Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of wifi available across the rail network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I have asked my officials to explore the feasibility of a range of technology options to improve passenger connectivity on the rail network. The Department is also conducting research to measure the strength of mobile signals along the rail network to fully understand where interventions are needed, and the potential impacts.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative reforms to zig zag markings outside schools to enable enforcement even where cars are partially on the pavement.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities in England with designated civil parking enforcement powers already have the option to use existing traffic order-making powers to take civil enforcement action against vehicles which are stationary, whether fully or partially, on zigzag markings outside schools. Civil parking enforcement powers have been designated in 98 percent of local authority areas in England. Elsewhere enforcement remains a police matter.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to take steps to (a) allow local authorities with civil parking enforcement powers to enforce against unnecessary obstruction of the pavement and (b) enable highways authorities outside London to introduce a pavement parking prohibition.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In 2020, the Department undertook a public consultation on options for changing the way pavement parking is managed outside London. We are considering the views received to inform the Government’s next steps for pavement parking policy.
The formal consultation response will be available to view in due course at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the number of additional driving tests that will be needed to reduce the average wait time for a test to the seven-week service standard.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. All available driving test appointments are shown on the live booking system, so the availability of test appointments continually changes. Test appointments are released on a rolling 24-week basis, and additional appointments are added as soon as they become available. Other candidates cancelling or rescheduling their test also free up appointments for others to book. Normal booking behaviour sees candidates move test appointments around routinely in line with their preferences. It is not therefore possible to give a meaningful assessment of the number of people waiting longer than 24 weeks for a test or how long a person waited between booking and taking a test.
DVSA continues to see high demand for driving tests, owing in part to a major shift in customer booking behaviour. Customers now book their car practical test far earlier in their learning journey, sometimes before they have even had a practical driving lesson.
The attached spreadsheet, WPQ00023819-00023823, shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month since April 2015.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people were waiting more than 24 weeks for a driving test in each driving test area in each month since January 2015.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. All available driving test appointments are shown on the live booking system, so the availability of test appointments continually changes. Test appointments are released on a rolling 24-week basis, and additional appointments are added as soon as they become available. Other candidates cancelling or rescheduling their test also free up appointments for others to book. Normal booking behaviour sees candidates move test appointments around routinely in line with their preferences. It is not therefore possible to give a meaningful assessment of the number of people waiting longer than 24 weeks for a test or how long a person waited between booking and taking a test.
DVSA continues to see high demand for driving tests, owing in part to a major shift in customer booking behaviour. Customers now book their car practical test far earlier in their learning journey, sometimes before they have even had a practical driving lesson.
The attached spreadsheet, WPQ00023819-00023823, shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month since April 2015.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average wait time for a car driving test was at each driving test centre in each month since January 2015.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. All available driving test appointments are shown on the live booking system, so the availability of test appointments continually changes. Test appointments are released on a rolling 24-week basis, and additional appointments are added as soon as they become available. Other candidates cancelling or rescheduling their test also free up appointments for others to book. Normal booking behaviour sees candidates move test appointments around routinely in line with their preferences. It is not therefore possible to give a meaningful assessment of the number of people waiting longer than 24 weeks for a test or how long a person waited between booking and taking a test.
DVSA continues to see high demand for driving tests, owing in part to a major shift in customer booking behaviour. Customers now book their car practical test far earlier in their learning journey, sometimes before they have even had a practical driving lesson.
The attached spreadsheet, WPQ00023819-00023823, shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month since April 2015.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average wait time was in each driving test area in each month since January 2015.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. All available driving test appointments are shown on the live booking system, so the availability of test appointments continually changes. Test appointments are released on a rolling 24-week basis, and additional appointments are added as soon as they become available. Other candidates cancelling or rescheduling their test also free up appointments for others to book. Normal booking behaviour sees candidates move test appointments around routinely in line with their preferences. It is not therefore possible to give a meaningful assessment of the number of people waiting longer than 24 weeks for a test or how long a person waited between booking and taking a test.
DVSA continues to see high demand for driving tests, owing in part to a major shift in customer booking behaviour. Customers now book their car practical test far earlier in their learning journey, sometimes before they have even had a practical driving lesson.
The attached spreadsheet, WPQ00023819-00023823, shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month since April 2015.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of driving tests.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at driving test centres, include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 7 October 2024, there were 571,047 car practical driving tests booked, and 89,349 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. All available driving test appointments are shown on the live booking system, so the availability of test appointments continually changes. Test appointments are released on a rolling 24-week basis, and additional appointments are added as soon as they become available. Other candidates cancelling or rescheduling their test also free up appointments for others to book. Normal booking behaviour sees candidates move test appointments around routinely in line with their preferences. It is not therefore possible to give a meaningful assessment of the number of people waiting longer than 24 weeks for a test or how long a person waited between booking and taking a test.
DVSA continues to see high demand for driving tests, owing in part to a major shift in customer booking behaviour. Customers now book their car practical test far earlier in their learning journey, sometimes before they have even had a practical driving lesson.
The attached spreadsheet, WPQ00023819-00023823, shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month since April 2015.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much her Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the last year (August 2023 to July 2024) the Department spent £6,128,135 on paid communications campaigns.
The majority of this spend was for the THINK! campaign, which is a key pillar in the Department’s commitment to improving road safety. THINK! aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the road through changing attitudes and behaviours among those at most risk. The campaign focuses on priority issues including drink driving and speeding, as well as communicating key policy interventions.
In the past year, the Department ran THINK! Campaigns across paid channels in England and Wales to tackle drink driving, seat belt use and speeding and among high-risk male drivers aged 17-24.
The total spend also includes the ‘It’s Everyone’s Journey’ campaign which aims to raise awareness of the needs of disabled people among the general travelling public, and to create a more supportive travelling environment to improve confidence and increase the use of public transport by disabled people.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will have discussions with Network Rail on options to avoid the closure of Spion Kop Bridge in Wigston during the next phase of electrification work on the midland mainline.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My officials have been in discussion with Network Rail and will continue to do so regarding the works for Spion Kop bridge at Blaby Road.
The work is necessary to renew aging assets and enable the electrification of the railway. Network Rail are working with the local authority and are considering options for the works. They are mindful of minimising disruptive impacts whilst also delivering them efficiently.