Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on specific support for (a) the road haulage industry and (b) the coach industry to help meet rising fuel costs.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State announced in the Spring further funding to support the local transport system and he continues to regularly engage with Cabinet colleagues to consider what further support Government can provide in these challenging times. Following 12 consecutive freezes on fuel duty, the Chancellor recently announced a 12-month cut to fuel duty of 5p per litre and the Business Secretary has recently asked the Competition and Market Authority to undertake an urgent review of fuel prices which is underway.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made on the implications for his policies of the effect of rising fuel prices on the viability of independent (a) road haulage and (b) coach businesses.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State announced in the Spring further funding to support the local transport system and he continues to regularly engage with Cabinet colleagues to consider what further support Government can provide in these challenging times. Following 12 consecutive freezes on fuel duty, the Chancellor recently announced a 12-month cut to fuel duty of 5p per litre and the Business Secretary has recently asked the Competition and Market Authority to undertake an urgent review of fuel prices which is underway.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of his Department's £200 million funding for new walking and cycling schemes announced on 14 May 2022 will be allocated to projects located in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Liverpool City Region and (c) the North West.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 14th May 2022 the Government announced £161 million of capital funding for active travel schemes across England as part of £200 million of support for active travel.
Local authorities across the North West region received just under £31 million of this, which equates to around 19%. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority was awarded a little under £12 million, or around 7% of the total, to support schemes across the region including St Helens.
In addition Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Cheshire East Council each received £78,947 of revenue funding to carry out Mini-Holland feasibility funding.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in the North West to promote (a) cycling, (b) walking and (c) other forms of active travel.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department is supporting local authorities in the North West and elsewhere in many ways, as set out in the Prime Minister’s 2020 Gear Change plan. Among other things, we are establishing a new body, Active Travel England, to upskill local authorities and work with them on the design of their schemes, thus maximising their opportunities of securing funding from the unprecedented £2 billion that the Government is investing over this Parliament.
We have already made large amounts of both capital and revenue funding available to individual local authorities across the whole of England to enable more walking and cycling in their areas. As well as funding individual schemes this also helps build local authorities’ capability and capacity on active travel matters, as well as allowing them to develop network and scheme plans and supporting behaviour change programmes to boost active travel.
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 his Department has had with (a) Network Rail and (b) train companies operating in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Liverpool City Region and (iii) the North West on improving accessibility at railway stations.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Department has regular discussions with Network Rail and train operating companies about accessibility across the whole network.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent funding his Department has provided to Network Rail to support increases in the number of step-free accessible railway stations.
Answered by Wendy Morton
During the current rail funding control period (2019-24) a total of £383m is available for the Access for All programme, including £16.3m funding in the Liverpool City Region. This is in addition to accessibility improvements the industry must fund whenever it installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department is providing to local authorities in (a) Merseyside and (b) the North West region to (i) encourage public uptake in electric vehicles and (b) ensure appropriate infrastructure is in place to facilitate increased usage.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The additional funding will support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on-street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.
The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities (LAs) to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking and £20 million is available this financial year under the scheme to ensure more LAs and residents can benefit. Further local authority support is funded by the Department for Transport and administered by Energy Saving Trust, who offer free expert advice and support to LAs throughout the application process.
As of 01 January 2022, local authorities in the North-West of the UK have been awarded over £520,000 through the ORCS, to install 166 chargepoints across the region. This includes 68 chargepoints delivered by Liverpool City Council, and 40 which are being installed by Wirral Council.
Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will clearly establish government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders. LAs have a key role in planning and enabling the delivery of chargepoints to meet the needs of their local communities and areas, with particular focus on supporting those who do not have access to off-street parking.
Government is further incentivising the uptake of EVs through the Plug in Vehicle Grants accessible to LAs to convert their fleets and to members of the public to help reduce the up-front purchase price of EVs. These grants have been in place for over a decade and in 2020 Government announced a further a £582 million for the plug-in car, van, motorcycle and taxi grants to 2022/23, and additional funding for targeted incentives has been made available in November 2021. Since 2011, the plug-in vehicle grants have supported over 430,000 ultra-low emission vehicles, of which over 290,000 are zero emission vehicles (ZEVs).
To date, the plug-in car grant has provided over £1.3 billion to support the early market for ultra-low emission vehicles. In 2021 industry statistics show that battery electric vehicles were more 11.6% of the new car market, up 76.3% on 2020.
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 to increase the number of publicly available electric vehicle charging devices in (a) St Helens Metropolitan Borough, (b) Merseyside and (b) the North West.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The additional funding will support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on-street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.
The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities (LAs) to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking and £20 million is available this financial year under the scheme to ensure more LAs and residents can benefit. Further local authority support is funded by the Department for Transport and administered by Energy Saving Trust, who offer free expert advice and support to LAs throughout the application process.
As of 01 January 2022, local authorities in the North-West of the UK have been awarded over £520,000 through the ORCS, to install 166 chargepoints across the region.
Our new Local EV Charging Infrastructure Fund will facilitate the rollout of larger scale chargepoint infrastructure projects across England for local areas. Details of how local EV charging will be supported will be announced in due course.
The Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will clearly establish government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders. LAs have a key role in planning and enabling the delivery of chargepoints to meet the needs of their local communities and areas, with particular focus on supporting those who do not have access to off-street parking.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what transport projects in St Helens North constituency are set to receive funding as part of the £710 million planned for the Liverpool City Region.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As announced at the Spending Review on 27 October, the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements will deliver £5.7bn over 5 years to transform local transport networks in 8 English city regions. This includes allocating £710m to Liverpool City Region. The Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is now responsible for submitting a programme business case to HMG. This should be comprehensive across local priorities, culminating in a single transport plan and pipeline for the entire city region.
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 the Home Secretary on tackling the shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers in the UK workforce.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Secretary of State has engaged with the Home Secretary specifically on this issue. We have broadened the eligibility of Skilled Worker visas to include jobs skilled and lowered the salary threshold. Modelling by the Migration Advisory Committee suggest the new, lower thresholds strike a reasonable balance between controlling immigration and business access to labour. The Committee found the job of HGV driver does not meet this threshold, so it is not eligible to be added to the Shortage Occupation List or to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa.