Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on reducing driving test wait times for test centres in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce driving test waiting times across the country.
Further information on these actions and progress on the DVSA’s plan, which was set out last year, can be found on GOV.UK.
DVSA continues to run recruitment campaigns for new driving examiners (DEs). From recent campaigns, DVSA has recruited four new potential DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
DVSA has just completed a further recruitment campaign and hopes to make offers to the successful candidates soon.
DVSA will also continue to strategically deploy examiners to ensure fair coverage across all DTCs in Aberdeenshire, including remote and outstation locations.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to help increase the affordability of taxis for disabled people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
General policy on taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing is devolved in Scotland (where PHVs are known as private hire cars), Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, licensing authorities can set maximum taxi fares for journeys within their area to protect passengers hailing taxis in the street or at a rank where passengers have little choice over which vehicle they hire. The setting of fares by private hire vehicle operators is a commercial matter for the company in question; as such services must be pre-booked passengers can shop around, comparing factors such as price, reliability and availability.
Disabled people are particularly reliant on taxi and PHV services and, thus, can be especially sensitive to high fares. We encourage licensing authorities to use the government’s Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing best practice guidance for licensing authorities in England which emphasises the importance of licensing authorities continuing to improve the inclusivity of the taxi and PHV services they regulate to ensure services in their area are safe, available, affordable and accessible. The Equality Act 2010 is however clear that operators and drivers cannot charge disabled people, including wheelchair users and assistance dog owners, more for their carriage or for providing assistance required by law.
Local authorities in England can also choose to provide an additional scheme to the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS), whereby a person eligible for free bus travel under the ENCTS, may agree with the local authority to surrender their pass in return for alternative travel concessions, such as travel tokens (which may be used on taxi and PHV services) or a railcard.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her Department's original budget for HS2 Phase 2 was; how much her Department has spent since that project started; and what the estimated final cost is in (a) real and (b) current terms.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The original funding envelopes (in 2015 prices) for Phase 2a was £3.72bn and £24.8bn for Phase 2b. Spend on the HS2 project can be found in the latest Parliamentary Report here , which is updated and published at regular intervals. The project currently reports estimated final costs in 2019 prices.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her Department's original budget for the Great Western Railway modernisation project was; how much her Department has spent since that project started; and what the estimated final cost is in (a) real and (b) current terms.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Great Western Route Modernisation Programme was estimated to cost £2,967m at the time of the 2015 Business Case. The outturn cost for the Programme in 2021/22 was £3,863m.