Written questions by McMurdock.

What steps she is taking to help reduce congestion in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

This Government is committed to maintaining and renewing our road network so it can serve all road users and is safe. Traffic management of local roads is the responsibility of local traffic authorities who are best placed to understand local circumstances and needs.Traffic authorities are subject to the statutory network management duty which requires them to manage their roads to secure the ‘expeditious movement’ of all traffic including pedestrians, with a view to reducing congestion, and they have a wide range of tools already available to them to enable this.

What steps his Department is taking to extend contactless payments to additional train stations in Essex.

We have committed to expanding Pay As You Go (PAYG) contactless ticketing to further stations in the South East, with six stations on the Chiltern railways line having already gone live in June. This expansion will include the entire c2c network and the 19 stations operated by Greater Anglia in Essex, where passengers will benefit from a better ticketing offer. Unfortunately, this expansion has been delayed due to the cyber-attack at Transport for London (TfL). TfL are delivering necessary security measures, and the rail industry is working at pace to reschedule the launch, an update will be provided in due course.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of train stations in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

The Department has made no recent specific assessment of the adequacy of train stations in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

How many EV charging points there are in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency; and what estimate her Department has made of the potential demand for the future installation of such charging points.

Data on electric vehicle charging devices in the UK, held by the Department for Transport (DfT), are sourced from those installed or funded under Government approved grant schemes and from the electric vehicle charging platform Zapmap. The latest data available for the South Basildon and East Thurrock parliamentary constituency is at 1 July 2024, and reflects the constituency boundary at that point. This shows there were 15 public charging devices and that the Government has historically supported installation of 401 residential chargepoints, plus 41 workplace charging sockets. DfT does not collect data on private household charging except when installed or funded under a Government grant, therefore the true number of charging devices may be higher than recorded in these figures. To support the electric vehicle transition more charging infrastructure will be needed across the country. The exact number in a location will depend on a variety of factors such as availability of off-street parking, future charging behaviour and local driving patterns. South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency is part of Thurrock Council and Essex County Council. Under the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund, Thurrock Council has been allocated £843,000 in capital and resource funding and Essex County Council has been allocated £9,102,000. This will help them work with industry to rollout additional local public chargepoints supporting future demand.

What steps her Department is taking to improve bus services in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities. As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this parliamentary session, which will put decision-making into the hands of local leaders across England, including in South Basildon and East Thurrock. This will allow local areas to determine how best to design their bus services so that they have control over routes and schedules.The government has also committed to increasing accountability by providing safeguards over local networks across the country and empowering local transport authorities through reforms to bus funding.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the trial of e-scooters in Basildon.

The national evaluation of the e-scooter trials was published in 2022 and was a comprehensive review of the e-scooter trials. The Essex trial was one of the 10 trials selected for the user and resident survey.