Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to prevent (a) the bulk buying of driving tests by bot accounts and (b) the reselling of driving slots.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - 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 18 December, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA also introduced tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage car driving tests for their pupils.
DVSA continues recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in Coventry South and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns.
As part of this, DVSA has two potential new DEs for Coventry DTC in training. Another potential new DE is currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support she is providing to the DVSA to improve the recruitment of driving instructors and reduce driving test waiting times.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - 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 18 December, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA also introduced tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage car driving tests for their pupils.
DVSA continues recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in Coventry South and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns.
As part of this, DVSA has two potential new DEs for Coventry DTC in training. Another potential new DE is currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of practical driving tests in Coventry South constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - 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 18 December, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA also introduced tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage car driving tests for their pupils.
DVSA continues recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in Coventry South and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns.
As part of this, DVSA has two potential new DEs for Coventry DTC in training. Another potential new DE is currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of (a) buses, (b) trains and (c) other public transport for disabled people; and what steps she plans to take to improve such accessibility.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is fully committed to our promise to deliver reliable, affordable and accessible transport, with accessibility at the heart of our bold reforms for bus and rail reform and improved passenger standards across the transport network.
The Department has recently published an annual evaluation of accessibility through the Inclusive Transport Strategy scorecard, based upon analysis by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). In addition to this the department publishes annual statistics on disability, accessibility and blue badge holding, which includes data on public satisfaction with different aspects of public transport provision. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee is the Department’s expert committee on accessibility, making sure that proper consideration and assessment of disabled people’s views and needs are central to our decision making.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of closing train station ticket offices in Coventry South constituency on the (a) safety and (b) accessibility of passenger rail travel in the West Midlands.
Answered by Huw Merriman
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours, including closures, operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of all passengers; and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. We would also expect operators to consider other equality related needs and make this clear in the notice sent to other operators and passenger groups.
Together with industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. No currently staffed station will be unstaffed as a result of industry changes, and train operators will ensure staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to help ensure electric cars remain an affordable option for those people planning to purchase a lower emitting vehicle.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is committed to keeping the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) affordable for all consumers. Government grants have been in place for over a decade to help reduce the up-front purchase price of EVs. These grants remain available for the purchase of zero emission vans, trucks, wheelchair accessible vehicles, taxis and motorbikes.
Once purchased, EV owners benefit from lower operational and maintenance costs including favourable taxation policies.
The Government is also committed to ensuring EV charging remains affordable for all EV drivers. Most EV drivers charge overnight at home where they can access cheap and flexible tariffs. This is a trend that the Government expects will continue. The Government continues to support and encourage innovations to ensure that EV drivers, who do not have their own home chargers, can benefit from cheaper domestic electricity tariffs, such as cable gulleys and peer-to-peer charging schemes allowing owners to rent out their home chargepoints.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of private electric vehicle charging points that are accessible through peer-to-peer charging as of 2 December 2022; and if he will take steps to (a) incentivise and (b) increase the accessibility of peer-to-peer electric vehicle charging.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government encourages innovative EV charging solutions, such as peer-to-peer schemes, that can help to increase the range of charging options available to drivers. However, the Department does not monitor the numbers of private chargepoints which are used for peer-to-peer charging.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to promote research into electric vehicle charging road technology; and what assessment he has made of that technology's potential environmental benefits.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has committed £40 million in projects to support innovation in wireless and on-street electric vehicle charging technology
£10 million of this investment is supporting the trial of wireless charging technologies. This includes £3.4 million for charging taxis wirelessly in Nottingham, enabling drivers to “top-up” charge while waiting for their next fare. This project considers whether wireless charging can deliver additional environmental benefits for heavily utilised electric vehicles by reducing the need for large batteries or range extender engines
Wireless charging potentially has several other commercial and consumer experience benefits, including improved accessibility.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the evidence on the effectiveness of noise camera technology in reducing disruptive noise pollution; and what preventative measures the Government is taking to tackle that problem.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
The Department has recently commenced research to understand if the latest ‘noise camera’ technology can be an effective enforcement tool for the police that will enable more targeted, efficient and effective enforcement.
The research will be published in due course.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Independent - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that consumers have received refunds for cancelled flight bookings in summer 2022.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
We have a framework of laws that set out the protections available for air passengers, including the rules on when they are entitled to refunds and compensation.
The CAA, as the UK’s aviation regulator, is responsible for enforcing consumer protections in aviation, and will take enforcement action where it sees systemic breaches of those laws.
The Department took action, as part of our 22-point plan to tackle summer disruption, to remind the aviation sector over the summer of their responsibility to support passengers, to ensure passengers are promptly informed of their rights if things go wrong and are compensated in good time.
Additionally, we published the Aviation Passenger Charter in July to provide consumers with the information they need on their rights and responsibilities for each stage of their journey, from booking to if things go wrong. This included information on when they may be entitled to refunds and compensation, how to claim, and where they can get further assistance.