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Written Question
Motorways: Safety
Friday 4th February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve motorway safety in England.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Safety is National Highways’ top priority as highway authority on the Strategic Road Network (SRN), which comprises our motorways and principal A-roads. It addresses safety issues through public information campaigns and infrastructure solutions where necessary. Where safety critical defects are identified on the SRN, they are made safe within 24 hours. Permanent repairs are carried out according to the severity of the defect, often within 28 days. National Highways will continue to review the condition of the SRN to ensure that future improvements works are prioritised according to need.

Additionally, earlier this year National Highways launched its largest ever campaign to help drivers feel safer on our country’s motorways. Its main message informs drivers that if you breakdown, ‘Go Left’. Further information can be accessed here: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/.


Written Question
Union Connectivity Review
Friday 4th February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendations of the Union Connectivity Review.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Government is grateful to Sir Peter Hendy for his Union Connectivity Review. We are considering his recommendations carefully, working with the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to identify the solutions that work best for the people of the UK. We will publish our response as swiftly as possible.


Written Question
Spaceflight
Wednesday 2nd February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to support the launch of rockets and satellites from the UK.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

My Department has put in place a new regulatory framework and spaceflight regulator to enable the licensing of spaceflight activities from the UK.

The Government also published its National Space Strategy on 27 September 2021 and has awarded £40 million of grants to kick start the establishment of vertical and horizontal launch capability from the UK.


Written Question
Travel Restrictions: British Nationals Abroad
Wednesday 2nd February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made with his Cabinet colleagues on easing international travel restrictions for UK nationals.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

On 24 January the Secretary of State for Transport announced that the government will reduce international travel restrictions ensuring a more proportionate system is in place for passengers.

From 4am on 11 February eligible fully vaccinated arrivals will no longer have to undertake a post-arrival Lateral Flow test. Self-isolation and day 8 tests will also be removed for arrivals who are not recognised as fully vaccinated. Although the PLF will still be required for all travellers, it will also be simplified to reflect our more streamlined system.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles
Wednesday 2nd February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on supporting the roll out of electric vehicles.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Industry statistics suggest that over 750,000 plug-in vehicles have been sold in the UK since 2010, and over one in six cars sold in 2021 had a plug. Charging infrastructure has also been increasing. 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 in Europe. The Government has supported the installation of nearly a quarter of a million chargepoints in homes and workplaces.

Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EV).  The additional funding will support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.

Alongside funding, we are also introducing the new regulations to support the transition. Legislation laid in December 2021 will require all new residential and non-residential buildings with associated parking in England to have a chargepoint installed at the point of construction. Later this year we intend to regulate to improve the consumer experience at public chargepoints. Helping consumers locate the right chargepoints for their needs; making it easier to pay; ensuring charging infrastructure is reliable; and pricing is transparent. We will also be consulting on the introduction of a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate - setting targets for a percentage of manufacturers' new car and van sales to be zero emission each year from 2024.

Our soon to be published EV Infrastructure Strategy will set out the vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out successfully and to accelerate the transition to a zero-emission fleet.


Written Question
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Wednesday 2nd February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the condition of roads in England.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

As announced in October’s Spending Review, during this Parliament the Government is investing over £5 billion in highways maintenance, outside London and combined authorities receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. This is enough to fill in millions of potholes, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country.

Allocations for individual highway authorities for the next three years will be made shortly.


Written Question
Aviation
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support the aviation sector.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Since the start of the pandemic, we estimate that the air transport sector (airlines, airport and related services) will have benefitted from around £8bn of government support.

On 24 January we announced that we will reduce travel restrictions from 11 February, ensuring a more proportionate system in place for passengers. From 4am on 11 February eligible fully vaccinated arrivals will no longer have to undertake a post-arrival Lateral Flow test. Self-isolation and day 8 tests will also be removed for arrivals who are not recognised as fully vaccinated.

We are also currently developing a strategic framework for aviation which will set out our ambitions for the sector over the next 10 years. This will be published in due course.


Written Question
Railway Network
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to restore previously closed rail lines.

Answered by Wendy Morton

In January 2020 the Government pledged £500 million for the Restoring Your Railway programme to deliver on our manifesto commitment to start reopening lines and stations to reconnect smaller communities, regenerate local economies and improve access to jobs, homes and education. We reopened the Dartmoor Line in November, the first line to be reinstated under the programme, and are supporting over 45 schemes at different stages of development with funding and advice.


Written Question
Public Transport: Disability
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support disabled passengers on public transport.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The Department is committed to ensuring disabled passengers have the same access to transport as everyone else. We are working to deliver accessibility improvements across all modes of transport, as set out in the 2018 Inclusive Transport Strategy, 2021 National Disability Strategy and the 2021 Williams-Shapps Rail Review.

Recent initiatives include:

  • Launching the rail Passenger Assist app
  • Revising guidance documents on tactile paving and inclusive mobility
  • Providing funding for a range of initiatives such as Changing Places Toilets and improving accessibility at lifeline ports
  • Partnering with disability charity Scope to develop a Disabled Passenger Charter for buses, coaches, rail, taxis and private hire vehicles.

We also ran the #World of Difference element of the ‘Its Everyone’s Journey’ public awareness campaign to support disabled passengers using public transport, including those with non-visible conditions. We also continue to engage with key stakeholders through the Inclusive Transport Stakeholder Group, the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and Disability Ambassadors for Transport.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Recruitment
Tuesday 1st February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to help increase the number of people working in the HGV sector.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Government has put in place 32 specific measures to deal with the shortage of HGV drivers. These include funding for apprenticeships, 11,000 places on Skills Bootcamp training backed by £34 million, increasing the supply of vocational driving tests, prioritising vocational driving licence applications, and investing £32.5 million in roadside facilities for HGV drivers. These are listed on gov.uk.

Our measures are working. The number of available HGV driving tests has increased by 90% compared to pre-pandemic levels and currently stands at 3,200 tests per week. Test capacity now exceeds demand and the provision of vocational tests is not a barrier to people becoming HGV drivers. Despite the increase in vocational driving licence applications and licence renewals, there are no delays in processing and all new applications are being processed within five working days, unless further medical checks are required. Recent assessments by industry bodies such as Logistics UK suggest that the shortfall in drivers has started to reduce.