Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
If he will take steps to provide the Civil Aviation Authority with additional powers to sanction (a) airlines and (b) other aviation industry stakeholders for failing to meet their obligations to disabled passengers.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Air travel needs to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. That is why the Department consulted last year on whether the Civil Aviation Authority should have additional administrative powers to enforce consumer laws, and on compensation in the event of wheelchairs being damaged on UK domestic flights. Ministers are reviewing responses and will set out next steps shortly.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the extent of the backlog in practical driving test availability in Lanarkshire; and what steps he is taking to tackle that backlog.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The average waiting time for practical car driving tests in Lanarkshire is 19.75 weeks (East Kilbride 19 weeks, Airdrie 23 weeks, Hamilton 24 weeks, Lanark 13 weeks).
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. 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.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of train stations in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency are fitted with tactile markings at the platform edge.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Rail Delivery Group are currently responsible collating data on facilities at stations and ensuring this is kept up to date. This is published on the National Rail Enquiries website.
Information on specific National Rail stations is here:
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/default.aspx
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of covid-19 restrictions on the completion of driving tests.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
To help stop the spread of coronavirus, restriction periods were introduced during which time driver testing was suspended.
Driving tests that were booked to take place during the restrictions were rescheduled to the next available slots. Candidates had the option of a test fee refund if their rescheduled date was not suitable.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency continues to work with Transport Scotland to resume testing services in a COVID-secure way and ensure the Scottish Government’s five-level system is adhered to.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when driving lessons and practical driving tests will resume; and whether tests cancelled as a result of covid-19 will be reimbursed in full.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
As the health and safety of staff and customers is key, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working closely with the Department for Transport to prepare for a safe return to testing. It will announce details of resumption in due course.
The DVSA recommends that, currently, approved driving instructors (ADI) should only provide lessons to candidates who have an essential need.
Before practical driving tests are reintroduced, the DVSA will inform the driver training industry. This will help candidates prepare and reach the standard of driving needed to pass their test.
Candidates who have had their practical driving test suspended as a result of COVID-19 will receive an email from the DVSA telling them the date of their rescheduled test. The test will be rescheduled automatically, and free of charge. The candidate can, if they prefer, request a refund of their practical test fee.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average length of time was for Ministers of his Department to respond to correspondence from hon. Members in each month in the last two years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
In line with Cabinet Office guidance, the Department for Transport has a target of responding within 20 working days where a response is required. In September 2019 the Department adopted its own internal target of 7 Working days.
As you will understand, the Department for Transport is currently dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. The Department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised, and is taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
All correspondence received from hon. Members is being reviewed and will be responded to as soon as possible.
A table showing the average number of days taken to respond to correspondence from Hon. Members is below. Please note, in some cases Ministers had not been appointed to the Department at the time the correspondence was received, however they signed the final reply, leading to some delay due to the handover from previous ministers.
Average Number of Days to Respond - All Ministers by Month | |||||||
Jan-18 | 17.32 | Jan-19 | 32.06 | Jan-20 | 10.33 | ||
Feb-18 | 17.50 | Feb-19 | 14.66 | Feb-20 | 8.77 | ||
Mar-18 | 15.66 | Mar-19 | 31.23 | Mar-20 | 13.15 | ||
Apr-18 | 18.99 | Apr-19 | 31.70 | Apr-20 | 8.42 | ||
May-18 | 20.31 | May-19 | 30.27 | May-20 | 4.20 | ||
Jun-18 | 20.48 | Jun-19 | 24.80 | ||||
Jul-18 | 21.55 | Jul-19 | 15.22 | ||||
Aug-18 | 30.81 | Aug-19 | 13.07 | ||||
Sep-18 | 52.62 | Sep-19 | 7.27 | ||||
Oct-18 | 49.76 | Oct-19 | 6.63 | ||||
Nov-18 | 38.60 | Nov-19 | 6.53 | ||||
Dec-18 | 36.34 | Dec-19 | 10.10 | ||||