Tag: Jim Fitzpatrick

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of private hire vehicles illegally plying for hire.

Andrew Jones

The Government is responsible for the legislative structure within which local licensing authorities deliver the licensing regime for taxis and private hire vehicles. Enforcement of the licensing regime, including ensuring that private hire vehicles do not illegally ply for hire, is therefore a matter for local licensing authorities and the police.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of increased waiting times for driving tests for young drivers on (a) failure rates and (b) increased travel time and cost to examination centres.

Andrew Jones

Any comparison between waiting times and failure rates would be highly subjective as the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has no way of excluding other factors. DVSA also cannot identify the motivation of candidates choosing test centres for their practical test; therefore, DVSA is unable to assess what the costs would be.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a Minister of his Department will be representing the UK at the UN’s second Global Summit on Road Safety to discuss the inclusion of targets to reduce crash deaths worldwide as a new sustainable development goal.

Andrew Jones

The UN’s Second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety has already taken place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to implement the National Screening Committee’s recommendations on introducing (a) the Faecal Immunochemical Test into the bowel screening programme and (b) HPV as the primary test in the cervical screening programme.

Jane Ellison

Ministers have accepted the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendation on replacing the guaiac Faecal Occult Blood test with the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Following the change to FIT we expect that around 200,000 more people per year will take up the opportunity to be screened as part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England. This has the potential to save hundreds more lives by detecting bowel cancer earlier. Public Health England is responsible for the leadership of the NHS Screening Programmes and will oversee the change to the programme in partnership with NHS England.

Ministers are currently considering the UK NSC’s recommendation that human papillomavirus testing should replace the currently used cytology test as primary screening for cervical disease.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to bring forward legislation to amend the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010 related to the recommendations in the post-implementation review of those regulations.

George Eustice

As set out in Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010, we are currently considering a number of areas where the Regulations may need amending. Any such amendments can be introduced via secondary legislation made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on introducing a statutory definition of plying for hire in the taxi and private hire vehicle industry.

Andrew Jones

As part of the process of considering all the recommendations in the Law Commission’s report on reforming taxi and private hire vehicle legislation, my Department is continuing to discuss the proposals with colleagues in other Government departments.

The Government will formally respond to the Law Commission and announce its intentions in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the numbers of driving examiners in England on waiting times for tests; and what steps he is taking to encourage more examiners to qualify.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) undertake quarterly test forecast reviews to identify the likely demand of driving tests, from which it calculates the numbers of examiners required in order to service those demands. Those numbers are reviewed against the current examiners numbers and where increases are identified, these are factored into DVSA’s recruitment campaigns. DVSA usually run two recruitment campaigns per year, with additional campaigns where necessary i.e. where there has been insufficient take-up/success in geographical areas.

This process has, over the years, generally worked well, but the unforeseen and exceptionally high increase in demand for driving tests in 2015. Across the whole of DVSA it has recruited 167 new driving examiners during 2015/16 with a further 60 either attending or booked on to new entrant courses. DVSA has also offered posts to a further 40 potential examiners.

DVSA has also been re-prioritising the activities of examiners and offering them additional overtime in order to increase testing capacity.

Over 2015 DVSA introduced a number of changes to the marketing of its recruitment campaign in order to try and encourage interest from wider and more diverse groups, additionally DVSA undertook two targeted campaigns for motorcycle examiners and LGV examiners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions Ministers of his Department had with Ministers of the Department for International Development to discuss the new UN sustainable development goal on reducing worldwide crash deaths.

Andrew Jones

The government has a manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year. Ministers from across government, including ministers from the Department for International Development, support the Road Safety Statement which was published on the 21st December 2015. The Statement sets out the government’s vision, values and priorities for improving the safety of Britain’s roads which will contribute to the sustainable development goal to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions.

Officials from the Department for Transport and from the Department for International Development continue to discuss the UN sustainable development goal relating to road safety.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the National Screening Committee’s recommendations for the bowel and cervical screening programmes; and whether he plans to support those recommendations

Jane Ellison

Ministers have accepted the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendation on replacing the guaiac Faecal Occult Blood test with the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Following the change to FIT we expect that around 200,000 more people per year will take up the opportunity to be screened as part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England. This has the potential to save hundreds more lives by detecting bowel cancer earlier. Public Health England is responsible for the leadership of the NHS Screening Programmes and will oversee the change to the programme in partnership with NHS England.

Ministers are currently considering the UK NSC’s recommendation that human papillomavirus testing should replace the currently used cytology test as primary screening for cervical disease.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of greyhound trainers’ kennel standards before legislation is to be brought forward to amend the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010.

George Eustice

Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 contained an assessment of standards at trainers’ kennels and found that more was needed to be done to safeguard welfare. As a result, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has agreed to work through the British Standards Institution and with other stakeholders, to develop a consensus standard for trainers’ kennels. The GBGB has also agreed to seek to extend its current United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation to cover the enforcement of these new standards at the kennels of GBGB licensed trainers. During the Review process no evidence was submitted to Defra on the numbers of greyhound trainers operating solely at the four remaining independent tracks in England and the conditions at any such kennels. Therefore Defra are giving further consideration as to how best to gather this evidence, this includes a possible joint research project with the Dogs Trust. Any Defra research will be published on the Gov.UK website and any useful information found will be used in an Impact Assessment that would accompany any regulations for trainers’ kennels.