Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps HS2 Ltd has taken to ensure the safety (a) of cyclists in relation to the design of lorries, (b) awareness of lorry drivers and (c) accreditation of lorry operators involved in HS2-related contracts.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HS2 Ltd has set clear requirements for its supply chain to follow, as set out in the HS2 Phase 1 Route-wide Traffic Management Plan. These requirements include:-
a) Vehicles attending worksites are required to comply with the Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) standard with regard to the fitment and operation of safety equipment. Principal contractors are required to show how they will provide and operate vehicles which minimise ground clearance, remove blind spots, prevent underrunning and address driver visibility.
b) Construction drivers regularly accessing HS2 construction sites are required to demonstrate that they have attended accredited courses in work-related road risk driver training, rural driver training and fuel efficiency training.
c) Principal contractors are required to adhere to a quality standard, such as the Freight Operator Recognition Scheme, and to show how standards will be implemented through their supply chain.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on upgrades or improvements to the (a) A55 and (b) M4/A40 corridor to cope with potential delays to freight traffic a result of additional customs procedures in the event of the UK leaving the EU customs union.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department regularly engages with the Welsh Government to ensure a coordinated, joined up approach to investment in the strategic road network. The Department is in consultation with the ports and logistics industry, in order to help ensure that movement through ports and across borders is as frictionless as possible, whatever the outcome of negotiations on future arrangements for trade with the EU.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the Joint Approvals Unit for Periodic Training approved Safe Urban Driving module a mandatory part of the lorry driver's Certificate of Professional Competence training.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The UK’s Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) scheme was developed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in conjunction with representatives from the freight and logistics sectors to provide flexibility so that drivers and their employers could create training regimes relevant to their own requirements.
DVSA agrees that courses which raise awareness of vulnerable road users have an important part to play in improving UK road safety. It has taken steps to promote these courses for all professional drivers and not just drivers of lorries. DVSA has promoted this subject matter as best practice to encourage uptake amongst drivers who regularly work in an urban environment.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions from heavy goods vehicles; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government has implemented measures to encourage cleaner and more fuel efficient HGVs including increasing rewards for renewable gaseous fuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, the £11m Low Carbon Truck Trial, a £25m Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition, and £24 million funding to enable the freight and logistics sector to trial the very latest in innovative low and zero emission vehicle technologies in fleets.
The Department for Transport is making good progress on its review of options to further reduce CO2 emissions from the road freight sector, which we intend to publish shortly. The Government now looking ahead to our emission reduction plan which will set out the steps we will meet our carbon budgets through the 2020s.
The Department is also engaged in EU negotiations on heavy duty vehicle CO2 regulations, which will cover the monitoring and reporting of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from all new HGVs.
Asked by: Robert Flello (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which organisations and individuals have been invited to attend the logistics industry round table to discuss driver shortage and future recruitment on 17 November 2016.
Answered by John Hayes
The invitation list for the round table is yet to be finalised. People from a number of organisations have been asked to keep the time on 17th November available. The organisations (other than Government) involved are Abbey Logistics Group, the British International Freight Association, British Ports, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Freight Transport Association, Freightlink Europe, Labyrinth Solutions, the Rail Delivery Group, Rail Freight Group, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the Road Haulage Association, Unite the Union, the UK Major Ports Group and the UK Warehousing Association.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to incentivise road haulage businesses to purchase vehicles with (a) lower driving positions, (b) observation cameras, (c) glass doors and (d) other advanced safety measures.
Answered by Andrew Jones
A number of lorry manufacturers produce models with lower cabs, glass doors and other safety equipment such as cameras and their use is increasingly common on UK roads.
Transport for London’s Freight Operator Recognition Scheme and Construction Logistics Cyclist Safety scheme encourage the use of safer vehicle designs and equipment for vehicles operating in London. Compliance with such a scheme can be a contractual requirement, including for some major public sector transport projects, such as Crossrail.
