Department for Transport written question – answered at on 3 July 2020.
Geraint Davies
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Substitute Member)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of peak-spreading commuter traffic.
Rachel Maclean
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the transport sector is restarted, DfT continues to work closely with Cabinet Office, BEIS, DHSC and others to develop contingency plans and to identify areas where there is increased risk of congestion or crowding.
The Department continues to recommend that the public avoids using public transport if possible and encouraging those travelling by public transport or in cars to avoid travelling in the peak to maximise capacity for key workers and the supply of goods.
The Department is also encouraging employers to continue home working and staggering start times so that demand can be reduced.
Departmental analysis to date shows that demand in the interpeak is currently higher than the traditional morning (and afternoon) peak.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
