Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the brightness of LED headlights on local communities.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All types of road vehicle headlamps are designed, tested and approved to internationally recognised standards to help prevent undue glare on a broad range of roads and environments. However, the Government is aware of concerns raised by members of the public and we intend to commission independent research shortly.
While there are clear safety, security and economic benefits associated with the use of LED lighting, the scientific evidence base on its adverse effects is less advanced. The government is committed to improving the evidence base to ensure we understand the effects more fully before making further policy interventions.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to provide people who paid a broker to obtain a driving test with financial support.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2021, the recovery measures put in place by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, together with the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners, is creating approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month. These measures include conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
As of 18 September 2023, there were 561,275 car practical driving tests booked, and 64,817 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The DVSA is aware of some people who have been using apps and bots to find a test date. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test, than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.
The DVSA will also continue to inform candidates of the official channels for booking a test. The DVSA has taken measures to encourage learners to use the official booking site on GOV.UK by ensuring that it appears as high as possible on popular search engines and by promoting the official website on social media.
The fees for the services that the DVSA offers have remained largely the same for over 10 years. The car driving test fee was last changed in 2009 and has not kept up with inflation. The fee for a driving test represents a relatively small component of the overall cost of learning to drive.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times to obtain driving tests.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2021, the recovery measures put in place by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, together with the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners, is creating approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month. These measures include conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
As of 18 September 2023, there were 561,275 car practical driving tests booked, and 64,817 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The DVSA is aware of some people who have been using apps and bots to find a test date. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test, than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.
The DVSA will also continue to inform candidates of the official channels for booking a test. The DVSA has taken measures to encourage learners to use the official booking site on GOV.UK by ensuring that it appears as high as possible on popular search engines and by promoting the official website on social media.
The fees for the services that the DVSA offers have remained largely the same for over 10 years. The car driving test fee was last changed in 2009 and has not kept up with inflation. The fee for a driving test represents a relatively small component of the overall cost of learning to drive.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether financial support is available for people who cannot afford to pay for a driving test.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2021, the recovery measures put in place by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, together with the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners, is creating approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month. These measures include conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
As of 18 September 2023, there were 561,275 car practical driving tests booked, and 64,817 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The DVSA is aware of some people who have been using apps and bots to find a test date. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test, than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.
The DVSA will also continue to inform candidates of the official channels for booking a test. The DVSA has taken measures to encourage learners to use the official booking site on GOV.UK by ensuring that it appears as high as possible on popular search engines and by promoting the official website on social media.
The fees for the services that the DVSA offers have remained largely the same for over 10 years. The car driving test fee was last changed in 2009 and has not kept up with inflation. The fee for a driving test represents a relatively small component of the overall cost of learning to drive.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of driving tests.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2021, the recovery measures put in place by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, together with the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners, is creating approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month. These measures include conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
As of 18 September 2023, there were 561,275 car practical driving tests booked, and 64,817 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The DVSA is aware of some people who have been using apps and bots to find a test date. These apps or bots are not approved by the DVSA as they make it harder for candidates to get a test and can also result in people paying more for a test, than the official test fee. Using such services also means that any changes to the test may not necessarily be relayed to the candidate.
The DVSA will also continue to inform candidates of the official channels for booking a test. The DVSA has taken measures to encourage learners to use the official booking site on GOV.UK by ensuring that it appears as high as possible on popular search engines and by promoting the official website on social media.
The fees for the services that the DVSA offers have remained largely the same for over 10 years. The car driving test fee was last changed in 2009 and has not kept up with inflation. The fee for a driving test represents a relatively small component of the overall cost of learning to drive.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the safety of (a) pedestrians and (b) other road users.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Highway Code was updated on 29 January 2022 to include changes to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders. Key changes include the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users, which ensures that those who do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat that they pose to others, strengthening pedestrian priority on pavements and at crossings, guidance on safe passing distances when overtaking cyclists, pedestrians and horse-riders and clarification that cyclists have priority at junctions when travelling straight ahead. The changes will lead to improvements in road safety as they encourage more mutual respect and consideration for all road users.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the (a) frequency and (b) reliability of bus services in (i) Barnsley and (ii) each region.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department publishes data on reliability & punctuality but not on frequency of bus services. The Department publishes data on average excess waiting time for frequent services at a regional and local transport authority level and the proportion of non-frequent bus services running on time at a local transport authority level only. Data for Barnsley is not available as figures are not collected at this level of granularity. The available data can found be in table BUS09 on GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1133041/bus09.ods.
The Government has invested over £3.5 billion to support and improve bus services since March 2020. This includes over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of their Bus Service Improvement Plans and help to make buses more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better coordinated and cheaper as set out in the National Bus Strategy
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) algorithmic and (b) other automated decision making systems his Department uses; and for what purposes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Algorithms are used in various analytical processes and in modelling by the Department for Transport. These inform decisions, but ultimately decisions are taken by Ministers. The Department publishes a list of business-critical models and their purposes. This is available online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-analytical-assurance-framework-strength-in-numbers/dft-register-of-business-critical-models-april-2021.
The Department is developing an internal AI programme which will use algorithmic processes, for example to detect fraudulent grant applications and to streamline work processes. To date, none of these developmental systems has been used for automated decision making.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans his Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has no current plans to make use of this legislation but will continue to keep it under review.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department takes steps to ensure that audio-visual announcements on buses are available for those who require them and not turned down or off.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
There has been progress in increasing the number of vehicles on which audible and visible information is provided. Since 2016/17, the percentage of buses using an Audio-Visual information system to provide route, direction, next stop and diversion information to passengers has almost doubled, from 18% to 34% in 2020/21 across Great Britain. However, there is a large variation in usage by region.
At present there is no legal requirement for operators to provide audible and visible information or to maintain volume levels at a particular level. However, we plan to require the provision of audible and visible information on local bus and coach services across Great Britain, and intend to introduce the Accessible Information Regulations shortly. The Regulations will incorporate requirements to ensure that audible information can be heard by passengers.