Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to encourage the use of drone technology.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government’s strategic vision is to maximise benefits of drone technology – for the economy and for communities – whilst ensuring their emergence is both safe and secure, and respecting the needs of local communities across the country.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to implement her Department’s policy paper entitled Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March 2024.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The future aviation sector is central to delivering on the Government’s missions, including kickstarting economic growth and delivering opportunities for all across the country.
My Department and I remain committed to delivering on the five future of flight strategic outcomes, which include demonstration and then routine use of drones operating Beyond the operator’s Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) at scale, and initial demonstrations of piloted electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flights, followed by routine use and autonomous operations.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it remains Government policy to provide £978 million funding for transport projects in Tees Valley.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Investment in the North’s transport infrastructure is of great importance and City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) has a key role to play in continuing to transform local transport across the region. The Government recently committed a further £200m towards CRSTS in 2025/26 at the Budget, and we will confirm allocations for all CRSTS places, including Tees Valley, in the coming weeks. The previous Government made several funding commitments beyond 2025/26, which we are currently examining through a Spending Review, expected in spring 2025.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve connectivity between the east and west of England.
Answered by Huw Merriman
We are changing our approach to transport across the country with the announcement of Network North.
We are investing in schemes such as Northern Powerhouse Rail which will connect some of the North’s biggest towns and cities with faster, more frequent electrified services; East West Rail, a new railway line that will provide east-west connectivity across the Oxford-Cambridge region; improvements to the A50/A500 corridor; and the A66 project between M6 junction 40 at Penrith and A1(M) at Scotch Corner which will widen to dual-carriageway standard the remaining six single-carriageway sections and upgrade major junctions.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will provide funding to reopen the Leamside rail line.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Leamside Line is a Transport North East led project. The Government is giving locally elector mayors the means to spend on the priorities they determine are right for the parts of the country they represent, rather than taking all decisions in Westminster. We have made a promise to provide around £1.8 billion funding to the North East and they can then choose which schemes they allocate the funding to.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to create a Government app for electric vehicle charging which has access to all charging point providers sites.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is driving innovation in the charge point market in order to best support consumers. This would be hindered by mandating a single app.
The Government has instead laid The Public Charge Points Regulations 2023, which will mandate payment roaming at all public charge points. Drivers will then be able to pay for multiple chargepoint networks through one app or smartcard. This will enable streamlined payments across charging networks, without the need for multiple apps.
The Governments expects the market to eventually converge on a few apps that cover the majority of the public charging network.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve road safety for all road users; and what plans he has to help reduce the number of road (a) accidents and (b) fatalities.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
Britain’s roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep drivers and all road users safe. In June 2018 the Department announced £100 million of funding for the Top 50 most dangerous ‘A’ roads in England, to date £147.5 million has been allocated throughout a series of rounds over the last 6 years.
This project works closely with the Local Authorities and the Road Safety Foundation, providing tailored safety interventions specific to each road’s risk, encouraging safe system principles and improving infrastructure for more active travel. This scheme is expected to save 1500 lives over the next 20 years and is already improving safety for all road users.
The Highway Code was updated on 29 January 2022, the changes will lead to improvements in road safety as they encourage more mutual respect and consideration for all road users.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that responses to the consultation on ticket office closures are given appropriate weight in line with the Equality Act 2010 and the Transport Act 2000.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Following the end of the consultations, the independent passenger bodies now play a vital role in assessing and shaping proposals. Train operators have entered into discussions with the passenger bodies to take account of feedback from the consultation responses. We expect train operators to work collaboratively with the passenger bodies in the coming weeks, to listen to the concerns raised and to refine their proposals accordingly.
The Department has no role in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) process unless objections cannot be resolved between the train operator and passenger body and are referred to the Secretary of State for a decision. If called upon to make a determination on a specific ticket office proposal, the Secretary of State will follow the TSA process alongside the relevant guidance and will take into account the equality implications of the proposal in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle strike action which delays commuters.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Since coming into office, the Secretary of State and I have positively changed the tone and facilitated discussions to bring an end to the industrial action.
Negotiations are between industry and the trade unions. RMT and ASLEF decided not to allow their members to have a say on the fair and reasonable offers that were proposed by industry. Instead, they rejected these outright and have pressed on with industrial action that impacts their members and the public. This industrial action will not avoid the need for essential workforce reform.
Together with industry we are keen to press ahead with critical reforms so that we achieve a financially and operationally sustainable rail network that provides a service that passengers deserve.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to (a) tackle reductions in bus services and (b) help ensure that older people can access transport.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
The Department for Transport recently announced a long-term approach to protect and improve bus services backed by an additional £300 million until April 2025. £140 million of this funding will go to bus operators to support services, and the remaining £160 million will go to Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) to protect and enhance bus services, and support local fares initiatives. This funding builds on the over £2 billion the Government provided to bus operators and LTAs from March 2020 to June 2023 to keep bus services running and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
This funding is in addition to the over £1 billion the Government is providing to 34 counties, city regions and unitary authorities to help local areas level up their bus services and deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans. We also make available up to £259 million every year for bus operators and LTAs to keep fares down and run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation through the Bus Service Operators Grant.
The Government supports council spending of around £1 billion a year on concessionary travel so that eligible older and disabled people can travel on off-peak buses up and down the country for free. Statistics for 2021/22 showed that concessionary bus journeys are down by more than a third since before the pandemic. That is why we recently launched the ‘Take the Bus’ communications drive to encourage older and disabled people who are eligible for a concessionary pass to use the free bus travel available to them to get out and about, meet friends and family, and rediscover local attractions.