Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will (a) extend the validity period for driving theory test passes and (b) waive the re-sit fee in the event that a driving theory test certificate has expired during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place for road safety reasons; to ensure that a candidate’s knowledge is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
It is important that road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point that they drive unsupervised for the first time. Those with theory test certificates expiring may have taken their test in early 2019. Since then, their lessons and practice sessions will have been significantly curtailed during recent lockdowns and it is likely that their knowledge base will have diminished. Research suggests that this would be particularly harmful for hazard perception skills, a key factor in road safety.
Ensuring new drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the training of new drivers, who are disproportionality represented in casualty statistics. Taking all this into consideration, the decision has been made not to extend theory test certificates and learners will need to pass another theory test if their certificate expires.
There are no current plans to waive the charge of a theory test for those whose theory test certificates have expired, 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.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he next plans to meet with representatives of the Confederation of Passenger Transport to discuss the issues facing the coach sector.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Ministers and officials from the Department of Transport regularly meet with representatives from the Confederation of Passenger Transport to discuss issues facing the coach sector.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of payments to train operating companies under the Emergency Recovery Management Agreements.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Under the Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs), operators have been placed under more demanding management agreements than the previous Emergency Measure Agreements. These include tougher performance targets and lower management fees.
The total cost to the public purse of rail services under ERMAs will depend on passenger revenue levels, which remain highly uncertain in the near term due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated public health measures. As such, no firm cost estimate is available.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to tender the (a) LNER and (b) Northern Rail contracts to private sector companies.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
No decisions about whether to tender the LNER or Northern Rail contracts have yet been taken, although the intention is to tender these to the private sector at an appropriate point in the future. However, currently the government is focused on delivering essential rail services during the pandemic. Last week the Secretary of State announced the introduction of new Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements which will enable franchised train operators to continue delivering for passengers at the current time.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether train operating companies will be subject to obligations to reduce their operating costs as a condition of Emergency Recovery Management Agreements.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements have obligations to co-ordinate across the industry to reduce fragmentation and cost duplication, and encourage efficiency. Capital budgets and spend will face enhanced scrutiny and challenge. Performance assessments of the quality of cross industry collaboration and financial performance will be made, and outcomes of this will be linked to the performance fee which can be earned by well-performing Franchisees.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total amount that will be paid to (a) LNER and (b) Northern Rail under the Emergency Recovery Management Agreements.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
London North Eastern Railway and Northern remain under government control through the operator of last resort. As such, they do not have an Emergency Measures Agreement or Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has for the (a) long-term revenue and (b) long-term capital funding for the Tyne and Wear Metro.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
This Government is committed to the future of the Tyne and Wear Metro system. We have invested nearly £600m towards renewals and running costs and I am currently considering future long term investment commitments to support this vital transport system to the region. Furthermore, in the 2017 Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced a £337m direct grant to deliver a new fleet of trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro.