Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated from the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme guidance to Central Bedfordshire Council.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is a demand-led funding scheme which assists local authorities with the cost of installing chargepoints in residential streets. The funding available is for 75% of the capital costs of procuring and installing the chargepoint and an associated dedicated parking bay, and is administered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). In October 2019, I wrote to all local authorities encouraging them to send their strategies for infrastructure deployment and to take advantage of ORCS funding. Last month we announced that Government funding will be doubled to £10 million for the installation of chargepoints on residential streets next year. This could support as many as 3,600 chargepoints for those that do not have off-street parking.
To date, no applications have been made for funding through ORCS from Central Bedfordshire Council. Luton Borough Council, which is in Bedfordshire, has applied for funding under the scheme and has been awarded £23,336 to support the installation of nine chargepoints.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much per capita funding has been allocated from the public purse to cycling in each local authority in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department estimates that over the three years from 2016/17 to 2018/19, a total of around £1.2 billion of funding has been invested in cycling and walking projects in England outside London. This equates to approximately £8.50 per capita per annum, but the amount varies considerably between individual local authorities. The Department will be publishing detailed information on the funding that has been provided from the public purse, including estimates of funding allocations to individual authorities, alongside its report to Parliament later this year on the delivery of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
Funding for cycling and walking comes from a wide variety of ring-fenced and non-ringfenced sources making it difficult to summarise the information concisely for each local authority. Ring-fenced funds that were available to some or all local authorities over the three years in question include the Bikeability programme, the Access Fund, the Cycle Ambition Cities fund, the Cycle Safety Fund, Cycle Rail grants, and Highways England Designated Funds. Non-ringfenced funds that were available to some or all local authorities over the same period, and of which of a proportion was used to support cycling and walking, include the Local Growth Fund, the Integrated Transport Block, the Highways Maintenance Fund, the National Air Quality Plan, the National Productivity Investment Fund, the Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund, and other cross-Government infrastructure funds, including the Transforming Cities Fund and Housing Infrastructure Fund.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much per capita funding has been allocated from the public purse to cycling in Central Bedfordshire in each of the last three years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Department estimates that on average around £3 to £4 per capita has been allocated from the public purse to cycling and walking in Central Bedfordshire in each of the last three financial years. This estimate is based on both ring-fenced funding streams (including grants from the Sustainable Transport Transition Fund, Access Fund, and Small Business Research Initiative, as well as Bikeability training in schools in Central Bedfordshire), and non-ringfenced funding streams (including the Integrated Transport Block and Maintenance Block) of which a certain percentage is spent on measures which benefit cyclists and pedestrians. Local authorities are also able to use other local funds for cycling and walking projects, making it difficult to give a more precise estimate.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department plans to make available for constructing schemes in local cycling and walking infrastructure plans.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) are used by Local Authorities to identify and prioritise investment for cycling and walking schemes from local funds and relevant national funding streams, such as the Highways Maintenance Fund, Integrated Transport Block, Transforming Cities Fund, Future High Streets Fund, and the Housing Infrastructure Fund.
Decisions on further future funding for cycling and walking will be made in the context of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether market towns will have equal access to the Transforming Cities Fund alongside metropolitan areas; how he plans to achieve equity on access to the Transforming Cities Fund throughout the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
While the Transforming Cities Fund is aimed at transforming intra-city connectivity and driving productivity in city regions across England, the Government expects that where market towns form part of these city regions, they will also benefit from the improved connections between urban centres and their commuter areas. To ensure that investments are truly transformational across their whole area, the Department will work closely with city regions that have been shortlisted to receive a share of the Fund, to co-develop innovative public and sustainable transport packages.
Alongside this, the £675m Future High Streets Fund will support and fund local areas’ plans to renew and reshape their high streets and town centres in a way that improves experience, drives growth and ensures future sustainability. This fund is open to all places, with no minimum population restrictions.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps he is taking to ensure the compliance of foreign-registered vehicles with UK laws and regulations.
Answered by Jesse Norman
UK road traffic legislation applies to everyone who use our roads irrespective of where the vehicle is registered.
It is for the Police to decide what action to take against foreign drivers detected committing criminal traffic offences. This may include impounding.
For traffic offences subject to civil enforcement, persistent evaders found in contravention may have their vehicles immobilised or removed. Some local authorities use international debt recovery agents to recover payment.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the date on which the first UK trains will be converted to run on hydrogen.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Alstom have recently proposed a trial of trains converted to run on hydrogen in the North in association with Eversholt and Arriva Rail North and will need to develop a business case accordingly. The target date for these trains entering service will be dependent on both the business case and on the regulatory approvals being given.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to introduce more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to its service fleet.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government Car Service (GCS) is currently evaluating a hydrogen fuel cell car to determine fitness for purpose under operational conditions. The restrictions on range, refuelling and passenger capacity will be considerations for this type of car as the fleet is renewed.
GCS are committed to meeting the target announced in the autumn budget that 25% of cars in central government will be ultra-low emission by 2022.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to update national design guidance on cycling and walking infrastructure.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department’s guidance for local authorities on designing good, safe infrastructure for cyclists is set out in Local Transport Note 2/08. In line with the commitment made in the Government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, the Department is in the process of updating this guidance to take account of developments in cycling infrastructure since its publication in 2008, and aims to publish a revised version by the end of 2018. Additionally, the Department is in the process of reviewing both the Inclusive Mobility and Tactile Paving guidance and has let a research contract to establish the scope of revisions needed. Research for this is anticipated to be completed later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has given guidance to drivers in the Government Car Services on Westminster City Councils' initiative Don't Be Idle.
Answered by John Hayes
Government Car Service drivers are given a clear instruction not to keep engines running whilst parked or stationary and regular reminders are sent out on this subject. This instruction would also cover the aims of Westminster City Councils’ initiative on cars idling, which the drivers have been made aware of.