Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of covid-19 guidance applying to cruise ships in response to the reported MSC Virtuosa covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of the Department’s ongoing monitoring of cruise restart, we were notified through both industry reporting and Test and Trace that a number of crew and passengers tested positive for COVID-19 during and after domestic sailings on the MSC Virtuosa last month.
Cases on board were managed in line with industry protocols, in coordination with Public Health England and port health authorities. My officials have spoken with MSC and are content with the implementation of the protocols.
The evidence from cruises continues to strongly demonstrate that cruises can operate safely and respond to any outbreaks effectively.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many covid-19 cases have been linked to the outbreak of covid-19 on MSC Virtuosa.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of the Department’s ongoing monitoring of cruise restart, we were notified through both industry reporting and Test and Trace that a number of crew and passengers tested positive for COVID-19 during and after domestic sailings on the MSC Virtuosa last month.
Cases on board were managed in line with industry protocols, in coordination with Public Health England and port health authorities. My officials have spoken with MSC and are content with the implementation of the protocols.
The evidence from cruises continues to strongly demonstrate that cruises can operate safely and respond to any outbreaks effectively.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of Union Jack flags purchased by his Department in each of the last two years were manufactured in the UK.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
During the last two financial years the Department for Transport purchased 6 Union flags. The flags were purchased from a supplier (Flags and Flag Poles) based in the UK. Information is not recorded on the country of manufacture.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which companies have supplied Union Jack flags to his Department since 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
During the last two financial years the Department for Transport purchased 6 Union flags. The flags were purchased from a supplier (Flags and Flag Poles) based in the UK. Information is not recorded on the country of manufacture.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce the winners of the Green Fuels, Green Skies competition.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
An announcement on shortlisted winners of the Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) competition was made on 23 July and is currently available on the competition’s webpage. Eight projects were shortlisted for a share of an overall sum of £15m to support the early-stage development of UK sustainable aviation fuel plants.
Final announcements on GFGS winners will be released when the grant offer process has completed with all projects. We hope to be able to make a full announcement shortly.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with commercial airline companies on the impact of the UK leaving the EU on employment opportunities for UK registered pilots.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Secretary of State regularly meets with airlines (and other stakeholders in the sector) and listens to issues raised.
The Department also regularly engages with industry to discuss concerns and update industry about developments, for example through the Aviation Safety Industry Engagement Forum.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the retention and recruitment of commercial pilots in the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The most recent data from the Annual Population Survey – Employment, provided by the Office of National Statistics, shows that the number of aircraft pilots and flight engineers employed reduced from 26,100 in 2019 to 24,000 in 2020. This latter figure includes pilots who may have been furloughed by their employers and experienced support under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
Skills retention and skills fade for highly trained jobs needs to be a key element of the sector’s recovery plan. To support this, we introduced the Aviation Skills Retention Platform (ASRP) in February 2021 to support the retention of skills within the sector, including for pilots, by offering increased visibility of opportunities across the sector. We are also looking to better understand employment trends through vacancy data submitted to the ASRP by employers.
The Department is also working with industry on maximising use of the existing support measures such as DWP’s Flexible Support Fund and Rapid Response Service to support aviation workers at risk of redundancy to stay in employment or move between sectors.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what economic assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the travel sector in the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement allows the vast majority of journeys between the UK and the EU to continue as they did before the end of the transition period, giving people the freedom to travel to and from the EU for work, holidays and to visit loved ones, Covid-19 restrictions allowing.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July to Question 29812, what the planned timetable is for the successful Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund bid to be announced.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We are assessing the bids and currently expect to announce the outcomes later this year.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many plug-in car grants have been approved by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles for households in (a) England and (b) Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department holds data on plug-in car grants but this database does not provide the geographic breakdown required. By the end of 2020, the total number of plug-in car grant eligible models registered for the first time was as follows:
England 274,222
Ellesmere Port and Neston 193
Not all of these would necessarily have received a grant.