Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to make it easier for people in receipt of benefits to train as HGV drivers.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has taken 32 specific measures to deal with the shortage of HGV drivers. These include the Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship standard with a funding band of £7,000 and the Urban Driver apprenticeship with a funding band of £5,000. The Government has also extended its £3,000 incentive payment for every apprentice a business hires to 31 January 2022.
The Department for Education is investing £34 million in skills bootcamps to train just over 11,000 more people to become HGV drivers. An additional 1,000 people are expected to be trained through the Government’s adult education budget.
The Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus are supporting an HGV driver training pilot scheme. Jobcentre Plus is also able to make Flexible Support Fund grants available to those who are unemployed or are in receipt of Universal Credit. It can be used to help those that hold an HGV licence but need to renew their Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of call handlers at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Throughout the pandemic the DVLA’s contact centre has actively managed its operation and flexed the services for customers in line with the available resources. This has included procuring the use of an additional building to increase the number of staff able to take calls within the social distancing guidelines. Remote working has been increased with staff handling email, webchat, social media and more recently telephone customer contacts.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce licensing backlogs at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers. Throughout the pandemic DVLA has also been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
Paper driving licence applications are currently taking between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
The DVLA continues to explore opportunities to reduce turnaround times and has introduced new online services and recruited additional staff. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of securing extra office space to accommodate more staff to work predominantly on drivers’ medical casework and queries. This will be surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will reinstate emergency driving tests for critical workers.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
To help stop the spread of coronavirus, routine driving tests have been suspended in all areas of England, Scotland and Wales.
In England and Wales, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will respond to requests for driving tests from organisations on behalf of frontline mobile emergency workers, who require a driving licence to carry out duties in their employment role. This service is restricted to candidates working in health and social care, and public bodies providing a service in the national interest. The DVSA will contact eligible organisations.
Approved driving instructors and trainers can return to work only for the purpose of supporting a mobile emergency worker with a booked test.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce delays for new licence applications and renewals at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has a range of services available online offering quick and easy ways of transacting. The DVLA’s online services have worked well and as normal throughout the pandemic. Over 36 million online driver and vehicle transactions have been processed since March with nearly two million driving licences issued.
The DVLA’s 6,000 staff are largely based at a single site in Swansea and to adhere to Welsh social distancing requirements the number of staff onsite has been greatly reduced. This has impacted on the time taken to process applications sent by post as these have to be dealt with in person.
The DVLA has reconfigured its accommodation to maximise staff numbers whilst meeting the requirement in Wales to maintain the two-metre social distancing and ensure it remains Covid secure.
Additionally, drivers with a licence that expires between 1 February and 31 December 2020 have been given an automatic extension from the date of expiry. This means they will not need to renew their entitlement to drive until 11 months after the original expiry date.
The DVLA has also accelerated the development of additional online services to further reduce paper applications and supported their take up through a publicity campaign.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the availability of practical driving tests.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Since 26 August 2020, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has been making available, on a weekly basis, a limited number of practical driving test appointments for the general public to book for up to six weeks ahead. Over 69,000 practical driving tests have been booked or rescheduled since 26 August 2020.
From 14 September 2020, the DVSA will be making available over 375,000 new and rescheduled test appointments up to 21 January 2021.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to extend the two-year period in which the driving theory test is valid in response to the effect of covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The two-year validity period of the theory driving test certificate is set in legislation. The Government has no plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to extend the ultra-low emission but scheme to coach operators.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
At present there are no plans to extend the ultra-low emission bus scheme to coach operators. However, the Clean Air Fund is available for those local authorities with a significant NO2 exceedance. Measures which the fund could support include retrofitting solutions for coaches to help operators reduce their emissions.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the extent to which coach travel contributes to improvements in air quality; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Coaches can reduce congestion and associated emissions. Local Authorities with a significant NO2 exceedance have conducted feasibility studies assessing the impact of road transport on local emissions, including from coaches. The £220m Clean Air Fund is available for these local authorities to help improve air quality, including measures such as coach retrofitting to reduce emissions. Furthermore, the Government has funded the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership’s Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme, which has been extended to support retrofit solutions for coaches.
Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in which local authority areas in (a) London and (b) England outside London the number of bus journeys per head of population has increased since 2011.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
According to the Department’s annual survey of local bus operators the following local authority areas saw an increase in passenger journeys on local bus service per head between 2011/12 and 2016/17:
The Department does not hold data on passenger journeys per head in individual London authorities. However, overall passenger journeys per head on local bus services in London fell from 283 in 2011/12 to 255 in 2016/17.
Mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics are used to calculate the per head figures but this does not account for bus passengers using the bus outside the local authority in which they reside.