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 - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
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
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.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the drink-drive limit to 50mg alcohol per 100ml blood.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government has no plans to lower the drink drive limit. We believe that rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers are a more effective deterrent than changing the drink driving limit.
A fundamental review on drink and drug driving was commissioned in 2009. My Hon Friend can read the coalition government’s response here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-governments-response-to-the-reports-by-sir-peter-north-cbe-qc-and-the-transport-select-committee-on-drink-and-drug-driving
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many deaths were caused in Wiltshire by people driving over the prescribed alcohol limit in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Column i) in the table below gives the number of road deaths in reported road accidents in Wiltshire (including Swindon) in which at least one driver was known to be over the drink drive limit. This information is derived from breath tests carried out at the scene and blood alcohol content (BAC) levels from coroners’ reports.
In some cases drivers may not have stopped at the scene and therefore were not given a breath test. In other cases drivers may have been killed but the Department has not been supplied BAC levels by the coroner. It is possible that some of these drivers could have been over the alcohol limit but it is impossible to know. The total number of people killed in accidents involving at least one driver in this group is provided in column ii). Column iii) gives the total number of road deaths in Wiltshire for context.
i) Number of road deaths in reported road accidents in which at least one motor vehicle driver known to be over the alcohol limit and ii) road deaths in accidents where it was not possible to determine whether a driver was over the alcohol limit: Wiltshire, 2010-2014
Year | i) Known | ii) Unknown | iii) Total road deaths |
2010 | 4 | 4 | 31 |
2011 | 3 | 10 | 32 |
2012 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
2013 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
2014 | 11 | 2 | 31 |
Data for 2015 will be available in August 2017.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on transport infrastructure projects in Chippenham constituency in each year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Data on spend on transport infrastructure projects is not available at the level of Chippenham.
However, Wiltshire Council is responsible for local transport infrastructure in Chippenham, including local roads. The funding allocated to Wiltshire Council for local highways infrastructure and other transport schemes between 2010-11 and 2015-16 is listed in Table 1 below:
Table 1
Year | Integrated Transport Block* £million | Highways Maintenance Block* £million | Additional Funding** £million | Total £million |
2010/11 | 3.286 | 12.615 | 1.466 | 17.367 |
2011/12 | 2.918 | 14,491 | 3.741 | 21.150 |
2012/13 | 2.668 | 13.813 |
| 16.481 |
2013/14 | 2.668 | 15.369 | 3.010 | 21.047 |
2014/15 | 3.752 | 13.519 | 3.063 | 20.334 |
2015/16 | 2.181 | 16.599 |
| 18.780 |
Total | 17.473 | 86.406 | 11.280 |
|
*includes top ups
** following snow and flooding
- Partly funded under the Department’s ‘Access for All’ scheme, £2.2m to install a bridge and lifts at Chippenham Station. The station officially opened by Network Rail on 22nd January 2016.
- The A350 north of Chippenham from Badger Roundabout to Chequers Junction, A350 Chippenham Bypass is being upgraded to a dual carriageway. The improvements will help reduce journey times and ease the congestion around this area. Estimated to be completed and opened by August 2018.
- A429 Malmesbury Access scheme - £1.4m for transport improvements to improve traffic flow and facilitate the expansion of Dyson at their Malmesbury site.
- Chippenham station hub - £16m for the redevelopment of Chippenham station including enhanced parking and retail offer and new railway crossing.
- A350 Dualling Chippenham Bypass - £8.8m for dualling the A350 north of Chippenham from Badger Roundabout to Chequers Junction.
Figures are available for the South West for total public sector transport spend as listed in Table 2:
Table 2 Total Public Sector Transport Spend for the South West
£million | |||||
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
Total | 1,115 | 997 | 987 | 928 | 1,047 |
Current | 442 | 396 | 368 | 295 | 279 |
Capital | 673 | 601 | 619 | 633 | 767 |
Note: includes spend by Central Government, Agencies and Local Government.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make additional funding available for battery and fuel cell research and development.
Answered by John Hayes
The government allocated more than £600 million to support the uptake, development and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles in the 2015 Spending Review. Our comprehensive package of support includes funding provision for research and development projects, and the scope of a new competition launched on 5 September 2016 includes battery and fuel cells.
Further details are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-competition-low-emission-vehicle-systems-idp13.
The UK already provides one the most comprehensive support packages for ultra low emission vehicles anywhere in the world. We shall keep the funding requirements for the OLEV program under constant review.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide additional funding for battery and fuel cell electric vehicles research and development.
Answered by John Hayes
The government allocated more than £600 million to support the uptake, development and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles in the 2015 Spending Review. Our comprehensive package of support includes funding provision for research and development projects, and the scope of a new competition launched on 5 September 2016 includes battery and fuel cells.
Further details are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-competition-low-emission-vehicle-systems-idp13.
The UK already provides one the most comprehensive support packages for ultra low emission vehicles anywhere in the world. We shall keep the funding requirements for the OLEV program under constant review.