Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for driving tests in (a) rural areas and (b) urban areas.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at all driving test centres (DTC), include the recruitment of new driving examiners (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from DEs.
DVSA also continues to deploy DEs from areas with lower waiting times into those where waiting times are longer.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the availability of cycling infrastructure on employment levels.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Investment in cycling is crucial to supporting the economy, with recent evidence indicating that 3.6%, or over a million people, usually cycle to work and contributes about £5.4 billion to the British economy annually, with £4.1 billion resulting from reductions in mortality, pollution and congestion. The average benefit-cost ratio for Active Travel Fund 4 estimated that for every £1 of investment in active travel infrastructure schemes, there would be a return £2.40 of economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Building on this evidence, Active Travel England is delivering a national active travel evaluation that will seek to include a proportionate assessment of the impact of active travel investment on employment.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
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 raising the level of Penalty Charge Notices on the number of parking offenders outside London.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have no current plans to raise the PCN levels. It is important to strike the right balance between deterrence and fairness on this issue.