19th June
Driving Tests
Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the merits of including alcohol awareness training in the driving test assessment; and if he will make a statement.
Stephen Hammond: The Highway Code advises drivers not to drink any alcohol before driving; this advice applies to all drivers, regardless of experience. The driving theory test includes questions about the effects of alcohol on a person’s ability to drive.
The Department for Transport believes a more effective route to public awareness of the negative effect of alcohol on drivers is through appropriate pre-test training. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency produces The National Standard for Driver Training that should form the basis of training that approved driving instructors give to their pupils; these include thorough guidance on the appropriate consumption of alcohol prior to driving.
17th June
Transport: Streatham
Mr Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of the transport links in the Streatham area; what plans he has to improve transport in that area; what research his Department has done on projects that might improve transport within the Streatham area; and if he will make a statement.
Stephen Hammond: Under devolution, transport in London is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL).
The Government is providing over £10 billion to TfL during this Parliament, to support a significant enhancement of London’s transport infrastructure.
Network Rail is currently undertaking a Sussex route study, to develop options for improvements on rail services in the Streatham area. It is due to report its findings next year.
Residents and transport users in Streatham will also benefit from the higher capacity trains that will operate across the Thameslink network. Furthermore, as part of the new franchise, there are proposals to provide two additional trains in the peak.
More information available on the Parliamentary Website
16th June
Cycling
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 9 June 2014, Official Report,column 6W, on cycling, if he will publish the (a) membership and (b) agendas, minutes and attendees of all previous meetings of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum.
Mr Goodwill: The Cycling Stakeholder Forum has met four times: 13 September 2011, 19 March 2012, 26 June 2012, and 30 September 2013.
Minutes were taken for the first and fourth meetings. The second and third meetings were interactive workshops, so minutes were not appropriate.
The discussions from the second meeting are summarised in a document jointly agreed by the forum, and this can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5014/cycle-forum-vision.pdf
At the third meeting stakeholders heard about the new Cycle Safety Fund and reached agreement for a working group to organise an event in Leicester later in the year. Further details of the Cycle Safety Fund can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/15m-boost-to-improve-cycle-accident-hotspots
And for the Leicester event at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cash-boost-to-get-england-cycling–2
All agendas, minutes of the two other meetings, and membership will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Databases
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects his Department’s review of unpublished datasets to be completed.
Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport completed a comprehensive review of datasets held in August 2013 and this was made available via
www.data.gov.uk on 2 September 2013. This included details of 470 datasets including full metadata for all unpublished datasets.
Motor Vehicles: Glass
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles have been found to be in breach of rules about tinted windows in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) Lancashire in each of the last five years.
Stephen Hammond: The Department has information broken down relating to the enforcement by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) for the most recent year. The following prohibitions were found in the year to March 2014, (a) 710 in England, (b) 62 in the North West and (c) 37 in Lancashire. National totals for the previous four years were, 2013—720, 2012—663, 2011—1,617, 2010—2,364. The Department does not have the Police data for this offence at this time. Enforcement of Construction and Use regulations is a matter for both DVSA and the police.
More information available on the Parliamentary Website
