Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what levels of apprenticeships are offered by his Department; and how many apprenticeship starts there were at each level in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
This response covers the Department for Transport – comprising the central Department and the four Executive Agencies.
We only hold the requested data for the last two financial years. Apprenticeship starts and levels are as follows:
| Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 and Higher |
April 2016 – March 2017 | 65 | 61 | 122 |
April 2017 – March 2018 | 38 | 71 | 16 |
This has been a transitional year for apprenticeships with the release of new apprenticeships standards ready for delivery, the implementation of the new apprenticeship funding regulations and the availability of the new Civil Service Learning Apprenticeship contract.
For the Department, the delay in the availability of new professional apprenticeships standards coupled with the delayed availability of the new Civil Service Learning apprenticeships contract made strategic workforce planning difficult this year. This was further impeded by changes to funding processes which resulted in projected starts for 2017/18 not materialising until after the end of the 2017/18 target period.
In addition, a decision by DVLA to refresh its workforce strategy led to a reduction of its internal apprenticeship start target (as based in Wales this did not affect the Department’s apprenticeship start target set by Cabinet Office).
Looking forward, several leadership and management apprenticeship cohorts are now in place across the Department, with a Department wide HR apprenticeship cohort planned to start in June. Should these cohorts prove successful, the department will look to embed these apprenticeships in future development programmes. The quality of apprenticeship delivery has been an issue but supplier management has been a key focus of the Department’s recent activity. Now that the wider Civil Service Learning apprenticeship provision is available, work is underway to further utilise apprenticeships to build capability and develop talent pipelines within the professions.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that UK driving licence holders are able to use those licences in EEA countries after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Grayling
Irrespective of the outcome of our negotiations, our ratification of the 1968 Vienna Convention and 1949 Geneva Convention will ensure that UK licence holders can continue to drive after exit throughout the EU and EEA using an international driving permit document if necessary.
However, in the negotiations on transport we will be seeking to ensure that through the mutual recognition of driving licences, UK motorists can continue to drive throughout the EU and EEA after we have left. Such a deal is in the interests of both sides.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that UK driving licence holders are able to use those licences in EEA countries after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Grayling
Irrespective of the outcome of our negotiations, our ratification of the 1968 Vienna Convention and 1949 Geneva Convention will ensure that UK licence holders can continue to drive after exit throughout the EU and EEA using an international driving permit document if necessary.
However, in the negotiations on transport we will be seeking to ensure that through the mutual recognition of driving licences, UK motorists can continue to drive throughout the EU and EEA after we have left. Such a deal is in the interests of both sides.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much land (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies owns in (i) England and (ii) the South West; and how much of that land has been identified as being surplus to requirements.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department for Transport reviews land and property holdings on an ongoing basis. As and when appropriate any land or property holdings deemed surplus are promptly identified and disposed of in accordance with business needs.
As part of the Government’s Transparency Agenda information about Department for Transport properties is published on the data.gov.uk website.
Information on the land owned by the Department in (i) England and (ii) the South West and information on land that is surplus is available via the following web link:
https://data.gov.uk/dataset/epimstransparency
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on their powers to take noise abatement enforcement against companies undertaking engineering work on the railways with respect to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and section 122 of the Railways Act 1993.
Answered by Paul Maynard
It is local authorities who are responsible for enforcing the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and section 122 of the Railways Act 1993.
The ORR as the regulator of the rail industry is responsible for ensuring that engineering work is carried appropriately and those undertaking these tasks have adequate systems and procedures to ensure compliance with these Acts.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on supporting skills development to help deliver the Government's transport infrastructure programmes.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy published in January this year sets out our plans, among which our ambition to create thirty thousand apprenticeships in the roads and rail sectors by 2020. Earlier this month we launched the taskforce that will implement the strategy, chaired by Simon Kirby, CEO of HS2 Ltd. These steps have been carried out in consultation with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Her Majesty’s Treasury and other partners across Government.