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 with local authorities to increase the number of heavy goods vehicle drivers who work in local authority waste collection.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Waste collection is a responsibility of local authorities, and this includes oversight of all components of the service provided.
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 his Department made of the potential effect on road safety of the decision to temporarily extend operating hours limits for heavy goods vehicle drivers.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
It is important to remember that the relaxations are limited in nature. No requirements of the rules for breaks during the day, daily & weekly rest periods, and weekly & fortnightly driving limits have been removed. They have been relaxed in a controlled way. In addition, the relaxations are time limited and only made due to exceptional circumstances.
Our issued guidance makes clear that driver safety must not be compromised. Drivers should not be expected to drive whilst tired and employers remain responsible for the health and safety of their employees and other road users.
In addition, drivers remain bound by the requirements in the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005. This ensures that drivers do not work long hours, by limiting their overall working hours (which includes driving and any other work), to an average of 48 hours a week over a 17 to 26-week reference period. These regulations also limit drivers to a maximum of 60 hours in any given week, provided the average is still 48 hours. This guarantees drivers are not working continuously long hours, even if working under a temporary relaxation of the drivers’ hours rules.
There have not been any reported accidents identified to the Department involving drivers working under a drivers’ hours relaxation, although there is no specific reporting requirement.
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 Portugal and Malta introducing new obligations on arrivals, what discussions he is having with his European counterparts on international travel and requirements for vaccination for children aged 12 to 17.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Department for Transport ministers and/or officials have met with counterparts from Portugal, Malta and the EU to discuss the safe and sustainable unlocking of international travel. Our Embassies in these countries, and Mission to the EU are also very active in ensuring that we share relevant information, including on vaccination requirements.
We continue to work with international partners as we seek to cautiously balance the reopening of international travel with managing the public health risks.
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 publish all relevant sources of information that were used alongside the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s publication of data used to inform Ministerial decisions in relation to the international travel traffic-light risk assessments on (a) 3 June 2021 and (b) 24 June 2021.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
A summary of the JBC methodology has been published on GOV.UK, alongside key data from publicly available platforms such as GISAID, the World Health Organization and host government websites, in relation to the traffic light risk assessments for the 3 and 24 June 2021.
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 Transport Decarbonisation Plan will include targets to halt and reverse the growth of road traffic.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We will shortly publish a bold and ambitious Transport Decarbonisation Plan that will set out a credible pathway to deliver transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and meeting net zero by 2050. This will set out the measures needed to accelerate modal shift to public and active transport making them the natural first choice for our daily activities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what engagement his Department has had with international partners on best practices for increasing the electrification of the rail network in the UK.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Departmental ministers and officials meet with international partners to discuss issues of mutual interest, which sometimes includes electrification practice. For example, the Rail Minister recently discussed electrification with representatives of the government of Poland. Rail industry research into efficient electrification and Network Rail-led advice to the Department about the decarbonisation of the railway both consider international practice.
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 economic effect on Haringey of delays in the progress of proposals for Crossrail 2.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Transport projects are kept under continual review. Given current affordability constraints, Transport for London has confirmed that they are not in a position to prioritise investment in Crossrail 2, and the Government has agreed that they will stop development work on the project. No assessment has been made of the economic effect on Haringey.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his French counterpart on the validity of British driving licenses for British residents in France since the end of the transition period.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is committed to establishing reciprocal arrangements with France with the minimum of bureaucracy. The Government has secured interim arrangements with the French authorities which will allow UK licence holders, resident in France, to continue to use their valid UK licence until 1 January 2022. We are working urgently with the French government to find a solution for those with expired licences as well as to finalise a permanent arrangement. The Government commits to providing an update as soon as possible.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether procedures are in place to ensure that all airlines have up-to-date lists of approved providers for day two and day eight covid-19 testing for travel.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government provides links to all post-arrival testing providers on Gov.uk to support operators as well as travellers who need to book post-arrival tests in the UK.
The test package prices listed on the website are for the provider’s standard service, which meets the Government’s minimum standards, although prices may differ to reflect different levels of customer service and speed of results.
The list is continually updated as providers are reviewed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and declare that they meet the required standards.
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 introducing long-term goals for increasing active travel in urban areas of the UK.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister’s 2020 Cycling and Walking Plan ‘Gear Change’ sets a new vision that cycling and walking will be the natural first choice for many journeys with half of all journeys in towns and cities being cycled or walked by 2030. This vision is complementary to the 2040 ambition contained in the 2017 Statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, that cycling and walking should be the natural choices for shorter journeys, or as part of a longer journey.
The second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS 2) will be published after the Government has agreed and set out its long-term spending plans for active travel at the next multi-year Spending Review. It will reflect and build on the commitments outlined in the Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan of July 2020, including targets for cycling and walking.