Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she takes to coordinate policies with Greater Manchester local authorities and the Combined Authority to reduce air pollution emanating from the motorway system across Greater Manchester.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
National Highways is responsible for addressing air quality on the Strategic Road Network. National Highways works closely with Greater Manchester authorities, and other local authorities, to reduce pollution. Following consultation which ran for 10 weeks until 6 June 2022, the Government intends to designate National Highways as a ‘relevant public authority’. This change will require National Highways to collaborate with local authorities to improve air quality – becoming an ‘air quality partner’ where locally relevant. National Highways publishes regular reports which are available at the National Highways Air Quality Reports webpage, setting out the steps they are taking. Greater Manchester authorities have also engaged with National Highways in the development of their plans for the reduction of Nitrogen Dioxide pollution. The Government is currently reviewing Greater Manchester authorities’ proposal and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what resources have been committed to the establishment of new electric vehicle charging points; what estimate he has made of the number of electric vehicle charging points that those resources will enable to be created; and if he will publish details of (a) expenditure and (b) the number of electric vehicle charging points by region.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government has committed £2.5 billion since 2020 to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. Over £1.6 billion will be used to support charging infrastructure.
On 25 March 2022 the Government published the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure Strategy, setting out our vision and commitments to make EV charging cheaper and more convenient than refuelling at a petrol station. In the strategy, Government laid out that it expects 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.
The Department publishes data on the number of publicly available chargepoints monthly. In addition, on a quarterly basis, it also publishes data on chargepoints installed with support from grants offered by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. This includes both the number of installations and the grant value awarded, broken down to regional and local authority level for the whole UK.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of reports that aircraft belonging to sanctioned individuals have continued to use UK airfields.
Answered by Robert Courts
Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated attack against a sovereign democratic state. The UK government has shown there are massive consequences and a severe cost for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In coordination with our international allies and partners, we have developed and continue to expand an unprecedented package of sanctions.
Since 25 February Russian aircraft have been banned from entering UK airspace and landing in the UK. This was strengthened on 8 March with the signing of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. It is now a criminal offence to breach the airspace ban and it has conferred powers on the Secretary of State to direct airport operators to detain Russian aircraft.
Since the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 came into effect, we have detained three aircraft, and have held a further two aircraft while thorough investigations are carried out. We continue to work with the aviation industry and other Government departments to rigorously investigate any aircraft that the Department becomes aware of that may be connected with Russia. We will not hesitate to impose further detentions on aircraft connected with sanctioned individuals.
Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the DVLA on the backlog in reviewing driving licences.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers. The DVLA has been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA has introduced additional online services and recruited additional staff. The DVLA is urgently securing extra office space to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.
The DVLA understands the impact that delays can have on people’s everyday lives and is working as quickly as possible to process paper applications and return people’s documentation to them.