Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving examiners have raised concerns to the DVSA about the safety of examining drivers in vehicles without dual control.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of driving examiners (DE), candidates, and passengers, during the car practical driving test is a top priority for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. All DEs are trained extensively to conduct car practical tests in vehicles fitted with, and without, dual controls. Any concerns raised about conducting a test in a vehicle without dual controls are addressed as part of training, and not recorded separately.
The number of ‘accidents and near misses’ that took place during 2022/23 on car practical driving tests was 796; of which 181 involved vehicles not fitted with dual controls. 22.2% of vehicles used for car practical driving tests in 2022/23 were not fitted with dual controls.
The DVSA is unable to differentiate between injuries sustained in the workplace, during a driving test, and outside of work.
The DVSA is fulfilling its legal obligation to record all risk assessments, including the car driving test risk assessment. The agency has no plans to publish risk assessments.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the risk assessments in place for driving examiners conducting tests in vehicles without dual control.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of driving examiners (DE), candidates, and passengers, during the car practical driving test is a top priority for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. All DEs are trained extensively to conduct car practical tests in vehicles fitted with, and without, dual controls. Any concerns raised about conducting a test in a vehicle without dual controls are addressed as part of training, and not recorded separately.
The number of ‘accidents and near misses’ that took place during 2022/23 on car practical driving tests was 796; of which 181 involved vehicles not fitted with dual controls. 22.2% of vehicles used for car practical driving tests in 2022/23 were not fitted with dual controls.
The DVSA is unable to differentiate between injuries sustained in the workplace, during a driving test, and outside of work.
The DVSA is fulfilling its legal obligation to record all risk assessments, including the car driving test risk assessment. The agency has no plans to publish risk assessments.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) compensation and (b) care and assistance expenses that passengers are entitled to claim for in cases of significant flight delays.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government remains committed to protecting the rights of passengers when travelling by air.
Regulation (EC) 261/2004 as retained in UK law establishes common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of long delays, cancellations or denied boarding. In June 2023, the Department published its response to the Aviation Consumer Policy Reform Consultation. This set out a commitment to further consultation on the compensation and payment framework across all forms of disruption including cancellations, delays and denied boarding. Furthermore, a Statutory Instrument came into force in the UK on 14 December 2023 to re-state certain EU case law principles in respect of Regulation (EC) 261/2004, to ensure passengers continued to be protected through additional clarity of their rights in the event of flight disruptions.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the costs associated with driving examiners taking time off work as a result of injuries sustained when conducting driving tests.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of driving examiners (DE), candidates, and passengers, during the car practical driving test is a top priority for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. All DEs are trained extensively to conduct car practical tests in vehicles fitted with, and without, dual controls. Any concerns raised about conducting a test in a vehicle without dual controls are addressed as part of training, and not recorded separately.
The number of ‘accidents and near misses’ that took place during 2022/23 on car practical driving tests was 796; of which 181 involved vehicles not fitted with dual controls. 22.2% of vehicles used for car practical driving tests in 2022/23 were not fitted with dual controls.
The DVSA is unable to differentiate between injuries sustained in the workplace, during a driving test, and outside of work.
The DVSA is fulfilling its legal obligation to record all risk assessments, including the car driving test risk assessment. The agency has no plans to publish risk assessments.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of driving examiners who were off work as a result of injuries sustained during the examination of drivers in 2022-23.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of driving examiners (DE), candidates, and passengers, during the car practical driving test is a top priority for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. All DEs are trained extensively to conduct car practical tests in vehicles fitted with, and without, dual controls. Any concerns raised about conducting a test in a vehicle without dual controls are addressed as part of training, and not recorded separately.
The number of ‘accidents and near misses’ that took place during 2022/23 on car practical driving tests was 796; of which 181 involved vehicles not fitted with dual controls. 22.2% of vehicles used for car practical driving tests in 2022/23 were not fitted with dual controls.
The DVSA is unable to differentiate between injuries sustained in the workplace, during a driving test, and outside of work.
The DVSA is fulfilling its legal obligation to record all risk assessments, including the car driving test risk assessment. The agency has no plans to publish risk assessments.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of accidents during driving tests (a) in total and (b) in vehicles that lack dual control in 2022-23.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of driving examiners (DE), candidates, and passengers, during the car practical driving test is a top priority for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. All DEs are trained extensively to conduct car practical tests in vehicles fitted with, and without, dual controls. Any concerns raised about conducting a test in a vehicle without dual controls are addressed as part of training, and not recorded separately.
The number of ‘accidents and near misses’ that took place during 2022/23 on car practical driving tests was 796; of which 181 involved vehicles not fitted with dual controls. 22.2% of vehicles used for car practical driving tests in 2022/23 were not fitted with dual controls.
The DVSA is unable to differentiate between injuries sustained in the workplace, during a driving test, and outside of work.
The DVSA is fulfilling its legal obligation to record all risk assessments, including the car driving test risk assessment. The agency has no plans to publish risk assessments.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2024 to Question 22401 on Aviation: Fuels, if he will detail the firms and locations of the 13 SAF projects.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Company/Project | Project Location |
Abundia Biomass-to-Liquids | Teesside |
Alfanar Energy Ltd | Teesside |
Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd | Ellesmere Port, Cheshire |
Lanzatech UK Ltd | South Wales |
Velocys plc | Immingham, Lincolnshire |
Velocys plc | TBC |
Arcadia e-Fuels (NABOO) | Teesside |
Carbon Neutral Fuels | TBC |
Esso Petroleum Company | Solent |
Nova Pangaea Technologies | Wilton at Teesside |
OXCCU Tech | Sheffield’s Translational Energy Research Centre |
Willis Sustainable Fuels | Teesside |
Zero Petroleum | Orkney |
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount that local authorities have spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network they are responsible for. The Government provides highway maintenance and other funding to local authorities but does not collect data on how much each one spends on repairing potholes: this is a matter for each local highway authority.
In 2023/24, the Government provided the City of York Council with £3.69 million of capital funding for local highway maintenance. This represents an increase of around 30% compared to the previous year, made possible in part by reallocating funding that would otherwise have been spent on the HS2 programme.
The Department annually collects and publishes statistics on gov.uk that detail the condition and maintenance of the highways in England. This includes total expenditure on the local highway network in England, broken down by structural maintenance, routine treatments, and highways planning and strategy on different categories of road:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/road-condition-statistics-data-tables-rdc
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the road network is safe for (a) cyclists and (b) cars in the context of trends in the number of potholes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority to maintain and manage the highway network that it is responsible for.
The Government allocates funding to local highways authorities so that they can most effectively spend it on maintaining and improving their respective network for all road users, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities. The Government has recently announced an £8.3 billion funding uplift for the resurfacing of local roads over the period 2023/24 to 2033/34, which will allow local authorities to make their roads smoother and safer for cyclists and drivers alike.
To assist local authorities in treating potholes and other road defects, in March 2019 the Department worked with the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport to publish Potholes: a repair guide. The Government has also worked with the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Footway & Cycletrack Management Group to produce guidance on maintaining assets for cycleways and footways. This can be found on the CIHT website.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network it is responsible for.
The Government allocates funding to local highways authorities so they can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective network, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities. It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. In 2023/24, the Department for Transport provided £1.3 billion of Highway Maintenance Block capital funding to local highway authorities in England outside London and the Mayoral Combined Authority areas, of which the City of York Council received £3.699 million. This was 30% higher than the equivalent figure for 2022/23.