Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending regulations to require that cycle helmets be worn when hiring an e-bike.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department looked carefully at the case for making helmet-wearing mandatory for all cyclists in a comprehensive Cycling and Walking Safety Review in 2018. The review is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/governments-response-to-the-cycling-walking-investment-strategy-safety-review.
The review concluded that helmets should continue to be strongly recommended for people who cycle, but that they should remain a matter of personal choice rather than becoming a legal requirement. This is because the benefits of mandating cycle helmets would be likely to be outweighed by putting some people off cycling, thereby reducing the wider health and environmental benefits. The review did not specifically look at the case for mandating helmets only for those who hire e-cycles; but the Department expects the arguments for and against would be similar to the arguments for non-e-bikes.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussion he has had with car insurance providers on (a) changes in the price of car insurance renewals in the last 12 months and (b) the potential impact of such changes on consumers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance.
However, it is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set their premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies, and the Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from airlines on fuel tankering.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is aware of the practice of tankering whereby airlines may decide to take on additional fuel than is required for a given journey. Although tankering can be practiced for operational purposes, such as avoiding technical failures or contaminated fuel at destination airports, research suggests that 90% of tankering events are linked to fuel prices.
In the Government’s consultation, published in March 2023, on the details of the sustainable aviation fuel mandate, we recognised the potential for increased tankering and the risk that it could potentially result in the transfer of carbon emissions to other locations or to an increase in overall carbon emissions. We welcomed views from industry stakeholders in the consultation and are currently reviewing the evidence provided before publishing our response.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help reduce noise pollution from aircraft in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government’s overall policy on aviation noise seeks to balance the economic and consumer benefits of aviation against their national and local social and health impacts. The effect of aviation noise must be mitigated as much as is practicable and realistic to do so, limiting, and where possible reducing, the total adverse effects on health and quality of life from aviation noise.
The Government sets noise controls, including restrictions on night operations, at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports as these airports are “designated” under the Civil Aviation Act 1982. This reflects these airports’ strategic importance and the need to balance the effects on communities with benefits to the UK economy. Regarding other airports, the Government’s view is that controls should be locally set.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle vehicle registration fraud.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
It is an offence to provide the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) with false or misleading information. The DVLA requires proof of name of address as part of the application process for the first registration of vehicles and there is a legal obligation on vehicles’ keepers to notify the DVLA of certain subsequent changes to the vehicle (including a change of keeper).
Unfortunately, there will always be a small percentage of individuals who, for whatever reason, will not comply with their legal obligation to provide correct information. The DVLA works with key stakeholders to identify and prevent vehicle fraud. In the event of fraud, the DVLA actively gathers information and intelligence regarding illegal and improper conduct and will follow up any notifications of fraudulent activity with the relevant authorities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure any potential closure of ticket offices does not increase travel costs for people travelling outside TfL boundaries.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Together with the rail industry, we want to improve and modernise the experience for passengers by moving staff out from behind the ticket office screens to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. The proposals should allow staff to move around the station to provide more personalised assistance in various ways, rather than being restricted to just selling tickets from a ticket office window, including so that passengers travelling outside TfL boundaries still get the best price for their journey.
The rail industry is considering the current range of non-digital products and transactions to identify solutions. This work includes expanding digital ticketing options and making them even easier for passengers to use through upgrades to TVMs and the digitisation of more tickets.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of electric charging points on the motorway network.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Around 96% of motorway service areas in England have charging available. There are more than 450 open-access (can be used with any electric vehicle) rapid and ultra-rapid chargepoints at motorway service areas across England.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric vehicle chargepoints there are in (a) Haringey and (b) Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Jesse Norman
This data represents those charging points paid for under government schemes, or recorded on Zapmaps, and likely underestimates the total amount of chargers.
In all areas, most users charge at home, and the complete number of home chargers isn’t recorded.
| i.) Public charging devices | ii.) Charging devices funded by the Domestic Recharge Scheme | iii.) Charging devices funded by the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme | iv.) Charging sockets funded by the Workplace Charging Scheme |
(a) Haringey local authority | 103 | 24 | 502 | 35 |
(b) Hornsey And Wood Green constituency | 60 | 20 | 479 | 24 |
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to support vulnerable and disabled passengers affected by the closure of railway ticket offices in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Under the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, when proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours (including closures) operators are required, amongst other things, to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of passengers. We would also expect operators to consider equality related needs of passengers and make this clear in the notice sent to other operators and passenger groups.
Together with the rail industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. No currently staffed station will be unstaffed as a result of industry changes. Train operators will ensure staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of answer of 13 October 2022 to Oral question 901608, Official Report column 235, and to his Written Statement of 9 March 2023 on Transport Update, HCWS625, what assessment he has made of the continued feasibility of his Department’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy targets.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government’s most recent assessment of progress towards meeting the targets in question was set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy report to Parliament in July 2022. A copy of the report is available in the House libraries. The Department will provide an updated assessment in its next report to Parliament in due course.