Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will instruct the Head of Payroll Services at Newcastle Employee Service Centre to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Angus dated 3 November 2014 and the email dated 20 November 2014 concerning his constituent Ann Marie Caldwell.
Answered by Steve Webb
At our request the Member for Angus’ office has shared the correspondence with us. We have spoken with the Head of Payroll Services at Shared Services Connected Ltd, and are now seeking an urgent case conference with them in order to expedite a response to Mrs Caldwell.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information he holds on the level of contribution paid by (a) rural off gas grid customers and (b) other customers for measures installed under the Energy Companies Obligation to date.
Answered by Amber Rudd
We do not collect this data across measures.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the average cost incurred or earnings lost by road users whose vehicles are incapacitated following sideswipe collisions attributable to heavy goods vehicles.
Answered by Claire Perry
I have no specific estimate of the average cost incurred or earnings lost by road users whose vehicles are incapacitated following sideswipe collisions attributable to heavy goods vehicles.
The Department for Transport’s published accident values for use in project and policy appraisal comprise several costs elements, including the lost output (or earnings) of those injured in road accidents. The values are averages across all reported accidents and are provided by accident severity and road class.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of incidents in which heavy goods vehicles have sideswiped vehicles which are (a) stationary and (b) in transit at the time of collision over the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The number of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) involved in accidents that resulted in a personal injury and were reported to the police in the last five years with a) a stationary vehicle and (b) a non-stationary vehicle where the heavy goods vehicle was changing lane to the left or right can be found in the tables below:
a) Number of HGVs involved in reported personal-injury accidents with a stationary vehicle where the HGV was changing lane to the left or right: GB, 2009-2013
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Changing lane to left | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 |
Changing lane to right | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
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Total | 11 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 5 |
b) Number of HGVs involved in reported personal-injury accidents with a non-stationary vehicle where the HGV was changing lane to the left or right: GB, 2009-2013
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
Changing lane to left | 302 | 332 | 284 | 248 | 252 |
Changing lane to right | 417 | 400 | 348 | 331 | 325 |
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Total | 719 | 732 | 632 | 579 | 577 |
The non-stationary vehicle may have been undertaking a number of different manoeuvres such as reversing, performing a U-turn, slowing/stopping or moving off. The HGV manoeuvre in all the above figures was changing lane to the left or right.
These figures come from police reported accident data. They only include accidents in which at least one person was injured and were reported to the police.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what interim assessment he has made of the incidence of collisions involving vehicles participating in the Longer HGV Semi-Trailer Trial.
Answered by Claire Perry
The annual report on the longer semi-trailer (LST) trial published in June 2014 included an interim assessment of collisions involving vehicles participating in the trial. This is published on the Government’s website and can be found at the following link:
This report includes analysis of reported road collisions involving LSTs resulting in injury, which shows that the incidence of such collisions is lower than that for the GB Articulated fleet in general. Longer semi-trailer trial vehicles operating between September 2012 and December 2013 were involved in five incidents in which someone was injured, 4 of them slight injuries and one serious injury (broken arm). Of these, one slight and one serious injury occurred on public roads, the remainder in depots or other private areas.
For the general population of heavy goods vehicles, casualty data are only available for incidents that occur on public roads. Comparing these data, longer semi-trailer trial vehicles were involved in injury incidents on public roads at a rate of 48.8 per billion vehicle kilometres. This compares with a rate of 187.4 injury incidents per billion vehicle kilometres for all articulated heavy goods vehicles in Great Britain over the period 2010-2012. The number of casualties in incidents involving all articulated HGVs was an average of over 3,400 per year over this period.
In addition, the report estimated that between 600 thousand and 900 thousand HGV vehicle kilometres have been removed from the road as a result of longer semi-trailer operations between September 2012 and December 2013. This will help to further reduce the risk of incidents occurring.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the guidance in respect of (a) lane discipline and (b) related testing requirements for heavy goods vehicles was last revised.
Answered by Claire Perry
Guidance in the book The Official DVSA Guide to Driving Goods Vehicles is revised in response to feedback and research. The last time the advice on lane discipline was revised was in a reprint in June 2011 where two paragraphs were added. There have been no changes since.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions the Groceries Code Adjudicator has met stakeholders engaged in production and processing within the (a) beef and (b) grain industry.
Answered by Jo Swinson
Relations with stakeholders in the supply sectors are operational matters for the office of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, which is an independent statutory regulator established by the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013.
The GCA’s first Annual Report for the period ending 31st March 2014 confirms that the Adjudicator had by that date participated in events attended by over 3,000 suppliers and their representative bodies – including those from the dairy, arable and livestock sectors.
The Annual Report may be viewed at:
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the Groceries Code Adjudicator has undertaken research pursuant to the launch of an investigation into issues connected with the (a) beef and (b) grain industry.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Groceries Code Adjudicator is an independent regulator established under the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013. Decisions relating to the exercise of the Adjudicator’s statutory powers of investigation are therefore matters for the Adjudicator.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if the Groceries Code Adjudicator will make it his policy to prioritise work relating to the (a) beef and (b) grain industry.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Groceries Code Adjudicator is an independent regulator established under the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013 to oversee and enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice.
The Adjudicator has a statutory duty to arbitrate disputes under the Code referred to it by direct suppliers; and has the power to conduct an investigation where it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the Code has been breached.
In each case, such decisions relating to the exercise of the Adjudicator’s statutory powers are matters for the Adjudicator. The Adjudicator has published its prioritisation principles in guidance on its investigation and enforcement functions. The guidance may be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/325842/GCA_Statutory_Guidance_post_consultation_final_June_14.pdf
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions the Groceries Code Adjudicator has met stakeholders engaged in production and processing within the (a) egg and (b) dairy industry in 2013-14.
Answered by Jo Swinson
Relations with stakeholders in the supply sectors are operational matters for the office of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, which is an independent statutory regulator established by the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013.
The GCA’s first Annual Report for the period ending 31st March 2014 confirms that the Adjudicator had by that date participated in events attended by over 3,000 suppliers and their representative bodies – including those from the dairy, arable and livestock sectors.
The Annual Report may be viewed at: