Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to introduce discounts for family groups to use public transport.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Discounted rail travel is already available via the Family & Friends Railcard which offers one third off fares for adults and sixty per cent discount for children on rail journeys throughout the UK.
Local authorities have the power to offer local concessions to groups such as families and are best placed to make decisions that match local needs and circumstances.
In addition, the new Enhanced Partnership powers in the Bus Services Act allow local transport authorities and bus operators to agree standard ticket rules, such as eligibility for reduced fares across operators.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many drivers have been disqualified from driving since 2013.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The number of drivers currently shown on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s records as having one or more disqualifications since January 2013 is 429,508.
There may have been other disqualifications imposed during the period up to and including April 2014 but these will have expired and been removed from the record.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to introduce electric-powered trains in the UK.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
There are new electric trains being introduced for Thameslink, TfL’s Elizabeth Line, TransPennine Express, Northern, South Western Railway, West Midlands Trains and c2c.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government's policy is on the use of driverless cars on UK roads.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government's detailed review into the legality of automated vehicles in the UK was published in February 2015, which established that there are no legal impediments to testing automated vehicles in the UK. This was followed by the publication of a Code of Practice for testing automated vehicles, which was published in July 2015. This established the UK as one of the best places in the world to develop and test automated vehicle technology, and since then a number of significant players have chosen the UK to test their vehicles. The Government established the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in July 2015 to lead on this agenda, and has embarked on a rolling programme of regulatory reform which aims to adopt regulations in a timely manner to enable the safe and legal use of automated vehicle technologies on UK roads. The first wave of this programme included reforms to insurance that will require vehicles capable of automated driving to have appropriate insurance.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much road grit is available in the UK for the 2016-17 winter; and how much the (a) mining, (b) storage and (c) distribution of road grit costs per year.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. Winter service and maintenance is therefore the sole responsibility of the respective highway authority. This includes ensuring they have adequate road grit supplies.
The Department for Transport continues to take action to ensure the country enters the 2016/17 winter season well prepared. This includes monitoring road grit being held around the country throughout the winter season, working closely with the UK domestic road grit producers, continuing to maintain a substantial national emergency road grit reserve and having a robust distribution process in place, if for any reason this road grit is needed to be allocated.
The Department for Transport is also currently undertaking a survey of highway authorities to determine how much road grit is available in the UK for the forthcoming 2016-17 winter. However from previous surveys, we anticipate the country has over one million tonnes of road grit at its disposal, which is in addition to the 383,000 tonnes held as part of the national emergency grit reserve.
It is for each highway authority to ensure that they have adequate road grit procured to treat the roads for which they are responsible, as required. The costs fall to each highway authority. These costs may vary depending on the road grit supplier and the distance the grit has to be hauled to the depots. The typical cost of road grit, including mining, storage and distribution lies within the range of £30 to £38 per tonne.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of the haulage industry on the reported shortage of HGV drivers.
Answered by John Hayes
Departmental Ministers meet representatives of the haulage industry on a regular basis to discuss issues affecting the sector including the driver shortage. In response to these discussions the government has taken action to increase the supply of vocational driving tests, improved processing times for licences and discussed the availability of facilities for drivers.
In addition, Ministerial colleagues have met industry representatives to discuss the development and funding of apprenticeships and providing targeted support for jobseekers.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to include HGV drivers in the skilled workers category.
Answered by John Hayes
Tier 2, the skilled worker visa category for non-EEA nationals, is reserved for graduate level occupations. There are no plans to include HGV drivers in this category.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many deaths were caused by drink driving in each region and constituent part of the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
There were 1,330 fatalities over 2009 to 2013 in reported road accidents in Great Britain, in which at least one driver was over the drink drive limit. The Department does not collect this information for Northern Ireland therefore an overall figure for the United Kingdom is not available.
The estimated number of fatalities in reported drink drive accidents by Great Britain region for the years 2009 – 2013 are shown in the following table:
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
North East | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
North West | 40 | 30 | 30 | 20 | 30 |
Yorkshire & the Humber | 30 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 30 |
East Midlands | 40 | 30 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
West Midlands | 50 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 20 |
East | 30 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 |
South East | 50 | 50 | 40 | 30 | 30 |
London | 20 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
South West | 50 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
England | 320 | 200 | 200 | 210 | 210 |
Wales | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Scotland | 30 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 20 |
Total | 380 | 240 | 240 | 230 | 240 |
The figures include an estimate for drivers with an unknown blood alcohol content. The statistics are rounded to nearest ten to reflect this uncertainty. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Figures for 2014 are to be published at the beginning of August 2016.