Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme to provide free anytime bus travel to all disabled bus pass holders.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as extending the times of use, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.
Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the travel time criteria for the ENCTS. The Department for Transport’s concessionary travel statistics for the year ending March 2025, report that 60% of travel concession authorities provide discretionary concessions for disabled concessionary passholders to travel before 9:30am and after 11pm.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 26600 on Parking: Databases, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) retaining the National Parking Platform in the public sector and (b) allowing it to recoup its operating costs by charging fees to car park operators.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government has had to make many difficult decisions about public spending. We recognise the merits of the National Parking Platform and are continuing to support this by working with the parking industry, who we believe are best placed to take the initiative forward, as set out in my previous reply.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish her planned timetable for rolling out the National Parking Platform across England.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government continues to support the concept of a National Parking Platform (NPP), recognising the depth of support for it across the parking sector and its many benefits. However, we are of the view that it could and should be delivered without the need to rely on public funding, particularly given the dire financial position the Government inherited.
I am pleased to say that a consortium comprising the British Parking Association and the other key industry stakeholders has come together to develop a potential long term delivery model for the national rollout of the NPP. My officials are working at pace with them to explore how this could be achieved. The pilot project will continue to be funded to the 31 March 2025 while these discussions are on-going.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to allow local councils to roll out noise cameras to monitor illegal vehicle modifications.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport conducted roadside trials of noise camera technology between October 2022 and February 2023. Reports of these trials, including detailed assessment of the technology’s performance and potential merits, were published on 17 March 2024. Overall, the trials demonstrated that noise cameras currently have the potential to be used for enforcement, but only when accompanied by human review of the recorded evidence, which is likely to lower the cost effectiveness of deploying the technology in many circumstances.
It is ultimately for local authorities and the police to consider what the most appropriate enforcement routes may be for addressing issues with excessive vehicle noise within their area. The use of noise camera technology has already been taken forward by some local authorities.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the blog post entitled How we’re dealing with bots and the reselling of driving tests, published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on 29 June 2023, what progress that Agency has made on tackling automated bots exploiting the driving test booking system.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests.
In January 2023, DVSA changed its booking service terms and conditions to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, the DVSA has issued 313 warnings, 766 suspensions, and closed 705 business accounts for misuse of its booking service.
DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs) and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has received representations from Hertfordshire County Council to request funding to (a) assess the viability of and (b) introduce bus franchising in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is determined to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions. It has set out a plan to achieve this, based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve.
As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this session. This will put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England, ensuring networks meet the needs of the communities who rely on them. The Bill will increase powers available to local leaders to choose the model that works best in their area, whether that be franchising, high-quality partnerships with private operators or local authority ownership.
The Department for Transport is engaging with all local transport authorities as part of this process, and we will continue to engage with them over the coming months as we deliver on our reforms.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling rail users to buy a discounted season ticket using a (a) young person's and (b) 26 to 30 railcard.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Affordability of rail travel is one of our key objectives. However, any concessions made to rail fares policy must balance benefits for certain groups against the impacts on taxpayers. Season tickets already provide a discount compared to single, return and day tickets.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report by the Climate Change Committee entitled 2023 Progress Report to Parliament, published on 28 June 2023, whether he plans to accept the recommendation that no airport expansions should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place to (a) annually assess and (b) control sector (i) CO2 emissions and (ii) non-CO2 effects.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Decarbonising transport is central to delivery of the UK’s cross-economy climate targets and directly supports the Prime Minister’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and accelerate our journey to net zero.
Delivering greener transport is one of five priorities the Secretary of State for Transport has set out for the Department for Transport.
The Government will respond to points raised in the Climate Change Committee’s annual report to Parliament, published on 18 July 2024, in the autumn.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 23803 on Aviation: South East, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the progress made by Heathrow Airport in meeting the Future Airspace Strategy Implementation South change deadlines.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The department has robust governance to effectively monitor progress of airspace modernisation, alongside the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). My Officials have engaged with Heathrow Airport whilst they move towards their Stage 2 gateway under the CAP 1616 process. A decision on whether to approve changes to the notified airspace design is made by the CAA in accordance with the airspace modernisation strategy and requirements set out in the Transport Act 2000.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of removing digitised signatures from UK passports issued after January 2017 on the online renewal process for DVLA photocard licences.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The impact of His Majesty’s Passport Office no longer collecting digital signatures for passports on driving licence applications has been minimal. Around 70 per cent of driving licence renewal applications are made online.
The DVLA also has an online service which allows customers applying for a first provisional driving licence to upload their own digital photograph and signature. Customers using the DVLA’s renew a photocard licence service can also upload a new signature or use an existing one.
The DVLA is focused on delivering further improvements to enable even more customers to use its online services. The exact order of implementing service improvements will be based on where the DVLA can add the most value to customers.