Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent research his Department has conducted on (a) the merits of static speed cameras and (b) the effect of conspicuously marking such cameras on their effectiveness.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department published “The national safety camera programme: Four-year evaluation report” in December 2005. The Road Safety Observatory, of which the Department is a member, published “Effectiveness Of Speed Cameras In Preventing Road Traffic Collisions And Related Casualties: Systematic Review” in March 2013. No research has been carried out of the effect of conspicuously marking cameras.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Answer Prime Minister of 8 June 2016, Official Report, column 1189, on airport expansion, whether the term summer includes the September sitting of the House.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The government remains fully committed to delivering the important infrastructure projects it has set out.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to update its 2013 aviation demand forecasts before publishing an updated version of the 2013 Aviation Policy Framework.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government is planning to review the existing Aviation Policy Framework over the remainder of this year with a view to publishing a revised framework thereafter, having sought stakeholder views of what work is required and what a strategy should cover. This work is at an early stage, and no decisions have yet been taken on what additional analysis may be required to support that work or when a strategy will be published, though clearly updated forecasts are within the potential scope of this work.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a Minister of his Department will be representing the UK at the UN's second Global Summit on Road Safety to discuss the inclusion of targets to reduce crash deaths worldwide as a new sustainable development goal.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The UN’s Second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety has already taken place.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions Ministers of his Department had with Ministers of the Department for International Development to discuss the new UN sustainable development goal on reducing worldwide crash deaths.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government has a manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year. Ministers from across government, including ministers from the Department for International Development, support the Road Safety Statement which was published on the 21st December 2015. The Statement sets out the government’s vision, values and priorities for improving the safety of Britain’s roads which will contribute to the sustainable development goal to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions.
Officials from the Department for Transport and from the Department for International Development continue to discuss the UN sustainable development goal relating to road safety.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on preparations for the UN General Assembly debate scheduled for April 2016 on Road Safety as a result of the Second Global Conference in Brasilia in 2015.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport has been working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to arrange for a UK representative to attend the UN General Assembly debate scheduled for April 2016 on Road Safety as a result of the Second Global Conference in Brasilia in 2015. I expect that the UK representative will be Lord Robertson of Port Ellen and I intend to meet with him shortly.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the (a) Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) UK Permanent Representative to the UN in preparing for debate in April 2016 at the UN General Assembly on Road Safety.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport has been working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to arrange for a UK representative to attend the UN General Assembly debate scheduled for April 2016 on Road Safety as a result of the Second Global Conference in Brasilia in 2015. I expect that the UK representative will be Lord Robertson of Port Ellen and I intend to meet with him shortly.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the numbers of driving examiners in England on waiting times for tests; and what steps he is taking to encourage more examiners to qualify.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) undertake quarterly test forecast reviews to identify the likely demand of driving tests, from which it calculates the numbers of examiners required in order to service those demands. Those numbers are reviewed against the current examiners numbers and where increases are identified, these are factored into DVSA’s recruitment campaigns. DVSA usually run two recruitment campaigns per year, with additional campaigns where necessary i.e. where there has been insufficient take-up/success in geographical areas.
This process has, over the years, generally worked well, but the unforeseen and exceptionally high increase in demand for driving tests in 2015. Across the whole of DVSA it has recruited 167 new driving examiners during 2015/16 with a further 60 either attending or booked on to new entrant courses. DVSA has also offered posts to a further 40 potential examiners.
DVSA has also been re-prioritising the activities of examiners and offering them additional overtime in order to increase testing capacity.
Over 2015 DVSA introduced a number of changes to the marketing of its recruitment campaign in order to try and encourage interest from wider and more diverse groups, additionally DVSA undertook two targeted campaigns for motorcycle examiners and LGV examiners.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average wait for driving tests is in each English region.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency records its data in four regions, which are; Scotland and North England, Central England and North Wales, South Wales and South West England and London and the South East. The average waiting times in January 2016 for these areas are listed below.
Scotland & North England | Waiting time in weeks |
Jan-16 | |
Average Car Waiting time | 8.4 |
Average M/C Mod 1 Waiting time | 1.3 |
Average M/C Mod 2 Waiting time | 2.1 |
Average Voc Waiting time | 7.9 |
Average ADI 2 Waiting time | 7.2 |
Average ADI 3 Waiting time | 7.1 |
Average Taxi Waiting time | 8.0 |
Central England & North Wales | Waiting time in weeks |
Jan-16 | |
Average Car Waiting time | 8.4 |
Average M/C Mod 1 Waiting time | 1.3 |
Average M/C Mod 2 Waiting time | 2.1 |
Average Voc Waiting time | 7.9 |
Average ADI 2 Waiting time | 7.2 |
Average ADI 3 Waiting time | 7.1 |
Average Taxi Waiting time | 8.0 |
South Wales & South West England | Waiting time in weeks |
Jan-16 | |
Average Car Waiting time | 8.7 |
Average M/C Mod 1 Waiting time | 3.6 |
Average M/C Mod 2 Waiting time | 2.1 |
Average Voc Waiting time | 5.7 |
Average ADI 2 Waiting time | 5.7 |
Average ADI 3 Waiting time | 7.8 |
Average Taxi Waiting time | 7.6 |
London & South East | Waiting time in weeks |
Jan-16 | |
Average Car Waiting time | 7.5 |
Average M/C Mod 1 Waiting time | 1.5 |
Average M/C Mod 2 Waiting time | 1.5 |
Average Voc Waiting time | 3.3 |
Average ADI 2 Waiting time | 3.8 |
Average ADI 3 Waiting time | 3.3 |
Average Taxi Waiting time | 3.4 |
National | Waiting time in weeks |
Jan-16 | |
Average Car Waiting time | 8.4 |
Average M/C Mod 1 Waiting time | 2.7 |
Average M/C Mod 2 Waiting time | 2.4 |
Average Voc Waiting time | 5.3 |
Average ADI 2 Waiting time | 5.5 |
Average ADI 3 Waiting time | 5.9 |
Average Taxi Waiting time | 6.7 |
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the pass rates in driving tests were in each region and constituent part of the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency does not record pass rates for each constituent part of the UK. Pass rates by test centre are published on GOV.UK.