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🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. You wait ages for a debate on bus services and then there are two in a day. It is understandable and appropriate that, for the second time today, I rise to my feet in Westminster Hall to address the state of the nation in terms of our bus network. I will briefly set out, before I am probably interrupted by a vote, some key thoughts. I...
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The hon. Gentleman talks about cuts in 2010. He does not seem to remember Gordon Brown selling the gold, bankrupting the economy, and a note written by a Labour MP that famously said: “I’m afraid there is no money.”
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The hon. Gentleman has a brass neck to come to this House and start saying that 2010 was about anything other than a disastrous Labour Government who were rightly voted out. We will move back to Stoke, if I may. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North will be aware that the local transport fund has been transformational. The £134 million can be used for buses and to improve bus...
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My hon. Friend is talking eloquently about the £2 bus fare, which I utterly endorse. It is the simplest and most persuasive way of getting people back on the buses. The most important thing for me, certainly in my constituency and up and down the country where it has been brought in, is that the impact on people with a low income is off the charts. The ability in tough times, which we have...
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I hesitate to interrupt my hon. Friend, because I am aware that he is making a number of points, but I take his point about the council. I just want to make it very clear that we will continue to press the council to respond and produce the results that it clearly needs to produce. I also echo and endorse the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis)...
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I am not.
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell. I think it is the first time I have had the opportunity to do so since you returned to the House, and you are most welcome. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) on securing the debate and I thank the Backbench Business Committee for recommending that it take place. I welcome it because it is an...
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Not yet. Let me try to set out the position and then I will happily give way to the hon. Gentleman. The starting position is that the UK is part of the 2012 World Trade Organisation agreement on Government procurement and the related WTO texts. As the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart), set out, that is a basis upon which all such...
More of Guy Opperman's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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This Government has invested £410m into the Zero Emission Bus programmes since 2020, which has funded over 2,200 buses across England. The Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 1 programme was launched in 2021 and awarded £270m funding to 16 local transport authorities (LTAs) in England (outside of London). ZEBs produced and sold in the UK are supported by a global supply chain; the...
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Most bus services outside London are commercially operated. The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to helping communities stay connected and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020. This includes over £2 billion to help local authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) and make bus services more frequent,...
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The Department for Transport has made no such assessment. The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six, and was set up primarily to help older and disabled people. ENCTS costs around £1 billion annually and any changes to the minimum statutory scheme would...
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The Department's statutory guidance on implementing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) will apply to new and existing LTN schemes once it is published in final form this summer. Its purpose is to set out the Department’s expectations for comprehensive local engagement; both before new schemes are implemented, and on an ongoing basis for existing schemes. This is to ensure the needs of...
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The Department recommends that cyclists should wear helmets, as set out in The Highway Code, and will continue to encourage children to wear helmets. A comprehensive safety review carried out in 2018 considered the benefits of mandating helmet wearing for cyclists of all ages but concluded that the safety benefits would be likely to be outweighed by the fact that this would put some people...
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Design guidance for cycle infrastructure issued by the Department for Transport sets out that there should be separation of pedestrian and cycle infrastructure wherever possible. This guidance was developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including disability groups. The Department for Transport established Active Travel England (ATE) to up-skill local authorities, enabling the...
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The impact of His Majesty’s Passport Office no longer collecting digital signatures for passports on driving licence applications has been minimal. Around 70 per cent of driving licence renewal applications are made online. The DVLA also has an online service which allows customers applying for a first provisional driving licence to upload their own digital photograph and signature....
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My officials are in contact with City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council on the information needed as part of the Department’s review of the Strategic Outline Case for the Shipley Eastern Relief Road scheme.
More of Guy Opperman's written questions
