Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many charging points there are for electric vehicles for staff at the offices of the Department for Transport and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles at Great Minster House.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There is no staff or visitor parking at the Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles, although there is limited parking available for mobility impaired drivers. Staff are encouraged to use public transport, walk and cycle to work rather than drive in order to ease congestion.
However, one dedicated electric vehicle chargepoint has been installed for electric vehicles in the Government fleet. There is also a double-headed public chargepoint immediately outside Great Minster House, as well as several other chargepoints in the surrounding area.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many British Transport Police officers have (a) applied for and (b) been granted an individual firearms licence since 2011.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The British Transport Police currently has 155 authorised firearms officers. Their authority to carry firearms is derived from Section 58 of the Firearms Act 1968 as amended by Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. There is no requirement for them to possess individual firearms certificates.
Prior to the amendment to the Act, officers were required to obtain personal firearms licences. During the period in question, BTP records show that 56 officers applied for and were granted relevant firearms licences.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential effect on the viability of community transport organisations of the requirement for them as section 19 permit operators not to charge anyone and to require all drivers to have a PSV O-licence.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Within the existing legal framework, the Department wants as many community transport providers as possible to continue to operate, and retain, service provision for vulnerable community transport passengers.
The Department will consult on this issue and set out the changes proposed to legislation as well as guidance on the use of section 19 permits. The consultation will contain an impact assessment and the effect of the changes to the regulatory regime which will form part of our considerations.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an estimate of the cost to community transport organisations of ensuring that all their drivers have a PSV O-licence; and whether that requirement will effect their charitable status due to the capital reserve requirement involved.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Within the existing legal framework, the Department wants as many community transport providers as possible to continue to operate, and retain, service provision for vulnerable community transport passengers.
The Department will consult on this issue and set out the changes for operators complying with the proposed to legislation as well as guidance on the use of section 19 permits, including the financial standing requirement. The consultation will contain an impact assessment and the effect of the changes to the regulatory regime will form part of our considerations.
The Department does not envisage a requirement to obtain a PSV operating licence will affect whether or not an organisation has charitable status.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which (a) parliamentary constituencies he visited and (b) hon. Members he met with in their constituencies during the 2017 summer recess; what the dates were of those visits; and which proposed or current transport schemes he visited in that period.
Answered by John Hayes
The information requested is in the table below.
Date | Parliamentary Constituencies Visited | Hon. Members Met With In Their Constituencies | Proposed or Current Transport Schemes Visited |
Friday 21st July | Wythenshawe & Sale East | Mike Kane MP (Wythenshawe & Sale East) | Manchester Airport |
Thursday 3rd August | Southampton Itchen; Fareham | N/A | Port of Southampton; NATS |
Monday 7th August | Cambridge; Cambridgeshire South; Bedfordshire North East; Mid Bedfordshire; Bedford | N/A | Cambridge North station; East-West Rail route options |
Wednesday 9th August | Poplar & Limehouse; West Ham | N/A | N/A |
Thursday 10th August | Birmingham, Ladywood; Vauxhall | Mike Wood MP (Dudley South) | Birmingham New Street station; area around M6 J6; London Waterloo station |
Thursday 31st August | Bexleyheath and Crayford; Erith & Thamesmead | David Evennett MP (Bexleyheath and Crayford); Teresa Pearce MP (Erith & Thamesmead) | Area around Abbey Wood Crossrail station |
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will direct the DVLA to ensure that opticians are required to report drivers whose eye test has revealed that their eyesight, even with glasses or lenses, is below the standards needed to drive safely.
Answered by Andrew Jones
All drivers have an ongoing legal responsibility to ensure that they meet the vision standards for driving, wearing glasses or corrective lenses if needed. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) makes the eyesight standards for driving clear in leaflets, forms and on GOV.UK.
Opticians and optometrists already have a duty of care to their patients and the general public. On this basis they can already inform the DVLA of instances where they consider a patient to be unfit to drive. This is supported by guidance issued by the Royal College of Optometrists.
The DVLA’s “Assessing Fitness to Drive: A Guide for Medical Professionals” clarifies medical professionals’ obligations to notify a condition to the DVLA if their patient is unwilling or unable to report it themselves.
There are no plans to introduce a legal requirement for opticians to inform the DVLA if a driver is unable to meet the required eyesight standards for driving.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the charges for Departmental Pool Car Service Charges to the Attorney General's Office between 2012 and 2015, published by his Department on 17 December 2016, what the (a) purpose, (b) distance travelled and (c) cost was of each journey booked by his office.
Answered by John Hayes
My Department has not published anything related to Departmental Pool Car charges on 17 December 2016.
The Departmental Pool Car is managed by individual Departments and individual trips are not logged.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 18 November 2016 to Question 50859 and 19 December 2016 to Question 55636, and with reference to the article entitled DVLA works with police and HM Revenue and Customs to crack down on illegal foreign registered vehicles, published on the gov.uk website on 30 January 2015, what assessment has been made of (a) the number of illegal foreign registered vehicles on the roads in the UK and (b) the effectiveness of the DVLA working with the police and HM Revenue and Customs to tackle the presence of such vehicles.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport does not hold information about the number of foreign registered vehicles circulating illegally in the UK.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) continues to work with police forces to address the issue of foreign registered vehicles which stay in the UK longer than six months in any 12 month period without being registered or licensed here. A pilot, which was a joint initiative between the DVLA, the Central Motorway Police Group and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), ran between November 2014 and February 2015. The pilot involved six police forces, which used information provided by HMRC about foreign vehicles that had been in the UK for more than six months. As a result of this trial, 703 vehicles were seized, of which 500 were reclaimed following payment of the appropriate fees. The remaining 203 vehicles were not claimed within the allotted time and were destroyed.
Currently, 17 police forces have acquired devolved DVLA powers which enable them to take appropriate action against non-compliant foreign registered vehicles.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which scheduled bus journeys have had subsidies (a) withdrawn and (b) introduced in each (i) county and (ii) unitary council in the North West of England since June 2010.
Answered by Andrew Jones
My Department does not hold this data, as decisions about the provision of bus services that require subsidy are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities. Latest figures (2013-14) show that almost £74 million was spent by local authorities in the North West of England doing so.
The majority of public funding for local bus services is via block grant provided to local authorities in England from the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, my Department also provides around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to English local authorities to help deliver bus services.
Moreover, in the recent Spending Review, the Chancellor confirmed that the total spending on BSOG of around £250 million a year will be protected for the Parliament, effectively preserving over 80 million bus passenger journeys - totalling over 50 million miles - in England every year.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bee hives are sited on land owned by his Department.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
There are two bee hives sited on land owned by the Department.