Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation on Benchmarking operators’ performance in rail passenger assistance, published on 16 December 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), like the Department for Transport, follows Government accessibility standards for its online content - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/accessibility-requirements-for-public-sector-websites-and-apps.
ORR outlines the steps it takes to make content on accessible in its accessibility statement https://www.orr.gov.uk/accessibility-statement. The statement also sets out how users can request alternative versions of website content; provide feedback on website accessibility; or make complaints about the accessibility of website content.
For the Benchmarking operators' performance in rail passenger assistance consultation, https://www.orr.gov.uk/search-consultations/benchmarking-operators-performance-rail-passenger-assistance, ORR has provided alternative versions of the consultation document (including larger print and easy read versions) and alternative ways to respond (online form, email, post, easy read form).
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation entitled Registering historic, classic, rebuilt vehicles and vehicles converted to electric, published on 9 December 2024.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The call for evidence on “Registering historic, classic, rebuilt vehicles and vehicles converted to electric” was published in line with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s accessible documents policy. This is available on https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency/about/accessible-documents-policy.
The ‘How to respond’ section of the call for evidence, also offered a mailbox address to request the document to be provided in an alternative format, which includes a paper copy and an audio format.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation entitled Consultation on the merchant shipping (EPIRB and PLB registration) regulations 2025, published on 5 December 2024.
Answered by Mike Kane
The consultations on the Merchant Shipping (EPIRB and PLB Registration) Regulations 2025 and the Merchant Shipping (Vessels in Commercial use for Sport or Pleasure) Regulations 2025 are published on gov.uk in a variety of formats: the main consultation documents are published as an HTML webpage which allows document readers to read for the visually impaired. The draft Regulations, Code, M-Notices and De Minimus Assessments are, by their nature, lengthy and technical documents and as a result have been published as .pdf files to preserve formatting and technical content; however, these too are capable of being read by pdf readers for the visually impaired. The response documents are published as open document format (ODF) files that can be reviewed and edited in any word processing software such as Microsoft Word or similar.
As well as publishing on gov.uk, links to the consultation documents were sent directly by email to a number of different stakeholders, industry representatives and member organisations and the devolved nations bringing this directly to their attention. This has subsequently then been shared with the wider membership of such organisations. There were also press releases from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) highlighting the launch of these public consultations, and they were shared on multiple official MCA social media channels, which were then shared further by the respective followers.
The MCA understand the importance of accessibility to public consultations such as these and take their responsibility for promulgating information very seriously. I believe the MCA have taken every step to ensure the documents shared are in an accessible format and have clearly signposted how the public can input to the consultation process.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the Consultation on the merchant shipping (vessels in commercial use for sport or pleasure) regulations 2025, published on 4 December 2024.
Answered by Mike Kane
The consultations on the Merchant Shipping (EPIRB and PLB Registration) Regulations 2025 and the Merchant Shipping (Vessels in Commercial use for Sport or Pleasure) Regulations 2025 are published on gov.uk in a variety of formats: the main consultation documents are published as an HTML webpage which allows document readers to read for the visually impaired. The draft Regulations, Code, M-Notices and De Minimus Assessments are, by their nature, lengthy and technical documents and as a result have been published as .pdf files to preserve formatting and technical content; however, these too are capable of being read by pdf readers for the visually impaired. The response documents are published as open document format (ODF) files that can be reviewed and edited in any word processing software such as Microsoft Word or similar.
As well as publishing on gov.uk, links to the consultation documents were sent directly by email to a number of different stakeholders, industry representatives and member organisations and the devolved nations bringing this directly to their attention. This has subsequently then been shared with the wider membership of such organisations. There were also press releases from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) highlighting the launch of these public consultations, and they were shared on multiple official MCA social media channels, which were then shared further by the respective followers.
The MCA understand the importance of accessibility to public consultations such as these and take their responsibility for promulgating information very seriously. I believe the MCA have taken every step to ensure the documents shared are in an accessible format and have clearly signposted how the public can input to the consultation process.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation entitled RVAR 2010 exemption: Chiltern Railways passenger information system, published on 3 December 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport considers the ‘RVAR 2010 exemption: Chiltern Railways passenger information system’ consultation to be accessible.
Rail vehicle accessibility public consultations are published on GOV.UK in a format known as HTML which is accessible by default and easier for most people to use. The consultation offers two mechanisms, email and post, for consultees to respond via.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has for Southeastern.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Southeastern’s service level will be increasing with the introduction of an additional 44 services per day when the timetable is updated in December. We will continue to work with Southeastern, as we do with all train operators, to drive further improvements in performance and passenger experience while at the same time ensuring we maximise value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to reallocate £8.3 billion of HS2 funding for road repairs.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The additional £500 million that the Chancellor has announced at the Budget for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year represents an increase of nearly 50% in comparison to the current financial year. This goes above and beyond the funding that had been provisionally earmarked for 2025/26 as part of the previous Government’s Network North programme and shows that this Government is serious about tackling the maintenance backlog on local roads.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding for pothole repairs is available to London boroughs.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Transport policy is devolved to the Mayor of London and Transport for London. It is up to the Mayor to decide how much of the wider funding for London’s transport is passed down to the boroughs, who are also able to use other sources of locally raised income to fund highway maintenance activities in their areas.
This Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local highway network. As part of this, it has a commitment to enable local highway authorities in England to fix up to a million more potholes a year.
The Government will confirm funding allocations for 2025/26 to English local highway authorities in due course.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much new funding is available for pothole repairs excluding funding previously allocated following the cancellation of HS2.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The additional £500 million that the Chancellor has announced at the Budget for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year represents an increase of nearly 50% in comparison to the current financial year. This goes above and beyond the funding that had been provisionally earmarked for 2025/26 as part of the previous Government’s Network North programme and shows that this Government is serious about tackling the maintenance backlog on local roads.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on motorists of pay-per-mile road charges.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department has not undertaken any such assessment since the conclusion of the road pricing demonstrations project in 2011.