Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many statutory off-road notifications were received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) received 2,912,375 statutory off-road notifications in 2023.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vehicles his Department is leasing as of 18 March 2024.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As at 18 March 2024, the Ministry of Defence is leasing 14,806 vehicles
The information provided relates to vehicles leased under the central Departmental contract for vehicle provision, which covers an array of vehicles including cars, minibuses, coaches and vans, as well as specialist vehicles such as dog vans, horse ambulances and mountain rescue vehicles.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of the electric car manufacturing industry on (a) incentives and (b) infrastructure development to support the decarbonisation of commercial fleets.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT Ministers have regular engagement with individual automotive manufacturers and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), to discuss the Government’s plans to reduce potential barriers to the adoption of zero emission vehicles.
The Government recognises the challenge of decarbonising car fleets, and the charging requirements of fleets. It has invested significant funding in the rollout of charging infrastructure, including £381m through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund and the £70m Rapid Charging Fund pilot. The Plug-in Van Grant also remains in place to support the uptake of vans, which can be used to support commercial fleets.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Over £1 billion savings for motorists as whiplash reforms come into force, published on 31 May 2021, what estimate he has made of the average saving on motor insurance in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Part 3 of the Civil Liability Act 2018 (the Act) requires motor insurers in England and Wales to provide the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with data on savings arising from its provisions and on how they have been passed on to policy holders. The Act also requires that a report on the savings made must be completed and laid before Parliament by no later than 1 April 2025. The data gathering phase has been completed and the FCA are now working with HM Treasury officials to prepare a report which will be published in line with statutory deadlines.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on tourism-related businesses of recent significant increases in fees charged by some airports for vehicles to drop off passengers, and what recent discussions they have had with representatives of the aviation industry about the transparency of the overall structure of their fees and charges.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Most airports in the UK are managed and operated as private businesses, and parking arrangements are subject to contractual agreements between airport operators and car parking companies covered by consumer laws.
While the Department for Transport regularly engages with airports and airport operators on a range of issues, the provision and charging of car parking at airports (including drop off and pick charges) is a matter for the airport operator as a commercial business to manage and justify and therefore no assessment has been made on any impact on fees charged by airports for vehicles to drop off passengers.
However, the Department expects car parking and drop off charges at airports to be managed appropriately and consumers treated fairly.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the value was of commercial civilian vehicle leasing and hire contracts with his Department in each year since 2019.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information provided below relates to commercial civilian road vehicle lease and hire.
The Ministry of Defence has a central contract in place for hire and leased vehicles including cars, minibuses, coaches and vans, as well as specialist vehicles such as dog vans, horse ambulances and mountain rescue vehicles,
which are booked through the central booking system. The spend on hire and leased vehicles through this contract for the last five financial years is as follows:
Financial Year (FY) | FY2019-20 | FY2020-21 | FY2021-22 | FY2022-23 | FY2023-24 |
Total spend | £116.2 million | £94.6 million | £108.8 million | £132.0 million | £136.5 million |
Please note that there may be circumstances where transportation is booked outside the central booking system, which is not captured here.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many third party motor claims were received by his Department in each year since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Claims received by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are published annually in the MOD common law compensation claims statistics report. The latest version, covering financial year 2022-23, can be found at this link:
UK Third party motor claims are shown as distinct category in Table 1, and listed below for ease of reference.
2018-19 - 1,034
2019-20 - 989
2020-21 - 578
2021-22 - 823
2022-23 - 904
In addition, a very small number of overseas third-party motor claims fall within the Public Liability Motor and Area Claims Offices categories of Table 1.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had discussions with (a) London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) Ltd and (b) the wider industry on the repair capacity for (i) LEVC black cabs and (ii) other electric taxis.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has regular engagement with LEVC and the wider industry on a range of topics, most recently including manufacturing trends and the extension to the Plug In Taxi Grant. However, matters relating to electric taxi repairs have not been raised.
The Government recognises there will be a transitional period for the repair sector as the UK moves to zero emission road transport. Although not specifically on electric taxis, the Government funded research by Thatcham to understand the impact of the electric vehicle transition on the repair sector, which was published in 2023. The number of EV qualified technicians has risen rapidly. Data from the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) suggests there are 52,000 qualified electric vehicle technicians in the UK, which is 22% of all UK technicians. This is relative to 3.8% of all vehicles in the UK being a plug-in electric vehicle.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to renegotiate carnet provisions between the UK and EU on the movement of vehicles and parts used in motorsport.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is committed to maintaining the option of using ATA Carnets for temporary movements of professional equipment to the EU. Carnets can be a simpler and cheaper way to move goods into and out of a customs territory temporarily, compared to submitting full customs import and export declarations and paying duties.
The EU’s Temporary Admission procedure in combination with the UK’s Returned Goods Relief offers another alternative to move items temporarily into the EU and back to the UK without paying import duties. Improved guidance on the temporary movement of goods from the UK has recently been published: https://www.gov.uk/taking-goods-out-gb-temporarily.
The Government is reviewing how we can improve the UK’s own Temporary Admission procedure and simplify processes for individuals and businesses, and has engaged with the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders which included representatives from Motorsport UK. HMRC and HMT are open to further discussions and any specific concerns the motorsport industry has around the options available for temporarily moving goods.
Work to digitalise ATA Carnets and their processes is currently underway as part of a World customs Organisation (WCO) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) initiative. The Digital Pilot was launched in February 2019, initially involving the UK and five other countries. To date the UK has successfully processed a number of e-Carnets from Heathrow and is looking to collaborate with more ports to make digital Carnets more readily available. More information is available at https://iccwbo.org/media-wall/news-speeches/icc-new-ata-carnet-app-makes-digital-declarations-and-transactions-possible/
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what statutory powers the DVLA has to remove untaxed vehicles parked on residential streets.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Section 29 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 makes it an offence to use or keep an unlicensed vehicle on the public road. Where such an offence has been committed, Schedule 2A of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, as well as the Vehicle Excise Duty (Immobilisation, Removal and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations 1997, provide the statutory powers to immobilise and remove vehicles.