Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of rail fares in England; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to reduce rail fares in real terms.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
No decision has been made on national rail fares for 2022. The Government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential effect of moving Brazil from the red list for international covid-19 travel restrictions to the amber list with India's placement on the amber list.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.
All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. The country allocations are reviewed on a three weekly cycle and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving Colombia from the red list to the amber list for international covid-19 travel restrictions.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.
All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. The country allocations are reviewed on a three weekly cycle and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of moving South Africa from the red list for international covid-19 travel restrictions to the amber list for international covid-19 travel restrictions.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The traffic light system categorises countries, based on risk to protect public health and the vaccine rollout from variants of COVID-19. The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.
All classification changes have been decided by ministers, informed by the latest data and analysis by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and wider public health considerations, to help the public understand the risks to public health of travelling to different destinations. The country allocations are reviewed on a three weekly cycle and the Government will not hesitate to take action where a country’s epidemiological picture changes.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring provision of tactile paving across all Network Rail stations by 2025.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
We have accepted the Rail Accident Investigation Board’s recommendations in the Eden Park report in full, and we are working with Network Rail to develop a programme to aim to install platform edge tactile strips on every platform in Great Britain.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to publish the result of the Government's consultation on pavement parking by the end of September 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department will publish the consultation response as soon as possible.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Government's full review of all driving offences and penalties will be published.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government takes road safety seriously and keeps the law under regular review. However, we do not currently have any plans to conduct a full review of all driving offences and penalties.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the three-stop limit for hauliers on those working with touring musicians and events across the EU.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the UK and the EU UK hauliers can undertake up to 2 additional laden journeys within the EU after a laden international journey from the UK, with a maximum of 1 cabotage movement outside Ireland.
The TCA ensures that the vast majority of haulage operations will continue as they did before the end of the transition period.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether officials in his Department are taking steps with international counterparts to introduce an international covid-19 vaccine passport to enable the safe resumption of travel.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As set out in the Global Travel Taskforce report, our ambition is to have a system in place to facilitate travel certification for international travel. Any solution for international travel certification needs to be user friendly, interoperable with various other systems and able to facilitate a quick interaction at the border. We are continuing to progress work to explore the testing of technology solutions with multilateral organisations and international partners to ensure these can operate effectively at scale as international travel recovers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of making targeted financial support available for travel businesses for as long as covid-19 restrictions continue to remain in place for the travel industry.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances aviation and associated business face as a result of Covid-19. Firms, across the economy, that are experiencing difficulties have been able to draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor. This includes support through loan guarantees, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
The extension of Government-backed loans and furlough payments announced at the Budget build on the support package available and will help ensure this vital and vibrant part of the UK economy is ready to bounce back in the wake of the pandemic.
We continue to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.