Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the prevalence of bilge dumping in UK waters, and (2) the adequacy of measures to prevent, identify and punish the practice.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The discharge of bilge water from ships is governed by internationally agreed regulations which are implemented and enforced in the UK by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The UK regulations prohibit the discharge of bilge water unless specific control measures are met. These regulations were updated in 2019 and have provisions built into the regulations to enable the efficient implementation of new international standards to ensure that UK regulations remain current and effective. Compliance is monitored by various means, which include, satellite surveillance, manned aircraft surveillance and reconnaissance of UK waters and the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), port state control inspections and the mandatory regulatory requirements for ships to report pollution incidents. If there is evidence of a breach of the regulations, the MCA can use a variety of enforcement action up to and including detention of the ship and prosecution of the owner/operator.
All incidences of pollution must be reported and, where appropriate, feasible reports are investigated via a variety of means by the MCA. Records reflect that there has been no evidence of illegal bilge dumping in UK Waters or the UK EEZ. Potential illegal discharges recorded have all occurred within Harbour Authority jurisdiction; all have been minor and caused by accident rather than by any deliberate act to pollute. The impact of these incidents has been negligible and quickly resolved, with sanction and/or enforcement action to the responsibility of the Statutory Harbour Authority. The MCA’s Regulatory Compliance and Investigations Team has never had the need to undertake prosecution action for such situations.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to support the proposal by the government of Sri Lanka to the International Maritime Organisation to regulate the transport of plastic nurdles.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
When the container ship X-PRESS PEARL caught fire and sank off the Sri Lankan coast in 2021, a significant quantity of plastic nurdles were released into the marine environment. Following the incident, the Sri Lankan government submitted a paper to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which sets out several proposed measures aimed at preventing similar spills of plastic nurdles in the future and identifying tools to manage such spills should they occur.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which provides the UK’s representation at the IMO, is actively engaged in IMO work focussed on the issue of marine plastics. Whilst the proposals that have been put forward will need further refinement and consideration within the IMO, the MCA is supportive of efforts to reduce marine plastic pollution and welcomes the debate in an international forum.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) environmental, and (2) economic, impact of the use of flags of convenience by ships, in (a) UK waters, and (b) globally; and what steps they plan to take with international partners to reduce the (i) use, and (ii) any negative impact, of such flags.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
All ships, irrespective of their flag State, must comply with relevant international conventions for safety and environmental protection, depending on their size and area of operation. Requirements are regularly reviewed by the Member States at the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and recommendations to improve safety and environmental standards must then be implemented by those States.
Ships that are not on the UK Ship Register but are operating in UK waters or calling at UK ports, can be inspected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency under the port State control regime of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MOU). Individual ships are targeted for inspection on a risk-based approach, which takes into consideration factors such as age of ship, previous inspection history, company performance and its flag State.
Ships of all countries (irrespective of ratification of international conventions) will be subject to inspection in a UK port, to verify compliance with the requirements of conventions ratified by the UK under the principle of no more favourable treatment. Any ship that does not meet the minimum standards, may be detained and the reasons noted on the Paris MOU database for other maritime administrations to see.
Her Majesty’s Government has not carried out a bespoke environmental or economic impact assessment.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of plans to expand Leeds Bradford airport in view of the recommendation in the report by the Committee on Climate Change The Sixth Carbon Budget: Aviation, published in December 2020, that "there should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is on track to sufficiently outperform its net emissions trajectory and can accommodate the additional demand"; and what steps they are taking to ensure that data are held on all proposed expansion plans at UK airports.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Proposals should be judged by the relevant planning authority taking careful account of all relevant considerations, including environmental impacts and proposed mitigations. The Government cannot comment on specific planning applications, such as that for Leeds Bradford airport, so as not to prejudice any consideration of proposals should they come before Ministers in the future.
The Government is carefully considering all the Climate Change Committee’s advice, including on aviation emissions, ahead of setting the sixth carbon budget.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence Estimating the UK population during the pandemic, published on 14 January, what plans they have to change their plans for transport provision including HS2 as a result of population changes following (1) the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the UK’s departure from the EU.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Department’s investment decisions are based on a fair and rigorous appraisal system which assesses schemes in relation to their strategic fit, value for money, deliverability, commercial and financial considerations. This appraisal is based on forecasts of travel demand underpinned by official projections for population and economic growth produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
While it is too early for us to fully understand the impacts that Covid-19 and the UK’s departure from the EU may have on travel demand, DfT’s Transport Analysis Guidance requires scheme promoters to undertake sensitivity tests to understand the resilience of investment decisions to key input assumptions. For HS2, it is worth noting that the Full Business Case for Phase One published in April looked at both high and low demand scenarios, underpinned by population and economic growth forecasts. The analysis showed that even in a scenario where demand is relatively low, there is still value in pressing ahead with HS2. We have committed to publishing an uncertainty toolkit this year which will provide advice on the analysis and presentation of uncertainty in transport appraisal and modelling, including the use of scenarios.
