Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the provision of audio-visual announcements on local bus services.
Answered by Karl McCartney
The Department recognises the importance of audible and visible information in ensuring disabled passengers have the information they need to travel safely, with confidence, and without the fear of a journey taking them anywhere other than their desired destination.
DfT statistics indicate that in March 2021, 45% of buses were providing audible and visible information across Great Britain. More and more services are now incorporating accessible information, but its availability remains inconsistent across the country, and the Department is determined to address this.
The Department therefore intends, subject to final analysis, to introduce Accessible Information Regulations before the end of this year. This will ensure a rapid increase in the provision of better information for passengers, with the implementation timescale, also taking account of the impact on operators. The Department will also provide Accessible Information Grant funding to help smaller operators to meet the new requirements.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the speed of the rollout of audio-visual announcements on local bus service.
Answered by Karl McCartney
The Department recognises the importance of audible and visible information in ensuring disabled passengers have the information they need to travel safely, with confidence, and without the fear of a journey taking them anywhere other than their desired destination.
DfT statistics indicate that in March 2021, 45% of buses were providing audible and visible information across Great Britain. More and more services are now incorporating accessible information, but its availability remains inconsistent across the country, and the Department is determined to address this.
The Department therefore intends, subject to final analysis, to introduce Accessible Information Regulations before the end of this year. This will ensure a rapid increase in the provision of better information for passengers, with the implementation timescale, also taking account of the impact on operators. The Department will also provide Accessible Information Grant funding to help smaller operators to meet the new requirements.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the end of plan B covid-19 restrictions, whether he has issued updated guidance to rail operators on service (a) levels and (b) capacity to account for the absence of restrictions.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department continues to work closely with rail operators as they adjust timetables to meet the demand for travel and to mitigate the impact of staff absences on rail services. Following the lifting of Plan B restrictions, the Department has worked with train operating companies as they manage the reinstatement of services and develop sustainable timetables which provide sufficient capacity to meet demand as staffing pressures ease.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the validity of the two year driving theory test.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.
The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
Ensuring new drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the preparation of new drivers, who are disproportionality represented in casualty statistics. Learners will therefore need to pass another theory test if their certificate expires.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to provide adequate resources to help Enfield Council tackle air pollution by (a) delivering clean air zones, (b) encouraging the use of electric vehicles with recharging points, (c) encouraging cycling and walking and (d) delivering borough-wide air pollution monitoring networks.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Mayor of London is responsible for air quality in the capital and has reserve powers under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to reflect this.
In 2020, London Boroughs received £25 million via the Active Travel Fund (ATF) to deliver safe cycling and walking routes in their areas. They have also received £13m through the Go Ultra Low City Scheme (GULCS) to drive the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.
Over the last two financial years, London Borough of Enfield have been awarded a total of £117,000 through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which will see 44 EV chargepoints installed across the Borough.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to support taxi and private hire vehicle drivers during the period of reduced demand as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The majority of taxi and PHV drivers are self-employed and were therefore able to apply for grants through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) before the scheme closed on 30 September 2021.
Drivers of taxis and private hire vehicles may also have been eligible for other sources of support, including locally administered grant funding. An online support finder tool was made available to help businesses and self-employed workers determine what support was available to them.
Ongoing engagement with sector stakeholders indicate that demand for taxi and private hire vehicles (PHVs) is very high with PHV operators seeking to increase driver numbers to meet this.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to Answer of 20 September to Question 47079, what (a) number of training places were created for job seekers to drive HGVs, (b) additional amount of money was provided to fund these places and (c) number of places were created for apprenticeships, and (d) number of additional HGV driver testing places have been created since September 2020.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The requested information on the number of training places created for job seekers to drive HGVs and the amount of funding provided for the places is not available. The DWP Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAPs) statistics include non-HGV driver roles and it is not possible to split HGV driver SWAPs from the data. It is also not possible to identify purchases of HGV driver training within general Flexible Support Fund spending.
The number of apprenticeship places is not limited. There were 1,739 LGV Driver apprenticeship starts in the academic year 2020/21. The new Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship was made available on 2 August 2021. The data for starts since its introduction is not yet available.
Weekly HGV testing capacity prior to March 2020 was 1,500. Additional capacity has been incrementally put into place since May this year, through operational and legislative changes. Currently there are up to 2,850 HGV tests are available weekly.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage investment in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, we are allocating a further £350 million for the Automotive Transformation Fund, as part of our up to £1 billion commitment to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain including gigafactories. This is in addition to the £500m of funding announced as part of the 10 Point Plan. This will help ensure the UK maximises the benefits from the transition to a zero emission vehicle future and support tens of thousands of high-quality green jobs across the UK.
We continue to work closely with investors to progress plans for manufacturing the batteries that we will need for the next generation of electric vehicles here in the UK. The £1bn investment announced by Nissan and Envision AESC to create an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing hub is a major vote of confidence in the UK. We are delivering on our commitment to transition to a zero-carbon future, secure Gigafactories and ensure we continue our proud legacy of being one of the best locations for competitive, high-quality automotive manufacturing.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues in the Treasury to help ensure that transport decarbonisation measures are adequately funded in the comprehensive spending review.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department for Transport is committed to decarbonising the UK’s transport system. Our pathway to net zero was set out in our ambitious Transport Decarbonisation Plan earlier this year and reducing the environmental impacts of transport is one of our Departmental Priority Outcomes.
Department for Transport ministers have had positive and ongoing engagement with their HM Treasury counterparts throughout the Spending Review process. Ministers across Government are committed to achieving net zero by 2050 and we will continue to progress towards this goal over this coming Spending Review period.
The outcomes of Spending Review will be published at Autumn Budget on Wednesday 27th October.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on ensuring that the Net Zero Strategy includes a pathway for decarbonising transport.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Our Transport Decarbonisation Plan, published in July 2021, set out a credible, deliverable pathway to net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector by 2050, as well as delivering the sector’s contribution to demanding carbon budgets along the way. The Net Zero Strategy presents a pathway to net zero emissions across the whole economy, including the transport sector.