Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help prevent the placement of electric car charging cables across public footpaths.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that some households without off-street parking could access charging by running cables from their property to a vehicle. However, this can negatively impact other pavement users if done inappropriately and in some cases, breach the Highways Act 1980.
As part of the Plan for Drivers, the Government committed to provide guidance on the use of cross pavement solutions, which safely guide charging cables between a property and on-street vehicle. This will include best practice to local authorities on relevant legislation, permissions and how to consider applications. In addition, the plan committed to expand the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant to trial support for safe cross pavement solutions.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the current average waiting time is for a driving test.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Car practical driving test waiting times are currently at 15.7 weeks (November average).
As at 12 December, there were over 81,000 available car practical test slots to book within the 24-week booking window.
Since April 2021, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has created an extra 595,000 car practical driving tests appointments to help reduce waiting times. Actions already being taken by the DVSA include asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job to return to conducting tests, conducting out of hours testing, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
To help increase practical driving test availability, the DVSA is recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has reviewed the potential impact of removing vehicle and operator signage from taxis on (a) service accessibility for passengers, (b) the safety of (i) women, (ii) children and (iii) other vulnerable people and (c) consumer confidence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I refer to the Answer given on Thursday 22 September 2022 to the Parliamentary Question 53392.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the removal of vehicle or operator taxi signage on trends in the levels of unlicensed taxi operators active on UK streets.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
All taxis and private hire vehicles must be licensed to operate legally. The Government expects licensing authorities to undertake appropriate compliance and enforcement activity to deter illegal plying for hire by unlicensed drivers, and to raise public awareness of the risk of using unlicensed, uninsured and unvetted drivers and vehicles. The Government recently consulted on revised Best Practice Guidance for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities in England which included proposals on vehicle signage. The responses to this consultation are currently being analysed. The Government’s response to this consultation will be published in due course, along with the final version of the guidance.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of charging a flat cost per mile for rail tickets, in the context of the cost of rail travel per mile between Swindon and London.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Distance is just one factor governing a particular rail fare; other factors taken into account include journey time, frequency of service and the historic volume of demand, amongst others.
There are a wide range of fares available to meet different passenger needs, including advance fares. Where advance fares are available, including on journeys between Swindon and London, they will be cheaper than flexible fares such as off-peak tickets.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps have been taken to speed up the processing of driving licence applications and renewals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
The large majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online here.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on tackling the delays in processing driving licence applications and renewals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
The large majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online here.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to expand access to (a) electric charging stations, (b) compressed hydrogen and (c) bio-fuels at fuelling stations across the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government and industry have supported the installation of over 28,000 publicly available charging devices including more than 5,100 rapid devices – one of the largest networks of rapids in Europe. The Government will provide over £1.3 billion over the next four years to support the continued roll-out of chargepoints on motorways and major A roads, in homes and businesses and on-street. Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will be published soon.
The UK is well placed to lead on hydrogen powered transport, and government is supporting the use of hydrogen cars, vans, buses and lorries through our £23m Hydrogen for Transport programme. As of December 2021, there are fourteen publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations across the UK providing hydrogen for road vehicles, with just over 350 hydrogen vehicles operating on UK roads. Additional refuelling infrastructure will be deployed as part of our plans to demonstrate at scale hydrogen fuel cell trucks on UK roads.
One of the benefits of biofuels is that they can be deployed using existing infrastructure. The Department has supported the supply of liquid biofuels at fuelling stations across the UK through the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation which has been successful for 13 years in promoting a market for biofuels. The recent introduction of E10 in September 2021 now means that up to 10% bioethanol is blended into petrol while diesel is also blended with up to 7% biodiesel, a grade known as B7.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the number of international travellers expected to travel to and from the UK over the Christmas period 2021-22 and the consequent demand that is expected to be placed on the private covid-19 testing market.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government undertakes regular analysis to monitor estimated passenger demand, including for the Christmas period 2021-22. The Government is also in regular contact with private testing providers about demand and capacity. Based on this engagement, the Department for Health and Social Care is confident that the private testing market has capacity to deliver the necessary tests.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will (a) make it his policy to abolish the historic Network South East rail boundaries and (b) introduce a new structure for ticketing to and from London for areas currently outside of this area.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The network railcard is a concessionary railcard arising from an agreement between the relevant train operators. National Railcards are governed by the industry’s railcard scheme council and any changes to existing railcards, or new railcards, would therefore be for the industry to propose not Government. We have made clear our commitment to review rail ticketing, removing complexity and perverse pricing.