Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many bus tickets have been purchased under the Help for Households campaign; and what assessment they have made of the impact the campaign has had on passenger numbers in (1) urban, and (2) rural, areas.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is providing up to £135 million to help bus operators cap single fares at £2 from 1 January to 30 June. Over 140 operators covering more than 4,700 routes in England outside London are currently participating, and the primary objectives of the scheme are to help people save on their regular travel costs and to increase bus usage.
The Department for Transport is running a Monitoring and Evaluation exercise to review the scheme so that we will be in position to understand the impact it has brought on savings and patronage.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current level of charging points for electric vehicles in rural areas as opposed to urban areas; and what plans they have to roll out more charging points across the country.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Chargepoints are being added to the public network at a growing rate, with larger increases in 2021 and 2022 than in any year seen previously. To date, the Government and industry have supported the installation of over 38,700 publicly available charging devices in the UK including more than 7,400 rapid devices.
However, the majority (around 75%) of electric car charging happens at home, as it is often cheaper and more convenient for drivers. The Government expects home charging will remain central to the future charging behaviour of drivers.
The below table provides an estimate of the number of electric vehicle (EV) charging devices in England, as of 1 January 2023, situated in local authorities that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has classified as either urban or rural respectively as a whole. This includes both public charging devices and private charging devices or sockets funded through the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) supported grant schemes.
Local Authority Classification | Public Charging Devices | Workplace Charging Sockets | Home Charging Devices |
Rural | 5,336 | 8,442 | 88,456 |
Urban | 26,130 | 26,395 | 236,914 |
Total | 31,466 | 34,837 | 325,370 |
Note: Home Charging Devices are a sum of charging devices funded through EV Homecharging Scheme and Domestic Recharging Scheme. A further 1,515 charging sockets have been funded separately through EV Chargepoint Grants.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the deployment of EV charging infrastructure happens across all areas of the country. Already, over the last 7 months, through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot, the Government has awarded just over £31 million of public funding to 25 local authorities across England. This portfolio of projects looks to deliver over 3,000 chargepoints.
One aim of the LEVI Fund is to address regional charging inequality and ensure no part of the country is left behind. The Government has developed a data-led allocation model to award the funding, which considers factors such as the level of rurality and the number of vehicles without off-street parking within the local authority.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many casualties have been caused by (1) e-scooters, (2) e-cyclists, or (3) cyclists, in England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics on road casualties are based on data collected via the STATS19 system of collisions reported by the police. STATS19 data does not allow the precise cause of collisions to be determined so it is not possible to provide figures for collisions caused by a particular road user type.
The number of casualties, including fatalities, involving (but not necessarily caused by) an e-scooter or a pedal cycle in England for the last 3 years for which data is available can be found in the below table. The majority of casualties in these collisions are the pedal cyclist or e-scooter user themselves.
The Department cannot disaggregate non-powered pedal cycles from pedal-assisted pedal cycles or motorised pedal cycles. E-scooters only began to be identified within STATS19 from 2020 onwards.
Year | Casualties in collisions involving a pedal cycle | Casualties in collisions involving an E-scooter |
2019 | 16,661 | Not available |
2020 | 15,964 | 474 |
2021 | 16,367 | 1,396 |
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce tougher penalties for death or serious injury caused by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is considering bringing forward legislation to introduce new offences concerning dangerous cycling, to tackle those rare instances where victims have been killed or seriously injured by irresponsible cycling behaviour. This follows an earlier review exploring the case for specific dangerous cycling offences, a response to which the Government will publish as soon as it can.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proposals they have to improve access for disabled passengers at Thirsk Station; and what is their timetable for such improvements.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are assessing over 300 nominations, including one for Thirsk station, for the next tranche of the Access for All programme. We hope to be in a position to announce successful projects later this year.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of disabled access to Thirsk Station; and what plans they have to make improvements to that access.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have completed accessibility audits at over 95% across Great British mainline stations and expect to finish this work by Spring. Thirsk station was also one of 300 stations nominated for the next round of the Access for All programme, and we hope to be in a position to announce successful projects later this year.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the planned improvements by Network Rail over the Christmas period will still take place given the industrial action at that time.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Network Rail has confirmed only eight of seventy planned work packages will be cancelled as a result of strike action but the majority of its £120 million programme of improvement works will go ahead over the Christmas period. The industrial action means that at the most important work sites, Network Rail will need to take possession of the railway earlier on Christmas Eve and hand it back at the end of the works later on 27 December than originally planned.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 November (HL Deb col 588), what consideration they have given to delaying the entry into force of the new provisions relating to the Drivers’ Hours, Tachographs, International Road Haulage and Licensing of Operators (Amendment) Regulations 2022 until (1) there is sufficient awareness of their provisions among UK operators, (2) the costs have been met, and (3) the question of supply has been addressed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The implementation dates for the introduction of the smart 2 tachograph are the dates agreed in the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and are applicable not only to UK operators undertaking journeys in Europe, but EU operators undertaking journeys in Europe and in the UK. Any delay would require the European Commission’s agreement to make changes to the TCA. It is the Government’s position not to reopen negotiations on the TCA.
My Department will continue to engage with industry stakeholders to raise awareness of the implementation dates for installing the smart 2 tachograph into new vehicles from August 2023 and in older vehicles and light goods vehicles from 2024-26. In addition to raising awareness of the need for operators to cover the cost of installing a smart 2 tachograph in their vehicles if they want to continue to operate in Europe after these dates.
On the question of supply of smart 2 tachographs, the UK Mission to the EU is in contact with the technical experts on tachographs in the European Commission to seek assurances on the availability of tachographs for UK operators. The European Commission has been assessing the situation and has not indicated concerns or that it will delay the deadline for implementation in Europe. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of awareness amongst UK operators of the requirement for new tachograph equipment in goods vehicles weighing more than 2.5 tonnes on international journeys.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since May 2022, UK operators of goods vehicles weighing between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes that will be used for hire and reward to transport goods between the UK and EU have needed an International Community operator licence. These are the same vehicles that will also need to install a smart tachograph 2 from 1 July 2026.
My Department has not made an assessment of the level of awareness amongst UK operators of this future requirement at this stage but will ensure that affected operators are made aware of this new requirement in due course.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanism they will use to ensure that small operators are aware of the changes introduced under the Drivers' Hours, Tachographs, International Road Haulage and Licensing of Operators (Amendment) Regulations 2022.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the Drivers’ Hours, Tachographs, International Road Haulage and Licensing of Operators (Amendment) Regulations 2022, from 1 July 2026 operators of small goods vehicles (weighing between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes), when used for hire and reward for international journeys into the EU, will be required to comply with the retained EU drivers’ hours regulations and install a smart tachograph 2. In advance of this date, my Department will continue to engage with industry stakeholders, including smaller operators, on the changes that will be required.