Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of drivers who were advised that they had a medical condition that affects their ability to drive safely about which they should notify the DVLA who did not notify the DVLA in each year since 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is unaware of the number of medical conditions it ought to be notified about but have not been notified of. This is because we are not notified of them.
In terms of notifications relating to this matter, the Department received the following numbers. However, it is not possible to say whether they came from drivers or medical professionals without incurring disproportionate cost in answering this question:
Year | Number of notifications |
2020 | 91,560 |
2021 | 106,433 |
2022 | 118,695 |
2023 (to 11 December 2023) | 136,884 |
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many notifications of any injury or illness that would have a likely impact on safe driving ability the DVLA has received from (a) doctors, (b) other healthcare professionals and (c) drivers in each year since 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is unaware of the number of medical conditions it ought to be notified about but have not been notified of. This is because we are not notified of them.
In terms of notifications relating to this matter, the Department received the following numbers. However, it is not possible to say whether they came from drivers or medical professionals without incurring disproportionate cost in answering this question:
Year | Number of notifications |
2020 | 91,560 |
2021 | 106,433 |
2022 | 118,695 |
2023 (to 11 December 2023) | 136,884 |
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department (a) has provided to local authorities to help reduce congestion on local roads in each of the last two years and (b) plans to provide to local authorities for this purpose in each of the next five years.
Answered by Guy Opperman
During the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24 the Department has provided a total of over £2.1 billion of highway maintenance support to local authorities through the Highways Maintenance Block, Potholes Fund, and the additional funding from the Network North announcement. It has also provided £340 million for small scale transport improvements through the Integrated Transport Block to eligible local authorities. All of this will help enable smoother, safer journeys. In addition to this, Combined Authorities receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements receive a settlement that incorporates funding for similar improvements in their areas. The Department is also providing £70 million in 2023/24 for a new traffic signals upgrade programme, which will help traffic flow more freely.
As for future years, the Department has already announced an £8.3 billion uplift for local highway maintenance over the years 2023/24 to 2033/34 as part of the Network North programme. Further details of this are available on gov.uk. In 2024/25 the Department will provide £1.065bn of Highways Maintenance Block and £170 million of Integrated Transport Block funding to eligible local authorities. The profiling of funding in the years beyond 2024/25 will be subject to a future Spending Review.
The Department has also supported various local road schemes across the country through the Major Road Network and Large Local Major programmes, the details of which are available online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/network-north.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of vehicle collisions which resulted in an injury that were (a) caused and (b) partly caused by a medical episode experienced by a driver.
Answered by Guy Opperman
DfT reported road casualty statistics reports numbers of personal injury road traffic collisions in Great Britain that were reported to the police using the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 does not record the causes of collisions. However, attending police officers can record up to six factors that they believe contributed to collisions as part of the STATS19 dataset. Officers do not need to carry out a full investigation of the collision before allocating factors, usually using professional judgement about what they can see at the scene.
In 2022, there were 1,930 road collisions for which police assigned ‘Illness or disability, mental or physical’ of a driver or rider as a contributory factor towards the collision.
This contributory factor ‘Illness or disability, mental or physical’ is defined as a driver or rider either suddenly overcome by illness (e.g., fit or blackout) or generally affected by illness (e.g., cold or flu), or suffering from a permanent disability, which contributed to the collision. This also includes where a driver or rider sneezing or coughing contributes to the collision, as well as poor mental health (e.g., depression).
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 204030 on Avanti West Coast: Contracts, what the (a) time constraints and (b) market conditions were that meant open competition for the contract was considered unviable.
Answered by Huw Merriman
A competition for a contract of this nature can take 2 to 3 years once a contract and procurement process has been agreed.
When emergency agreements ended there was significant market instability arising from the ongoing impacts of covid and industrial action, meaning a competitive tender was unlikely to deliver value for money. When options for West Coast Partnership’s latest contract were considered, these factors informed the decision to make a direct award rather than compete.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's News story of 19 September 2023 entitled Avanti West Coast awarded long-term contract after significant improvements for passengers, whether there was a (a) requirement to award and (b) formal tender process for that contract.
Answered by Huw Merriman
When considering its available options, the Department assessed these against the relevant criteria. Open competition was considered but was unviable due to time available and market conditions, and it would not have been possible to deliver a contract which represented value for money for the taxpayer. A direct award was considered the appropriate course of action. It is the Government’s intention to return to competition as soon as it is feasible to do so.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information the Government holds on the number of breaches of airside security at airports in each calendar year between 2010 and 2023.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Airports and other regulated organisations are required to report all breaches of regulation and all incidents to the Department for Transport. This includes instances such as incorrect procedure being followed by airport staff, disruptive passengers, or unauthorised persons accessing secure areas.
For security reasons the Department does not make details of these reports public.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of airside security passes issued for airports in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2022-23.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department for Transport puts in place regulations that set out the criteria a person must meet and what background checks must be carried out before an individual can be issued with an airside security pass. The Civil Aviation Authority monitors industry to ensure airports comply with these regulations. The Department for Transport does not keep a central record of how many of passes are issued.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Highway Code's clothing recommendations for cyclists at (a) ensuring visibility and (b) keeping road users safe.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The safety of vulnerable road users is a priority for the Government, and the Department is determined to make the roads safer for everyone.
Rule 59 of The Highway Code recommends that cyclists should wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing to help other road users to see them in daylight and poor light, with reflective clothing and/or accessories in the dark. This advice was strengthened in the updated version of The Highway Code that was published in January 2022, and the Department ran communication campaigns in both 2022 and 2023 to highlight some of the key changes.
The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes increased from 36% in January 2022 to 58% in August 2022, with 83% of road users having heard of the changes by August.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of transport links from (a) Ellesmere Port and (b) Neston.
Answered by Richard Holden - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
My Department has made significant investment in local transport links in this area. For example, in 2023/24 Cheshire West & Chester Council received an additional £1.765m from the £200m announced in the Budget on top of their £11.899m for local highways through the Integrated Transport Block. Ellesmere Port was also awarded £13.37m from the Levelling up Fund to support active travel links across the town. As the local authority, Cheshire West and Chester Council has primary responsibility for transport in this area.