Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the price of fuel at motoring service areas; and what steps they will take to ensure motorists are aware of differences in prices.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The retail fuels market is subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), formerly the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
The Department for Transport has written twice to the CMA setting out our concerns to ensure that motorists benefit from the lower retail fuel prices and better services that can result from competition. We are now working with them to examine whether the use of new technology to increase the transparency of fuel prices can deliver more competitive fuel prices for consumers at motorway forecourts, without compromising safety.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average daytime speed of traffic in the five largest English cities; whether that speed has decreased since 2012; if so, what assessment they have made of the reasons for the decrease; and what is their assessment of the impact of a slowdown in average urban driving speeds on the national economy.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport has not estimated average daytime speeds in the five largest English cities. However, estimates of average speed and average delay have been published for locally managed ‘A’ roads by Local Authority, and for the Strategic Road Network. For local ‘A’ roads, estimates are published averaged across all 24 hours of the day, as well as for morning and evening peak periods. These average speeds can be found in table CGN0501, and average delays in table CGN0502: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/average-speed-and-delay-on-local-a-roads-cgn05.These have also been attached for ease.
Since the start of the statistical series in 2014, average speeds on urban classified local ‘A’ roads have decreased by 0.9mph (4.7%) to 18.4mph in 2017. Average delays have increased by 11.2% over the same period.
The Department provides Local Authorities with the underlying Travel Times dataset, to facilitate their own estimates of congestion. The Department has also undertaken sustained investment across a variety of initiatives to help manage traffic levels on both locally managed roads and the Strategic Road Network, and it plays an important role in ensuring the appropriate regulatory frameworks are in place.
There is no single cause of congestion. It occurs because of a range of factors including population increase, economic growth, access to alternative modes, traffic incidents and roadworks.
We do not have a current estimate of the cost of slower average urban speeds on the national economy. Urban congestion is frequently best managed by local areas, which have the knowledge and tools available to help manage traffic flows and ensure the availability of alternative modes of travel.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they ensure that all groups who use public transport have equal access to public transport and that none are discriminated against, including the elderly and those with young children.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is committed to making the transport system accessible to all users, including the elderly and those with young children. The draft Accessibility Action Plan, published for consultation last year, set out a number of steps we will be taking across transport modes.
In addition, the Equality Act 2010 makes provision for operators of public transport services to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate passengers who share protected characteristics, which includes age.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the use of cycle lanes in English cities since 2010; and how this compares to projected usage.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government has not carried out an assessment of, or made projections about the use of, cycle lanes in English cities: this is a matter for local highways authorities.
The Department’s statistics on cycling and walking, published most recently on 18 January 2018, contain information on national cycling trends over time and include some information at a local authority level, but do not cover the use of cycle lanes in individual cities.
Similarly, the Department’s regular road traffic statistics provide estimates of the vehicle miles travelled each year in Great Britain, by vehicle type, including pedal cycles, but do not distinguish between cycling on cycle lanes and cycling on the main carriageway.
The Department for Transport has made funds available to eight cities through the Cycle Ambition programme to improve or expand cycle routes in line with local priorities, and will monitor and evaluate the impact of this funding over time. Other organisations have produced reports which contain some information on this. Sustrans, for example, has recently published “Bike Life” reports for several cities which are available online and which cover matters such as cycle infrastructure provision, travel habits, and attitudes towards cycling in the cities in question.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that cyclists are aware of the requirement to obey the Highway Code in respect of Rules for cyclists (59 to 82), particularly Rule 66, Rule 69, Rule 71, and Rule 72.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
As with all road users, cyclists need to adhere to the rules set out in the Highway Code. The Government continues to keep road safety and road traffic offences under review to ensure that the current legislative framework is adequate. This is why the Cycle Safety Review was announced on 21 September 2017. The Government also promotes road safety, including encouraging safe cycling, through its Think! campaigns and Bikeability training.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
Her Majesty's Government how many of the projects to tackle congestion and to improve the UK's strategic road network announced in the 2014 Road Investment Strategy have been delayed or cancelled; and why.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
One scheme has been cancelled following the public consultation. The A27 Chichester Bypass scheme in West Sussex was dependent on local support and financial contribution of the authorities and there was no clear consensus on the best way forward.
Three schemes in construction have delays to their "open to traffic" dates. The A1 Leeming to Barton scheme in North Yorkshire has been delayed following extensive archaeological finds. The A21 Tonbridge to Pembury scheme in Kent has been delayed due to the need for remedial action to deal with unforeseen large volumes of hazardous waste. The A30 Temple to Carblake scheme is being delivered by Cornwall County Council and has been delayed due to changes in traffic management to reduce disruption during peak summer months.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to promote best practice in the management of road verges in order to protect endangered species of flora in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Transport through the UK Roads Liaison Group promotes the Well Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice. This Code provides best practice and guidance for highway authorities to manage and maintain the local highways for which they are responsible, including providing advice on a range of issues, such as managing road verges to help protect endangered species of flora.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
Her Majesty's Government what meetings they have held with representatives of the insurance industry to address rises in car insurance policy premiums faced by drivers.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Transport has held a number of recent discussions with the motor insurance industry, for example to discuss young driver safety and technology measures, and changes to the personal injury discount rate which affect on the cost of insurance.
The Queen’s Speech, on 21 June, confirmed that a Civil Liability Bill will be introduced to tackle the continuing high number and cost of whiplash claims and to help reduce motor insurance premiums.
The pricing of insurance products is a commercial matter for individual insurers in which the Government does not seek to intervene.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to prevent the abuse of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the scheme but the Department for Transport has taken a number of steps to assist them: making it easier to withdraw a badge for reasons of misuse; providing local authorities with powers to seize badges on-street; introducing fraud resistant badges; and establishing a single national database of all badges that can be accessed by on-street enforcement officers to identify genuine badge holders.
The Department shares examples of best practice amongst local authorities and is currently hosting a series of regional workshops aimed at making authorities aware of the powers they have to address abuse.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they estimate that traffic congestion costs the economy in time wasted (1) in London, and (2) in the 21 most congested UK cities, according to the 2016 INRIX report <i>Europe's Traffic Hotspots: Measuring the Impact of Congestion in Europe</i>.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Transport does not routinely estimate congestion costs however, as part of the Eddington study in 2006, the Department estimated congestion costs in the most congested Local Authorities and in 2009 published a congestion map as part of the DASTS (Delivering A Sustainable Transport Strategy) City and Regional Networks Data Book showing the most congested towns and cities. The DASTS Databook Annex14 is available at:
However, due to both the use of different methodologies, geographies as well as the age of the above analysis, it is not possible to compare the Departments historic analysis of congestion costs with those of INRIX.