Tag: Richard Burden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27620, in what ways the ring-fenced £100 million is being spent; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure its other projects compliment local air quality plans.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has set out their approach for managing the Air Quality fund in their Delivery Plan (2015-2020), published in March 2015. In this they committed to building a clear picture of where pollution exists around the Strategic Road Network and to deliver ten pilot schemes to help develop new approaches to reduce air pollution. The ring-fenced air quality fund will support the implementation of viable solutions once these have been identified though Highways England’s ongoing work.

Since 2011, Government has committed over £2 billion to measures that will help improve air quality including uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and investment in sustainable transport. The team responsible for delivering the air quality plan will work with officials in the Department for Transport to ensure that programmes are closely aligned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what reports he has had from Highways England on the recent closure of the M5 between Junction 5 and Junction 4A northbound due to a gantry removal; and if he will publish each of those reports on that closure.

Andrew Jones

Highways England is continuing to investigate this incident and the way in which its impact on the road network was managed by the organisation and its contractors. The Secretary of State has been briefed and a review of the incident is being held with local authorities and the emergency services.

Findings and recommendations are currently being prepared by Highways England and these will be shared with the Secretary of State and subsequently published on its website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the money allocated to northern road infrastructure in Budget 2016, is in addition to £800 million allocated to the North West Road Infrastructure Programme.

Andrew Jones

At the budget £161m was announced for the acceleration of smart motorway upgrades to the M62 between junctions 10-12 and 20-25. A further £75m from the Transport Development Fund was committed to developing the recommendations of the government’s strategic studies on Northern Trans-Pennine routes, Manchester’s North West Quadrant and the Trans-Pennine Tunnel. Both of these commitments are in addition to the £1.5bn being spent in the North West between 2015 and 2021 to deliver schemes committed under the first Road Investment Strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how his Department plans to monitor and assess the effect of the revised anti-lobbying clause beyond 1 May 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In line with guidance provided by the Cabinet Office, the Department will monitor compliance with this clause in the same way as other contractual terms and conditions, and will consider enforcement action where necessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what sanctions are in place to prevent the practice of nationality-based pay discrimination against EEA seafarers employed on (a) UK and (b) non-UK registered vessels working from UK ports.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 makes clear that it is an offence to offer to pay or pay a person who is a national of an EEA State, or of a designated State (as defined in the Regulations), at a different rate based on that person’s nationality, where the seafarer is working wholly or partly in Great Britain and its adjacent waters and is working on a UK or EEA registered vessel.

Similar legislation is applied in Northern Ireland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the annual cost is of running the driving theory test under his Department’s contract with Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd; and what estimate he has made of the annual cost of running that test under the contract with Learn Direct from September 2016.

Andrew Jones

The annual cost of running the Driving Theory Test under the contract with Pearson Professional Assessments Ltd (formerly Pearson Driving Assessments Ltd) in 2015/16 was £31.2 million. This cost was as a result of new contract arrangements, where net costs per test fell from September 2014 and again from September 2015. This resulted in a reduction in fees paid by car candidates from £31 to £25 in October 2014 and to £23 in October 2015.

The estimated cost of running the Driving Theory Test from September 2016 with learndirect was dependent on the future volume of tests and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency estimates that the annual cost with learndirect would have been between £38 million and £42 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what commitments on compensation and other matters the UK and other EU member-states agreed to implement under the provisions of the EU Political and Security note of December 2014, contingent on the EU Structured Dialogue with the State of Israel halting demolitions by 17 March 2016.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

There has been a significant increase in Israeli demolitions since the start of 2016. The EU is considering how to respond to the demolition and confiscation of EU-funded structures in Area C. The UK and the EU continue to raise concerns about demolitions with the Government of Israel and make it clear that demolitions are contrary to international humanitarian law in all but the most exceptional cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 33976, what assessment his Department has made of the potential change to (a) benefits and (b) risks to the status of the UK Ship Register within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Work is in progress by the department to explore whether changing the status of the UK Ship Register would help ensure its future competitiveness. The work is in its early stages, but will assess both the benefits and risks of the available options.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a diesel scrappage scheme; and what analysis has been undertaken on different ways in which such a scheme could work.

Andrew Jones

In considering whether to introduce a national scrappage scheme for diesel cars, a high level cost estimate was carried out, looking at offering grants for scrappage of the dirtiest vehicles.

It was found that even if only offering the scheme to pre euro 4 diesel cars, the costs would run into billions. A national scrappage scheme would not target the areas where there is the greatest need to improve air quality, and the impact on emissions at a national scale would be minimal.

This option was therefore judged an ineffective use of resources. It would not have been proportionate to carry out more detailed analysis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time for the driving theory test is in each region of England.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has a target that 95% of candidates should be offered a booking for a driving theory test within two weeks of their preferred date. DVSA uses that target to measure the length of time candidates have to wait for a theory test.

At the time of writing, the national position, broken down by region, was as follows: