Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up on the obligations of developers to repair roads (a) adjacent to development sites and (b) on routes where used by trucks accessing development sites.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This is a matter for Local Authorities and developers, who must agree any works that are needed to be made to the public road network resulting from developments. This is usually formalised in agreements under section 278 of the Highways Act 1980. Highway authorities will also agree traffic management and routes for Heavy Good Vehicles accessing development sites. Highway authorities are empowered to manage their own networks in line with their duties.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many accidents were recorded on the (a) A1, (b) A2 and (c) A5 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT road casualty statistics provide numbers of personal injury road traffic collisions in Great Britain that were reported to the police using the STATS19 reporting system.
The number of reported personal injury road collisions on the A1, A2 and A5 in the last 5 available years can be found in the table below.
Reported personal injury road collisions on the A1, A2 and A5, 2018 to 2022 | |||||
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Road Name | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
A1 | 604 | 590 | 436 | 462 | 538 |
A2 | 527 | 570 | 428 | 466 | 464 |
A5 | 510 | 514 | 413 | 451 | 428 |
Further information can be found online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-accidents-and-safety-statistics
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many recorded accidents have there been on the A1 between Peterborough and the Colsterworth interchange in the last five years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT road casualty statistics provide numbers of personal injury road traffic collisions in Great Britain that were reported to the police using the STATS19 reporting system.
The number of reported personal injury road collisions on the A1 between Peterborough and the Colsterworth interchange for the last 5 available published years can be found in the table below.
Reported personal injury road collisions on the A1 between Peterborough and the Colsterworth interchange, 2018 and 2022 by collision severity | |||
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Year | Fatal or Serious | Slight | All collisions |
2018 | 13 | 31 | 44 |
2019 | 13 | 17 | 30 |
2020 | 1 | 13 | 14 |
2021 | 10 | 24 | 34 |
2022 | 9 | 23 | 32 |
Further information can be found online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-accidents-and-safety-statistics
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since the establishment of the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) in 2022, the Department has been working closely with PSFA to implement the Counter Fraud Functional Standard framework, a common set of standards required by government departments to counter fraud, bribery, and corruption. To support compliance with the Functional Standard, the Department internally published its Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy for 2022-2025 to improve culture and awareness and build on the counter fraud activity delivered since the launch of DfT’s first strategy in 2019.
The following key activities have taken place to drive improvements in reducing fraud by improving detection activity, enhancing fraud prevention and building capability.
To support detection activity the department utilises Spotlight, a due diligence tool provided to departments by the Cabinet Office to help identify areas of risk and potential fraud and error. The department has also commenced a data analytics project utilising artificial intelligence to identify instances of fraud and error within high-risk spending areas. This initiative is providing comprehensive insights into fraudulent activities and errors that can be used to further strengthen controls and seek recovery of funds where fraud or error is identified. The Department’s contract management teams have furthermore increased their focus on fraud risks and detection, resulting in substantial sums recovered and returned to the Exchequer. Detected, prevented and recovered fraud is formally disclosed to the Cabinet Office who report publicly on these results across government in their annual Fraud Landscape Report.
On fraud prevention, a Fraud Risk Assessment (FRA) policy was introduced to enable accountable officers across DfT to take responsibility in ensuring that fraud, bribery, and corruption risks are adequately understood and effectively managed. The FRA process has been embedded into business-as-usual activity and has supported the department in identifying fraud risks, driving control improvements, and fostering continuous improvement in fraud risk management practices.
To build capability DfT has increased its engagement with the PSFA to enhance oversight, prioritisation of risks, delivery against counter fraud functional standards and sharing of best practice. We have increased our collaboration across the departmental group and across government networks to share lessons learnt, horizon scan for new and emerging trends and deliver collaborative best practice workshops, training sessions and awareness campaigns on areas of development e.g. risk assessment.