The Department is also committed to longer term strategic priorities, publishing three Priority Outcomes as part of Spending Review 2020. One of these is to improve connectivity across the United Kingdom. HS2 will play an important role in improving connectivity and will help to spread jobs and opportunity across the country. This will be key in the country’s recovery from the COVID pandemic.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports about the finances of Eurostar International Ltd, what steps they are taking to support that company; what discussions they have had with the governments of France and Belgium about any such support; and whether any such support will be benchmarked against support given to airlines.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Government has engaged with Eurostar’s shareholders on a number of occasions in the last year. The Rail Minister has also met with Eurostar’s majority shareholder, SNCF, specifically to discuss the challenges facing the company in light of Covid-19 and the steps its shareholders are taking to address this.
The Government has made available an unprecedented package of financial support to all sectors of the economy, including the international rail sector. The Government has been engaging closely with Eurostar since the outbreak of Covid-19 to monitor its ongoing impact, as well as support the company to access available support to address Eurostar’s needs, where appropriate, and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the advertisement of high-polluting vehicles.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Government has no plans to ban advertising of high polluting vehicles. However, the Government is going further and faster to decarbonise transport by phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emission at the tailpipe. Coupled with the new phase out dates we have pledged a further £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles.
The point-of-sale environmental label for new cars has recently been redesigned to present vehicle-specific environmental information in a clear, easy to understand and highly visible way. This ensures that consumers are provided with the right information at the right time to make informed purchasing decisions. A new ‘running costs’ section helps to emphasise the savings possible from electric and the most fuel-efficient cars. In addition, the Vehicle Certification Agency hosts a variety of tools that inform consumers of emissions data for new and used cars.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they voted to support amendments to International Maritime Organisation rules in relation to limiting the carbon intensity of ships; and what assessment they made, if any, of the potential impact on the climate of these amendments before casting their vote.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
HMG is committed to working through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce and ultimately phase out greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. The measure agreed at the recent Marine Environment Protection Committee represents a compromise for short-term carbon intensity improvements and provides a framework upon which we can continue to build in the coming years. This is the first step of many under the Initial IMO Strategy to decarbonise international shipping. HMG will be working closely with other Member States and the IMO to develop robust medium- and long-term measures.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to improve the safety and regulation of light aircraft, and (2) the safety and regulation of such aircraft which are registered in the United States and other overseas jurisdictions but operating primarily in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Department for Transport has recently commissioned an independent review into the safety of recreational General Aviation. The review showed a continuous downward trend in the number of accidents involving light aircrafts since the 1980s, and that the number of accidents in the UK is lower than in the US, Australia and New Zealand. The authors considered that the current safety level of recreational GA is acceptable but made a number of recommendations. We will work with the CAA to consider the implications, and will continue to keep all areas of safety policy under review.
Regarding third country registered aircraft based in the UK, the majority are non-complex aircraft registered in the US, used for recreational aviation. Both the General Aviation safety review and evidence from the CAA show there is no evidence that overall non-UK registered aircraft are maintained to a lower standard than UK registered aircraft, and that overall non-UK and European registered aircraft do not have a higher accident rate.
For these reasons, the Department for Transport does not consider there to be a safety case to change the regulation of third country registered aircrafts operating primarily in the UK. However, as highlighted above, we will continue to keep all areas of safety policy under review.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review their process of assessing (1) the carbon emissions, and (2) the economic benefits, resulting from new roadbuilding schemes; and what consideration they have given to assessing those impacts against the same criteria.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Her Majesty’s Government employs a relevant, robust and trusted analytical process designed to assess the likely impacts of both individual strategic road schemes and our road investment strategy as a whole. The impacts of such schemes on, for example, carbon, employment, housing, air quality and environmental issues are all assessed by the Department in line with its Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG).
The Department keeps its appraisal and modelling methodologies which are set out in TAG, under constant review, commissioning research to improve the evidence base as well as improving methodologies. The recently published TAG route map sets out our plans to update our guidance over the next six months and includes plans to update carbon values once these are finalised by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).