Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network it is responsible for.
The Government allocates funding to local highways authorities so they can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective network, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities. It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. In 2023/24, the Department for Transport provided £1.3 billion of Highway Maintenance Block capital funding to local highway authorities in England outside London and the Mayoral Combined Authority areas, of which the City of York Council received £3.699 million. This was 30% higher than the equivalent figure for 2022/23.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the road network is safe for (a) cyclists and (b) cars in the context of trends in the number of potholes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority to maintain and manage the highway network that it is responsible for.
The Government allocates funding to local highways authorities so that they can most effectively spend it on maintaining and improving their respective network for all road users, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities. The Government has recently announced an £8.3 billion funding uplift for the resurfacing of local roads over the period 2023/24 to 2033/34, which will allow local authorities to make their roads smoother and safer for cyclists and drivers alike.
To assist local authorities in treating potholes and other road defects, in March 2019 the Department worked with the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport to publish Potholes: a repair guide. The Government has also worked with the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Footway & Cycletrack Management Group to produce guidance on maintaining assets for cycleways and footways. This can be found on the CIHT website.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the number of potholes on the number of people cycling.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of people cycling depends on a range of factors including the availability and maintenance of safe, high-quality routes for cycling. Active Travel England and the Department are undertaking joint research to better understand journey quality which would consider the impact of potholes. In the meantime, the Department has announced an unprecedented £8.3 billion funding uplift for roads resurfacing over the next decade, which will enable local highway authorities to transform the state of their local roads.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of accidents there have been involving (a) cars and (b) cyclists due to potholes in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department publishes road casualty statistics based on personal injury road collisions reported to the police via the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 does not identify the cause of collisions, but reporting police officers can identify up to 6 factors which in their opinion may have contributed to the collision.
In 2022 (the most recent year for which figures are available) there were 215 cars and 42 pedal cycles involved in injury collisions where the contributory factor ‘poor or defective road surface’ was assigned.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount that local authorities have spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network they are responsible for. The Government provides highway maintenance and other funding to local authorities but does not collect data on how much each one spends on repairing potholes: this is a matter for each local highway authority.
In 2023/24, the Government provided the City of York Council with £3.69 million of capital funding for local highway maintenance. This represents an increase of around 30% compared to the previous year, made possible in part by reallocating funding that would otherwise have been spent on the HS2 programme.
The Department annually collects and publishes statistics on gov.uk that detail the condition and maintenance of the highways in England. This includes total expenditure on the local highway network in England, broken down by structural maintenance, routine treatments, and highways planning and strategy on different categories of road:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/road-condition-statistics-data-tables-rdc
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on the obligations of developers to repair roads (a) adjacent to development sites and (b) on routes where used by trucks accessing development sites.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This is a matter for Local Authorities and developers, who must agree any works that are needed to be made to the public road network resulting from developments. This is usually formalised in agreements under section 278 of the Highways Act 1980. Highway authorities will also agree traffic management and routes for Heavy Good Vehicles accessing development sites. Highway authorities are empowered to manage their own networks in line with their duties.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to help ensure greater job security for seafarers in the last two years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2023 we launched the Seafarers’ Charter, which among other measures requires that operators who obtain full Charter status do not use voyage contracts except in exceptional circumstances. This means that seafarers aboard ships run by a Charter operator can be confident that in most cases after their period of time aboard a vessel has ended, they will continue to have work without needing to reapply. I am pleased that 5 of the 6 major international ferry companies operating from the UK have now committed to meeting the Charter requirements.
Examples of ‘exceptional circumstances’ might be if a seafarer has been taken ill and the operator needs to bring someone onboard at short notice to cover the position, or if a piece of machinery has broken and they brought an additional seafarer onboard to fix it while it the vessel was underway.
We continue to work to improve seafarer protections in the UK and around the world.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on implementing its nine-point plan in relation to P&O ferries since July 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has made substantial progress in implementing the Nine Point Plan. This includes:
· Bringing in the Seafarers’ Wages Act, which will ensure that those working on ships operating a regular international service from the UK are paid at least an equivalent to the National Minimum Wage while in UK waters. This will help to reduce the financial benefit of employing seafarers from far afield on worse terms and conditions. The Act is expected to come into force in the summer alongside French legislation which together will form a minimum wage corridor across the Dover strait, backed by law on both sides.· Introducing a statutory Code of Practice to address ‘fire and rehire’ practices, aiming to ensure employees are properly consulted and treated fairly. Employment tribunals will be able to increase employee compensation by 25% if an employer unreasonably fails to comply.· Launching the Seafarers’ Charter, with Brittany Ferries, Condor, DFDS, Stena Line and now P&O Ferries committing to work towards meeting its requirements. These include paying seafarers at least an equivalent to the national minimum wage throughout their engagement, having 2 week on / 2 week off tours of duty as a baseline on high-intensity routes, and providing adequate training and development opportunities.
We continue to work to improve seafarer welfare in the UK and around the world.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of shipping companies on the working conditions of seafarers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Seafarer welfare is a priority for the Government and Ministers regularly discuss this with maritime stakeholders. Most recently, on 19 March Lord Davies met the Chief Executive of Brittany Ferries, one of the five major international ferry companies operating from the UK that has committed to working towards meeting the requirements of the Seafarer’s Charter.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve (a) connectivity and (b) reliability in bus services in (i) York and (ii) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020. This includes over £2 billion to help local authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans, of which City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council have been allocated over £18.5 million and £6.4 million respectively between 2022/23 and 2024/25.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable. City of York Council receives £150,416 and North Yorkshire County Council receives over £1 million of this funding every year. City of York have also been allocated a total of £10.3 million through the ZEBRA 1 scheme and North Yorkshire were awarded £7.8 million.