Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to bring forward the statutory instrument necessary to permit the use of hydrogen powered construction vehicles on public roads through amendment to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Following a consultation that closed in April 2024, the Department for Transport is developing an amendment to The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 to allow hydrogen-powered off-road machinery to be used on the road. Legislation is expected to be introduced alongside publication of the Government’s response to the public consultation in April.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the economic impact of the planned closures of the M2 motorway between junctions 5 and 6 at weekends in (a) spring and (b) summer 2022 on tourist industries in the seaside towns of (i) Whitstable, (ii) Herne Bay, (iii) Birchington-on-Sea, (iv) Westgate-on-Sea, (v) Margate, (vi) Broadstairs and (vii) Ramsgate.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The closures are required to carry out essential replacement of life-expired bridge components. The Department does not, as standard practice, carry out economic impact assessments for road closures. However, National Highways has agreed the planned closures in consultation with Kent County Council and timed them to avoid school holidays and major events in the local area.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of new trade deals on the import and export volumes that will require air freight transportation.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of future GDP growth on air freight tonnage for (a) imports into and (b) exports from the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of UK airfreight infrastructure required to accommodate (a) dedicated freighter aircraft using UK runway capacity, (b) belly freight on passenger aircraft served by existing UK airports and (c) airfreight trucked to or from EU airports.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the air freight capacity available at (a) Heathrow (b) Stansted and (c) East Midlands airports.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the annual tonnage of air freight that is (a) trucked from the UK to EU airports for onward carriage by air and (b) flown into EU airports and then trucked onwards into the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what modelling his Department has made of levels of future air freight volumes to and from the UK up to 2050.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of internet sales on demand for air freight services.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department actively monitors the passage of air freight in and out of the UK and engages regularly with industry including airlines, airports and ground handling companies.
The Government recognises the vital role air freight plays in supply chains by ensuring that essential goods can continue to be brought into and out of the UK without disruption. The sector is highly resilient and exclusively private. In 2017 air freight contributed £7.2 billion to the UK economy.
Asked by: Roger Gale (Conservative - Herne Bay and Sandwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many pedestrians were involved in road traffic accidents while using a mobile phone in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The department does not collect data specifically on mobile phone use for pedestrians involved in road accidents. The department collects data on personal injury road accidents reported to the police, including contributory factors which the police select when they attend the scene. This does not assign blame for the accident but gives an indication of factors the attending officer thought contributed to the accident.
In 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 2,490 road accidents involving pedestrians where the contributory factor of ‘Pedestrian careless, reckless or in a hurry’ was allocated to an injured or killed pedestrian, and 35 where this factor was allocated to an uninjured pedestrian in Great Britain.
This contributory factor includes cases where the pedestrian either behaved in a negligent or thoughtless manner or was in a hurry and, therefore, behaved in an unsafe manner. It also includes cases where a pedestrian was distracted (e.g. using a mobile phone).
Statistics on the number of accidents involving pedestrians by contributory factor assigned to pedestrians are available in table RAS50004: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743098/ras50004.ods.