Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they take any steps to monitor whether lavatories on franchised train operator services are in working order throughout train journeys; whether any sanctions have been imposed on any franchisee as a result of that monitoring in the last two years; and if so, what those sanctions were.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are investing record amounts in the railways in order to give passengers better journeys. We expect the industry to deliver the best possible customer experience every day, including the provision of appropriate toilet facilities.
Whilst there are no regimes that separately monitor lavatory quality provided on trains by franchised train operators, the Invitation To Tender for the new Greater Anglia franchise is piloting three challenging customer service targets to be monitored through mystery shopper exercises and passenger surveys. One of these Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets is “presentation of facilities”, which includes questions about “the cleanliness of the toilet facilities” and “the condition of on board toilets” amongst other aspects. Financial penalties will apply if the KPI targets are not met. Various quality of service regimes exist in other Franchise Agreements for monitoring and managing overall train interior quality, some of which carry financial penalties. The National Rail Passenger Survey also reports specifically on “On Train Toilet Facilities” for every operator in its twice yearly survey.
No sanctions have been imposed specifically in regard to train toilets.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many deaths in the United Kingdom have resulted from drink driving in each year since 2010.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Department for Transport only holds information on reported personal-injury accidents on public roads (including footways) in Great Britain, which became known to the police.
The table below gives the number of deaths in Great Britain in accidents involving at least one driver with illegal blood alcohol content in each year since 2010.
Year | 95% Cl lower2 | Number of deaths1 | 95% Cl upper2 |
2010 | 220 | 240 | 260 |
2011 | 220 | 240 | 250 |
2012 | 210 | 230 | 250 |
20133 | 230 | 260 | 290 |
1. Estimates are rounded to the nearest ten. | |||
2. Upper and lower range for fatalities based on the 95% confidence interval | |||
3. Figures for 2013 are provisional | |||
These figures are produced from breath tests carried out by the police following accidents and information from coroners in England and Wales and procurators fiscal in Scotland about drivers who died in accidents. Due to complexity of the information from post-mortems and accidents where at least one driver did not stop, there is a considerable uncertainty about precisely which accidents involved drivers who were over the drink drive limit. As a result, the number of deaths is an estimate and the exact figure is unknown.
The figures in the table provide the best estimate of deaths and the upper and lower confidence interval represent the range in which we are 95% confident the exact figure falls.
Years with overlapping confidence intervals do not have statistically significant differences in the number of deaths. Therefore the number of deaths has been broadly the same each year from 2010 onwards.
The figures for 2013 are provisional estimates. Final figures for 2013 will be released in August 2015 alongside a first estimate for 2014.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance is given to overseas truck drivers regarding United Kingdom road traffic regulations.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency produces extensive guidance to help heavy goods vehicle drivers and operators meet their obligations, including the Highway Code and guidance on drivers’ hours and load security, for example. This is published on GOV.UK.
It is however, the responsibility of the individual driver and employer to ensure that they are aware of the specific road traffic requirements in each Member State. The driving test is delivered in accordance with EU requirements and all truck drivers have to undertake an EU prescribed initial qualification to gain a driver CPC and undertake mandatory periodic training to maintain it. One of the requirements of the CPC is that the driver is aware of the regulations relating to the carriage of goods, many of which are uniform across the EU such as drivers’ hours, use of tachographs, seatbelts, operator licensing and relevant papers relating to types of goods carried. Information for specific road traffic signs can be found on GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lorries registered overseas have been found to be (1) overloaded, (2) in an unsatisfactory mechanical condition, and (3) driven in breach of driver hours regulations, within the last 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The information requested is in the table below:
| Overloading | Weighed | 2,308 | Prohibited | 1,415 |
| Mechanical Prohibitions | Inspected | 32,344 | Prohibited | 10,586 |
| Drivers Hours | Examined | 41,732 | Prohibited | 6,708 |
On any given check it is often the case that the same vehicle is checked by a Vehicle Examiner and a Traffic Examiner and will be counted against both disciplines. Some vehicles/operators are targeted by only one discipline, for example: an older vehicle might be targeted for its condition but not to check on the driver.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that non-English-speaking road users can read road signs.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
Local authorities have a duty to ensure that their traffic signs and road markings comply with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) or are otherwise specially authorised by the Secretary of State. To provide consistency for road safety and efficient traffic management, TSRGD specifies that signs used on roads in Great Britain are in English. The Welsh Language Act 1993, however, allows for both Welsh and English to be used on traffic signs placed in Wales and the responsibility for specifying such bilingual signs is a devolved matter.
The UK traffic signing system uses largely symbolic signing for warning and regulatory signs without the use of worded plates to explain the symbols. This means that many signs are fully understandable by drivers even if those drivers do not speak English.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what (1) concessionary fares, and (2) free travel arrangements, for bus and travel services exist in each region of the United Kingdom; and whether they have plans to expand and encourage such schemes.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
Statutory concessionary bus travel is a devolved matter with separate systems administered in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. This response, therefore, refers only to the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS). The ENCTS is a statutory concession scheme which allows for free travel for older and disabled people on local bus services anywhere in England, between 0930 and 2300 during weekdays and anytime at weekends and bank holidays. In addition, local authorities are able to provide non-statutory, discretionary concessions for specified groups of people, from their own funds, in accordance with their local priorities, which the Government encourages. In each of the years 2010/11 to 2013/14, nearly all of the 89 Travel Concessionary Authorities outside London were offering some sort of discretionary travel concession over and above the statutory minimum ENCTS, for example companion passes or extensions to travel times. The statutory concession for London residents provides free travel for pass holders on almost all public transport in London. Details of discretionary enhancements across England can be found here -
(see in particular table BUS0841).
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to and received from (1) bus and coach companies, and (2) local authorities on behalf of bus and coach companies, concerning the difficulties of operating bus, coach and travel services in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Government is in regular communication with a wide range of stakeholders involved in the provision of bus and coach services. As Minister with responsibility for bus policy, I also hold frequent meetings with representatives from local authorities and the passenger transport industry.
For example, on 16 July I chaired the latest bi-annual meeting of the Bus Partnership Forum - whose membership includes a wide spectrum of key partners from the bus and coach industry as well as elected members and officials from local authorities and their constituent bodies.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, or have been presented with, concerning the electrification of Welsh railway lines; and whether they intend to meet Ministers of the Welsh Government to finalise those plans.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Government’s intention to electrify the main line to Swansea and the Valley lines network in South Wales was set out in the 2012 rail investment strategy for 2014-19, on the basis of an agreement made between the UK and Welsh Governments in 2012. The Secretary of State for Transport met the Welsh Minister for Economy, Science and Transport on 16th July 2014 to develop these plans. The Welsh Government is also examining the business case to electrify the North Wales main line, which could be considered as part of a future rail investment strategy.