Lucy Frazer: Consultation requirements on the current local plan process are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (‘the Local Plan Regulations’). In the initial stages of plan production, local planning authorities must comply with specific requirements in regulation 18 of the Local Plan Regulations on consultation, and with commitments in their...
Lucy Frazer: Planning Ministers require more time to consider this case. A decision will now be issued on or before 8 December.
Lucy Frazer: Policy announcements will be made in the usual way.
Lucy Frazer: A planning application for a new Chinese Embassy is currently before the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. As the Secretary of State has a quasi-judicial role in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of the proposal in case it were to come before Ministers in the future.
Lucy Frazer: As of 26th October 2022, there were 2,751 cases that have been waiting for a planning inspector for more than 6 months, and 766 cases which have been waiting for more than 12 months.
Lucy Frazer: Since April 2021, eligibility for the Help to buy Equity Loan scheme is for first time buyers only. Any changes to the scheme will be announced in the usual way.
Lucy Frazer: The Government is implementing an ambitious programme of work, including the Social Housing Regulation Bill to improve the quality and regulation of social housing. This legislation aims to change landlord behaviour to focus on the needs of social housing tenants and ensure landlords are held to account for their performance The Government has made funding available for social housing...
Lucy Frazer: The headcount and FTE of Planning Inspectors employed by the Planning Inspectorate as at 31 December of each year was as follows: Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 Inspector Headcount 299 357 345 361 Inspector FTE 263.2 319.5 308.1 322.8 The number of valid appeal cases waiting a planning inspector to be assigned at 01 December of each year was as below. The data for 2018 and 2019...
Lucy Frazer: The Government expects all developers to do the right thing, irrespective of whether they have signed the building safety repairs pledge. We are in ongoing discussions with several developers who have not signed the pledge and will invite them to sign the finalised self-remediation contract. We have made clear that developers who fail to do the right thing face significant commercial...
Lucy Frazer: The performance of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is under regular review through actuarial valuations which take place every three years. An actuarial valuation is currently under way with an effective date of 31 March 2022. LGPS member contributions are set out in legislation.
Lucy Frazer: Permitted development rights already require that hard surfacing in excess of five square metres is made of porous materials or the run-off is directed from the hard surface to a permeable or porous surface within the curtilage of the house. The Government has published Guidance on the Permeable Surfacing of Front Gardens , available at:...
Lucy Frazer: The Netherlands, like other EU Member States, can request HGV registration details under Mutual Legal Assistance provisions. However, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement suspends timescales for responding to Mutual Legal Assistance requests for vehicle registration data in respect of the enforcement of minor traffic offences until 1 January 2024. Requests are dealt with on a case-by-case...
Lucy Frazer: Since 2007 the Department for Transport has provided funding for over four million children in England, outside London, to learn safe cycling skills through Bikeability cycle training, and our manifesto commits us to extending cycle training to every child.
Lucy Frazer: Funding the concessionary bus pass costs around £1 billion annually and any changes would have an impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability. In England, the age of eligibility for the concessionary bus pass is linked to the state pension age. This addresses the anomalous position of non-disabled, working age citizens receiving free bus buses, which in turn supports the financial...
Lucy Frazer: Dual registration allows eligible operators to transfer their vehicles between their two operator licences without needing to change vehicles mid-tour. Following successful Parliamentary Passage, the legislation underpinning the dual registration measure came into force in July 2022. Specialist events hauliers who meet the required criteria – including operating under a hire or reward...
Lucy Frazer: Of the £100 million funding allocated to the Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, as set out in the Connected and Automated Mobility 2025 paper:£66 million will be funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's research and development funding to support commercialisation of the technologies.£34 million will be funded by the Department for...
Lucy Frazer: Department for Transport officials engage with a range of international counterparts on issues including data sharing between international vehicle registration databases, both in the context of wider negotiations and in response to specific queries from international partners. While it would not be appropriate to comment on the details of these conversations, the UK is committed to honouring...
Lucy Frazer: The Government has invested up to £34 million in skills bootcamps to train up to 11,000 more people to become HGV drivers. These are free, short, intensive courses to train new drivers to gain an HGV licence. In addition, the Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship standard to train articulated HGV drivers, which is supported with up to £7,000 of funding, and the Urban Driver...
Lucy Frazer: The information requested is not available as the Department’s reported road collisions statistics are not broken down by nationality of driver.
Lucy Frazer: £34 million of funding has been allocated to the Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles by the Department for Transport, as set out in the Connected and Automated Mobility 2025 paper, to support the creation of a safety and security assurance framework. Of this funding, £26 million is allocated to research and development of technical safety standards, social and...