Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with representatives of the motorcycle sector on improving safety of motorcyclists on the road.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government takes road safety seriously, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads, including motorcyclists who are overrepresented in casualty statistics. A representative of the motorcycling sector attended a Ministerial roundtable on 7 October to discuss road safety and motorcycle stakeholders also have regular meetings with officials from the Department.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with local authorities on ensuring (a) major new road infrastructure design is safe for motorcyclists and (b) pothole funding ensures smooth roads for (i) motorcyclists and (ii) other road users.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities are responsible for setting their own design standards for their roads. They are subject to various legal duties in managing their roads, including to promote road safety. It is for them to ensure road infrastructure is safe and fit for purpose and is designed and delivered in a way that takes account of all road users’ needs.
This Government is committed to tackling the poor state of our roads. As announced in October’s Budget, the Government is providing local highway authorities in England with an additional £500 million funding for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year. This will help them to provide smoother, safer roads for motorcyclists and other road users. Further details of this will be set out shortly.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2024 to Question 9263 on Pedestrian Areas: Visual Impairment, what recent discussions he has had with the Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee on the (a) use and (b) safety of bus stop bypasses.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is carefully considering options in developing next steps on bus stop bypasses. Active Travel England has been involved in those discussions as the executive agency of the Department with a remit to help deliver increases in walking and cycling. The Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee has also provided input, in their role as a statutory advisory body on disability transport issues.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with Active Travel England on the use of bus stop bypasses.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is carefully considering options in developing next steps on bus stop bypasses. Active Travel England has been involved in those discussions as the executive agency of the Department with a remit to help deliver increases in walking and cycling. The Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee has also provided input, in their role as a statutory advisory body on disability transport issues.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of nationalising C2C.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The exact costs associated with the transfer of a train operator’s services cannot be determined with any certainty at this stage. Each operator will have their own circumstances that need to be addressed to enable a successful transfer.
The process to transfer c2c will involve some mobilisation and due diligence costs, and the transfer programme as a whole will also incur costs, for example, to increase DfT Operator Ltd capacity. However, these costs are expected to be a fraction of the £110-150 million per year in fees to private operators that will no longer have to be funded by the taxpayer once all franchised services are back in public ownership.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of nationalising Greater Anglia.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The exact costs associated with the transfer of a train operator’s services cannot be determined with any certainty at this stage. Each operator will have their own circumstances that need to be addressed to enable a successful transfer.
The process to transfer Greater Anglia will involve some mobilisation and due diligence costs, and the transfer programme as a whole will also incur costs, for example, to increase DfT Operator Ltd capacity. However, these costs are expected to be a fraction of the £110-150 million per year in fees to private operators that will no longer have to be funded by the taxpayer once all franchised services are back in public ownership.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the cost of nationalising South Western Railway.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The exact costs associated with the transfer of a train operator’s services cannot be determined with any certainty at this stage. Each operator will have their own circumstances that need to be addressed to enable a successful transfer.
The process to transfer South Western Railways will involve some mobilisation and due diligence costs, and the transfer programme as a whole will also incur costs, for example, to increase DfT Operator Ltd capacity. However, these costs are expected to be a fraction of the £110-150 million per year in fees to private operators that will no longer have to be funded by the taxpayer once all franchised services are back in public ownership.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 10 September 2024 to Questions 3805 and 3806 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, if she will hold discussions with (a) public and (b) private bodies on taking steps to ensure that new charging points offer guaranteed high speed chargers for electric vehicles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government communicates regularly with chargepoint operators, trade associations and industry to discuss the rollout of fast and reliable chargepoints.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will introduce a road safety campaign to reinforce the importance of safe driving around horses and their riders.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government's flagship road safety campaign, THINK!, aims to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.
The THINK! Campaign plays an important role in raising awareness of, and encouraging compliance with, new road safety legislation. This has recently included changes to The Highway Code, which were made on 29 January 2022 and aimed to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of Government cars are (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) hybrid and (d) electric.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Within the operational fleet of the Government Car Service the cars are:
(a) 16.8% petrol
(b) 1.9% diesel
(c) 47.6% hybrid
(d) 33.6% electric