Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his Department's policy to publish the allocation of the Bus Recovery Grant in a timely manner to help ensure that travel companies can meet their relevant deadlines.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The allocation of Bus Recovery Grant funding to operators has been based on operator revenue and patronage projections. This data includes forecasts from operators which are not in the public domain. Each operator has been given their allocation and the funding received by each operator is commercially sensitive, therefore allocations will not be published.
Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) are also allocated BRG funding and they have been informed of their own allocation along with all other LTAs. Grants received via Section 31 powers, such as the Bus Recovery Grant for Local Authorities, are routinely published by Local Authorities and are on gov.uk.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to work with the shipping industry to reduce container shipping prices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
My Department is engaging with, and closely monitoring, the sector, along with other government departments. Shipping costs during 2021 have risen to a global high level in international freight markets as a result of unprecedented levels of demand driven by changed consumer behaviour during the pandemic.
Historical trends in the shipping sector shows pricing responds to supply and demand. Although industry estimates that high levels of demand and pricing are likely to continue into 2022, it is expected that pricing levels should similarly re-adjust when the current demand drivers change.
Nevertheless, Government continues to engage with the sector and will consider options to act in any helpful and appropriate way.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on reducing the cost of container shipping prices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
I refer my hon Friend the Member for Wycombe to the answer I gave on December 3, to Question UIN 84344 https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-11-30/84344 where I noted that my Department is closely engaged with other government departments on this matters. This includes teams in the Secretary of State for International Trade’s Department.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will remove Pakistan from the covid-19 red list of countries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account Joint Biosecurity Centre risk assessments of countries and territories, alongside wider public health factors.
Further engagement is planned between senior officials and Pakistan’s officials. This is in part to further understand the strategies employed by Pakistan, and to establish stable and long-term access to the outcome of Pakistan’s in-country genomic surveillance and sequencing.
These are intended to be temporary measures and the government keeps data for countries and territories under regular review.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the full scientific advice that the Government has received to support the current Government advice against travel to amber list countries for leisure purposes.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government has always been clear that we are taking a cautious approach in restarting international travel in order to protect public health and our domestic COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Evidence shows that transmissibility of COVID-19 variants of concern and the virus is significantly lower for people who have had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. Consequently, the success of our vaccination programme means that the blanket message for people not to travel to amber countries will be removed from 19 July.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish an assessment of the effect on (a) local prices and (b) local building site productivity of HS2 Ltd pre-purchasing stocks of stone and aggregates, steel, timber and other building materials and supplies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of price fluctuations of key construction materials, fuelled by high demand from the construction sector as it recovers strongly from the pandemic combined with decreases in global supplies.
HS2 Ltd, the Department for Transport, and colleagues at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy are monitoring this closely, but do not have any information to suggest that HS2 is having a material impact on material availability or pricing at this time.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will record road casualty data from electric scooters in his Department’s publications separately from other modes of transport and not include them within the motorcycle casualty statistics.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Data on personal injury road accidents is collected via the STATS19 system of accidents reported by the police.
Electric scooters and other micromobility vehicles are not currently one of the designated vehicle types collected in STATS19, and as such they would be classed as ‘other’ and can only be identified using a free text field in the STATS19 database.
Data for 2020 are currently being collated and validated. Subject to the data recorded in the free text field being of sufficient quality, we intend to publish data on e-scooters and other vehicle types which can be reliably identified from the free text field alongside the annual Reported Road Casualties Great Britain statistics publication in September 2021.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to restore confidence in domestic coach travel as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As the country progresses safely through the steps of the roadmap (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021-summary), the Government will continue to engage with coach operators to assess how it can support the sector’s recovery. The Government is also planning to bring forward a Tourism Recovery Plan in the Spring. This will provide further detail on how the Government will support the UK tourism sector, with measures that will be applicable to many sub-sectors, including coach travel.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the viability of alternative driving test centre premises proposed by local driving instructors to the DVSA in High Wycombe; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has been working closely with local approved driving instructors and customers in High Wycombe to identify a possible alternative location for driving tests in the area.
It is currently assessing the proposed site at Cressex Business Park to determine its suitability. The DVSA is also reviewing other considerations such as the welfare of instructors and candidates, local planning and highways legislation.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing a mobile driving test site in High Wycombe.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) aim to is to provide a service that meets the needs of its customers in every area, whilst providing value for money. The DVSA has work underway to further modernise its services, which includes the driving test provision. Different options are under active consideration for the Hon Member’s constituency.