Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have visited the Port of Hull in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Port of Hull was last visited by a Department for Transport Minister when the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Nusrat Ghani MP, visited on 22 February 2018.
Numerous officials from across the Department for Transport engage with and visit the Port of Hull in the course of their duties. Due to the number and variety of official level engagements it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of these visits as the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Departmental visits to UK ports allow sufficient time for ministers and officials to observe port operations.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have visited the Port of Southampton in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Port of Southampton was last visited by a Department for Transport Minister when the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Nusrat Ghani MP, visited on 11 May 2018.
Numerous officials from across the Department for Transport engage with and visit the Port of Southampton in the course of their duties. Due to the number and variety of official level engagements it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of these visits as the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Departmental visits to UK ports allow sufficient time for ministers and officials to observe port operations.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have visited the Port of Rosyth in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
No ministers from the Department of Transport have visited the Port of Rosyth in the last 12 months as responsibility for policy matters relating to ports in Scotland, with the exception of port security, has been devolved to Scottish Ministers.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have visited the Port of Plymouth in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Port of Plymouth has not been visited by Department for Transport ministers in the last 12 months.
Numerous officials from across the Department for Transport engage with and visit the Port of Plymouth in the course of their duties. Due to the number and variety of official level engagements it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of these visits as the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Departmental visits to UK ports allow sufficient time for ministers and officials to observe port operations.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many citizens of non-UK EU countries work in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The table below provides details on the number of citizens of non-UK EU countries working in the Department for Transport as at 30th September 2018. The figures provided cannot be considered as comprehensive for the following reasons;
| Number of staff recorded as non-UK EU citizens |
Central Department | 63 |
Executive Agencies | 36 |
Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) | 792 |
Please note, although as a non-Ministerial Department, the Office of Rail and Road does not fall within the scope of this question, we have included it for the sake of completeness.
Please note, the responses do not include information from Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), because DVSA’s HR System does not record the nationality of staff.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 which have major ports have undertaken risk assessments of the potential effect of additional customs checks on the surrounding transport infrastructure after the UK leaves the EU; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those local authorities are developing plans to avoid or reduce possible disruption.
Answered by Lord Grayling
The Government expects to reach a deal with the EU which will avoid any such eventuality. But as a responsible Government we have to consider all eventualities, and are working to ensure that, should no deal be achieved, additional UK customs checks do not take place at the frontier, and so do not result in disruption to surrounding transport infrastructure. The possibility, that checks required by the EU in Member States might have such an effect, is being considered where appropriate by Local Resilience Fora (LRFs), with the ports themselves closely involved; and by the Devolved Administrations in relation to ports in their territories.
Specifically in relation to the short Strait crossings from Dover and through the Channel Tunnel, we announced in May the development of Operation Brock which, in the event of serious disruption to those routes from whatever cause, will ensure that the M20 will be kept open and traffic will continue to flow in both directions. Operation Brock consists of three phases, a contraflow queuing system on the M20, a holding areas at Manston Airport and, if necessary, a holding area on the M26. The Department is working closely with the Kent Resilience Form, the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel and other associated bodies. The contraflow queuing system on the M20 will cost about £30 million to build and operate and would be used for all disruption events including those seen in 2015. The works required for the M26 are within the region of £5 million.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) projects designed to increase capacity on motorways to tackle potential delays at ports and customs terminals have started and (b) other UK road network projects are planned in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and what the estimated cost is of those projects.
Answered by Lord Grayling
The Government expects to reach a deal with the EU which will avoid any such eventuality. But as a responsible Government we have to consider all eventualities, and are working to ensure that, should no deal be achieved, additional UK customs checks do not take place at the frontier, and so do not result in disruption to surrounding transport infrastructure. The possibility, that checks required by the EU in Member States might have such an effect, is being considered where appropriate by Local Resilience Fora (LRFs), with the ports themselves closely involved; and by the Devolved Administrations in relation to ports in their territories.
Specifically in relation to the short Strait crossings from Dover and through the Channel Tunnel, we announced in May the development of Operation Brock which, in the event of serious disruption to those routes from whatever cause, will ensure that the M20 will be kept open and traffic will continue to flow in both directions. Operation Brock consists of three phases, a contraflow queuing system on the M20, a holding areas at Manston Airport and, if necessary, a holding area on the M26. The Department is working closely with the Kent Resilience Form, the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel and other associated bodies. The contraflow queuing system on the M20 will cost about £30 million to build and operate and would be used for all disruption events including those seen in 2015. The works required for the M26 are within the region of £5 million.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts between his Department and charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The information below covers the central Department for Transport and four executive agencies as follows:
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)
We do not place ‘gagging orders’ but we do require contractors (and their employees and sub-contractors) to seek prior approval of any media engagement regarding the contract itself.
By way of background – see Condition E5 at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/657713/general-conditions-of-contract-for-services.pdf
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 173935 on driving: licensing, what estimate he has made of the number of staff that will need to be recruited in order to meet increased demand for International Driving Permits in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Grayling
From 1 February 2019, International Driving Permits will be issued by 2,500 Post Office branches using existing Post Office staff. While staffing levels are a matter for Post Office Ltd, we do not believe there will be a need to recruit further staff to offer the enhanced service.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 173935 on Driving: Licensing, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of International Driving Permits which will need to be issued in 2019-20, (b) individual cost of securing an International Driving Permit and (c) administrative cost of processing each application for an International Driving Permit in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Grayling
a) The government is confident of securing a comprehensive deal to ensure the continued recognition of our driving licences in the EU. Work that has been done estimating the likely impact, indicates that up to 0.5m International Driving Permits (IDPs) may need to be issued in most outcome scenarios.
b) Each IDP will cost £5.50, a fee which has not increased since 2004. For complete coverage in the EU after exit day a motorist will need 2 IDPs (One in the 1949 Convention format, and one in the 1968 Convention format) at a total cost of £11.00. However, the 1968 IDP which will be valid in 23 EU Member States, plus Norway and Switzerland is valid for 3-years reducing the annual cost to around £1.85 per year.
c) The administrative cost of acquiring an IDP is a matter for the Post Office.