Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132588 on Driving Licences: Gender, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) driving licence applications replace the word gender with the word sex and (b) the driving licence systems record male and female biological sex as essential categories for all purposes.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working to ensure consistency in the way such information is captured across its driving licence application services.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will update the driving license application process to replace the word gender and the options male and female with the word sex and the options male and female.
Answered by Richard Holden
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) already captures ‘sex’ with the option for male and female on its new digital service for first provisional driving licence applications. The DVLA is working to ensure consistency in the way such information is captured across all its driving licence application services.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve rail services in the Midlands.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Major investment is planned to improve rail services throughout the region. In the West Midlands, £700m is being invested in a fleet of 180 new carriages which will deliver 20,000 more peak hour seats into Birmingham over the next two years,
The East Midlands will benefit from our £1.5 billion upgrade of the Midland Mainline, with faster peak time journeys to London from this December and a brand-new fleet of bi-mode trains entering service from 2022.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of delivering Midlands Connect.
Answered by George Freeman
To date the Government has provided Midlands Connect with £25 million to develop a transport strategy and progress key projects designed to boost productivity and growth in the region.
This includes £5 million to develop the Midlands Rail Hub, which is a suite of infrastructure improvements designed to improve rail travel in the region. The cost of delivering Midlands Rail Hub in its entirety is estimated to be between £1.5bn and £2bn.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing free bus travel for people under 25.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government has not estimated the cost of providing free bus travel to people under 25.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps he is taking to improve the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
My hon. Friend is right to focus on charging points. We have a large charging point network, and we are rapidly expanding it. As she knows, we have just announced a local charging infrastructure fund of £400 million. A lot of work is being done with local authorities, and I encourage my hon. Friend to work with us to develop further charging points in her area.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps his Department is taking to prepare transport infrastructure for severe winter weather.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Significant efforts have been made this year across the transport sectors, including road, rail and air, to boost resilience and preparedness.
We continue to work closely with all key transport operators, the local government sector, salt suppliers and other key partners to ensure that disruption to our transport network are kept to a minimum.