Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to improve grace periods for parking fines and transparency for the appeal and enforcement process.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A 10-minute grace period became mandatory for all councils in England on 6 April 2015. It applies at local authority owned or operated car parks and at the end of paid-for and free on-street parking in England. The grace period only applies at the end of permitted paid-for or free parking to allow for accidental overstays beyond a driver's control. It does not apply at the start of a period of parking, nor in circumstances where the driver was not permitted to park (i.e. outside the hours of permitted operation of on-street parking).
A requirement for transparency on matters relating to civil parking enforcement is enshrined in the Secretary of State's statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil enforcement of parking contraventions.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure more children are able to cycle safely to school.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England provides funding to The Bikeability Trust to deliver Bikeability cycle training to children in England (outside London). In addition, active travel revenue funding can be used by local authorities to deliver cycle training and engagement programmes outside of Bikeability.
On 19 November 2024, Active Travel England and the Department for Transport published guidance for local authorities in England on how to set up and manage a School Streets scheme. School Streets can improve the experiences of a school’s pupils, staff, visitors, and neighbours alike at peak school arrival and departure times.
In the joint statement (issued 2 July 2025) on walking, wheeling and cycling, the Mayors of England’s Combined Authorities committed to transforming the school run by delivering high-quality, safer routes in neighbourhoods nationwide.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to suspend driving licences immediately for people arrested on suspicion of driving offences carrying mandatory disqualification.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
The Government is listening closely to the concerns of those affected by tragic cases of death or serious injury on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to publish a consultation on the adequacy of fail to stop provisions in the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to penalise offenders who fail to remain at the scene of a serious road traffic collision.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing the 24-hour time period allowed to report road traffic collisions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing motoring offences, such as reporting and failure to stop and report road traffic collisions.
More details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of young drivers killed in road traffic collisions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads and continue to tackle this through our THINK! campaign.
We are considering measures to address this problem and protect young drivers, as part of our upcoming strategy for road safety - the first in over a decade.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the transition to electric vehicles on small businesses that provide repairs to diesel vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government's Industrial Strategy sets out our plans to upskill the nation with an extra £1.2 billion each year by 2028-29 and to deliver more opportunities for people at all stages of life to learn and earn in our high-growth sectors. The newly created agency Skills England will work with partners to assess skills needs at national, regional and local levels, and the Department for Education has committed to a new skills and growth offer to support meeting these needs.
We are evolving apprenticeships into a new Growth and Skills Offer to provide greater flexibility for employers and learners, in line with the Industrial Strategy. The offer will boost skills in the sector through initiatives like the Electrification Skills Network, which supports the development of a nationally consistent approach to electrification skills in parallel to technology; and the Electric Revolution Skills Hub, which connects the Power Electronics, Machines and Drives community through a digital platform that gives access to training, development and jobs across the nation.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of amending the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to include measures to prevent pavement parking.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department held a consultation in 2020 and is working through the policy options to tackle pavement parking and the appropriate means of delivering them. As soon as the Government is satisfied that an optimal solution to this complex issue has been identified, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will respond to her Department's consultation entitled Managing Pavement Parking, which closed on 22 November 2020, by 31 December 2025.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department has been considering all the views expressed in response to the 2020 pavement parking consultation and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. We will announce the next steps and publish our formal response as soon as possible.