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Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Insurance
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of car insurers on the affordability of car insurance renewals for older drivers.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance.

It is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set their premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies. The Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.

However, the Government is determined that insurers should treat customers fairly. Firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority rules.


Written Question
Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch report Accident Investigation Report 7/2023, published on 9 November 2023, if he will establish a statutory inquiry into the deaths in the Channel on 24 November 2021.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

I refer the Hon Lady to the Secretary of State’s written statement on the 9th November (HCWS27).


Written Question
Transport: Disability
Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons Nottingham's Mobility Centre was not allocated funding to roll out a Hubs Mobility Service as announced on 29 March 2022; and if his Department will provide additional funding to Nottingham's Mobility Centre.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Government provides annual grant funding worth a total of approximately £7m to twelve Mobility Centres in England. The Mobility Centres of England promote equality of opportunity for disabled and older people by finding solutions to enable more people to keep driving or retain mobility.

Mobility Centres funded by the Department for Transport must be fully accredited by the umbrella charity Driving Mobility to receive funding. Nottingham’s Mobility Centre is not funded by the Government because it is not accredited by Driving Mobility, and therefore is not eligible for additional funding.

Less than 20 miles away from Nottingham, Derby DrivAbility is accredited by Driving Mobility and receives grant funding from the Department for Transport, including an additional allocation of funding for the Hubs Mobility Service.


Written Question
East Midlands Rail Franchise
Tuesday 10th January 2023

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the East Midlands Trains National Rail contract.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department is in the process of reviewing the documents to understand if any information is exempt under the FOI Act and should therefore be redacted prior to publishing. Once the Department has completed this process the East Midlands National Rail Contract will be published on the Government website, occurring no later than 5 April 2023.


Written Question
Driving Tests
Tuesday 20th September 2022

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the availability of practical driving tests.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, with several measures in place to do this. These include offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays and weekends), and resuming the number of driving tests per day to seven for each full-time examiner.

The DVSA is also recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.

To reduce the number of driving tests which go to waste, the DVSA has introduced a text messaging service to remind candidates about their test, and has also launched a ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign to improve learners’ understanding of what it means to be test ready and how they can assess their own readiness.


Written Question
Public Transport: Social Workers
Wednesday 30th March 2022

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) viability and (b) potential impact on staff retention of providing free public transport for social care workers.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The statutory English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. Local authorities in England also have the discretion to offer concessions over and above the statutory minimum, including to other groups of people such as social care workers. The implementation of such local schemes is a matter for individual authorities, based upon their assessment of local need and funding priorities, paying for them through local resources like Council Tax.


Written Question
Travel Restrictions: Ecuador
Tuesday 2nd November 2021

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to remove Ecuador from the covid-19 travel red list.

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

Ecuador was removed from the red list on Monday 1 November. There are no countries or territories currently on the UK’s red list. However, the data for all countries and territories will be kept under regular review and the red list will continue to operate as the UK’s first defence to prevent incoming variants of concern from entering the UK from international travel.


Written Question
Travel Restrictions: Ecuador
Wednesday 27th October 2021

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason Ecuador remains on the covid-19 red list in the context of the low covid-19 infection rates and successful vaccination programme in that country.

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

Ecuador has been on the red list since 15 January 2021 due to the ongoing presence of variants of concern. The data for all countries and territories will be kept under regular review. Decisions on red country assignment and associated border measures will continue to be taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments alongside wider public health factors.

Government scientists will continue to engage with countries still on the red list and keep the evidence on variants of concern, especially Lambda and Mu, under close review in order to ensure the UK’s approach remains proportionate. The Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.


Written Question
Bus Services: Coronavirus
Tuesday 9th March 2021

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that bus operators do not reduce the number of bus (a) services and (b) routes as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government is currently providing up to £27.3m per week of emergency funding to the bus sector through the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) scheme. This is allowing bus operators to maintain services for essential travel.

During the current national lockdown, the Department has asked operators and local authorities to work together to prioritise services and routes based on local need, while reducing overall service levels to reflect reduced demand. The Government will work with operators and local authorities to help them prepare for an increase in demand as national restrictions begin to lift and ensure that service levels and route provision can meet this increase.

The Government remains committed to supporting the bus sector’s long-term recovery from COVID-19. Further details on how we plan to support bus services will be included in the National Bus Strategy, which we expect to publish in the coming weeks.


Written Question
Bus Services: Coronavirus
Tuesday 9th March 2021

Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to allocate recovery funding to bus services in response to the covid-19 lockdown.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Government is currently providing up to £27.3m per week of emergency funding to the bus sector through the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) scheme, ensuring that essential services continue to be provided. We will provide CBSSG until the funding is no longer needed.