Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support businesses to electrify their road delivery fleet.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
We recognise that business fleets have an important role to play in the transition to zero emission driving. A central part to supporting this transition is the recently announced 2030 phase out of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, and the upcoming consultation on phasing out the sale of new diesel heavy goods vehicles.
The Government is investing £2.8 billion through a package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. This includes £582m for grant schemes to help with the cost of purchasing vehicles and £1.3 billion for the associated recharging infrastructure, which supports businesses to make the transition. We are showing leadership by working towards electrifying the Government’s fleet. In 2017 the Government committed that 25% of central Government cars will be ultra low emission by 2022, and in 2018 through the Road to Zero strategy committed to 100% ultra low emission cars by 2030.
The Government has funded a series of R&D competitions, focussed on developing zero emission vehicle and associated infrastructure technology, including seeking solutions to electrify fleets and improve fleet charging capability. The £20m Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial funded a series of industry-led trials of alternative propulsion technologies for UK commercial fleets. Other R&D programmes supporting fleet electrification include the £10m Wireless EV Charging for Commercial Users competition to examine the potential of wireless charging technology for taxi and home delivery fleets.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure a coordinated inter-departmental approach to tackling (a) speeding and (b) anti-social behaviour on roads.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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.
Enforcement of road traffic laws is for the police. Last autumn the Department for Transport launched a Call for Evidence, part of a wider roads policing review, a thorough examination of roads policing of roads policing in England and Wales and its relevance to road safety. Responses to the Call for Evidence will inform the action plan that is being developed by the roads policing review governance board. This is jointly chaired by officials from the Home Office and the Department for Transport. The Call for Evidence closed in October and we are planning to publish our response later this year.
The Road Safety Statement, ‘A Lifetime of Road Safety’, published in July 2019, describes many actions that will contribute towards safer driving and riding all round. By improving the training of new drivers, exposing them to a better understanding of hazards on the road and explaining road safety message through ‘THINK!’ campaigns, we aim to produce novice drivers with a better understanding of the importance of sensible speeds.
The Department has allocated £500 million for the period 2020/21 to 2021/22 to local highways authorities in England, outside of London, 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.
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 resources they need to tackle (a) speeding and (b) anti-social behaviour on roads.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
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.
Enforcement of road traffic laws is for the police. Last autumn the Department for Transport launched a Call for Evidence, part of a wider roads policing review, a thorough examination of roads policing of roads policing in England and Wales and its relevance to road safety. Responses to the Call for Evidence will inform the action plan that is being developed by the roads policing review governance board. This is jointly chaired by officials from the Home Office and the Department for Transport. The Call for Evidence closed in October and we are planning to publish our response later this year.
The Road Safety Statement, ‘A Lifetime of Road Safety’, published in July 2019, describes many actions that will contribute towards safer driving and riding all round. By improving the training of new drivers, exposing them to a better understanding of hazards on the road and explaining road safety message through ‘THINK!’ campaigns, we aim to produce novice drivers with a better understanding of the importance of sensible speeds.
The Department has allocated £500 million for the period 2020/21 to 2021/22 to local highways authorities in England, outside of London, 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.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on transport in the North of changes to funding to Transport for the North.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government is committed to levelling up every part of this country, including the North. This is reflected in the recent Spending Review, which included funding for key transport infrastructure projects and programmes in the North. Recently, we’ve confirmed Teeside as the home of the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub, are progressing a £500m scheme to bring back rail connections lost in the Beeching cuts including in the North, started work on the £51million A19 upgrade six months ahead of schedule and are progressing plans for the £1billion A66 upgrade.
The most recent allocation of core funding to Transport for the North will enable the organisation to continue to play a valuable role in delivering its statutory functions of developing a transport strategy for the region and helping the Department to prioritise, bringing strength of partnership among members to speak to the government with one voice. The Department will continue to work with TfN to achieve our shared ambition of world-class transport infrastructure in the region.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the airline industry on the repatriation of UK nationals.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is working in partnership with the airline industry to help British people travelling abroad to return to the UK, and up to £75 million in Government funding has been pledged to bring UK travellers back home.
The Department for Transport is working closely with the FCO and airlines to ensure effective communication with and support for Britons who are trying to return home, and is working intensively with international partners to keep air routes and critical transit hubs open so that passengers can return by commercial means wherever possible. Where commercial routes are no longer available, charter flights are being arranged.
This continues to be a challenging situation, as different countries introduce restrictions, but the Government and airlines are continuing to make progress, and a large number of Britons have now returned to the UK.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of using taxis as an additional emergency service for isolated households and families.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department is aware of and appreciates the role taxis and private hire vehicles have always played in assisting those that are unable to access public transport. We would encourage everyone to follow the health advice, which can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-advice/.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to prevent airports throughout the country from closing.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Following the Chancellor’s recent announcement, we are working urgently to develop proposals to support the UK aviation industry - we are committed to ensuring the sector and its employees come through this crisis.
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 plans to take to replace Pacer trains when Northern Rail is renationalised.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The ongoing rollout of new trains, which are enabling the retirement of Pacers, will continue.
Northern is introducing 101 new trains as part of a £500 million investment across its network. The programme of introduction started in the summer last year on a phased basis, with the remaining trains introduced by summer 2020.