Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the prevalence of reckless driving.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Road Safety Statement published on 21 December 2015 outlines what the Department is currently doing to improve road safety. For example, we are currently consulting on increasing the penalty points and financial penalty for those who commit the offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving.
We have previously introduced fixed penalty notices in order to assist the police in dealing more effectively with careless driving. This would enable more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat such behaviour.
Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March 2015 it has been an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits. I have provided £1million to further increase enforcement during the THINK! campaign that commenced on 29 February and will run through March thus coinciding with the 1st anniversary of the commencement of the new offence.
Sentencing and enforcement policy issues are matters for the Ministry of Justice and Home Office respectively.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Regional Air Connectivity Fund has been used to support air links to and from Northern Ireland since that fund was created.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Regional Air Connectivity Fund has not currently been used to support air links to and from Northern Ireland.
The fund can be used maintain existing domestic air connectivity to London where there is a risk that an existing link may be lost, and to provide financial support to develop new routes from airports of less than five million passengers per year.
Northern Ireland is well-connected by air to London with over 18,000 flights per year between the two Belfast airports and the five main London airports, carrying over two million passengers. The first use of this fund was announced earlier this summer to protect the air route between Dundee and London through a Public Service Obligation.
With regards to providing Start-up aid for new routes, the Department for Transport is working with the Treasury to develop guidance that will clarify how the Government will expect to interpret the European Union State aid guidelines on start-up aid for new air routes. The Department for Transport expects to publish this guidance in the autumn.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to support regional air links with Northern Ireland.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Northern Ireland is well-connected by air to London with over 18,000 flights per year between the two Belfast airports and the five main London airports, carrying over two million passengers. The Belfast airports also maintain good connections with other UK airports – Belfast International Airport has connections to fourteen domestic destinations, and Belfast City Airport to eighteen.
The Chancellor announced in this year's Budget that funding to maintain existing air connectivity to London – first announced in the 2013 Spending Round last June – will increase from £10million to £20million per year. It will be expanded to include provision for start-up aid for new air routes from UK regional airports – including those in Northern Ireland and the other devolved administrations – which handle fewer than five million passengers per year.
The devolved administration in Northern Ireland, or a regional body in Northern Ireland, may apply for access to the funding for regional air connectivity to maintain an air link from a Northern Ireland airport to London, where there is a risk that an existing link may be lost, and where the case for a Public Service Obligation has been made.
The Department for Transport is working with the Treasury to develop guidance that will clarify how the Government will ordinarily expect to interpret the European Union State aid guidelines on start-up aid for new air routes, and explain how the funding process will operate across the UK. The Department for Transport expects to publish this guidance in the autumn.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he consulted his Northern Ireland counterpart on his Department's publication Guidance to the Civil Aviation Authority on Environmental Objectives Relating to the Exercise of its Air Navigation Functions.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There was no specific consultation with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on this publication.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether officials in his Department consulted their Northern Ireland counterparts before publishing the draft Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2015.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Department for Transport officials worked closely with Northern Ireland colleagues throughout the Traffic Signs Policy Review. A meeting was held with the Devolved Administrations in February 2014, at which the proposed changes to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions were presented.
The Northern Ireland Executive has also been invited to respond to the public consultation on the draft regulations.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what consultation he undertook on the content of his Department's publication, Guidance to the Civil Aviation Authority on Environmental Objectives Relating to the Exercise of its Air Navigation Functions, published in January 2014, with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
During the public consultation period a meeting was held between officials from the Department of Transport and the Department for Regional Development Northern Ireland where the content of the Guidance was discussed. There was no specific consultation with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.