Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents have occurred as a result of smart motorway technology since 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The latest safety data and assessment can be found in National Highways’ Third Year Progress Report, which was published in December 2023: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/smart-motorways-evidence-stocktake/.
Overall, the data shows that in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are the safest roads on the Strategic Road Network (SRN).
National Highways has undertaken contributory factor analysis to help further understand which factors which lead to collisions on the SRN. This analysis can be found in the above report.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to require drivers to report collisions with cats to the police.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, Rule 286 of The Highway Code advises drivers to report any accident involving an animal to the police. If possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation. I recognise the very deep upset that losing a beloved pet can cause – but, given challenges around enforcement – there are no current plans to strengthen that requirement.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of how many road traffic accidents are caused by (a) potholes and (b) poor road conditions each year.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department publishes road casualty statistics based on personal injury road collisions reported to the police via the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 does not identify the cause of collisions, but reporting police officers can identify up to 6 factors which in their opinion may have contributed to the collision.
In 2022 (the most recent year for which data is available) there were 477 personal injury road collisions in which the ‘poor or defective road surface’ contributory factor was assigned.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time for a driving test was in (a) England and (b) East Midlands as of 25 March 2024.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in England, in February 2024, was 17.5 weeks.
The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in the East Midlands, in February 2024, was 17.6 weeks.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with the Home Office on tackling the matter of delivery drivers who are in the UK illegally.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT ministers and officials engage with the Home Office on this matter. The Department sits on the cross-government ministerial Taskforce on Immigration Enforcement, which ensures that every available power across government is utilised to support law enforcement activity to identify and reduce illegal migrants in the UK, and ensures only those eligible can work, receive benefits or access public services. The Department and its agencies continue to support the Home Office on the wider issue of illegal working in the UK.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve safety on the A16 in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The A16 is the responsibility of local highway authorities – in this case, Lincolnshire County Council through South Holland and The Deepings. It is for those authorities to assess the benefits of improvements to areas of their networks, and to seek funding, if required.
Almost £20 million from the Levelling Up Fund has been allocated to improve the A16 corridor between Boston and Spalding, and Lincolnshire County Council has recently been allocated just over £262 million from the Local Transport Fund to improve the connections that people rely on every day.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much reallocated HS2 funding has been given to Lincolnshire County Council for road resurfacing.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Lincolnshire County Council will receive a minimum additional overall uplift of £287.7 million between 2023-24 and 2033-34 as a result of reallocating HS2 funding. £4.9 million of this has already been paid out in the current financial year with a further £4.9 million to follow in 2024/25, and Lincolnshire is receiving around 30% more capital funding for highway maintenance in the current financial year than it did in the previous financial year.
Funding allocations beyond 2024/25 are a matter for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of East Midlands Railways trains from (a) Peterborough to Spalding and (b) Spalding to Peterborough were (i) cancelled and (ii) delayed by more than 30 minutes in 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following a thorough search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the specific information you requested is not held by this Department.
The Office of Rail and Road publish statistics on passenger rail punctuality and reliability broken down by Train Operating Company. However, these statistics are not available for specific train services.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) improve rural bus services in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated over £8.5 million so far. The Department’s guidance to local authorities on developing their BSIPs explains that these must cover their full area and all local bus services within it. This funding should, therefore, benefit services in South Holland and the Deepings.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. Lincolnshire County Council receives £535,302 of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what grants were provided by his Department to (a) South Holland District Council and (b) South Kesteven District Council in (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24; and how much was awarded in each grant.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Across financial years (FY) 2022-23 and FY 2023-24, South Holland District Council were awarded £67,500 On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) grant funding for the installation of 9 public electric vehicle charging devices. £50,625 (75%) of this grant was paid to the council in FY 2022-23 and the remaining £16,875 (25%) was paid in FY 2023-24.
In addition to this, Breckland and South Holland District Councils, under a previous joint working agreement, were awarded £39,500 for the installation of 6 public charging devices. This grant was paid in full to South Holland District Council in FY 2022-23.
South Kesteven District Council were not awarded any grant funding from the Department for Transport in FY 2022-23 or FY 2023-24.