Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to provide minimum service levels on railways during periods of industrial action.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Recent strike action on rail has highlighted the need for a fairer approach to providing train services during times of strike action. Minimum Service Levels legislation would, in future, help to ensure an appropriate level of train services would still operate during strike action.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) increase the number of electric vehicle charging points in Wiltshire and (b) help people to purchase electric vehicles.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government has committed £2.5 billion since 2020 to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, with funding to offset their higher upfront cost, and to accelerate the rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.
Government has pledged at least £500 million to support local chargepoint provision. As part of this, the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) fund will provide approximately £400 million of capital and £50 million of resource funding to support local authorities to work with industry and transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking.
The Government is also supporting local authorities through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has £20 million available this year. To date, Wiltshire County Council have not submitted an application to the ORCS, we would encourage them to take advantage of this funding.
Local authorities, such as Wiltshire County Council, will have a key role to play in the rolling out of chargepoints as they are best placed to consider local needs. In the UK’s EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy, published in March 2022, Government announced it will require all local transport authorities in England to develop their own chargepoint strategies, subject to consultation.
To support drivers across the UK to switch to cleaner vehicles, Plug-in Vehicle Grants will continue until at least financial year 2023/24 for taxis and motorcycles, and 2024/25 for vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles. We have also put in place generous tax incentives including: favourable benefit in kind tax rates out to 2025, all zero emission cars are exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED), and, zero emissions vans pay a nil rate of tax on the van benefit charge.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take further steps to tackle the backlog in practical driving tests.
Answered by Karl McCartney
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) operates a 24-week booking window for car tests and there are test slots available within this window.
The DVSA recognises the high demand for learners wanting to take their practical driving test and is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible and has a number of measures in place to do this. These include offering a national recovery allowance 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 and weekends).
The DVSA is also recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain to help meet the increasing demand for driving tests.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support airlines in preventing flight cancellations and (b) help the airline sector to tackle staff shortages.
Answered by Robert Courts
The aviation industry operates in the private sector, therefore it is the responsibility of the industry to manage demand, recruit and roster staff and have appropriate mitigations in place.
We have been clear that the aviation sector’s recovery and associated challenges are the responsibility of the aviation sector.
The Government recognised that while the issues was one for industry to solve, a series of targeted measures could support their efforts. Therefore, on 30 June, the Secretary of State announced a 22-point plan, which sets out the measures the Government is taking to support the aviation industry.
Included in these measures was a one-off slot “amnesty” giving airlines the flexibility to operate a reliable schedule and avoid last minute cancellations for passengers.
We have also changed the law to allow greater flexibility over background checks for aviation staff, cutting the time it takes to bring in newly recruited staff and alleviating pressure, while ensuring that safety and security are not compromised.
The Government has taken action to support the industry. Now the sector itself needs to take the appropriate steps to ensuring they deliver realistic summer schedules, work together as an ecosystem, and put the consumer first.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reopen previously closed railway lines and stations, including Corsham station.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £500m Restoring Your Railway Fund is supporting over 45 promising schemes with the potential to level up areas and reconnect communities. Wiltshire Council was successful in its Round 3 bid to the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund to reopen Corsham Station. As a result, Wilshire Council is receiving up to £50,000 in development funding to complete a Strategic Outline Business Case for the scheme to be submitted to the Department in September 2022.