In 2023 and early 2024, DfT was one of the first departments assessed under the latest framework by PSFA for compliance against the Counter Fraud Functional Standard. The Department is now working with PSFA to take forward the recommendations from this review to drive further improvements in the Department’s counter-fraud function.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to include renewable electricity within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is currently supporting the rollout of public electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure through targeted grants, the Local EV Infrastructure Fund and the Rapid Charging Fund. However, the Government continues to review all options to support the continued rollout of public EV chargepoints.
Last year, the Department commissioned independent research into potential regulation-based options that may be required to support the continued rollout of public EV chargepoints from mid-2020s, including their opportunities, risks and likely impact. Options under consideration include the potential merits of including renewable electricity in the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. This research is still in progress.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help support the development of (a) hydrotreating kerosene and (b) other cleaner aviation fuels.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2022, Government confirmed that a SAF Mandate would be introduced in 2025 requiring at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.
In the second SAF mandate consultation, it was proposed that increasing targets be set out in legislation from 2025-2040. The levels of these targets will be confirmed in a Government response to the consultation due to be published in Spring 2024.
The SAF mandate will support SAF produced using a range of feedstocks and technologies including biofuels from waste materials via the hydrotreated ester fatty acids process.
Our £135m Advanced Fuels Fund is supporting 13 different SAF projects reach commercial scale in the UK. These cover a range of technologies to drive innovation and diversity of supply. Once operational, these projects are expected to collectively produce over 700 kilo tonnes of SAF and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million each year.
In September 2023, the Government also committed to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism to support SAF production in the UK. The intention is that it will be industry funded. The mechanism will provide revenue certainty for SAF production, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has targets for the commercial use of sustainable aviation fuel.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2022, Government confirmed that a SAF Mandate would be introduced in 2025 requiring at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.
In the second SAF mandate consultation, it was proposed that increasing targets be set out in legislation from 2025-2040. The levels of these targets will be confirmed in a Government response to the consultation due to be published in Spring 2024.
The SAF mandate will support SAF produced using a range of feedstocks and technologies including biofuels from waste materials via the hydrotreated ester fatty acids process.
Our £135m Advanced Fuels Fund is supporting 13 different SAF projects reach commercial scale in the UK. These cover a range of technologies to drive innovation and diversity of supply. Once operational, these projects are expected to collectively produce over 700 kilo tonnes of SAF and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million each year.
In September 2023, the Government also committed to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism to support SAF production in the UK. The intention is that it will be industry funded. The mechanism will provide revenue certainty for SAF production, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to reduce processing times for blue badge applications.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport sets the legislation that governs the Blue Badge scheme and provides guidance for local authorities who are solely responsible for administering the scheme, including issuing the badges.
There are no timescales set for administering applications other than a suggested guideline that issuing authorities should aim to complete end to end applications within 12 weeks.
80% of citizens apply for a badge using the Blue Badge Digital Service (BBDS) operated by the Department for Transport. The Department has a programme of continuous improvement to the BBDS. Working closely with local authorities and citizen users as part of its National Disability Strategy commitments, the Department’s aim is to make online badge applications quicker and easier for both applicants and local authorities.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of pavement parking on individuals that are visually impaired; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ban on pavement parking.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department carried out a public consultation on possible solutions to the complex pavement parking problem and received over 15,000 responses. The Department has listened carefully to the concerns raised by Guide Dogs and other disability organisations, including via their consultation responses, and those views will help inform our subsequent policy decisions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to support the use of renewable liquid fuels following the removal of renewable liquid fuel import tariffs from the US in February 2023.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government supports the use of renewable fuels in several ways. Regulations generate demand for them in the UK and provide a signal for future investments. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme continues to support renewable fuels, which are primarily deployed in road transport, and delivers a third of transport’s carbon savings under carbon budget 4. The Government will introduce a similar mandate scheme to drive the deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025. We also have a track record of supporting UK production of advanced renewable fuels through grant funding programmes. Most recently the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) has allocated over £135 million of capital funding to 13 projects to support the development of a UK SAF industry.