Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of internet sales on demand for air freight services.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many pedestrians were involved in road traffic accidents while using a mobile phone in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The department does not collect data specifically on mobile phone use for pedestrians involved in road accidents. The department collects data on personal injury road accidents reported to the police, including contributory factors which the police select when they attend the scene. This does not assign blame for the accident but gives an indication of factors the attending officer thought contributed to the accident.
In 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 2,490 road accidents involving pedestrians where the contributory factor of ‘Pedestrian careless, reckless or in a hurry’ was allocated to an injured or killed pedestrian, and 35 where this factor was allocated to an uninjured pedestrian in Great Britain.
This contributory factor includes cases where the pedestrian either behaved in a negligent or thoughtless manner or was in a hurry and, therefore, behaved in an unsafe manner. It also includes cases where a pedestrian was distracted (e.g. using a mobile phone).
Statistics on the number of accidents involving pedestrians by contributory factor assigned to pedestrians are available in table RAS50004: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743098/ras50004.ods.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will confirm the commitment given by his Department to reinstate Manston Airport following the cessation of the use of that airfield as a potential lorry park after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Town and Country Planning (Manston Airport) Special Development Order 2019 came into force on 24 January 2019, updating the SDO from 2015, and extends planning permission for the use of Manston as an emergency lorry holding facility until 31 December 2020.
S.5(2) of the Order states that the land must be restored to its condition before the date of the Order coming into force, prior to the Order expiring on 31 December 2020. The Department will do this.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to promote the use of electronic conspicuity devices in general aviation.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government’s assessment of the effect of electronic conspicuity on the safety of General Aviation, and the steps it plans to take, are set out in Aviation 2050 The future of UK aviation (Command Paper 9714). The Government state that “The development of emerging technologies such as electronic conspicuity devices… can be exploited to ensure that an acceptable level of safety is maintained” and propose that “there should be mandatory identification of all aircraft in UK airspace” and that it “will work with the CAA and other stakeholders (including international partners) on the best way to achieve this.” The Government is consulting on this document until 11 April 2019.