Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with National Highways on the (a) M42 junction improvement scheme and (b) related works on the Gaelic Athletic Association facilities at Pairc na hEireann.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways remain committed to delivering the improvements at the M42 Junction 6 and expect this scheme to be opened for traffic early in Roads Period 3 (2025-2030), following delivery challenges which revised the original open for traffic date.
National Highways have also been working in co-ordination with Warwickshire Gaelic Athletic Association to provide a number of new facilities. The new all-weather pitch and the new natural pitch are now ready for use and National Highways are on track to complete the remaining works by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the M42 Junction improvement scheme on the Gaelic Athletic Association facilities at Pairc na hEireann.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways remain committed to delivering the improvements at the M42 Junction 6 and expect this scheme to be opened for traffic early in Roads Period 3 (2025-2030), following delivery challenges which revised the original open for traffic date.
National Highways have also been working in co-ordination with Warwickshire Gaelic Athletic Association to provide a number of new facilities. The new all-weather pitch and the new natural pitch are now ready for use and National Highways are on track to complete the remaining works by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data he holds on the average waiting time for a driving test in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West as of 13 October 2023.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The average waiting time in September 2023 for (a) St Helens North was 17 weeks, and (b) the North West was 19.1 weeks.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing bus fares for students aged between 16 and 19.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis, and decisions about offering reduced or discounted fares for commercial bus services are predominantly for operators to take. Many bus operators currently offer discounted travel cards for younger people. Our most recent set of statistics shows that operators in 70 out of 84 travel concession authority areas in England, outside London, offered some form of discounted travel for young people.
Policy for home to school transport sits with the Department for Education. However, the statutory responsibility for transport to education and training for those aged 16 to 19 rests with local authorities. This enables them to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, the local transport infrastructure and the resources they have available
The Government introduced the £2 fare cap on 1 January to help passengers save on their regular travel costs and to help increase patronage on buses. This scheme was due to end on 30 June, however on 17 May we announced a further investment of up to £200 million to extend the current £2 bus fare cap in place on single tickets 1 July until 31 October. This will be followed by a longer term fare cap of £2.50 from 1 November 2023 to 31 November 2024
We are also investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We have allocated over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans, some of which include the introduction of measures to reduce bus fares for young people. For example, the North East have recently introduced a £1 fare for single bus journeys for the under 22s.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether National Highways will be provided with additional funding to help (a) enable and (b) prioritise infrastructure to help facilitate freeports.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
National Highways has been allocated £24 billion to operate, maintain, renew and enhance Englands strategic road network between 2020-2025 as part of RIS2. As part of this funding allocation, National Highways facilitates and supports a range of government policies, including freeports. Consideration of freeport connectivity will also form part of the development of RIS3, beyond 2025.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents have been reported on the A580 in each years since 2010.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The number of personal injury road collisions reported to police on the A580 for each year since 2010 is shown in the table.
Year | Number of collisions |
2010 | 147 |
2011 | 132 |
2012 | 169 |
2013 | 119 |
2014 | 121 |
2015 | 132 |
2016 | 79 |
2017 | 88 |
2018 | 75 |
2019 | 76 |
2020 | 72 |
2021 | 58 |
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to incentivise people to become driving examiners to help tackle the backlog of practical driving tests.
Answered by Karl McCartney
The table below shows the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) headcount of operational driving examiners (DE) for Great Britain by year since 2015. It also shows the DE headcount of St Helens Metropolitan Borough, which is solely St Helens driving test centre and the North West as defined by the Office for National Statistics.
Driving examiner headcount | St Helens driving test centre | North West | GB |
2015 | 8 | 177 | 1557 |
2016 | 9 | 226 | 1843 |
2017 | 10 | 208 | 1773 |
2018 | 9 | 223 | 1806 |
2019 | 10 | 214 | 1750 |
2020 | 10 | 204 | 1675 |
2021 | 10 | 204 | 1692 |
To end of August 2022 | 10 | 224 | 1708 |
The DVSA does not hold data relating to DEs in Northern Ireland. Practical driver and rider testing is delivered by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA).
The DVSA recognise the high demand for learners wanting to take their practical driving test and is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible. The DVSA is recruiting more than 300 additional DEs across Great Britain to help meet the increasing demand for driving tests and has offered financial incentives in some geographical areas where there are particular difficulties recruiting DEs.
The DVSA has a number of measures in place to increase the availability of driving tests, which includes: offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to driving examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends). In addition, we have asked management grades to conduct testing up to 40% of their time and looked at other colleagues across the business, who are qualified to deliver tests, and sought to use them to help deliver tests.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving examiners there have been across (a) St Helens Metropolitan Borough, (b) the North West and (c) the UK in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karl McCartney
The table below shows the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) headcount of operational driving examiners (DE) for Great Britain by year since 2015. It also shows the DE headcount of St Helens Metropolitan Borough, which is solely St Helens driving test centre and the North West as defined by the Office for National Statistics.
Driving examiner headcount | St Helens driving test centre | North West | GB |
2015 | 8 | 177 | 1557 |
2016 | 9 | 226 | 1843 |
2017 | 10 | 208 | 1773 |
2018 | 9 | 223 | 1806 |
2019 | 10 | 214 | 1750 |
2020 | 10 | 204 | 1675 |
2021 | 10 | 204 | 1692 |
To end of August 2022 | 10 | 224 | 1708 |
The DVSA does not hold data relating to DEs in Northern Ireland. Practical driver and rider testing is delivered by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA).
The DVSA recognise the high demand for learners wanting to take their practical driving test and is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible. The DVSA is recruiting more than 300 additional DEs across Great Britain to help meet the increasing demand for driving tests and has offered financial incentives in some geographical areas where there are particular difficulties recruiting DEs.
The DVSA has a number of measures in place to increase the availability of driving tests, which includes: offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to driving examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends). In addition, we have asked management grades to conduct testing up to 40% of their time and looked at other colleagues across the business, who are qualified to deliver tests, and sought to use them to help deliver tests.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking in partnership with local transport authorities to improve accessibility at railway stations in the North West.
Answered by Wendy Morton
I remain committed to improving accessibility for all passengers at rail stations. I recently announced the next round of Access for All nominations. Any station currently without step-free access will be eligible.
I am also carrying out a full accessibility audit of all stations in Great Britain to understand where we need to do more to improve accessibility.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of Northern Rail on the (a) efficacy and (b) practical workings of its Accessible Travel Policy including the policy of arranging alternative transport when a customer cannot access a platform.
Answered by Wendy Morton
There is robust and locally-based periodic and day-to-day management of the Northern Trains Limited contract, through the Rail North Partnership, including in the area of Accessibility.