person.
Information on the amount of correspondence awaiting a substantive response is not available. The DVLA is working hard to process applications and answer correspondence as quickly as possible. The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the DVLA is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. Industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. Throughout the pandemic the DVLA has been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA continues to explore opportunities to improve the time taken to deal with paper applications and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is looking to secure extra office space to accommodate more staff as surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the extent of correspondence awaiting reply by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in terms by (a) volume and (b) estimated waiting time for a substantive response.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s total workforce of more than 6,000, just under 35 per cent are working from home. The staff working from home are mainly from support areas, including Human Resources, Commercials, Finance, Policy and Communications. Most operational staff work on site in order to process the 60,000 items of mail the DVLA receives daily which must be dealt with in person.
Information on the amount of correspondence awaiting a substantive response is not available. The DVLA is working hard to process applications and answer correspondence as quickly as possible. The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the DVLA is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. Industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. Throughout the pandemic the DVLA has been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA continues to explore opportunities to improve the time taken to deal with paper applications and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is looking to secure extra office space to accommodate more staff as surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to authorise the opening of air corridors with the United Arab Emirates.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Our approach to travel corridors has been guided by the science and we have worked closely with health and policy experts from across government to ensure the steps we are taking will minimise the risk of importing COVID-19 cases, while helping to open our travel and tourism sector. The Joint Biosecurity Centre, in close consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Chief Medical Officer, has developed an approach to assessing the public health risk associated with inbound travel from specific countries and territories. The resulting categorisation methodology has been informed by a number of factors including an estimate of the proportion of the population that is currently infectious in each country, trends in virus incidences and deaths, transmission status and international epidemic intelligence. We have also considered issues such as the testing capacity of each country and the quality of the data available.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of UK seafarers stranded overseas and awaiting repatriation.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is estimated that there are approximately 2-2,500 UK seafarers who either are coming to the end of their contract or will already have had it extended.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Directors of the International Consolidated Airlines Group on the proposed redundancies at British Airways.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It would not be appropriate to comment on individual discussions. However, we recognise that this will be very distressing news for BA employees and their families, and we stand ready to support them.
The aviation sector is essential to the UK economy, and firms can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures, including: schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees. If airlines find themselves in trouble because of coronavirus, and have exhausted the measures already available to them, the Government is prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort, having exhausted all other options.??Any intervention would need to represent value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on laying statutory instruments relating to EU exit preparedness; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Grayling
The Government has made good progress in laying the statutory instruments required by exit day to ensure a functioning statute book. As of 30 January, my Department has laid 48 exit related statutory instruments. All exit related statutory instruments are published on legislation.gov.uk, and include ‘EU Exit’ in their title.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many controlled airspace infringements there have been in 2018.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There was a total of 1170 airspace infringements from 1 January 2018 – 31 October 2018. While all these infringements have the potential to cause a mid-air collision and can also cause disruption and inconvenience to passengers when flights are diverted, in general, the severity of these events is low. Figures for the rest of 2018 will be published once analysed by the Civil Aviation authority (CAA).
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the factors that contribute to airspace infringements in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There has been a significant focus over many years on this issue and the CAA continues to work with air traffic control providers, general aviation groups and other stakeholders to raise awareness and to reduce the risk of infringement.
The main factors relate to pre-flight planning, but the CAA-led Airspace Infringement Working Group (AIWG) has recently conducted further work to identify causal factors, the results of which are currently being assessed.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Ministers at the Department for Transport have regular contact with our Welsh Government counterparts which cover a range of transport issues affecting Wales. Transport for the North have also agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Welsh Government that sets out how they will work together to improve transport cross-border transport links, which will help to stimulate the economy of the whole of the UK.