Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the Union Connectivity Review.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Transport Secretary has had discussions with Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport Michael Matheson about the Union Connectivity Review ahead of its launch in October 2020.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative estimate he has made of the number of driving tests taken between April and September at (a) Duns, (b) Hawick, (c) Peebles, (d) Galashiels, and (e) Kelso driving test centres, this year and in the previous three years.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
| Duns | Hawick | Peebles | Galashiels | Kelso |
Apr - Sept 2017 | 66 | 235 | 224 | 496 | 140 |
Apr - Sept 2018 | 64 | 176 | 124 | 442 | 116 |
Apr - Sept 2019 | 63 | 202 | 139 | 426 | 130 |
Apr - June 2020 * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* TO NOTE:
No driving tests were conducted between April and June 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
We cannot provide figures beyond 30 June 2020 as they have not yet been published officially and to release them externally would breach the Statistics and Registrations Service Act 2007.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the reopening of Reston station.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The promotion of railway infrastructure projects in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government but the new timetable that Network Rail is developing for the East Coast Main Line will make provision for stops at the proposed new stations at Reston and East Linton.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of driving tests that have not taken place as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) estimates that over 400,000 driving tests, have not been conducted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This data is based on the DVSA’s original forecast of driving test demand that covers March 2020 up to the present day.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimates his Department has made of how many drivers in (a) the Scottish Borders, (b) Scotland, and (c) the UK will benefit from the MOT extension due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The MOT data held by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency relates to vehicles, not to the number of drivers who use those vehicles. This data is not disaggregated based on country or region but represents the GB vehicle fleet as a whole.
In April 2020 there are 2,950,295 vehicles due for either a repeat MOT or due for first MOT. In May 2020 there are 3,002,339 vehicles due for repeat or first MOT. In June 2020 there are 2,979,869 vehicles due for repeat or first MOT.
Based on the duration of social distancing measures determined by the Government, the number of vehicles able to benefit from the exclusion to MOT testing will vary. If the legislation allowing the exclusions is no longer required, it may be revoked.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support hauliers to maintain supply and distribution networks during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government has made available £330bn of support through loans and guarantees to support UK businesses. Changes were made on 3 April to ensure that more businesses, particularly those that are SMEs, like many road haulage companies, can benefit from them. Additionally, the job retention scheme which has now been launched will help further by enabling businesses to claim up to £2,500 a month towards staff wages.
The Government is working with the road haulage industry to identify barriers to accessing the available government support measures.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many plug-in car grants have been (a) issued and at (b) at what financial value in (i) the Scottish Borders, (ii) Scotland and (iii) the UK.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department holds data on plug-in car grants, however this database does not provide the geographic breakdown requested.
Up to the end of September 2019, the number of plug-in car grant eligible models registered for the first time and their estimated total financial value are outlined below:
Area of registration | (a) Number of registrations for eligible models | (b) Estimated Financial value1 |
(i) Scottish Borders Unitary Authority | 205 | £0.8 million |
(ii) Scotland | 10,561 | £40 million |
(iii) UK | 202,048 | £756 million |
1 Estimated from vehicle registration data by applying amount of available grant for eligible models at the time of registration. This estimate does not mean that every vehicle registered received the grant or that other vehicles did not receive the grant before the end of September 2019 but had not registered the vehicle yet.