Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's planned timetable is for the publication of new statutory guidance on the preparation of local transport plans.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is considering next steps on this matter in the light of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement, which represents a significant change in the Government’s funding of local transport schemes, and will make an announcement in due course.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the number of Taxi and Private Hire Licences (a) refused and (b) revoked by (i) Bolton and (ii) Wigan Council.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department gathers data on the number of private hire vehicle operator licences that have been refused and revoked. This information is published on GOV.UK in the taxis, private hire vehicles and their drivers (TAXI) data set. Information about private hire vehicle operator licences can be found in the TAXI0111 table. Neither Bolton or Wigan Metropolitan Borough Councils refused or revoked a private hire vehicle operator licence between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022.
The Department does not gather or hold data on the number of private hire or taxi vehicle licences that have been refused or revoked.
The Department holds data on the number of refusals and revocations of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licences which have been recorded on the National Register for Revocations, Refusals and Suspensions (NR3S):
| Refusals recorded on the NR3S database (April 2021-March 2022) | Revocations recorded on the NR3S database (April 2021-March 2022) |
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council | 3 | 6 |
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council | 28 | 0 |
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals (NR3), which local authorities with large numbers of registered taxi and private hire drivers made the least use of NR3 searches in 2022; and how many NR3 searches and entries were submitted by those authorities in 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Use of the National Register for Refusals and Revocations (NR3) is recommended in the Department’s Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards which was published in 2020. The Department is monitoring usage of the NR3 and communicates with local authorities on this matter regularly.
Five largest licensing authorities that make infrequent/no use of NR3:
Licensing Authority | Drivers Licensed (31 March 2022) | NR3 Searches (Jan-Dec 2022) | NR3 Entries (Jan-Dec 2022) |
Birmingham City Council | 6,280 | 1 | 0 |
Manchester City Council | 5,789 | 0 | 0 |
Sefton Council | 5,701 | 0 | 0 |
Newcastle City Council | 4,576 | 0 | 0 |
Liverpool City Council | 3,360 | 0 | 0 |
For context, Manchester City Council activated its NR3 account in August 2022 whereas other authorities had activated accounts from the start of the year.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on using the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department fully supports the NHS Test and Trace system and has been investigating ways that the system can be used on the transport network to play its part in tackling Covid-19. We have been working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to understand how best the system can be used going forward. Some areas across the Departmental Group have already introduced using QR codes within their public only areas. Currently, the Department has not needed to allocate any financial resource from its budget. However, as policy and the technology develops, this will be kept under review. It is also worth noting that Test and Trace data will only be used to tackle Covid and won’t be used for other purposes.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to use the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department fully supports the NHS Test and Trace system and has been investigating ways that the system can be used on the transport network to play its part in tackling Covid-19. We have been working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to understand how best the system can be used going forward. Some areas across the Departmental Group have already introduced using QR codes within their public only areas. Currently, the Department has not needed to allocate any financial resource from its budget. However, as policy and the technology develops, this will be kept under review. It is also worth noting that Test and Trace data will only be used to tackle Covid and won’t be used for other purposes.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has allocated any financial or other resources from his Department's budget to investigate potential future uses by his Department of the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department fully supports the NHS Test and Trace system and has been investigating ways that the system can be used on the transport network to play its part in tackling Covid-19. We have been working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to understand how best the system can be used going forward. Some areas across the Departmental Group have already introduced using QR codes within their public only areas. Currently, the Department has not needed to allocate any financial resource from its budget. However, as policy and the technology develops, this will be kept under review. It is also worth noting that Test and Trace data will only be used to tackle Covid and won’t be used for other purposes.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of covid-19 passports on the ability of people who identify as (a) Black-Caribbean, (b) Black-African and (c) South Asian to travel internationally.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Work on developing vaccine certification for international travel continues. We will continue to work across government to consider any potential effects as the policy progresses.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for the replacement of Pacer carriages covering local services with modern rolling stock on rail services in the North of England.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department recognises that Pacers fall short of passengers’ expectations and so required bidders for the Northern franchise to phase them out.
Arriva Rail North are investing £400 million in 281 brand new air-conditioned carriages, more than double the minimum required in the government’s invitation to tender, and remain on track to deliver the complete removal of the outdated and unpopular Pacers by the end of 2019 at the latest.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of congestion on roads in (a) Bolton and (b) Wigan.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has not made an assessment of the trends in the level of congestion on all roads in (a) Bolton and (b) Wigan.
Information is held on average delay on locally managed ‘A’ roads and the most recent data provided by the Department is as follows.
CGN0502b: Average delay on locally managed ‘A’ roads by local authority
| Average delay (seconds per vehicle per mile) | |||
|
| 2015 | 2016 | % change |
|
|
|
|
|
Bolton |
| 58.5 | 57.6 | -1.6 |
Wigan |
| 58.5 | 58.5 | 0.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
England |
| 44.6 | 45.9 | +2.8 |
Average delay is commonly used as a measure of relative congestion. A decrease in average delay indicates a reduction in the level of congestion.
These statistics are the most up to date figures published by the Department and come from the table CGN0502b, which is published annually in February. The full table can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/average-speed-and-delay-on-local-a-roads-cgn05#table-cgn0502.
The Department does not produce statistics for congestion at the local authority level for the Strategic Road Network or for minor roads.
Highways England keeps the trunk road and motorway network in England under constant review, but has made no recent specific assessment of trends in the level of congestion through Bolton and Wigan.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Government has allocated to transport capital infrastructure projects in the North West of England in each year since 2015.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Figures on public sector spend at a regional and national level are part of the Government’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics. These statistics attempt to allocate the spending according to where the benefits of that spend are accrued.
Statistics for public capital expenditure on transport for the North West of England for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 are given below:
2014-15: £1.355 billion
2015-16: £1.853 billion
These figures include spend on transport by all public sector organisations (including Local Authorities and Public Corporations).