Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of pausing all work on forthcoming smart motorway projects pending the Government’s response to the Transport Committee's report entitled Rollout and safety of smart motorways.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Transport Select Committee’s (TSC) report Rollout and safety of smart motorways was published on 2 November 2021, and the Department has since been considering its recommendations in detail. The Government will be providing a formal response to the Committee meeting its deadline of 10 January 2022. The Secretary of State’s focus since assuming office has been to ensure that smart motorways are as safe as they can be, and I can assure the Honourable Member that we are taking the Transport Committee’s recommendations seriously.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with EU counterparts on (a) the Interbus Agreement, (b) the 90 day rule and (c) UK coach tour drivers travel in Europe.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Interbus Agreement was a central part of discussions between the UK and EU during the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) negotiations for international coach and bus services.
The UK acceded to the Interbus Agreement as an independent member on 1 January 2021, which allows occasional passenger transport services (e.g. coach tours) to continue between the UK and other members of the Interbus Agreement, including the EU. In addition, the ‘transport of passengers’ title in the TCA ensures that authorised regular (scheduled) and special regular services to and from EU countries can continue.
This was a temporary measure that ceases apply to the UK in April 2022 as the Interbus Agreement has now been extended via a Protocol to include regular and special regular services. The EU is aware that the UK will sign the Protocol and have legislation in place in time for when this change comes into force.
On the 90 day rule and UK coach drivers, visa and work permit arrangements for the purpose of undertaking paid work is a matter for individual EU Member States. Since these rules are set by individual Member States, it is not a matter that the Department has discussed recently with EU officials.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether contracts have been issued for smart motorway projects on the (a) M62, (b) M40 and (c) M42 as of 24 November 2021; and what his planned timetable is for commencing that work on those motorways.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are currently considering the Transport Committee’s recommendations contained in its report, Rollout and safety of smart motorways, and their practical applications, and will be providing a formal response in due course.
Contracts have been previously issued for smart motorways projects on the (a) M62 Junctions 20 to 25 and the M40/M42 Interchange, which is treated as one scheme.
Early design and enabling works contracts were awarded in early 2019 for the M62 Junctions 20 to 25 and M40/M42 Interchange, with work commencing late 2019. This included detailed surveys, hard shoulder strengthening and limited site clearance. Full detailed design was awarded on 11 June 2020 followed by full construction works on 23 October 2020 through a package contract to the Smart Motorways Alliance.
Main construction works for the M62 Junctions 20 to 25 is scheduled for January 2023. Main construction works for the M40/42 Interchange commenced in October 2021 with limited vegetation clearance and ecological mitigation for communications cable diversions.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a list of incidents in which gantry notification systems were out of operation on the M1 between junctions 32 and 35a in the last three months.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Highways England currently holds data to reflect the percentage of time that roadside technology is operable rather than the number of occasions that a device is offline.
Highways England assesses that, using the time period of January 1st, 2021 through to March 31st 2021, the latest period for which data is available, that all of the technology within the M1 Junctions 28 to 35a scheme boundary was operable for 97.11% of the time.
The boundaries of M1 Junctions 28 to 35a scheme are as stated within Statutory Instrument 2015 No. 1701.
There are maintenance standards associated with the service restoration time for the various devices associated with roadside technology (including those associated with smart motorways) that work to ensure the operability is maintained. There are factors such as accessing the roadside in a safe manner that could affect restoration times.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions gantry notification systems on smart motorways were inoperable as a result of technical failure in the last 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Highways England currently holds data to reflect the percentage of time that roadside technology is operable rather than the number of occasions that a device is offline.
Highways England assesses that, using the time period of April 1st, 2020 through to March 31st, 2021, that all of the relevant technology for Smart Motorways are operable for 99.38% of the time nationally, whilst, this operable figure for the Yorkshire North East region is 99.41% of the time.
There are maintenance standards to do with the service restoration time for the various devices associated with roadside technology (including those associated with smart motorways) that work to ensure the operability is maintained. There are factors such as accessing the roadside in a safe manner, that could impact restoration times.