Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the provision of roadside charging points for electric vehicles in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government and industry have supported the installation of over 18,000 publicly available charging devices. This includes over 3,200 rapid devices – one of the largest networks in Europe. Highways England have now completed their commitment to ensure there is a rapid chargepoint every 20 miles along 95% of the Strategic Road Network by March 2020.
By 2023, we aim to have at least six high powered, open access?chargepoints at motorway service areas in England, with some larger sites having as many as 10-12, and by 2035 we expect the number to increase to around 6,000 high powered chargers across the network. This will be supported by a Rapid Charging Fund, part of the £500 million support for charging infrastructure announced at the March Budget.
In May, we announced that the Government will consult on improving the charging experience for drivers of electric vehicles when using the public charging network including proposals to address reliability, data provision, pricing transparency and ease of payment. We will take industry views on board to develop solutions that work for industry whilst putting the consumer experience at the heart of public electric vehicle charging.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial preparedness of train operators to meet any ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has agreed new Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements with the rail industry which ensures our railways can continue to support the UK’s recovery from COVID-19. These agreements will be in place for up to 18 months, where the Government pays train companies a small performance-related management fee to keep services running through the pandemic.
These agreements, like the Emergency Measures Agreements before them, bring stability and certainty to the rail industry to meet the challenges that this pandemic continues to present.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the level of road tax evasion.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport carries out a roadside survey every two years. The survey estimates the rate of vehicle excise duty evasion among vehicles seen on UK roads. The latest survey, conducted in June 2019 and published in November 2019, estimated the rate of on road evasion to be 1.6%. The results confirmed that this is statistically significantly lower than in the previous survey carried out in 2017, which measured the level of evasion at 1.8%.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of campaigns to encourage people to cycle more; and what support they are giving to teach adults to ride a bike.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government supports various campaigns to encourage people to cycle more, including the Big Bike Revival programme delivered by Cycling UK, and local programmes delivered by local authorities under the Department’s £20 million per annum Access Fund. The effectiveness of these and other campaigns is considered in the first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Report to Parliament published in February 2020.
The Government is committed to ensuring that every adult and child who wants it can be trained how to ride a bicycle safely. This builds on our manifesto commitment to offer Bikeability training to all schoolchildren. This year, the Department’s Bikeability funding has enabled 28 local authorities to offer adult cycle training, and £235,000 of it will go towards family cycle training. The Department has also provided £2 million to Transport for London to support adult cycle training in the capital, and its Access Fund has allowed 16 local authorities to provide adult cycle training in their areas.
Decisions on future funding for campaigns and Bikeability will be a matter for the Spending Review in the autumn.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many transport authorities in England have had bailout deals agreed with the Department for Transport.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department made available to transport operators and local authorities in England outside London funding to keep bus and light rail services running during lockdown and help increase services as quickly as possible so that people can travel safely as we reopen the economy.
The Government has agreed a £1.6 billion support package for Transport for London to enable them to continue operating essential services safely and support the capital’s gradual recovery from COVID-19.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to place further rail services under the control of Transport for London.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department carefully considers business cases from scheme promoters on a regular basis. At this stage no decision to devolve services has been taken, and while we are exploring devolution of services to Transport for London we would only do this if it was in the best interests of all passengers.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of airlines operating in the UK which serve peanuts to passengers and of the risk that poses to passengers with peanut allergies.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Government is committed to seeing improved clarity and consistency in how airlines deal with nut allergies. We are keen to ensure that passengers with peanut allergies have the confidence to travel safely.
The sale of nuts onboard aircrafts is a commercial decision for individual airlines. We are encouraged by some of the recent measures taken by industry and we encourage industry to continue taking appropriate measures.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many Mayoral Combined Authorities have introduced bus franchising, and (2) how many other authorities have applied to the Secretary of State for Transport for the powers to introduce bus franchising, since the introduction of the Bus Services Act 2017.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the Bus Services Act 2017, mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) have powers to implement a franchising scheme without further involvement from Government.
Transport for Greater Manchester concluded a consultation exercise on their proposals to franchise bus services in Manchester on 8 January. A decision is expected later this year.
Under the Bus Services Act 2017, only MCAs have automatic access to franchising powers. Other types of local transport authority must seek permission from the Secretary of State for Transport. None have yet done so.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the increased use of bio-diesel made from used cooking oil.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) biofuels reported as being made from waste have risen from 12 per cent of total biofuel supply in the first year of the obligation 2008/09, to 66 per cent in 2017/18. In 2017/18 the most widely reported source for biodiesel, by feedstock and country of origin, remained used cooking oil from the UK. (Biofuels Statistics obligation year 10 2017/18 - Report 6).
Last year the Government introduced changes to the RTFO which will almost double the use of renewable fuels from 2018 to 2020. Bio-diesel made from used cooking oil remains eligible for double rewards under the scheme, and will benefit from the increased market for renewable fuels.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the latest data available on car registrations in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
At the end of June 2018, there were 39.4 million licensed and registered vehicles in the UK. There has been no specific assessment of this data.