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Written Question
Bus Services: Visual Impairment
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of bus stop bypasses on blind and partially-sighted people.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Provision of traffic management measures such as floating bus stops is a matter for local authorities. The Department provides design advice on floating bus stops in Local Transport Note 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design, which highlights the potential issues and stresses the need for early engagement on design with relevant groups, particularly those representing disabled people.

The Department is working with Transport Scotland, who are leading on research into accessible public realm, including bus stop bypasses. The outputs will inform recommendations about designs and good practice advice, and the project is scheduled to complete later this year.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Blue Badge Scheme
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to roll out fast electric vehicle chargers in Blue Badge parking bays for accessibility purposes.

Answered by Jesse Norman

We want an electric vehicle charging infrastructure network which has accessibility embedded in its design.

This year, the Government and the national disability charity Motability co-sponsored the British Standards Institution to develop a new accessibility standard for electric vehicle charging. The PAS (Publicly Available Standard) 1899 provides specifications on designing and installing accessible public electric vehicle chargepoints.

The location of chargepoints on public highways is a matter for local authorities which are responsible for issuing Blue Badges and associated on-street accessible parking bays. The Government encourages local authorities to consider installation of accessible chargepoints at appropriate locations, taking into account the specifications laid out in PAS 1899.


Written Question
Railways: Tickets
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department had with disabled people and disability groups prior to his Department’s decision to amend its guidance relating to ticket office opening hours.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The Department for Transport consulted with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) during the consultation to amend the Secretary of State’s Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) Ticket Office Guidance.


Written Question
Nature Conservation
Tuesday 17th May 2022

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) increase the (i) number and (ii) scale of wildlife tunnels and bridges and (b) improve the maintenance of existing wildlife tunnels and bridges.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Department for Transport is committed to conserving, restoring and improving biodiversity across its estate and delivering new requirements set out in the Environment Act 2021.

National Highways is increasing the number of wildlife tunnels and bridges on its network, ranging from simple wildlife tunnels and ledges to allow and encourage safe badger and otter movement, to large structures including green bridges where appropriate, which connect habitats and wildlife corridors. Green bridges are components of a number of National Highways’ new road projects.


Written Question
Driving Tests: Coronavirus
Monday 19th April 2021

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to reimburse learner drivers who have had to retake their driving theory test as a result of the cancellation of practical driving tests due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has a number of measures in place to increase the availability of practical driving tests when it is safe for them to resume. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.

There are no current plans to reimburse learners drivers, given that they will have already received the service for which they paid.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) pays its contractor, Pearson, per theory test delivered. If candidates were exempted from having to pay for a retake then the DVSA and in turn other fee payers would incur these costs. This would be unfair to fee payers who would not benefit from the arrangement. In addition, applications for a re-test would need to be validated and systems amended to remove the requirement for payment in these cases. The DVSA’s focus should rightly be on developing solutions to address the backlog of practical driving tests that has arisen as a result of the pandemic.


Written Question
Driving Tests: Waiting Lists
Monday 19th April 2021

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of drivers that are waiting to take a practical driving test as quickly as possible.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has a number of measures in place to increase the availability of practical driving tests when it is safe for them to resume. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.

There are no current plans to reimburse learners drivers, given that they will have already received the service for which they paid.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) pays its contractor, Pearson, per theory test delivered. If candidates were exempted from having to pay for a retake then the DVSA and in turn other fee payers would incur these costs. This would be unfair to fee payers who would not benefit from the arrangement. In addition, applications for a re-test would need to be validated and systems amended to remove the requirement for payment in these cases. The DVSA’s focus should rightly be on developing solutions to address the backlog of practical driving tests that has arisen as a result of the pandemic.


Written Question
Driving Tests: Coronavirus
Tuesday 12th January 2021

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the disruption to key workers who have had vital driving tests cancelled since 2020 due to the covid-19 outbreak and are now at risk of being unable to work.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

To help stop the spread of coronavirus, driving tests have been suspended in all areas of England, Scotland and Wales.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not currently offering a critical worker service in England or Scotland. In Wales, the DVSA is responding to requests only from the Welsh ambulance trust for the testing of ambulance drivers.

In England and Wales, essential delegated bus and emergency service testing will continue where they are identified as an operational priority by bus companies and the emergency services.

The DVSA is in discussions with all Governments to address critical worker services in England, Scotland and Wales.


Written Question
Travel: Quarantine
Friday 20th November 2020

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bi-lateral testing protocols with key trading partners to allow people who are travelling for work purposes to be exempt from covid-19 quarantine requirements.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Government is actively working on the practicalities of using testing to release people from self-isolation earlier than 14 days. The Global Travel Taskforce is working at pace to consider how testing, technology and innovation can drive a recovery for international travel and tourism, without adding to infection risk or infringing on our overall NHS test capacity.

In its work, the GTT has sought views from the following stakeholders to inform its work:

  • the transport industry, to discuss shared challenges, the value of the sector to the economy, and the future of international travel
  • international partners, to discuss different approaches to health measures at the border, and what standards and practices are needed to maintain safe international travel
  • the tourism sector and local business leaders, to consider the economic impact on domestic tourism, and how international travel can support economic recovery
  • the private testing sector, to consider capacity constraints, pricing, and how quickly testing capacity can be rolled out
  • academia and policy institutes to provide insight and innovative solutions to the challenges the sector is facing

Written Question
High Speed 2 Railway Line: Environmental Impact Assessment
Thursday 19th November 2020

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the environmental impact of HS2.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

An environmental statement has been prepared for each phase of HS2, which sets out a detailed assessment of the likely significant environmental effects of building and operating the railway, as well as proposed ways to avoid, reduce, mitigate and monitor the environmental effects.

The Environmental Statement for Phase 1 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hs2-phase-one-environmental-statement-documents

The Environmental Statement for Phase 2a is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hs2-phase-2a-environmental-statement

The Working Draft Environmental Statement for Phase 2b is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-phase-2b-working-draft-environmental-statement

In April this year, the Government published a Full Business Case for HS2, which included a section on decarbonisation and sustainability. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-phase-one-full-business-case

Following the launch of construction of Phase One, HS2 Ltd will begin publishing an annual environmental sustainability report, from 2021 onwards, which will provide updates on a range of environmental impacts, such as carbon and biodiversity, alongside the associated mitigation measures being delivered as part of the HS2 Green Corridor initiative.


Written Question
Travel: Coronavirus
Tuesday 27th October 2020

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to provide covid-19 funding support for (a) light rail, (b) buses and (c) active travel.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

On 8 August, the Government announced funding at up to £27.3 million per week to support the bus sector, through the Coronavirus Bus Service Support Grant (CBSSG) Restart scheme, until a time when the funding is no longer needed. On 22 October, the Government also announced funding of up to £35.4 million for light rail services over the 12 weeks from 27 October, and a further indicative allocation of up to £32.4 million for the 11 weeks thereafter, subject to a Government review of funding requirements.

This latest round of funding – key to ensuring these vital services can continue running safely– means total support during the pandemic for bus and tram services will reach at least £900 million.

The Government has made a commitment, set out in the Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan launched in July, to invest an unprecedented £2 billion in active travel over the remainder of this Parliament. £250 million of this is being made available in the current financial year