Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the lessons that his Department could learn from (a) Oslo and (b) Helsinki on reducing road deaths to zero.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Whilst we look closely at a wide range of international examples, we have not made a specific assessment of Oslo or Helsinki.
The Department for Transport takes road safety for all road users seriously. Road fatality figures for Great Britain have been among the lowest in the world for many years. In 2022, Great Britain ranked fifth out of 38 countries with available data for lowest number of road fatalities per million population.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the annual (a) budget for reducing serious injury and death of the roads and (b) cost to the exchequer per casualty is.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no hypothecated budget for reducing serious injury and death, and spending to do so comes from a wide range of differing budgets.
We do not calculate the cost to the exchequer of road casualties.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to support West Yorkshire's strategy to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport takes road safety for all road users seriously and is supportive of local initiatives to improve road safety. The Department has not made a specific assessment of the council’s road safety policies because the local council has responsibility for making decisions about local roads, based on its local knowledge and taking into account local needs.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2024 to Question 7457 on Motor Vehicles: Insurance, if he will publish the (a) minutes and (b) attendance of meetings his Department has held with representatives of the motor insurance industry in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance. The meetings tend to be informal so minutes and attendance at them are not kept.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to extend graduated driving licences from motorbike users to newly qualified car drivers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department keeps driving licensing requirements under review, but there are not any plans to introduce any further restrictions on newly qualified car drivers.
We have a form of restricting novice drivers though the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995. On acquiring their first full licence, a new driver is on ‘probation’ for two years. During this time, they are subject to a limit of six penalty points received for any driving offences (including any received when in the learning stage). If six or more points are received, then a driver’s licence is revoked and must apply again for a provisional licence, re-entering the learning stage.
Two years after passing their first driving test, or on passing again after being subject to licence revocation under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995, drivers enter the full licence stage. There are no restrictions in this stage beyond basic legal requirements.
For new and novice drivers the Department’s broad aim is to improve road safety through new technology and research; and particularly for young drivers, developing better learning opportunities and targeted educational messaging, while reinforcing vital road safety messages through our THINK! Campaigns.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals with family in the UK who switch to a SOC 6145 health worker visa are not separated from their dependents.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Individuals who choose to switch into a visa also choose to accept the terms and conditions of that visa. Further details on the net migration measures announced in December, including about dependant restrictions, are available here: www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Widowed Parent's Allowance to allow continued claims if the individual remarries or lives with another person.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made. Widowed Parent’s Allowance is an income-replacement benefit. Entitlement to Widowed Parent’s Allowance ends on the formation of a new legal union or cohabiting partnership because that involves a change in the household composition and, consequently, household income. Universal Credit can provide ongoing assistance with living costs where further financial support is required.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will have discussions with the Student Loan Company on the cancellation of student debt when a provider's course is deemed insufficient to meet the requirements to issue a qualification.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department tries to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, benefit from high-quality, world-leading higher education (HE) that leads to excellent outcomes. All HE providers will also have in place procedures for handling student complaints and academic appeals. If a student exhausts the internal university procedures and is not satisfied with the final outcome, they can contact the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. More details can be found using the following link: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/students/how-to-complain-to-us/.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) will cancel a student loan borrower's liability to repay a loan in limited circumstances. These include; when the loan term ends, when the borrower dies, and if the borrower receives a disability-related benefit and because of the disability is permanently unfit for work. The SLC has no power to cancel student loans in other circumstances.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) discussions and (b) correspondence he has had with the Migration Advisory Committee on the proposed change in the salary threshold for spouse visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The decision to raise the MIR was taken to ensure that migration policy is supportive of the wider ambition for the UK to be a high-wage, high-productivity, high-skill economy, and help to ensure that migrants make a net positive contribution to the public finances in addition to ensuring that families would not need to have recourse to welfare and had sufficient resources to participate in British life.
Previous advice and evidence provided by the Migration Advisory Committee regarding net-fiscal contributions and access to benefits was considered when making this decision. We did not seek further advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) before making the decision to increase the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) element of the family immigration rules.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2023 to Question 5413 on Motor Vehicles: Insurance, whether his Department plans to issue guidance to insurance companies on this matter.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set their premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies, and the Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.