Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities have the funding required to introduce adequate road safety measures to reduce speeding.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. All available research shows a link between excessive speed and the risk of collisions.
We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit, and enforcement is a matter for the police. Policing of our roads, and how available resources are deployed, is the responsibility of individual chief officers, taking into account the specific local issues.
Responsibility for making decisions, and prioritising works, about the roads under their care rests with local traffic authorities based on their knowledge of local needs. This includes introducing measures to tackle dangerous roads and reduce speeding.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to support local councils on the implementation of various traffic management issues.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides funds directly to local authorities which may be used for road safety purposes.
This includes the £170 million the Department is providing in 22/23 to local highways authorities in England, outside London and City Region areas, through the Integrated Transport Block for small scale transport schemes, including road safety measures. The Integrated Transport Block is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support.
It also includes the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) provide consolidated, long-term capital funding to improve the local transport networks of eight city regions across England through five-year settlements from 2022/23. This funding combines new and existing funds, including Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport Block, Potholes fund and final year Transforming Cities Fund.
The Safer Roads Fund was established to treat the 50 highest risk local A road sections in England with remedial road safety engineering interventions. As a result, £100 million has been committed by the Department for Transport across 48 schemes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage and support local authorities to introduce safety measures on dangerous roads proactively rather than retrospectively after multiple accidents.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. All available research shows a link between excessive speed and the risk of collisions.
We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit, and enforcement is a matter for the police. Policing of our roads, and how available resources are deployed, is the responsibility of individual chief officers, taking into account the specific local issues.
Responsibility for making decisions, and prioritising works, about the roads under their care rests with local traffic authorities based on their knowledge of local needs. This includes introducing measures to tackle dangerous roads and reduce speeding.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to support local councils on the implementation of various traffic management issues.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides funds directly to local authorities which may be used for road safety purposes.
This includes the £170 million the Department is providing in 22/23 to local highways authorities in England, outside London and City Region areas, through the Integrated Transport Block for small scale transport schemes, including road safety measures. The Integrated Transport Block is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support.
It also includes the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) provide consolidated, long-term capital funding to improve the local transport networks of eight city regions across England through five-year settlements from 2022/23. This funding combines new and existing funds, including Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport Block, Potholes fund and final year Transforming Cities Fund.
The Safer Roads Fund was established to treat the 50 highest risk local A road sections in England with remedial road safety engineering interventions. As a result, £100 million has been committed by the Department for Transport across 48 schemes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support is available for local authorities seeking to reduce speeding to improve road safety.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. All available research shows a link between excessive speed and the risk of collisions.
We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit, and enforcement is a matter for the police. Policing of our roads, and how available resources are deployed, is the responsibility of individual chief officers, taking into account the specific local issues.
Responsibility for making decisions, and prioritising works, about the roads under their care rests with local traffic authorities based on their knowledge of local needs. This includes introducing measures to tackle dangerous roads and reduce speeding.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to support local councils on the implementation of various traffic management issues.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides funds directly to local authorities which may be used for road safety purposes.
This includes the £170 million the Department is providing in 22/23 to local highways authorities in England, outside London and City Region areas, through the Integrated Transport Block for small scale transport schemes, including road safety measures. The Integrated Transport Block is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support.
It also includes the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) provide consolidated, long-term capital funding to improve the local transport networks of eight city regions across England through five-year settlements from 2022/23. This funding combines new and existing funds, including Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport Block, Potholes fund and final year Transforming Cities Fund.
The Safer Roads Fund was established to treat the 50 highest risk local A road sections in England with remedial road safety engineering interventions. As a result, £100 million has been committed by the Department for Transport across 48 schemes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential number of unroadworthy vehicles in the event that MOT tests were required only every two years.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department has made no proposal or decision to change the requirements for MOT tests. Should any such proposal be made, we would produce an assessment of the effects of the change.
DVSA publish statistics on the number of vehicles that pass and fail MOT tests and the reasons for failed tests:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/mot-testing-data-for-great-britain
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the number of MOT testing centres that have closed since March 2020.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted statistics are published at Vehicle testing and enforcement activity effectiveness reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine the number of MOT testing centres that have ‘closed’ since March 2020 as sites might cease testing and then resume testing at a later date either by the site owner or a new owner. Should an MOT testing centre cease to conduct MOT tests, the site may remain open to continue its underlying service and repair work.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted (a) January to March 2020 and (b) January to March 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted statistics are published at Vehicle testing and enforcement activity effectiveness reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine the number of MOT testing centres that have ‘closed’ since March 2020 as sites might cease testing and then resume testing at a later date either by the site owner or a new owner. Should an MOT testing centre cease to conduct MOT tests, the site may remain open to continue its underlying service and repair work.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for an HGV driving licence application renewal in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to 31 August.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below shows the average processing time for vocational (which includes both HGV and bus) driving licence renewal applications.
Calendar Year | Average days to issue a renewal vocational driving licence |
2018 | 2.94 |
2019 | 2.45 |
2020 | 4.74 |
2021 (to 31 August) | 12.02 |