Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to promote the road safety message to pupils, particularly during periods of the year when the UK is not on daylight saving time.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government’s THINK! road safety campaign promotes road safety learning amongst children and young people via its online educational resource programme. THINK! have a suite of downloadable materials - tailored by age group - available to teachers, parents and road safety professionals to help them deliver road safety education to pupils.
Included in these resources is practical information and advice for how children can stay safe on our roads during the winter months when the nights are longer.
THINK! is in the process of reviewing the child and teen resource to ensure that the materials are consistent with modern educational approaches.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
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 High Speed 2 on the (a) speed and (b) efficiency of travel for people travelling within the Midlands; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Jones
HS2 will transform connectivity between the Midlands, London and the North. Within the Midlands it will deliver journey times of 20 minutes between Birmingham and the new East Midlands Hub; and of 37 minutes between Birmingham and Nottingham (a 32 minute reduction).
HS2 will also: improve rail service reliability; enable a higher frequency of services; improve capacity (including by enabling more commuter services into Birmingham) and improve access to Birmingham airport.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will estimate the potential effect on the number of flights to be taken from Birmingham Airport as a result of High Speed 2.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department does not currently have plans to estimate the number of flights to be taken from Birmingham Airport as a result of High Speed 2 and has no existing forecasts of the effect of HS2 at specific airports. HS2 is included in all the Department’s existing capacity constrained airport forecasts as a baseline scheme and this assumption was also adopted by the Airports Commission in their forecasting.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the capacity of Birmingham International Airport when examining the question of London airport capacity.
Answered by John Hayes
The capacity of Birmingham Airport is taken into account in the Airports Commission’s demand forecasts. The capacities for all modelled airports can be found in Table 3.2 of the Airport Commission’s Strategic Fit: Updated Forecasts report.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential proportion of High Speed 2 journeys that will be taken by passengers who plan to fly through Birmingham International Airport.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department has not made a specific estimate of the proportion of High Speed 2 journeys that will be taken by passengers planning to fly through Birmingham International Airport. Modelling has estimated the number of passengers that will board HS2 trains at Birmingham Interchange in the future but does not specify what proportion of these will come from Birmingham Airport, the National Exhibition Centre or the existing rail station.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that British manufacturers have fair access to the tendering process to promote the use of UK parts in foreign-made railway trains on the UK rail network.
Answered by Claire Perry
We are encouraging SMEs, new entrants and innovators to work with the industry to identify and take advantage of initiatives benefitting the supply chain and improving access to the market to ensure that the UK remains competitive and develops the capacity for orders at home and abroad. It should be noted that over 2,000 railway vehicles are currently on order (being manufactured or to be manufactured) in the UK.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue has been retained as a result of refunds for cancelled vehicle tax only being given for any full months of remaining tax since October 2014.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has always issued refunds of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for any full, unexpired months remaining. This is a legal requirement and did not change when the paper tax disc was abolished in October 2014.
In the financial year 2014/15, the DVLA collected £6 billion in VED and paid £216 million in refunds. The amount of VED refunded in the previous financial year was £197 million.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23178, what recent progress the Government has made on planning to enact section 165 of the Equality Act 2010 on alternative means of ensuring that wheelchair users are able to access taxis.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Government is continuing to actively consider how best to address problems wheelchair users face when using taxis and private hire vehicles, including the possible commencement of Section 165 of the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of High Speed 2 on jobs in the West Midlands.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
HS2 will help to promote economic growth and drive regional regeneration by bringing our major cities closer together, supporting job creation across the country.
HS2 Ltd’s "HS2 Regional Economic Impacts" report published in September 2013 makes a first attempt at quantifying the regional impacts of HS2. The report suggests that the increase in connectivity delivered by HS2 would make the economy more productive and thereby increase annual GDP in the West Midlands by between £1.5bn and £3.1bn.
HS2 will directly create construction jobs in the West Midlands, as a result of the construction of the line, the Birmingham Curzon Street station, the Birmingham Interchange station and the Washwood Heath Depot. The detailed breakdown of where the construction jobs will be located is publicly available in the Environmental statement for HS2 Phase 1 (Vol. 2), published in 2013.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what financial assistance he is providing to local authorities to repair potholes.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Potholes are a menace to all road users and this Government is taking action. We announced in December 2014 how we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England to tackle potholes and improve local road conditions over the next six years. This funding is on top of the £4.7 billion we have provided since 2010.