Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to tackle illegal e-scooter usage on public roads.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The enforcement of road traffic law is ultimately an operational matter for local police forces. The Department has issued guidance to all local authorities and operators taking part in the trials, and local authorities in trial areas continue to engage with local police forces.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided to increase electric vehicle charging points in the London Borough of Havering in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is supporting local authorities, such as the London Borough of Havering, through its £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund. Earlier this year, London was awarded £35.7 million in capital funding to cover the costs associated with the installation of EV chargepoints. Havering will also benefit from London’s £3 million capability funding, which will secure dedicated in-house expertise to support boroughs to plan, procure and tender the delivery of local chargepoints. In addition, the Borough was awarded £346,490 in 2021/22 through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which has supported the installation of 114 public chargepoints across the area.
Through the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS), businesses, charities and the wider public sector can receive grants of up to £350 per socket for installing up to 40 charging sockets for their employees and fleets. The London Borough of Havering has benefitted from WCS grants as follows:
| Number of sockets | Grant Value |
2017 | 2 | £600 |
2019 | 2 | £1,000 |
2020 | 23 | £10,000 |
2021 | 29 | £9,917 |
2022 | 27 | £9,450 |
2023 | 12 | £4,200 |
Total | 95 | £35,167 |
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to promote the erection of heritage and traditional street lamps.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities.
The Department for Transport encourages local authorities to consider best practice, such as being sympathetic to heritage areas, when making decisions about lighting on their networks. The Street Furniture Selection Guide, produced by Historic England, gives some information on heritage lighting and factors to be considered when choosing the street lighting luminaire and column where appropriate.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with Transport for London on the number of train cancellations on the Elizabeth Line.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department has not held any recent discussions with Transport for London regarding cancellations on the Elizabeth Line.
We are aware of recent infrastructure failures in the Thames Valley area between London – Reading that have affected Elizabeth Line reliability.
The Rail Minister regularly meets Network Rail senior leadership and raises performance issues.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help improve access to public car charge points in the London Borough of Havering.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is supporting local authorities, such as Havering, through its £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund. London was awarded £35.7 million in capital funding to cover the costs associated with the installation of EV chargepoints. Havering will also benefit from London’s £3 million capability (resource) funding, which will secure dedicated in-house expertise to help support boroughs to plan, procure and tender the delivery of local chargepoints. In addition, the Borough has been awarded £346,490 for 114 chargepoints through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had discussions with airlines on the viability of direct flights to Sierra Leone.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Department for Transport Ministers and officials hold regular discussions with airlines, airports and international partners to facilitate global connectivity. Air services between the United Kingdom and other countries are governed by a portfolio of bilateral air services agreements, which set the framework in which airlines from both countries operate. Our agreement with Sierra Leone specifies that there are no limitations on the frequency or type of services between Sierra Leone and the UK. Any airline from the UK or Sierra Leone, designated under this agreement, can operate between any points in the two countries.
It is for individual airlines to determine whether to take advantage of the rights and routes available to them within any air services agreement. Market conditions, such as the availability of indirect routing options, often affect the commercial considerations of airlines.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to tackle the use of car exhaust outputs which go over the legal noise limit of 74 decibels.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government is keen to support police and local authorities in using their existing powers to tackle excessively noisy and illegally modified vehicles.
The Department has also recently conducted trials of the latest noise camera technology, the results of which will be published shortly.
The annual vehicle MOT test requires an inspection of the state of repair of the exhaust and the tester uses their experience to make a subjective assessment of the noise levels. A vehicle should fail the MOT if the silencer has been altered to increase noise above the level expected from a standard system.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will take steps to regulate and enforce car exhaust noise levels through the MOT check procedure.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government is keen to support police and local authorities in using their existing powers to tackle excessively noisy and illegally modified vehicles.
The Department has also recently conducted trials of the latest noise camera technology, the results of which will be published shortly.
The annual vehicle MOT test requires an inspection of the state of repair of the exhaust and the tester uses their experience to make a subjective assessment of the noise levels. A vehicle should fail the MOT if the silencer has been altered to increase noise above the level expected from a standard system.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of low traffic neighbourhoods on levels of congestion.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Responsibility for traffic management on local roads, including the implementation of low-traffic neighbourhoods, rests with local traffic authorities. They have a statutory duty, under the Traffic Management Act 2004, to manage their networks with the aim of ‘securing the expeditious movement of traffic’, including the reduction of congestion and other disruption.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to reduce traffic congestion in (a) Romford and (b) the area surrounding Gallows Corner.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Managing the traffic on local roads is the responsibility of the local traffic authorities. They are subject to a network management duty which requires them to manage their roads to deliver expeditious movement of traffic, including pedestrians. Responsibility for London’s road network is primarily split between TfL, who manage London’s red routes, and the London boroughs, who manage around 95% of the network.