Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with his Indian counterpart on reforming the air services agreement with Air India; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
My officials are working with their Indian counterparts to review and update our bilateral air services arrangements with India.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with the Mayor of London on the potential cost of installing a new signalling system on the Piccadilly Line to increase the frequency of trains; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Transport in London is devolved. It is for the Mayor and TfL to ensure adequate investment in transport services in London.
Under the long-term settlement, agreed on 30 August 2022, Government is providing TfL with just under £1.2 billion of grant funding to support transport, including major projects, tube upgrades, Active Travel schemes and less congestion for commuters.
This funding will support almost £3.6bn worth of critical infrastructure projects, matching the Mayor’s own pre-Covid capital spending plans.
This funding is in addition to the Government’s commitment at the Spending Review to invest £1 billion per year until 2025 for TfL’s capital programme through Business Rates Retention.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, if he will take steps to amend the 14-day notice period for serving notice of intended prosecution to 28 days; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
We keep all traffic offence legislation under review.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects to allocate the £165 million in funding for Sustainable Aviation Fuels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) can achieve lifecycle emissions savings of over 70% compared with conventional jet fuel, when fully replacing fossil kerosene.
The Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022, estimates that if SAF accounts for 10% of UK jet fuel supply, it could deliver a reduction of 2.41 Mt CO2 per year.
On 22 December the Department announced the five projects which will receive a share of the £165m Advanced Fuels Fund. The funding is available across three financial years, ending in 2024/2025.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact on the reduction to CO2 emissions of the UK aviation sector switching to sustainable aviation fuels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) can achieve lifecycle emissions savings of over 70% compared with conventional jet fuel, when fully replacing fossil kerosene.
The Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022, estimates that if SAF accounts for 10% of UK jet fuel supply, it could deliver a reduction of 2.41 Mt CO2 per year.
On 22 December the Department announced the five projects which will receive a share of the £165m Advanced Fuels Fund. The funding is available across three financial years, ending in 2024/2025.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In 2017, three members of DfT staff were directly working on international trade. In 2018 and 2019 the Department significantly expanded staff numbers allocated to this area. Since 2020 there has been a specific Trade Division in the International Directorate, with fourteen staff dedicated to these issues.
Many other staff in the Department have diverse work portfolios which include international trade as a part. It is not possible to quantify exactly how many officials overall work on international trade issues within DfT.
The Government will continue to monitor and provide for an appropriate level of resource to meet demand in this important area.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of holiday flights cancelled in an average year out of (a) Manchester, (b) Stanstead, (c) Gatwick and (d) Heathrow airport; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts
Monthly and annual data, up to March 2022, is available from the CAA on their website at https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/flight-punctuality/uk-flight-punctuality-statistics/.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of flights cancelled by each airline operating out of (a) Manchester, (b) Gatwick, (c) Stanstead and (d) Heathrow airport during the period from 26 May to 7 June 2022; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts
Data on the number of cancelled commercial flight operations is collected and published by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as part of their flight punctuality statistics. The latest data currently published is for March 2022, and is available from https://www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/flight-punctuality/uk-flight-punctuality-statistics/. Data for May and June 2022 will be published by the CAA in due course.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to help ensure that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency webchat facility is always available to the public; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below shows the average waiting time for customers to speak to a Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) agent by telephone in each of the last 12 months.
Month | Minutes |
May 22 | 10.5 |
April 22 | 12.4 |
March 22 | 14.5 |
February 22 | 18.0 |
January 22 | 13.2 |
December 21 | 9.9 |
November 21 | 9.1 |
October 21 | 7.3 |
September 21 | 8.7 |
August 21 | 9.8 |
July 21 | 9.9 |
June 21 | 13.2 |
The DVLA contact centre is actively recruiting and training additional staff to help reduce the waiting times for customers.
The DVLA has increased the number of services it offers through webchat, which can be accessed at any time. Advisors are available during the contact centre opening hours. The webchat services have been enhanced to use chatbots, which are also always available to help with general information. These are popular with customers as they reduce the time taken to deal with a query, many of which are answered without the need to speak to an advisor. In the last 12 months over 2 million customer enquiries have been answered either by a webchat advisor or by chatbot.