We support the aims of such schemes in improving road safety.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the decision by Hapag-Llloyd and Hamburg Sud to transfer operations from the Port of Tilbury to London Gateway on (a) rail and (b) road freight journeys; and what projection his Department has made of how many containers will transfer from rail to road as a result of this decision.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department made no specific assessment of these commercial, operational decisions.
The impact on local road and rail network will have been assessed as part of the planning process. The London Gateway planning consents require various inland infrastructure works to reflect the scope of the development and the potential levels of business and traffic. This includes works on the A13, Junction 30 of M25, and rail freight links that are to be undertaken when specified threshold levels of port development, and for the associated logistics park, are reached.
It is not necessarily the case that the transfer of one contract from Tilbury to London Gateway will affect the overall balance of containers currently sent by rail and road. Like Tilbury, London Gateway is served by rail as well as road. The DfT is supporting financially some rail freight flows from Tilbury and London Gateway in recognition of non-commercialised benefits, such as for the environment, from using rail rather than road for freight.
Asked by: Kelvin Hopkins (Independent - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the decision by Hapag-Llloyd and Hamburg Sud to transfer operations from the Port of Tilbury to London Gateway on the local road network.
Answered by John Hayes
The Department made no specific assessment of these commercial, operational decisions.
The impact on local road and rail network will have been assessed as part of the planning process. The London Gateway planning consents require various inland infrastructure works to reflect the scope of the development and the potential levels of business and traffic. This includes works on the A13, Junction 30 of M25, and rail freight links that are to be undertaken when specified threshold levels of port development, and for the associated logistics park, are reached.
It is not necessarily the case that the transfer of one contract from Tilbury to London Gateway will affect the overall balance of containers currently sent by rail and road. Like Tilbury, London Gateway is served by rail as well as road. The DfT is supporting financially some rail freight flows from Tilbury and London Gateway in recognition of non-commercialised benefits, such as for the environment, from using rail rather than road for freight.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with representatives of the haulage industry about improving the safety of cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
There have been discussions with representatives of the haulage industry in a number of broader meetings. The meetings included the Commercial Vehicle Road Safety Forum, the Road Haulage Forum and a driver certificates of professional competence (DCPC) stakeholder meeting for the EU review. The subjects discussed included the potential for DCPC, vehicle design and enforcement to improve safety, including of cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
Department for Transport officials have also attended meetings about vehicle construction and to develop a best practice standard for construction logistics. These have been in collaboration with the haulage industry and Transport for London, with the objective of improving road safety for cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
The Department runs a Safety Sub Group of the Minister's Cycling Stakeholder Forum. This includes members from the haulage industry, such as the Freight Transport Association, Road Haulage Association and Minerals Products Association.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with maritime industry stakeholders on the implications of maritime fuel sulphur regulations for freight traffic moving from water freight to road freight.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
In October 2012, and again in March 2013, I chaired ‘round table' meetings of industry stakeholders (from the shipping, ports, exhaust gas cleaning system technology, oil refining and logistics sectors) to consider the best way forward for compliance with the new international and EU sulphur requirements. The potential for reverse modal shift, the maturity and efficacy of scrubber technology and the scope for financial assistance to industry were all key to those discussions. The report commissioned by the UK Chamber of Shipping was produced as a result of those meetings, and officials have taken it into account in producing the Government's Impact Assessment on the draft UK Regulations to implement the sulphur limits in national law.
The Government went out to an eight-week public consultation on 29 April 2014 on those draft UK Regulations. Meanwhile, Government officials continue to work closely with the industry and to explore the scope for securing EU finance, possibly under the Trans-European Network (commonly known as TEN-T) programme and affordable capital from the European Investment Bank, for shipowners and ports who wish to invest in scrubber technology or in technology associated with the use of an alternative fuel, such as liquefied natural gas, to comply with the new limits.
The UK Regulations will be reviewed in accordance with normal Government practice and consistent with the principles of better regulation.