Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to expand electric car charging provision across the (a) A road and (b) motorway network in (i) Leicestershire and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In May 2020, the Government published an ambitious vision for rapid charging infrastructure along strategic roads in England over the next decade. This vision includes targets for the number of high-powered (150kW+) chargepoints that will be located across motorways and major A roads to meet the future demand from electric vehicles (EVs). In the short term, the Government expects to see six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England by 2023, installed by the private sector. The Government regularly engages with motorway service area operators to monitor progress against this charging provision. In the longer term, to ensure the private sector can continue to expand the charging network at pace in the 2020s, the Government will invest £950 million through the Rapid Charging Fund to future-proof grid capacity along England’s motorways and major A roads to prepare for 100% uptake of zero emission cars and vans ahead of need. Since the management of motorways and major roads is a devolved matter, equivalent funding for the Devolved Administrations will be made available through the Barnett Formula. We also recently consulted on improving the consumer experience at public chargepoints. This includes opening public chargepoint data; improving the reliability of the network; streamlining the payment methods offered to drivers; and increasing pricing transparency. We will publish an EV Infrastructure Strategy to set out the vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out successfully. This will set expected roles for different stakeholders and how government will intervene to address the gaps between the current market status and our vision.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with motorway service station operators to ensure adequate and workable electric car charging provision at their sites.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
By 2023, the Government expects to see six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England, installed by the private sector. The Government has regular engagement with motorway service area operators to ensure that this charging provision is in place ahead of customer demand. This includes a quarterly questionnaire to monitor progress against this target, and ad hoc bilateral engagement to discuss plans to help support early adoption of electric vehicles and remove range anxiety concerns for drivers on long journeys. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Rachel Maclean held a roundtable on 20th July 2021 with motorway service area operators from across England to discuss their participation of Ofgem’s Green Recovery Scheme, under which funding is released to allow distribution network operators to upgrade network capacity in order to facilitate electric vehicle charging.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports that 10,000 drivers hold a valid licence despite accruing 12 penalty points; and what assessment he has made of trends in the level of penalty points accrued by drivers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Only a court can disqualify an individual from driving under the “totting up” provisions where a driver has accrued 12 or more penalty points. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s role is to maintain a record of the endorsement information received from the courts on the individual’s driver record.
If the DVLA receives a notification from a court for a driver with 12 or more penalty points who has not been disqualified, the DVLA will alert the court to this. This enables the court to consider whether to re-open the case and disqualify the driver where appropriate. The DVLA cannot overturn a court’s decision not to disqualify a driver where more than 12 penalty points have been accrued.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage the development of high quality rest stops for the benefit of HGV drivers.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
On the 24 July 2018, the Government issued a revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework that now indicates that the need for sufficient overnight lorry parking should be considered in planning policies and decisions. My Department continues to work with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to enhance this further with Local Authorities and to highlight the criteria and consideration for HGV lorry parking applications.
I recognise that there are long standing issues around driver welfare, including adequate safe and secure HGV parking with acceptable facilities for drivers. We are committed to progressing work to support the strategic and long-term development of lorry parking provisions and are looking at both established and new approaches to increase the provision for improved overnight lorry parking in England. We are also keen to explore with the industry innovative alternative approaches to provide more parking capacity and better facilities to improve HGV driver welfare
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of (a) the safety of the distance between refuges on smart motorways (b) the potential need to review those distances as a result of safety issues and risk assessments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, published in March 2020, committed to a new standard for spacing of places to stop in an emergency. For future All Lane Running (ALR) Motorway schemes, places to stop in an emergency will be ¾ of a mile apart where feasible, with a maximum spacing of 1 mile apart. Highways England published the new design standard – GD 301 – in October 2020.
The Stocktake Action Plan also made a commitment to consider a national programme of retrofitting on ALR motorways where places to stop in an emergency are more than one mile apart, drawing on evidence from the programme to deliver additional areas on the M25. That review will be completed by April 2022.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to monitor the (a) effectiveness of and (b) adherence to the Passenger Covid 19 Charter.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Passenger COVID-19 charter provides a central point of information and guidance to help consumers understand their rights, responsibilities and reasonable expectations, when booking and travelling internationally whilst COVID-19 restrictions remain in place. We are monitoring through existing frameworks.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the Global Travel Taskforce has made on the safe normalisation of post-Covid international travel policy.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government’s priority is to protect public health. That is why we introduced the Traffic Light System on 17 May as a cautious approach to reopening international travel.
The government will review the travel measures in place through the Global Travel Taskforce at a series of checkpoints, no later than 28 June, 31 July and 1 October, taking into account the latest domestic and international data.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the DVLA is making in tackling backlogs in (a) HGV and (b) car driving licences.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services have been available and unaffected throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. However, many people still choose or have to apply for their driving licence using a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person.
The DVLA has had a reduced number of operational staff on site to allow for social distancing, in line with Welsh Government requirements. The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff and has extended the opening hours of its contact centre.
The number of applications awaiting processing fluctuates on a daily basis as driving licences are issued and new applications received. The DVLA is currently processing paper applications for both HGV and car driving licences within around six weeks of receipt. However, drivers with a medical condition may experience further delays because the DVLA is often reliant on receiving information or test results from medical professionals before a licence can be issued, to ensure drivers can meet the required medical standards.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to learn lessons from the recent blockage of the Suez Canal in the context of strategic planning for the UK’s future maritime trade.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Department has been working closely with maritime operators throughout the pandemic, and in particular major shipping lines and ports regarding the unprecedented global surge in container freight that was experienced at the end of 2020 and early 2021. The lessons learned from that meant that there was a swift response across Government Departments to assess impacts on supply chains following the Suez incident. The Department will continue to engage with shipping lines and container ports. It is clear that whilst some disruption is hard to avoid, industry has established operational plans and flexibility to enable them to respond to crisis and maintain continuity of trade, as evidenced by the re-routing of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to assess proposals for Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges; and what criteria is used to ensure that those projects meet stated objectives.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Under the Planning Act 2008, prospective developers of Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges (SRFIs) must submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate. If the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepts the application they must carry out an examination of the proposed SRFI and produce a report and recommendation. The Secretary of State must then make a decision on the proposal.
Both the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State use the framework of the National Networks – National Policy Statement (NN-NPS) as the primary basis for making decisions on DCO applications for SRFIs, including taking into account the potential benefits and adverse impacts of the scheme.