Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to help ensure taxi drivers can access affordable loans to support the transition from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since its introduction in 2017, the Plug-in Taxi Grant (PiTG) has provided more than £70m to support the purchase of over 11,000 zero emission cabs. The grant is currently funded until at least the end of this financial year.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to help taxi drivers wanting to transition to cleaner-fuel vehicles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since its introduction in 2017, the Plug-in Taxi Grant (PiTG) has provided more than £70m to support the purchase of over 11,000 zero emission cabs. The grant is currently funded until at least the end of this financial year.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received in the last six months on the (a) level of charges levied by the DVLA to private parking companies seeking data on vehicle owners and (b) level of proof required by the DVLA before that data is released.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In the last six months, Department for Transport Ministers have answered two Parliamentary Questions about the level of charges for the release of information to private parking management companies.
In the same period, two letters from Members of Parliament were received by Department for Transport Ministers about the level of proof required to support such requests.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many infrastructure contracts overseen by his Department have been let with the stipulation that a Project Bank Account must be applied in the last year.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In 2018 the Department for Transport Group created 62 Project Bank Accounts for infrastructure contracts. 61 of these bank accounts relate to Highways England, and 1 relates to Network Rail.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many prosecutions the DVLA has pursued in relation to suspected illegal access to a driver's personal data on the DVLA's computer system by private car park operators.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has no powers to bring prosecutions where personal data from its records may have been obtained unlawfully. Any such cases would be passed to the Information Commissioner, who is empowered to investigate and consider appropriate enforcement action.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Highways England is making on reducing levels of NO2 on the strategic road network.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Highways England have been undertaking extensive research into potential air quality solutions for the strategic road network that could reduce levels of NO2. They have explored a wide range of ideas including the effectiveness of different traffic management options, understanding obstacles to greater use of electric vans on the network and different types of barrier design.
Based on all their research, they have robust evidence that a 9.5 metre high barrier can help reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide behind the barrier and have developed a programme to identify potential sites around the network.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the level of funding required to ensure highway roads are protected and do not significantly deteriorate in (a) Bury (b) the North West and (c) England.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Secretary of State for Transport meets regularly with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss a wide range of issues.
From the £420 million for road maintenance announced in the Budget 2018, the Department for Transport has allocated a) Bury with £0.903 million (b) the North West with £53.094 million and (c) England with £420 million. This funding was provided to authorities on 13 November 2018.
This funding is in addition to just under £6.2 billion we are allocating to highway authorities between 2015 and 2021 for local highways maintenance, including £296 million through the pothole action fund.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many supported bus services there have been in Bury in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Up until 31 December 2013 Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) was paid directly to bus operators and was not split between commercially run or subsidised bus services. We are therefore unable to provide figures for this period. From 1 January 2014 local authorities have received funding equivalent to the level of BSOG which would otherwise have been paid to operators for running subsidised services in 2014. Details of the amounts paid to local authorities each year can be found on the “Payments to Local Authorities” tab of the relevant spreadsheets published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-services-grants-and-funding#bsog-spend’
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the (a) number and (b) frequency of bus services serving Bury since 2010.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Department does not hold any data on the number and frequency of bus services in Bury. The lowest level geography available is upper tier local authority.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what incentives the Government plans to provide for the purchase of electric cars; and what step his Department plans to take to stimulate the used electric car market.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is investing nearly £1.5bn between April 2015 and March 2021 in one of the most comprehensive global programmes of support for electric vehicles, with grants available for new plug in cars, vans, lorries, buses, taxis and motorcycles, and schemes to support charging point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. The Government’s forthcoming zero emission road transport strategy, which will be published after the local elections, will set out its plans to support the UK transition to zero emission vehicles. There is a developing market for second hand electric vehicles. Used electric vehicle motorists are able to take advantage of the favourable tax regime the Government has put in place and local initiatives such as free parking, as well as the Government’s grant schemes to assist with the cost of installing chargepoints.