Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the merits of extending the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme to cover all electric motorcycles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has no plans to carry out such an assessment at present. Government funding for the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme is focused on cars and vans, since they produce a much greater proportion of road transport emissions than motorcycles.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will conduct a review into the efficiency of the new rail ombudsman.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Rail Ombudsman, which is an industry scheme established and paid for on a voluntary basis by rail operators and Network Rail, was launched last November. The Rail Delivery Group, overseen by a panel of independent members, manages the contract for the new service and works with the supplier to ensure that it provides value to both scheme members and passengers.
In addition, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will monitor the scheme’s performance, including its ability to drive improvements in rail companies, and seek improvements where necessary. As well as reporting on its performance and the outcome of its decisions direct to the ORR, the Ombudsman will also report direct to Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, as well as making this information publicly available thereby enabling scrutiny from other interested parties.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the safety of self-driving cars.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has safety at the heart of its approach to automated vehicles, and the UK is leading work through the United Nations to create robust international standards for their safe introduction and use.
Last year the Department asked the Law Commission to conduct a regulatory review of the UK's legal framework in the context of automated vehicles. To support safe and responsible UK trials the Department has recently published an updated code of practice, and is developing processes to provide safety assurance for trials of increasingly advanced technology on public roads.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2019 to Question 221797 on Roads: Accidents, if his Department will make an assessment of the merits of recording the number of road accidents attributed to glare from (a) LED and (b) halogen bulbs in car headlights; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department periodically reviews the data collection on personal injury road accidents reported to the police, in a process called Stats19 reviews. A Stats19 review started in autumn 2018 and is currently considering what amendments need to be made to the collection.
In making recommendations for change, the review considers evidence on the burden this would impose on the police to collect it, the practicality and likely quality of the data collected and potential benefits in building the road safety evidence base to save lives. We aim to consult on potential changes to the collection in 2020 following detailed engagement with the police and road safety organisations in 2019.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of road accidents attributed to glare from (a) LED and (b) halogen bulbs in car headlights in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department does not collect data on road accidents which were attributed to glare from LED and halogen bulbs in particular.
The published table series RAS50 show contributory factors in reported road accidents involving personal injury: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras50-contributory-factors. This includes the contributory factor of ‘dazzling headlights’ where the driver/rider was dazzled by headlights.
In 2017, there were 315 reported accidents where ‘dazzling headlights’ were reported as a contributory factor in Great Britain. This represents 0.3% of all accidents where a police officer attended the scene and a contributory factor was allocated. The proportion remained stable since 2005 when the recording of contributory factors started.