Bus Funding
Amanda Martin Excerpts(1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Louise Haigh
I am delighted to confirm that Shropshire’s resource departmental expenditure limit allocation is £3.1 million, so the hon. Lady has already had a further £600,000 out of today’s statement.
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)
The Government’s biggest reform to England’s bus system in 40 years sees the people of Portsmouth having power put back into the hands of our communities. Today’s funding, the cutting of red tape and the ending of the postcode lottery will ensure that bus routes are where they are needed, allowing everyone to access work, medical appointments and social life. Can the Secretary of State inform people in Portsmouth North how the funding award and the landmark buses Bill—soon to be tabled—will support these welcome changes to truly put people first?
Louise Haigh
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for standing up, for Portsmouth and its people, as she always does. Today’s funding settlement will be ringfenced towards buses to ensure that Portsmouth gets both the level of funding it needs and, crucially, the flexibility and control to deliver it where it is needed most. Portsmouth will be able to avail itself of the powers we will announce in the coming weeks to take back control of its bus services and to deliver routes, services and fare levels that are right for the people of Portsmouth.
Driving Test Availability
Amanda Martin Excerpts(2 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)
Thank you, Sir Roger, for your chairmanship. It is a pleasure to speak in the debate, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) for introducing it. During covid lockdowns, 850,000 tests were cancelled, and the service has been struggling ever since. The demand for driving tests currently outweighs availability. Since 2023—so for over 18 months—the average wait time for a driving test in Portsmouth has been stuck around 24 weeks, but in 2019, it was eight weeks, so that is an increase of 200%. As we have heard, the true figure may well be bigger, because people are logging on and seeing 24 weeks and no appointments, so they could be waiting for longer.
In the Portsmouth test centre, the pass rate is about 50%, so the average person is taking two tests and leaving at least a year to be test ready. That is causing huge financial and emotional impacts. In some cases, it impacts on people’s opportunities to go to work and live their lives. As we have heard, there is sometimes a need to retake their theory test.
While many people are experiencing worse—I know we are not the lowest in the table—it is not a race to the bottom. My constituents have written to me to describe their distress at being unable to book a test in a reasonable time, and at the extortionate prices levied by touts who are reselling them, using the bot software that we have heard about. Like others, I welcome and echo the sentiments expressed about the Transport Secretary’s willingness to tackle that as a key priority for the Labour Government.
Additional funding is required to tackle the enormous backlog in tests. That could be directed towards making additional driving test slots available, recruiting and retaining more examiners, and putting in place laws to stop those bot blockers. By doing that, we could improve the technology of the booking system to detect those problems, because the chief executive of the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency, back in 2023, described the booking system as “end of life”. I would like to hear what we are able to do.