Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 7 July 2020 to Question 65974 on Motor Vehicles: Delivery Services, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with representatives of food delivery companies on the use of motorcycle and moped-based delivery drivers, including inappropriate use of (a) cycle paths, (b) barriers and (c) cycle boxes at road junctions intended for use by cyclists only.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department has not had any discussions with food delivery companies on the use of motorcycle and moped-based delivery drivers.
Employers have a duty to manage the risks of their work activities, and employees have a responsibility to drive safely and with consideration towards other road users. Motorcycle and moped riders, like other road users, are required to comply with road traffic law and may be fined, given penalty points on their licence or disqualified from driving if they disobey the legal requirements. If they do not adopt a responsible attitude or if their use of the highway creates an unsafe environment or causes nuisance, they may be committing a number of offences.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of rising numbers of learner motorcyclists and scooter riders on the safety of cyclists.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There is no means of establishing the number of Compulsory Basic Training courses that have been undertaken, and therefore the number of learner motorcyclists and scooter riders. However, the robustness of the driving test regime ensures that learner riders use the highway in a safe and considerate manner.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with those employing or contracting learner motorcyclists and scooter riders to make deliveries on the behaviour of their riders on the roads and in relation to pedestrians and cyclists.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Employers have a duty to manage the risks of their work activities, and employees have a responsibility to drive safely and with consideration towards other road users. Learner motorcyclists and motor scooter riders, like other road users, are required to comply with road traffic law and may be fined, given penalty points on their licence, or disqualified from driving if they disobey the legal requirements. If they do not adopt a responsible attitude, or if their use of the highway creates an unsafe environment or causes nuisance, they may be committing a number of offences.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many additional learner motorbike and scooter riders started on the road in each month since January 2019 to date.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) sells Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) certificates in books, containing 25 certificates per book, to Approved Training Bodies (ATB). CBT certificates are issued by ATBs to successful candidates and are valid for two years.
Between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2021, which is the latest publication date, the DVSA has sold 363,600 certificates. There is no means of establishing the number of CBT courses that have been undertaken since January 2019 to date.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people over the age of 70 are waiting for a decision on the renewal of their driving licence following the expiry of their existing licence who applied for that renewal after the Government’s covid-19 extension period expired on 31 December 2020.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Drivers whose licence expired between 1 February and 31 December 2020 have had their entitlement to drive in the UK automatically extended for 11 months. The extension started from the date the licence was due to expire. Drivers whose entitlement expires on or after 1 January 2021, are advised to renew their driving licence as normal.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services have been available throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union, along with fewer operational staff being on site to allow for social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements and an increased demand for its services has led to delays in dealing with paper applications. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff.
The number of paper applications awaiting processing fluctuates daily as driving licences are issued and new applications received. Currently, paper applications are likely to take six to ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of funds have been disbursed from the Port Infrastructure Fund to successful applicants; and what the Government's timescale is for disbursement of remaining funds.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Disbursal of funds is set to commence imminently, with several Grant Funding Agreements having been recently finalised following negotiations with awardees, and the remainder being finalised currently.
Funds will be disbursed to each awardee as staged payments, monthly. Following initial payments, the timescales for disbursing remaining funds to any awardee corresponds to that awardee’s project delivery timeline.
Projects are scheduled to be delivered in time for the full implementation of the new Border Operating Model.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Great Western Railway withdrawing from the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme on (a) traffic congestion and (b) air quality in Oxford East constituency.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) withdrawal from easitNETWORK is a matter for the operator, and the Department has therefore made no assessment of its effect on traffic congestion or air quality and has had no discussions with employers in Oxford about this.
Any support for users of the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme when GWR withdraws from that scheme is also a matter for GWR.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has held with employers in Oxford that make the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme available to their employees on the effect of Great Western Railway withdrawing from that scheme.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) withdrawal from easitNETWORK is a matter for the operator, and the Department has therefore made no assessment of its effect on traffic congestion or air quality and has had no discussions with employers in Oxford about this.
Any support for users of the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme when GWR withdraws from that scheme is also a matter for GWR.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what financial support his Department will provide to users of the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme when Great Western Railway withdraws from that scheme.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) withdrawal from easitNETWORK is a matter for the operator, and the Department has therefore made no assessment of its effect on traffic congestion or air quality and has had no discussions with employers in Oxford about this.
Any support for users of the easitNETWORK discount travel scheme when GWR withdraws from that scheme is also a matter for GWR.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the role of (a) easitNETWORK and (b) other discount travel schemes in achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
We have made no specific assessment of the role of easitNETWORK in achieving new zero emissions by 2050. We are committed to improving the attractiveness of rail, having recently introduced the 16-17 Saver and 26-30 railcards, with a commitment to introducing a new railcard for veterans later this year.