Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of regulations on motorcycles towing trailers; and whether she plans to (a) review and (b) amend those regulations.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There has not been a recent assessment of the adequacy of regulations on towing of trailers by motorcycles, and there are no plans to review or amend the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations in relation to these matters. Nothing has been identified to the Department to indicate that there is a need to amend Regulations at this time.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the Driving licensing review - call for evidence on opportunities for changes to the driver licensing regime.
Answered by Richard Holden
The results of the Call for Evidence were published on 6 June 2023.
The results are being analysed and we will confirm the next steps in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of public electric vehicle charging points that have a speed of less than (a) 8kW and (b) 50kW.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Data on public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK, held by the Department for Transport, is sourced from the electric vehicle charging platform Zapmap.
The data supplied to the Department from Zapmap does not break down the speed of a public charging device as requested within this question.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the current average waiting time for a practical driving test in each region.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s recovery measures have created over 39,000 extra car practical driving test slots each month, and, since April 2021, over 1 million additional test slots.
As of 10 July 2023, there were 547,076 car practical driving tests booked, and 39,535 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test nationally (June 2023 average) is 18.4 weeks.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people waiting for a practical driving test.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s recovery measures have created over 39,000 extra car practical driving test slots each month, and, since April 2021, over 1 million additional test slots.
As of 10 July 2023, there were 547,076 car practical driving tests booked, and 39,535 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test nationally (June 2023 average) is 18.4 weeks.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish his Department's assessment of the likelihood of meeting its objectives for increased active travel under confirmed funding levels for April 2021 to March 2025.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government’s most recent assessment of progress against these and other objectives was set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy report to Parliament in July 2022, a copy of which is available in the House Libraries. The Department will provide an updated assessment in its next report to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2023 to Question 182917 on Motorways: Safety Measures, in what format his Department holds data on the distance between emergency refuge areas on dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways; and if he will publish that data.
Answered by Richard Holden
National Highways holds extensive mapping data of assets across its network. However, this data is not held in the format requested.
The Stocktake and Action Plan in 2020 launched a new standard to achieve closer spacing of places of relative safety (PRS), at 0.75 mile where feasible, up to a maximum of one mile. This was made a requirement for new All Lane Running (ALR) smart motorways schemes which entered the design phase from November 2020.
Therefore, any ALR smart motorway scheme that entered the design phase after this date is required to meet these standards.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of electric vehicle charging devices (a) on roads and (b) in motorway service stations able to be used by only one vehicle make.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not held.
Data on public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK held by the Department for Transport, is sourced from the electric vehicle charging platform ZapMap. This includes the number of public “charging devices” but the data does identify whether a device is capable of charging only one vehicle make.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many additional emergency refuge areas have been added to all lane running smart motorways in operation since January 2022.
Answered by Richard Holden
Since January 2022, 108 emergency areas have been added to all lane running (ALR) motorways.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of all lane running smart motorways have places of relative safety spaced at an average of less than 0.75 miles apart.
Answered by Richard Holden
Current design standards require places of relative safety to be spaced between 0.75 and 1 mile.