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Written Question
Railways: Disability
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects his Department to complete the review of the Disabled Persons Railcard being conducted with the Rail Delivery Group and the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department is currently working alongside the Rail Delivery Group and the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to undertake a review of the Disabled Persons Railcard and expects to complete the review in the coming months.


Written Question
P&O Ferries: Crew
Tuesday 5th July 2022

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2022 to Question 6742 on P&O Ferries: Crew, what progress his Department has made on the investigation into reports that some people formerly employed by P&O Ferries have not been able to retrieve their personal belongings from the premises of their former employer.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency is monitoring the return of belongings to dismissed P&O Ferries crew members –. P&O Ferries states that as of 26 May over 600 crew had received their belongings, and 90 had faced issues with their return. The company has advised that its team is now concluding the process of returning belongings. The MCA is in regular contact with P&O Ferries about this matter and I have also written to P&O personally to raise this as an issue of importance. The MCA encourages any affected seafarers who are yet to have items returned to contact it at exams@mcga.gov.uk with a list of the belongings that are outstanding so it can seek to facilitate the swift resolution of these cases.


Written Question
P&O Ferries: Redundancy
Tuesday 5th July 2022

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on Government support for the P&O Ferries staff who were made redundant on 17 March 2022.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Secretary of State and the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security have had numerous discussions with colleagues across Government to ensure that the staff made redundant by P&O Ferries are fully supported. Cross-Government working continues to be essential in ensuring successful delivery of our seafarer protections nine-point plan, which aims to improve seafarer pay and welfare and to ensure that the actions taken by P&O Ferries cannot happen again.


Written Question
Passenger Ships: Coronavirus
Monday 4th July 2022

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to help the cruise industry recover following the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

COVID-19 had a devastating impact on the cruise industry. I am pleased that during this time the relationship between government and industry has gone from strength to strength as we have worked together to ensure a safe and sustainable return of cruises.

The cruise industry is vital to UK coastal communities. According to Maritime UK, the sector contributed a total of £9.4bn to the UK economy and supported 82,000 jobs in 2017.

Following a successful restart of both domestic and international cruises, my Department continues to work closely with the cruise industry to ensure that we understand the challenges they face and any barriers to growth.

Government is committed to the wider recovery of the maritime sector and recognises that cruise is a key part of this recovery, particularly in our coastal communities. Government recently published the Maritime Recovery Route map, setting out the short and medium-term actions that government and industry together will take to help the sector recover from the impacts of the pandemic, whilst turbocharging delivery of Maritime 2050.

We are developing a governance system to monitor the delivery of Maritime 2050’s recommendations and ensure that stakeholders across government and industry are involved in setting key priorities for delivery.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Driving Licences
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that HGV licence renewals application are processed accurately.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Information on the number of HGV licence renewal applications received or awaiting processing each month between November 2020 and October 2021 is not held. This is because it is not possible to distinguish between HGV and other vocational licence applications until they have been processed.

The table below shows the number of HGV licence renewal applications processed each month between November 2020 and October 2021 where full or provisional HGV entitlement (Category C and/or CE) has been renewed. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has focused extra resource on vocational driving licence applications to support the driver shortage. This has been successful with routine applications for vocational driving licences, including for HGVs, now being processed within normal turnaround times of five working days. It may take longer to process cases where medical investigations are needed.

Month

Volumes

November 2020

12,302

December 2020

10,078

January 2021

15,617

February 2021

13,710

March 2021

13,980

April 2021

11,247

May 2021

11,412

June 2021

11,392

July 2021

13,312

August 2021

12,964

September 2021

15,959

October 2021

25,559

The DVLA has accuracy checking measures in place, including regular supervisory checks on vocational renewal applications. DVLA staff are issued with comprehensive operating instructions which are updated regularly and receive clear communications about any changes to processing requirements.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Driving Licences
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many HGV licence renewal applications his Department has processed each month between November 2020 and October 2021.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Information on the number of HGV licence renewal applications received or awaiting processing each month between November 2020 and October 2021 is not held. This is because it is not possible to distinguish between HGV and other vocational licence applications until they have been processed.

The table below shows the number of HGV licence renewal applications processed each month between November 2020 and October 2021 where full or provisional HGV entitlement (Category C and/or CE) has been renewed. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has focused extra resource on vocational driving licence applications to support the driver shortage. This has been successful with routine applications for vocational driving licences, including for HGVs, now being processed within normal turnaround times of five working days. It may take longer to process cases where medical investigations are needed.

Month

Volumes

November 2020

12,302

December 2020

10,078

January 2021

15,617

February 2021

13,710

March 2021

13,980

April 2021

11,247

May 2021

11,412

June 2021

11,392

July 2021

13,312

August 2021

12,964

September 2021

15,959

October 2021

25,559

The DVLA has accuracy checking measures in place, including regular supervisory checks on vocational renewal applications. DVLA staff are issued with comprehensive operating instructions which are updated regularly and receive clear communications about any changes to processing requirements.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Driving Licences
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many HGV licence renewal applications were awaiting processing each month between November 2020 and October 2021.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Information on the number of HGV licence renewal applications received or awaiting processing each month between November 2020 and October 2021 is not held. This is because it is not possible to distinguish between HGV and other vocational licence applications until they have been processed.

The table below shows the number of HGV licence renewal applications processed each month between November 2020 and October 2021 where full or provisional HGV entitlement (Category C and/or CE) has been renewed. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has focused extra resource on vocational driving licence applications to support the driver shortage. This has been successful with routine applications for vocational driving licences, including for HGVs, now being processed within normal turnaround times of five working days. It may take longer to process cases where medical investigations are needed.

Month

Volumes

November 2020

12,302

December 2020

10,078

January 2021

15,617

February 2021

13,710

March 2021

13,980

April 2021

11,247

May 2021

11,412

June 2021

11,392

July 2021

13,312

August 2021

12,964

September 2021

15,959

October 2021

25,559

The DVLA has accuracy checking measures in place, including regular supervisory checks on vocational renewal applications. DVLA staff are issued with comprehensive operating instructions which are updated regularly and receive clear communications about any changes to processing requirements.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Driving Licences
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many HGV licence renewal applications his Department has received each month between November 2020 and October 2021.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Information on the number of HGV licence renewal applications received or awaiting processing each month between November 2020 and October 2021 is not held. This is because it is not possible to distinguish between HGV and other vocational licence applications until they have been processed.

The table below shows the number of HGV licence renewal applications processed each month between November 2020 and October 2021 where full or provisional HGV entitlement (Category C and/or CE) has been renewed. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has focused extra resource on vocational driving licence applications to support the driver shortage. This has been successful with routine applications for vocational driving licences, including for HGVs, now being processed within normal turnaround times of five working days. It may take longer to process cases where medical investigations are needed.

Month

Volumes

November 2020

12,302

December 2020

10,078

January 2021

15,617

February 2021

13,710

March 2021

13,980

April 2021

11,247

May 2021

11,412

June 2021

11,392

July 2021

13,312

August 2021

12,964

September 2021

15,959

October 2021

25,559

The DVLA has accuracy checking measures in place, including regular supervisory checks on vocational renewal applications. DVLA staff are issued with comprehensive operating instructions which are updated regularly and receive clear communications about any changes to processing requirements.


Written Question
Driving Tests
Tuesday 8th June 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the backlog of people waiting to take their practical driving tests as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime 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). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.

As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.

As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.


Written Question
Driving Tests
Tuesday 8th June 2021

Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of practical driving tests appointments available each week; and what comparative assessment he has made of that data and the availability of tests before the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime 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). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.

As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.

As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.