Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the navigation licence surcharge applied to continuous cruiser licences.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no such plans. Navigation authorities are responsible for operational matters on their waterways, including setting the terms and conditions of their boat licencing regimes.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to take steps to ensure that boat dwellers without a mooring are not subject to disproportionate enforcement action by navigation authorities such as the Canal & River Trust.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All navigation authorities in England and Wales are responsible for operational matters on their waterways, including setting fees and charges for those using them and the use of corresponding enforcement powers, under the relevant statutory provisions. The Government does not have a role in that but recognises that boaters using navigable waterways require a valid licence from the relevant navigation authority and are expected to comply with the terms of their licences for the benefit of all waterway users. The Canal and River Trust has provided assurances that appropriate enforcement action on its waterways is only used as a last resort in response to persistent non-compliance, to ensure fairness to all boaters who do comply.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what discussions they have had with the Canal & River Trust regarding concerns raised by the community of boaters without a permanent mooring.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials meet formally with the Canal and River Trust senior management three times a year, at which a range of issues are discussed. The minutes of those meetings are published on the Trust’s website.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage longer vehicle leases in the Motability scheme.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.
Most vehicles available within the Scheme are leased for three years, however some are for longer periods. The policies relating to the operation of the scheme are determined by the Motability Foundation and not DWP.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Motability Operations Ltd about reducing the environmental impact and embodied carbon of the Motability scheme.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department works closely with Motability Foundation and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.
Motability is leading on work to ensure that disabled people’s needs are understood and supported as the transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) continues. Motability Foundation has commissioned research into EV design to understand the challenges that disabled people may face in using them and has conducted extensive research to understand the barriers disabled people face when using EVs charge points. Working in partnership with the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, the British Standards Institution was commissioned to develop a national accessible charging standard for EVs charge points. To assist their customers, a charge point is fitted as part of a Motability lease, and for customers unable to have a charge point they receive a subscription to one of the public charging networks.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with local police forces about privacy, security and sovereignty concerns in any contracts they may enter into with foreign technology firms.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office do not keep a central record of discussions with local police forces about contractual arrangements with technology firms.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the appropriateness of the use by the Metropolitan Police Service of limitation periods as a defence against legal claims from those who suffered sexual abuse as children by Metropolitan Police Service officers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
While the Government is unable to comment on individual cases or ongoing legal proceedings, it is currently considering responses to a public consultation on a recommendation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that the limitation period should be removed for civil claims brought by victims and survivors of child sexual abuse; and that the burden of proof should be reversed in child sexual abuse civil cases so that an action can proceed unless the defendant can satisfy the court that it is not possible for a fair hearing to take place. A Government response will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many attempted or actual protests have taken place outside the Drax power station since the introduction of the Public Order Act 2023, how many people were arrested as a result of these protests, and how many protests were allowed to go ahead without arrests.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of attempted or actual protests, or resulting arrests, that have taken place outside the Drax power station. Information of this nature is held by the relevant police force and is not collected by the Home Office.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether heavy private vehicles, such as the Tesla Cybertruck, are subject to an approval process before being put on the market to assess (1) their potential to cause damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure due to their weight, and (2) the risk they pose to people.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
All manufacturers must demonstrate that their vehicles satisfy a range of regulated technical requirements before placing their products onto the market in Great Britain. There are several different approval schemes available, and the process will vary depending on the specific scheme and type of vehicle, but each contains provisions to ensure that any potential risk to people is minimised as far as practicable.
Separate legislation sets maximum vehicle weights and axle loads, and these limits minimise the risk of damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were killed or injured in crashes where the driver failed to stop at the scene since 2017, and how many of those crashes resulted in a prosecution.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Data on road injury collisions are reported by police using the STATS19 system. The number of casualties involved in collisions where the driver failed to stop at the scene in each year since 2017 are shown in the table below broken down by severity of injury and by whether the vehicle which failed to stop was hit.
Year | Collision type | Killed | Serious (adjusted) | Slight (adjusted) | All casualties |
2017 | Hit and run | 91 | 2,334 | 16,187 | 18,612 |
2018 | Hit and run | 73 | 2,549 | 17,057 | 19,679 |
2019 | Hit and run | 86 | 2,504 | 17,726 | 20,316 |
2020 | Hit and run | 67 | 2,012 | 14,643 | 16,722 |
2021 | Hit and run | 86 | 2,423 | 16,448 | 18,957 |
2022 | Hit and run | 82 | 2,613 | 17,329 | 20,024 |
2023 | Hit and run | 86 | 2,754 | 18,048 | 20,888 |
2017 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 30 | 849 | 6,092 | 6,971 |
2018 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 34 | 860 | 5,636 | 6,530 |
2019 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 30 | 856 | 5,435 | 6,321 |
2020 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 30 | 690 | 3,861 | 4,581 |
2021 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 31 | 800 | 4,245 | 5,076 |
2022 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 38 | 730 | 3,788 | 4,556 |
2023 | Non-stop vehicle not hit | 38 | 660 | 2,927 | 3,625 |
STATS19 does not record details of subsequent prosecutions, so it is not possible to say what proportion of these collisions resulted in prosecution.
Data on motoring offences does not fall under the policy remit of the Department for Transport and is published separately by the Ministry of Justice.