Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that the DVLA (a) clears the backlog of driving licence applications and (b) expedites the time taken for applicants to receive their renewed licences.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. The Government understands the impact that delays in processing paper applications can have on the daily lives of individuals and the DVLA is working hard to reduce waiting times. The DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has opened new customer service centres in Swansea and Birmingham to reduce backlogs and provide future resilience. These measures are having a positive impact.
The backlog of vehicle paper applications has already been eliminated. Straightforward vocational driving licence applications and renewals are being processed within five working days with no backlog. The DVLA is on track to return to normal turnaround times on all paper driving licence applications by the end of May. Most straightforward paper driving licence applications are now being processed in around five weeks. Information on processing times for key DVLA workstreams is published online here.
The more complex driving licence applications where the customer has a medical condition(s) that must be investigated will take longer to recover. This area was targeted for industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services union last year and also DVLA cases were deprioritised by the NHS at a number of points during the pandemic. The large majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online here.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has been made of the adequacy of bus services in (a) rural and (b) coastal communities; what assessment he has made of the role bus services have in enabling access to (i) NHS appointments, (ii) social care provision and (iii) dental services; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the National Bus Strategy will support rural communities with a limited access to the rail network.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Local authorities have recently published Bus Service Improvement Plans, which provide an assessment of existing services in their area, including detail of current provision for rural and coastal communities. Government supports local authorities working with partner agencies to improve bus access to amenities and services – including health and social care needs.
The Strategy encourages consideration of Demand Responsive Transport for large workplaces with anti-social hours, such as hospitals and in areas where demand is more dispersed, and the distances involved make it more challenging to maintain or provide services which meet residents’ diverse needs.
We have already established a Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) worth £20 million to trial more demand responsive services and have awarded funding to 17 pilot projects. The first pilots have recently launched. The RMF provides us and local authorities with an opportunity to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to increase the speed with which HGV licence applications are processed; how many additional staff have been hired by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the last six months; what assessment he has made of the average time applicants must wait for a substantive response to correspondence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is prioritising applications for vocational driving licences, including those for HGV entitlement. There is no backlog for provisional vocational licences and these are being processed within the normal turnaround time of five working days. The DVLA has significantly increased the processing of vocational licence renewals and has moved more staff into this area. Given this, the DVLA expects to be processing applications for both provisional vocational licences and renewals within normal turnaround times by early November. The large majority of those applying to renew an HGV licence can continue driving while their application is being processed.
In the last six months the DVLA has employed 180 new staff and is currently recruiting more.
Information about the average time taken to reply to correspondence is not available.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the transport infrastructure needs of rural and coastal communities in the South West region.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Local areas are best placed to assess their transport infrastructure needs. With DfT funding, the two sub-national transport bodies in the South West, Peninsula Transport and Western Gateway, are in the process of developing transport strategies for their regions which will look at the entirety of the South West’s transport needs.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the safety of smart motorways; how many fatal accidents have occurred on smart motorways since their introduction; and what guidance has been issued to motorists who break down on smart motorways and who are unable to reach a refuge area.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, published by the Department in March 2020, provides a table in Annex D, page 76, showing the number of reported fatal casualties between 2015 and 2018. This is reproduced here:
Road Class | Number of Reported Fatal Casualties | |||
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
Conventional Motorway¹ | 81 | 72 | 83 | 67 |
Controlled Motorway¹ | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
Dynamic Hard Shoulder¹ | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
All Lane Running¹ | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
All SRN ‘A’ Roads² | 132 | 154 | 145 | 165 |
Sources: 1 - STATS19, Highways England Statistics on motorway fatal casualties in England from 2015-18. 2 - STATS19, DfT Statistics on fatal casualties on the Strategic Road Network in England from 2015-18
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan also took account of the fact that different types of roads carry different quantities of traffic. It found that the fatal casualty rate (per hundred million vehicle miles) over the period 2015-2018 was lower on controlled (0.07), Dynamic Hard Shoulder (0.07) and All Lane Running (0.11) motorways than conventional motorways (0.16).
The latest strategic safety evidence, which includes data for 2019, will be published as part of the one-year stocktake progress update report which will be published shortly.
Highways England recently launched a national public information campaign to help drivers know what to do in a breakdown on motorways. Its main message informs drivers that if you breakdown, ‘go left’. Guidance is also contained in the Highway Code. Improvements to this guidance is currently out to public consultation (closing date for responses 29 March 2021). https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/he/highway-code/.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to rail services for residents of Torridge and West Devon constituency.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
My Department has not undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of access to rail services for residents of Torridge and West Devon. Those residents are likely to benefit from the reintroduction of rail services between Exeter and Okehampton to be funded by the Government as a Restoring Your Railway initiative. I understand the Rt. Hon. Member has sponsored three bids for the third round of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, the outcome of which will be announced in the summer.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many casualties were recorded in road traffic accidents in (a) Torridge and West Devon constituency and (b) Devon in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The number of casualties in road traffic accidents reported to the police in (a) Torridge and West Devon constituency and (b) Devon for the last three years are as follows:
|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |||||||||
|
| Killed | Serious | Slight | Total | Killed | Serious | Slight | Total | Killed | Serious | Slight | Total |
Torridge & West Devon - Parliamentary Constituency | 5 | 39 | 249 | 293 | 3 | 46 | 307 | 356 | 1 | 44 | 267 | 312 | |
Devon County Council | 34 | 274 | 2,266 | 2,574 | 16 | 294 | 2,094 | 2,404 | 23 | 316 | 2,088 | 2,427 | |
Plymouth City Council | 6 | 55 | 675 | 736 | 1 | 63 | 766 | 830 | 3 | 82 | 707 | 792 | |
Torbay Council | 3 | 36 | 365 | 404 | 2 | 51 | 311 | 364 | 1 | 42 | 320 | 363 | |
Statistics for 2015 will be available in June 2016.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the standard and level of maintenance of roads in Torridge and West Devon constituency; and what steps his Department has taken to improve the maintenance of those roads.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport regularly publishes Official Statistics on the proportion of roads where maintenance ‘should be considered’ in England. The smallest administrative area this information is published for is the local highway authority area. Devon County Council is the local highway authority for the constituency of Torridge and West Devon, but the Devon County Council area covers in whole or part 8 other constituencies.
For Devon County Council we are providing £42.3 million this financial year (2015/16).
Road maintenance is a matter for individual local highway authorities, such as Devon County Council, and it is for them to prioritise work according to local need.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to extend railway network services between London and Okehampton.
Answered by Claire Perry
We are absolutely committed to ensuring that the South West has the best infrastructure possible and we are determined to do everything possible to stop damage like we saw in 2014 happening again. That is why we have invested £31 million into improving the resilience of rail routes in the South West, and Network Rail spent £40 million on repairing and strengthening the line at Dawlish after the extreme weather.
We are working with the rail industry and the Peninsula Rail Task Force as they explore the potential for longer-term improvements in the area, including the premise of additional routes to the current mainline route via Dawlish.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to assist local authorities with the maintenance of rural roads.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England for local highways maintenance over the next six years for all local roads, including rural. This is in addition to the £4.7 billion we have provided to councils since 2010.
The Department is providing Devon County Council with over £220 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 based on a needs formula for maintaining the roads for which they are responsible, including rural roads in Torridge and West Devon. It is entirely for the Council to decide on how this funding is allocated locally based on sound asset management principles.