Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have been working on applications to the DVLA in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and social distancing measures coupled with industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has led to delays for customers who make paper applications. There are currently around 1.5m paper applications awaiting processing at the DVLA. It is important to note that in normal circumstances, given that the DVLA receives around 300,000 items of mail each week, there are usually around 400,000 items awaiting processing. It is estimated that one third of the current backlog is directly attributable to the PCS strike action. No figures are available for the number of applications to the DVLA that have been lost.
The DVLA continues to look into opportunities to reduce the backlog and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of securing extra office space to house more staff to work predominantly on driver’s medical casework and queries. This will be surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
It is not possible to provide figures for the number of people working on applications as most DVLA operational roles require staff members to carry out a range of tasks, which includes processing applications. The number of people working at the DVLA also fluctuates daily because of factors including leave, working patterns and other absences.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications there are in the backlog of applications to the DVLA.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and social distancing measures coupled with industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has led to delays for customers who make paper applications. There are currently around 1.5m paper applications awaiting processing at the DVLA. It is important to note that in normal circumstances, given that the DVLA receives around 300,000 items of mail each week, there are usually around 400,000 items awaiting processing. It is estimated that one third of the current backlog is directly attributable to the PCS strike action. No figures are available for the number of applications to the DVLA that have been lost.
The DVLA continues to look into opportunities to reduce the backlog and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of securing extra office space to house more staff to work predominantly on driver’s medical casework and queries. This will be surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
It is not possible to provide figures for the number of people working on applications as most DVLA operational roles require staff members to carry out a range of tasks, which includes processing applications. The number of people working at the DVLA also fluctuates daily because of factors including leave, working patterns and other absences.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications to the DVLA have been lost by the DVLA in the last 12 months.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and social distancing measures coupled with industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has led to delays for customers who make paper applications. There are currently around 1.5m paper applications awaiting processing at the DVLA. It is important to note that in normal circumstances, given that the DVLA receives around 300,000 items of mail each week, there are usually around 400,000 items awaiting processing. It is estimated that one third of the current backlog is directly attributable to the PCS strike action. No figures are available for the number of applications to the DVLA that have been lost.
The DVLA continues to look into opportunities to reduce the backlog and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of securing extra office space to house more staff to work predominantly on driver’s medical casework and queries. This will be surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
It is not possible to provide figures for the number of people working on applications as most DVLA operational roles require staff members to carry out a range of tasks, which includes processing applications. The number of people working at the DVLA also fluctuates daily because of factors including leave, working patterns and other absences.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2021 to Question 36717 on Rolling Stock: Procurement, what authority was responsible for ensuring that train operating companies met the (a) financial, (b) performance and (c) other terms of their rail franchise agreements between 2010 and 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department for Transport is responsible for the management of rail contracts, including ensuring that financial, operational and other terms are adhered to.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2021 to Question 31501, what authority was responsible for regulating train operating companies from 2010 to 2021.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
From 2010 to 2021 The independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), formerly named the Office of Rail Regulation until April 2015, was responsible for ensuring that train operating companies complied with health and safety law, competition and consumer law, and the terms of their licences.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2021 to Question 29872 on Public Transport: Ventilation, what the budget is for enforcement activities for ventilation in each of the last ten years for (a) buses, (b) trains and (c) other forms of public transport; what enforcement action has been taken in respect of ventilation on (i) buses, (ii) trains and (iii) other forms of public transport in each of the last ten years; and when he last met with industry bodies representing operators of (A) buses, (B) trains and (C) other forms of public transport to discuss ventilation.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Transport companies must make sure that there is an adequate supply of fresh air in enclosed areas and this has not changed during the pandemic.
The type of ventilation in use across vehicles on the UK public transport network, varies according to vehicle age and vehicle type. Some older rail rolling stock and almost all UK buses are reliant on opening windows and doors for passenger ventilation.
The Office of Rail and Road carries out health and safety enforcement of railway operators, but there is not a specific budget covering ventilation matters and the regulator does not hold records for specific ventilation enforcement activities. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ORR has encouraged all train and station operators to review their risk assessments and is continuing to monitor duty holders’ safety management systems and risk assessment arrangements.
For vehicles with Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, the exact standard which the ventilation meets will be dependent on the standard in place when the vehicle was designed. Measuring ventilation rates is extremely difficult, with the need to consider stopping patterns, occupation rates and weather conditions in addition to the capability of any HVAC systems in place.
We are working with transport operators to identify areas of poor ventilation for improvement following SAGE and HSE guidance to further ensure that ventilation on public transport is adequate. Our recent safer transport guidance for operators includes measures to assess and address the risk of Covid-19.