Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table provides the total published spend on consultants for the core Department and its executive agencies, covering financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21:
Financial Year | Expenditure (£m) |
2016-17 | 50.1 |
2017-18 | 52.5 |
2018-19 |
|
2019-20 | 77.5 |
2020-21 | 89.1 |
We are in the process of producing the Department’s Annual Report which will be published in July, this will include our audited consultancy spend for 2021-22.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test centres are due to close over the next two years in each nation of the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers with the best service possible. The DVSA continually reviews its estate to identify any test centres that could be closed, and services relocated to a nearby site.
The decision to close a test centre is made if the demand for testing can be absorbed at an existing nearby centre without reducing test capacity, cancelling tests or impacting on the DVSA’s recovery plan to reduce waiting times caused by the pandemic.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) dates of meetings between Ministers in his Department and officials at the RMT union since 13 June 2022.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the RMT on a variety of matters.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test centres there were in each UK nation in (a) 2010, (b) 2015, (c) 2020 and (d) as of 30 June 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below shows the number of driving test centres (DTC) in Great Britain from where the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) delivered practical driver and riding tests.
| 2015 | 2020 | As of 30 June 2022 |
|
England | 277 | 258 | 250 | |
Scotland | 96 | 85 | 86 | |
Wales | 28 | 25 | 24 | |
Great Britain total | 401 | 368 | 360 | |
In 2010, practical driver and riding tests were delivered by the DVSA’s predecessor, the Driving Standards Agency. The DVSA does not retain records of DTCs dating back to 2010 in line with its retention policies.
The DVSA does not hold data relating to DTCs in Northern Ireland. Practical driver and rider testing is delivered by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA).
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the International Council on Clean Transportation's working paper entitled Quantifying the electric vehicle charging infrastructure gap in the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We welcome the International Council on Clean Transportation's paper on electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the UK and note its recommendations for the UK vehicle charging network out to 2030 and beyond. The UK is a global front-runner in supporting provision of charging infrastructure along with private sector investment. Our vision is to have one of the best infrastructure networks in the world for electric vehicles, and we want chargepoints to be accessible, affordable and secure.
The recently published UK electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure strategy sets out our plans to accelerate the rollout of a world-class charging network and to make EV charging cheaper and more convenient than refuelling at a petrol station. Of the £2.5 billion of Government funding committed to the EV transition since 2020, over £1.6 billion will be used to support charging infrastructure.
We know that the majority of EV drivers charge at home and we expect this trend to continue. However, we must ensure public chargepoints are in place to support those without off-street parking and to enable long distance journeys. We expect at least ten times more public chargepoints to be installed across the UK by the end of the decade, bringing the number to around 300,000 by 2030.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of electric vehicle owners in London without access to a private charging point.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are aware that the majority of current electric vehicle (EV) owners across the UK have access to off-street parking and private home charging. In research conducted in 2021 on EV drivers, 94% of EV drivers surveyed who lived in London had access to charging at home. However, these results are approximate and should be treated with caution as the sample size for London was small, at just over 150 respondents.
Source: Electric Vehicle Driver Data, Table 109 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electric-vehicle-drivers-attitudes-and-behaviours
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the number of residential properties in London that have access to a private driveway or garage that could potentially facilitate electric vehicle charging.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The English Housing survey estimates that around 40% of dwellings in London and the South East do not have access to off-street parking. Government funding and free-to-access support is available to the London Boroughs and all UK local authorities to rollout on-street charging solutions to help meet the needs of those without off-street parking.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the likelihood of airports other than London Gatwick reducing the number of flights per day.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
We have been extensively engaging with industry at both ministerial and official level since the beginning of the year. We have been clear that the volume of late notice cancellations are unacceptable and airlines must have realistic schedules they can deliver.
It is ultimately a commercial decision for airports if they also choose to reduce the number of daily flights. The Government has made it clear that the aviation industry should be reviewing their current staffing levels, passenger demand and then creating realistic flight schedules.
On 21 June, the Secretary of State laid before Parliament regulations that will help airlines prevent last-minute flight cancellations during the summer peak. The regulations will allow a one-off “amnesty” on airport slots rules, enabling airlines to plan ahead and deliver a realistic summer schedule that minimises disruption at the airports. Airlines will have a short window to hand back slots for the rest of the summer season that they are not confident they will be able to operate. This will help give passengers confidence in the schedules and more time to make alternative arrangements if they are needed, rather than face the kind of last-minute cancellations seen over the Easter and half-term holidays.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure that passengers are effectively informed of cancellations ahead of their departure date and (b) reassure people who have a flight departure booked at London Gatwick.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The decision taken by Gatwick airport to reduce the number of daily flights throughout the summer is a commercial decision taken by Gatwick Airport Limited, who will continue to work with their airline partners to operationalise this cap. We have been clear with the aviation sector that they need to ensure they can service the flights they offer to the passengers.
On 21 June the Secretary of State laid before Parliament regulations that will help airlines prevent last-minute flight cancellations during the summer peak. The regulations will allow a one-off “amnesty” on airport slots rules, enabling airlines to plan ahead and deliver a realistic summer schedule that
minimises disruption at the airports. Airlines will have a short window to hand back slots for the rest of the summer season that they are not confident they will be able to operate. This will help give passengers confidence in the schedules and more time to make alternative arrangements if they are needed, rather than face the kind of last-minute cancellations seen over the Easter and half-term holidays.
This Government has always prioritised consumer rights and is continuing to make progress, to that end we have published the Aviation Consumer Policy Reform Consultation on 31 January, this is aimed at strengthening further air passenger rights and are publishing an Aviation Passenger Charter. Airlines are under an obligation to provide information to passengers on their rights in the event of a cancellation. In the event that a flight is cancelled where UK law applies, the consumers should be offered the choice between a refund within 7 days, or to be re-routed on similar conditions to their final destination, and they may be eligible for compensation.
We have been clear with airlines that they need to undertake this process as quickly as possible.
The Secretary of State and I regularly meet with the aviation sector. In addition to these regular meetings, Gatwick joined me and the Secretary of State on 1 June to discuss disruption over the Half Term and they have been a central member of the Strategic Risk Group which I chair weekly, and the Summer Resilience Group chaired by my officials weekly. Additionally, senior officials have been meeting regularly with Gatwick over the past month and this will continue over the summer.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the average cost of charging an electric vehicle through a (a) public and (b) private electric vehicle charging point.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The average cost of charging at public chargepoints is generally higher than at private chargepoints. Some energy suppliers offer off-peak tariffs which EV drivers can use for private charging at home. For example, Octopus Energy offer a tariff which has an off-peak price of 7.5p/kWh and a peak price of 35.1p/kWh. Public charging costs can vary heavily depending on battery size and charger speed, network and location. Cornwall Insight has found charging costs in May varied from 26p/kWh-89p/kWh.
Through our EV Infrastructure Strategy we set out our vision that people will have access to affordable and fairly priced public charging, so that those without off-street parking at home can switch to an EV without facing disproportionate charging costs. Competition between chargepoint operators will keep prices down and quality of service high. EVs benefit from a huge advantage in running costs – as low as around 2p per mile for off-peak electricity compared to 20p per mile for petrol or diesel vehicles. The cost of running an EV remains competitive compared to petrol/diesel equivalents - irrespective of charging type.