E-scooters: Trials

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I refer noble Lords to the Private Member’s Bill that I have before the House at this time, creating new offences for illegally used e-scooters.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) (Lab)]

The last evaluation of the e-scooter trials took place in 2021, and the results were published in 2022, but, despite saying that they would, the last Government took no further action. As travel patterns have continued to change, the Government have decided to undertake a second evaluation, due to start this spring. This evaluation will be important to collect up-to-date and robust evidence on safety, mode shift and usage to inform future legislation. It will finish in May 2026.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, while I am grateful for that Answer, it begs the question: how many evaluations do we need? There are 1.2 million e-scooters currently illegally used in general circulation, and 47 people have been killed since 2019. The status quo cannot continue. E-scooters are mounting pavements at speed, terrorising pedestrians. I urge the noble Lord and the Government to ensure that, if the current ban on illegally operated e-scooters is not going to be observed, they look to introduce a regulatory framework with proper insurance, otherwise it is going to be a complete drain on the resources of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

Your Lordships’ House will know that there have been several Questions on this subject in recent weeks, and certainly in one of them I referred the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, to the regulatory regimes of 21 European countries, which, sadly, have huge variation between them with regard to minimum ages, whether you have to wear a helmet, and so forth. So the Government need up-to-date evidence. Evidence raised in 2021 could have informed legislation in 2023 and 2024, for example, but that did not happen, but now we have to inform ourselves. In the meantime, it is quite clear that hazards are involved as the noble Baroness describes—although, of course, enforcement is a matter for local police chiefs.

Great British Railways: Industrial Action

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

Not only do I completely agree with my noble friend, but the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, might recall that, when he was deputy chair of Transport for London and I was the commissioner, we went to the ends of the earth to keep industrial relations matters away from the political leadership of the mayor and within the organisation. The right way of concluding both wages and conditions is for the employer to negotiate with the recognised trade unions of the employees, and political influence does not help much in those relationships.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

Can the Minister give the House an assurance that the weekend roster has been sorted, particularly for stations along the east coast main line route, and that the excuse that there is no crew available will not be used over weekends this summer?

North Sea Vessel Collision

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Thursday 13th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

My understanding is that vessels such as these have such a thing, but currently neither has any crew on board, clearly, and the activities are primarily based on keeping the vessels floating and preventing the terrible consequences of any part of what is on them or in them polluting the environment. Of course, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch will look for those as a matter of urgency, will hopefully find them intact and will therefore be able to have a really good understanding of what went on on each vessel in the hours and days leading up to the incident.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

Following on from the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, on the issue of emergency planning exercises, there has been a long gap since the last disaster in the North Sea, but we had the “Herald of Free Enterprise” disaster, which was catastrophic, and then the fire on board a DFDS ferry as well. The level at which these emergency exercises are taking place seems to be fairly patchy. Is there a role for the Emergency Planning College at Easingwold to co-ordinate these activities to ensure that they are happening across the country?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I do not have information in front of me about how long it has been since there was such an emergency planning exercise and how often they have taken place. I am sure that, in general, there must be a role for the college at Easingwold, which has a very high reputation both nationally and internationally. The Government will of course look at that, but I hope your Lordships’ House will take some considerable comfort from the fact that, actually, the deployment of all the people who needed to be deployed to deal with this was very immediate and appears, at least so far, to have been very successful.

East Coast Main Line

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Tuesday 11th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

Constructing a railway timetable on one of the busiest routes in Britain is very difficult indeed. The benefits of the east coast main line modernisation are significantly faster journeys between London and Scotland, and an extra hourly London to Newcastle service. There are other improvements all the way up and down the line from King’s Cross to Edinburgh. In total—including CrossCountry and TransPennine services—the number of trains calling at Berwick and Alnmouth stations are the highest they have ever been. The noble Lord is right that there is some reduction in through trains from Berwick, but it is offset by an increase in CrossCountry, which has already taken place, and a further increase will take place on TransPennine in December 2025.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, will the Minister give the House a commitment that the new timetable will remain as it is now, that the same number of direct trains from Northallerton and Darlington as at present will be maintained and that it will not follow the 2021 timetable? There are a number of businesses that rely on taking the trains from Northallerton and Darlington and having a direct service.

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I understand—and I am sure that people who run the railway also understand —that there are some trade-offs to be made in the execution of the east coast main line upgrade. I know that there have been some improvements in the proposition of services in Northallerton as a result of local representations. I am very happy to write to the noble Baroness to explain what they are and what the pattern of service will be from December 2025.

Cost of Living: Rail Fares

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Monday 6th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the level of rail fares on the cost of living.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) (Lab)]

My Lords, before I answer the Question, I must say how sad I am to hear of the death of the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, who I have known for a long time. I was expecting to see her in her place today for this Question but, sadly and unexpectedly, that was not to be. I will say more at the Second Reading of the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on Wednesday.

I turn now to the Question. We aim to keep the level of fares at a point that works for passengers and taxpayers. The forthcoming 4.6% increase to regulated rail fares is the lowest absolute increase in three years. To further balance rail fares with the cost of living, various concessions, rail cards and promotions are available. In early 2025, we will be holding a network-wide rail sale, giving passengers savings of up to 50% on selected advance and off-peak fares.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. I would like to add my personal condolences on the loss of the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, who was an outstanding parliamentarian and public servant.

Does the Minister agree that the rail fare increase is a direct consequence of agreeing an increase in train drivers’ pay without agreeing an increase in productivity? Further, can he explain to the House how he expects fare increases and the inflationary increase to achieve the Government’s core goal of fuelling growth in the economy?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The pay increase for train drivers and other railway staff, made last July, was in truth very little different from the proposals of the previous Government—although these were manipulated so that the dispute was unresolved for many months, leading to a huge loss in revenue for the railway. The previous Government’s proposals had no productivity conditions attached to them. This Government were not in a position to offer productivity conditions, simply because many of the train companies had not developed proposals that would enable a wage deal to be made.

Shadow Great British Railways: Chair Appointment

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The British Railways Board was abolished in 1993. The way in which the railway needs to work in future has to reflect the significant devolution in the country since then. It is our intention that the railway is run by people who are in control of a significant part of it—what I would describe as the Network Rail route, and a train company —including the track, the trains and the staff, and that they deliver a decent service. That is the intention in future.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, may I appeal to the softer, gentler, more apolitical side of the Minister? Does he accept that it would be churlish not to congratulate the previous Government on paying £9 billion during Covid to keep all the trains running? Not one railway worker lost their job.

Local Bus Sector

Debate between Baroness McIntosh of Pickering and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Monday 9th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The proposition for local authorities and communities throughout the country is to take advantage of the proposals that the Government will table, which will ensure the right solutions for each area. My noble friend knows that the bus service in Cornwall is particularly well organised; it is not franchised but is subject to a large degree of local authority control. Consistency of information, ticketing, fares and service standards is an important feature, wherever in the country buses operate.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, will the Minister, whom I congratulate on his new position, pay tribute to rural bus services such as those in North Yorkshire? If the bus arrangements transfer back to the local authorities, will he ensure that the funds will follow the responsibility for, in particular, concessionary bus fares, which are so important for older people in rural areas?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her compliment. I hope the House will see it repaid in what I do. Concessionary bus fare funding will, without any doubt, follow the control of bus services, and that will be as important in North Yorkshire as it will be everywhere else in the country.