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 encourage and support local authorities to introduce safety measures on dangerous roads proactively rather than retrospectively after multiple accidents.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. All available research shows a link between excessive speed and the risk of collisions.
We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit, and enforcement is a matter for the police. Policing of our roads, and how available resources are deployed, is the responsibility of individual chief officers, taking into account the specific local issues.
Responsibility for making decisions, and prioritising works, about the roads under their care rests with local traffic authorities based on their knowledge of local needs. This includes introducing measures to tackle dangerous roads and reduce speeding.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to support local councils on the implementation of various traffic management issues.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides funds directly to local authorities which may be used for road safety purposes.
This includes the £170 million the Department is providing in 22/23 to local highways authorities in England, outside London and City Region areas, through the Integrated Transport Block for small scale transport schemes, including road safety measures. The Integrated Transport Block is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support.
It also includes the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) provide consolidated, long-term capital funding to improve the local transport networks of eight city regions across England through five-year settlements from 2022/23. This funding combines new and existing funds, including Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport Block, Potholes fund and final year Transforming Cities Fund.
The Safer Roads Fund was established to treat the 50 highest risk local A road sections in England with remedial road safety engineering interventions. As a result, £100 million has been committed by the Department for Transport across 48 schemes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support is available for local authorities seeking to reduce speeding to improve road safety.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that any form of dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue. All available research shows a link between excessive speed and the risk of collisions.
We expect all drivers to observe the speed limit, and enforcement is a matter for the police. Policing of our roads, and how available resources are deployed, is the responsibility of individual chief officers, taking into account the specific local issues.
Responsibility for making decisions, and prioritising works, about the roads under their care rests with local traffic authorities based on their knowledge of local needs. This includes introducing measures to tackle dangerous roads and reduce speeding.
The Department for Transport provides guidance to support local councils on the implementation of various traffic management issues.
In addition, the Department for Transport provides funds directly to local authorities which may be used for road safety purposes.
This includes the £170 million the Department is providing in 22/23 to local highways authorities in England, outside London and City Region areas, through the Integrated Transport Block for small scale transport schemes, including road safety measures. The Integrated Transport Block is not ring-fenced, allowing authorities to spend their allocations according to their own priorities. It is therefore for each authority to decide how it allocates its resources and which transport improvement projects to support.
It also includes the £5.7 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) provide consolidated, long-term capital funding to improve the local transport networks of eight city regions across England through five-year settlements from 2022/23. This funding combines new and existing funds, including Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport Block, Potholes fund and final year Transforming Cities Fund.
The Safer Roads Fund was established to treat the 50 highest risk local A road sections in England with remedial road safety engineering interventions. As a result, £100 million has been committed by the Department for Transport across 48 schemes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential number of unroadworthy vehicles in the event that MOT tests were required only every two years.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department has made no proposal or decision to change the requirements for MOT tests. Should any such proposal be made, we would produce an assessment of the effects of the change.
DVSA publish statistics on the number of vehicles that pass and fail MOT tests and the reasons for failed tests:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/mot-testing-data-for-great-britain
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the number of MOT testing centres that have closed since March 2020.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted statistics are published at Vehicle testing and enforcement activity effectiveness reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine the number of MOT testing centres that have ‘closed’ since March 2020 as sites might cease testing and then resume testing at a later date either by the site owner or a new owner. Should an MOT testing centre cease to conduct MOT tests, the site may remain open to continue its underlying service and repair work.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted (a) January to March 2020 and (b) January to March 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The percentage of vehicles declared unroadworthy following an MOT conducted statistics are published at Vehicle testing and enforcement activity effectiveness reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine the number of MOT testing centres that have ‘closed’ since March 2020 as sites might cease testing and then resume testing at a later date either by the site owner or a new owner. Should an MOT testing centre cease to conduct MOT tests, the site may remain open to continue its underlying service and repair work.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for an HGV driving licence application renewal in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021 to 31 August.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below shows the average processing time for vocational (which includes both HGV and bus) driving licence renewal applications.
Calendar Year | Average days to issue a renewal vocational driving licence |
2018 | 2.94 |
2019 | 2.45 |
2020 | 4.74 |
2021 (to 31 August) | 12.02 |
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff currently work for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 16 September 2021 the total headcount at the DVLA was 6,120.
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 increase the speed with which HGV driver applications are processed.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The DVLA is currently prioritising applications for HGV driving licences and continues to explore opportunities to reduce turnaround times for paper applications. Extra staff have been recruited and the DVLA is seeking extra office space to house more staff to help reduce backlogs and provide future resilience and business continuity.
Paper driving licence applications are currently taking between six and ten weeks to process and more information is available on GOV.UK here. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed.
Following a public consultation, the Department is also introducing changes that will streamline the licensing process for new HGV drivers and increase driving test availability. These are aimed to help address current driver shortages. A written statement to Parliament about these changes has been published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional resources have been made available to ensuring that HGV driver applications are being processed on time.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 15 September, there were 54,191 applications for vocational driving licences awaiting processing. These are a mix of first applications for a provisional vocational licence and renewals. It is important to note that the majority of those applying to renew their vocational licence will be able to continue to drive while their application is being processed. Vocational applications include those applying for entitlement to drive both HGVs and buses and it is not possible to separate them out.
On 31 March 2010, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) employed 6,428 staff. It is not possible to specify how many staff were working on applications for HGV licences in 2010 as most DVLA operational roles require employees to carry out a range of tasks.
Information about the number of renewal applications for HGV driver licences that were not processed by their renewal date is not held.
The DVLA is currently prioritising applications for HGV driving licences and continues to explore opportunities to reduce turnaround times for paper applications. Extra staff have been recruited and the DVLA is seeking extra office space to house more staff to help reduce backlogs and provide future resilience and business continuity.
Paper driving licence applications are currently taking between six and ten weeks to process and more information is available on gov.uk here. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many renewal applications for HGV driver licences were not processed by their renewal date as a result of delays in DLVA processing in each month since January 2021 to date. .
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 15 September, there were 54,191 applications for vocational driving licences awaiting processing. These are a mix of first applications for a provisional vocational licence and renewals. It is important to note that the majority of those applying to renew their vocational licence will be able to continue to drive while their application is being processed. Vocational applications include those applying for entitlement to drive both HGVs and buses and it is not possible to separate them out.
On 31 March 2010, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) employed 6,428 staff. It is not possible to specify how many staff were working on applications for HGV licences in 2010 as most DVLA operational roles require employees to carry out a range of tasks.
Information about the number of renewal applications for HGV driver licences that were not processed by their renewal date is not held.
The DVLA is currently prioritising applications for HGV driving licences and continues to explore opportunities to reduce turnaround times for paper applications. Extra staff have been recruited and the DVLA is seeking extra office space to house more staff to help reduce backlogs and provide future resilience and business continuity.
Paper driving licence applications are currently taking between six and ten weeks to process and more information is available on gov.uk here. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed.