Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Deportment holds on passenger numbers (a) before the imposition of covid-19 restrictions in March 2020 and (b) after the covid-19 pandemic for (i) national rail services, (ii) buses (A) in England outside of London, (B) in London and (C) in Wales and (iii) London Underground services.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The department holds daily usage figures as a percentage of the pre-covid baseline for rail, non-London bus, and TfL London bus and London tube from the start of March 2020 to date. The data covers Great Britain. This information is publicly available (Daily domestic transport use by mode).
Statistics are also publicly available which provide a regional breakdown including data for areas A, B and C for bus (annual bus statistics) and rail passenger numbers (Regional rail usage | ORR Data Portal).
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what legal injunctions (a) his Department, (b) Transport for London and (c) Westminster City Council are in place against protests that would obstruct (i) access roads to major central London Hospitals and (ii) other roads as of 7 November 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department does not have any injunctions in place but is working closely with National Highways as the relevant highway authority. Injunctions are a matter for the respective highway authority and are granted by the High Court.
As of 7 November 2022, National Highways have two High Court Injunctions in force; one specifically relating to structures and gantries on the M25 until 10 December 2022, and one covering the M25, the M25 feeder roads and major roads in Kent and around the Port of Dover until May 2023. The case for further injunctions is being kept under review.
Responsibility for managing London's road network is shared between Transport for London, National Highways, and the 32 London boroughs, plus the City of London. The Department is not aware of any injunctions held by Westminster City Council regarding access to the highway. Information pertaining to injunction orders may be found on tfl.gov.uk.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
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 (a) retaining and (b) expanding the (i) FORS and (ii) Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency earned recognition scheme.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) Earned Recognition is a voluntary, and free to join, compliance scheme. It helps lorry and bus operators demonstrate that they consistently meet the driver and vehicle standards required as a condition of their Operator’s licence. The Agency monitors performance data shared by operators making the scheme a market leader across businesses and local authorities.
The Earned Recognition scheme will continue to expand to support the growth of the most compliant operators across the industry. This strategy supports the DVSA to identify and deal with law breakers ensuring the cost of non-compliance is always greater than the cost of compliance.
The Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) is a commercially available accreditation scheme administered through Sopra Steria Limited, and not managed or maintained by the Government.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 9 March 2022 to Question 132392 on civil service staff networks, what information he holds on (a) FTE staff time and (b) budgets available to recognised staff groups within his Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Membership of DfT Networks is open to all staff who choose to be part of the network in question and most networks will have a lead or coordination group with individuals volunteering their time rather than FTE time being allocated. This time commitment will vary between the individuals and the networks depending on level of activity in the group. However, for Diversity and Inclusion related Networks, a budget is allocated which is held and monitored by the DfTc Diversity and Inclusion Team. There are 15 Diversity and Inclusion related Networks (though one of these, Young People’s Network, currently has no members and so is not included in the attached document) and in 2021/22 the budget allocated to them for the year amounted to £15,000 in total (based on £1,000 each). However, spend against budget is typically less than 50%. In 2019/20 & 2020/21, for accounting convenience, this budget was included in the ‘Room Hire’ account field and therefore it is not possible to ascertain exactly how much was allocated (though it was less than in 2021/22).
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 9 March 2022 to Question 132392 on civil service staff networks, what recognised staff groups have been running in his Department over the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department captures lists of DfTc Staff Networks, clubs and groups on its internal website (MyDfT). From these lists, and only including organisations with more than one member, there are currently 33 staff networks and these are listed as in the attached document.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a list of (a) professional staff networks and (b) social clubs operating within his Department; and if he will provide the (i) budgets and (ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are a number of staff networks and social groups operating within the Department for Transport.
These networks and groups are led by volunteers in their free time rather than FTE time being allocated, and this time commitment will vary between the individuals, the networks & clubs/groups depending on level of activity in the group.
There is no budget allocated to clubs and groups within the Department for Transport.