Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish his conclusions from the public consultation on managing pavement parking.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
The Department will publish the formal consultation response and announce next steps as soon as possible.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to recommence direct flights to Jamaica on health and compassionate grounds.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The operation of specific routes is a commercial decision for airlines. The Government remains committed to working with industry to ensure a return to international travel when it is safe to do so.
The UK has introduced further border controls to add another level of protection against the transmission of the COVID-19 virus and reduce the risk of a new and dangerous strain being imported into the UK. The travel measures announced in January include the requirement for pre-departure tests, travel bans, and government-approved managed quarantine for arrivals from red list countries. Further information is available on Gov.uk.
We keep all our measures under constant review, and they will remain in place as long as is required in order to protect public health and reduce transmission of the virus and to reduce the risk of new variants.
Anyone wishing to travel should always check the latest travel advice from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) extending driving theory certificates that will expire or have expired before individuals have had the opportunity to take a driving test due to covid-19 restrictions and (b) offering (i) monetary compensation and (ii) free driving theory tests to those individuals.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There are no plans to make compensation available to those whose theory test certificates have expired. The cost of paying any compensation would fall to the DVSA, and to the feepayer, were the DVSA to put in place arrangements to pay it. This would be unfair to other fee payers who would not benefit from such an 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: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to enable members of the public to change the name on their driving licence online.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency must verify that the information supporting changes of name is genuine and appropriate before amending the driving licence record and issuing a licence. This is to safeguard the integrity of the records it holds.
There are currently no plans to introduce an online service.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether travelling overseas for the purposes of (a) arranging and (b) attending funerals are legally permitted reasons to travel during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
You can leave home to attend a place of worship for individual prayer, a funeral or a related event for someone who has died, to visit a burial ground or a remembrance garden, or to attend a deathbed wedding. A list of what constitutes a ‘reasonable excuse’ for leaving home can be found in the regulations.
You can travel internationally if travelling for a reason which would permit you to leave your home under the national lockdown rules, including those set out above. Guidance for overseas travel is published in gov.uk, available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in his Department are paid less than the London Living Wage; and what requirements his Department places on contractors to pay the London Living Wage to London-based staff.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The table below shows the number of staff (expressed as a headcount) who are based in London and are paid below £10.55 an hour, as at 1st April 2019. DfT(c) are based in London, all other agencies are based outside of London.
Organisation | Headcount Below £ | Total Headcount |
DfT(c) | 20* | 2519 |
*This figure is rounded to the nearest 5, and are all first-year apprentices based in London.
The DfT always awards contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer. In line with statutory requirements, we insist that Contractors pay at least the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage for workers over 25.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Clean Air Strategy 2019, what guidance he has issued to ports on developing effective and targeted air quality strategies; and what recommendations the rail industry has made on phasing out diesel-only trains by 2040.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government committed in the Clean Air Strategy to publish guidelines to advise ports on how to develop effective and targeted air quality strategies. Also in January 2019, the Government published Maritime 2050 which set out strategic ambitions for the future of the maritime sector, including a vision for zero emission shipping.
Building on these commitments, the Government will this week publish port air quality strategy guidelines, as well as the Clean Maritime Plan, which will set out further detail on a route map to reduce both air quality pollutant emissions and carbon dioxide from the maritime sector. My honourable friend, the Maritime Minister, will make a further statement to the House on the measures included within the plan on the day of publication.
The rail industry decarbonisation taskforce published an interim report in January 2019. We expect the taskforce to publish its final report shortly.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring automotive manufacturers to make a fixed proportion of the vehicles they make available for sale electric.
Answered by Michael Ellis
EU regulations set mandatory limits on the CO2 emissions of new cars and vans registered in the UK. Negotiations on new targets for 2025 and 2030 have recently concluded and were informed by a European Commission impact assessment of mechanisms to encourage manufacturers to produce electric vehicles, including setting a sales mandate. The assessments are available https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/transport/vehicles/docs/swd_2017_650_p1_en.pdf and https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/transport/vehicles/docs/swd_2017_650_p2_en.pdf
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to introduce legislation to permit the use of approved camera devices for the enforcement by local authorities of parking restrictions in mandatory cycle lanes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government response to the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review Call for Evidence committed to allow local councils to use cameras to enforce parking restrictions in mandatory cycle lanes within the next two years. Work is under way to introduce the relevant legislation within this timeframe.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2019 to Question 218834 on Blue Badge Scheme, on what date the guidance to local authorities on changes to the Blue Badge scheme extending eligibility to those with less visible conditions will be issued.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The guidance necessary for local authorities to assess applications under the expanded eligibility criteria for non-physical and hidden disabilities is currently being finalised. The Department for Transport is hoping to publish the guidance at the end of May.