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Written Question
Pedestrian Areas: Access
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that highways funding supports pavement accessibility.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area, including footways and pavements. In doing so the Department recommends that they follow the advice set out in various guidance documents, which covers topics such as the maintenance and design of pavements, and the use of tactile paving .

The additional £8.3 billion of highway maintenance funding that the Government is providing to all English local highway authorities over the years 2023/24 to 2033/34 will allow them to invest in improvements to their local highway networks, including pavements and footways. Authorities will be expected to detail how this additional funding is being spent, to allow members of the public to hold them to account for this.


Written Question
Pedestrian Areas: Access
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Local Government Association entitled The path to inclusive footways, published on 10 February 2024.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department is aware that pavement parking is a challenging and complex issue.

Local authorities are responsible for parking restrictions and already have powers to tackle pavement parking by implementing Traffic Regulation Orders. The Department has consulted on further options to help local authorities outside London tackle this issue and will publish a formal response when final decisions have been taken.


Written Question
Railways: Access
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2024 to Question 11862, for what reason successful nominations for funding under the Access for All programme have not yet been announced.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Further to the answer of 1st February 2024, I reaffirm the Government’s commitment of £350m of additional funding to improve the accessibility of stations across Great Britain. We are assessing over 300 nominations for Access for All funding which is a detailed and rigorous process.


Written Question
Railways: Access
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Department for Transport during the oral question on Access for All of 8 June 2023, Official Report, column 856, what his planned timetable is for making a decision on the projects receiving funding from the Access for All programme.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

As part of our recent Network North announcement, the Government confirmed £350m will be made available to improve the accessibility of train stations across Britain. We are assessing over 300 nominations for funding under the Access for All programme. At stations awarded funding this will create an obstacle free, accessible route from the station entrance to all platforms. Successful nominations will be announced in due course.


Written Question
Cars: Exhaust Emissions
Tuesday 12th December 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 451 on Cars: Exhaust Emissions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the decision to move the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035 on (a) public health and (b) other matters; and whether his Department has plans to conduct further impact assessments.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department has not completed any assessment on the air quality impact of the decision to delay the end of sale date for new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035. However, the Government has laid the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order 2023 before the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd Cymru on 16th October,which implements the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate across Great Britain.

The ZEV mandate is Government biggest carbon reduction measure and will significantly reduce tail pipe emissions as set out in the cost benefit analysis published by the Department. All impacts, including public health, are detailed in the impact assessment: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2023/9780348252453/pdfs/ukdsiod_9780348252453_en_001.pdf


Written Question
Cars: Exhaust Emissions
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the decision to move the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035 on air pollution (a) in major cities and (b) across England.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department has not completed any assessment on the air quality impact of the decision to delay the end of sale date for new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035. The Government has however laid the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order 2023 before the Houses of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd Cymru on 16th October (which implements the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate across Great Britain).

The ZEV mandate is Government biggest carbon reduction measure and will significantly reduce air pollutant emissions as set out in the cost benefit analysis published by the Department. The Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order 2023 (legislation.gov.uk)


Written Question
Parking: Pedestrian Areas
Wednesday 18th October 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the closed consultation entitled Pavement parking: options for change, updated on 29 June 2023, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the outcomes of that consultation.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Ministers have had informal discussions with colleagues from time to time. The process for identifying and securing collective agreement to the approach the Government wishes to take on pavement parking in light of the consultation is ongoing.


Written Question
Bus Services: Finance
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing a long-term funding system for bus (a) operators and (b) manufacturers.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Transport recently announced a long-term approach to protect and improve bus services backed by an additional £300 million until April 2025. £140 million of this funding will go to bus operators to support services, and the remaining £160 million will go to Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) to protect and enhance bus services, and support local fares initiatives.

We also make available up to £259 million every year for bus operators and LTAs to keep fares down and run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation through the Bus Service Operators Grant.

The Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme did not provide funding for bus manufacturers; however, we have provided £269.57 million to Local Transport Authorities to support the introduction of 1,300 zero emission buses and supporting infrastructure. This is part of the government’s wider investment in zero-emission buses (ZEBs), which totals over £450m and funded an estimated 4,200 ZEBs across the UK so far.


Written Question
Active Travel: Urban Areas
Thursday 13th July 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of whether he will meet his target to increase the proportion of short journeys that are walked or cycled in towns and cities to 46% by 2025.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Government’s most recent assessment of this was set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy report to Parliament in July 2022, a copy of which is available in the House Libraries. The Department will provide an updated assessment in its next report to Parliament in due course.


Written Question
Active Travel: Finance
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 23c of the National Audit Office report entitled Active Travel in England, HC 1376, what steps he is taking to implement that report's recommendation on funding for active travel.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Department is carefully considering the report’s findings and recommendations. Officials from the Department and Active Travel England will be attending a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on 19 July to discuss them. The PAC will publish a report following the hearing, and the Department will publish a formal response after this.