Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to ensure that every platform has level boarding at the new Old Oak Common station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Old Oak Common station provides full street to platform step-free access, with HS2 platforms designed to offer full level boarding. Platforms serving the Elizabeth Line and conventional rail services have been designed to accommodate different kinds of rolling stock that have different boarding heights. Therefore, the national standard platform height of 915mm has been used in their design. The government recognises that there are potential benefits for passengers using the Elizabeth Line if full level boarding could be provided at Old Oak Common for these services. The Department has instructed further work from HS2 Ltd to understand the technical feasibility and to mitigate any potential operational impacts of providing level boarding for the Elizabeth Line. All the evidence to enable a final decision on this matter is expected by the end of this year.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what fees the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency charge for providing information for the collection of parking charge notices, and how much they received from those fees in the past financial year.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The law allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to release vehicle keeper information where the requester can demonstrate reasonable cause to receive it. The fee payable by private sector organisations for this information is £2.50 per enquiry. The law also allows the DVLA to set fees to cover the full costs of the driver licensing and vehicle registration services it delivers as a whole. This means that some services attract a fee while others are provided free of charge if it is beneficial to do so. The DVLA regularly reviews all its statutory fees to ensure that they remain set at appropriate levels.
In the financial year 2024-25 the total revenue from vehicle keeper data was £37.5m. The DVLA is unable to break this down into just private parking enforcement companies so this figure also includes revenue from requests received from other companies and organisations.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support ports wishing to offer onshore power connections to cruise line customers.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On 25 March, the government published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy and a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. This call for evidence focused on potential options to reduce emissions from vessels at berth and the future energy demand at ports, including the provision of shore power to customers, including cruise operators. We are considering the responses to the call for evidence.
In addition, research and development into the future fuels and technologies necessary to decarbonise the sector have been supported through the UK SHORE R&D programme, including projects such as Portsmouth’s shore power installation. This project will go live later this year, backed by nearly £20m of government funding, and will allow visiting cruise ships to connect.
The Government working closely with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator on fundamental reforms to the connections process that will release up to 500GW of capacity from the connections queue. This may enable quicker provision of shore power where capacity is released in port locations.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they have provided to Community Rail Network in this financial year, and what funding they plan to provide in the next three financial years.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Community Rail Network (CRN) is a membership organisation which supports community-based groups and partnerships that connect their community with their railway. The Department provides funding towards the Network. Over £800,000 has been granted to the CRN via core and project funding in this financial year.
Support for wider Community Rail Partnerships is also provided via the Train Operating Companies. As we move towards establishing Great British Railways, the Community Rail movement will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support community rail during and beyond the transition to Great British Railways.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As we move towards establishing Great British Railways (GBR), the Community Rail movement will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities. We will continue to work closely with the Community Rail Network to identify opportunities to support the community rail sector ahead of the standup of GBR.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing legislation to enable local authorities and other public organisations reclaim the costs of removing dumped electric hire-scheme bikes and scooters from scheme operators.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The dumping of hire bikes and e-scooters is clearly unacceptable. As announced in December’s English Devolution White Paper, we will legislate to empower local leaders to manage shared cycle schemes. This will include consideration of how costs arising from monitoring of and enforcement against this kind of antisocial use could be recouped by local authorities in the future. Existing e-scooter trials are run under the supervision of the Department for Transport. Within these trials, local authorities, working with their e-scooter operator, will determine requirements for fleet management, including how to tackle overcrowding at parking bays.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the transfer of South Western Railway services into public ownership, what steps they are taking to ensure comprehensive wi-fi services on those trains.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
South-Western Railway has made some recent upgrades to Wi-Fi and customer satisfaction with Wi-Fi has been on a positive trend since these upgrades were made. There may be opportunities to consider further improvements in the future, and these would be subject to a positive business case which balances the needs of passengers and taxpayers.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to use artificial intelligence to modernise Great British Railway's systems and improve its efficiency in the areas of (1) customer experience, (2) railway operations, including planning and management of train operations, and (3) infrastructure management.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There are significant opportunities for using artificial intelligence to improve rail services, reliability and safety, modernise rail infrastructure, and reduce costs. This Government is committed to creating a unified and simplified railway, putting passengers and customers first, through the creation of Great British Railways and through the public ownership of franchised passenger services.
Great British Railways will work in partnership with private sector companies to unlock and accelerate innovation across the rail network, including through the increased use of artificial intelligence, and to equip the rail sector with the skills and capabilities needed to achieve this. Great British Railways’ work in this area will align with the Government’s Transport AI Action Plan, published in June 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the transfer of South Western Railway services into public ownership, what progress they have made towards providing catering services on longer distance routes, such as London Waterloo to Exeter.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
South-Western Railway (SWR) successfully transferred into public ownership on the 25 May 2025. The current priorities of SWR are to improve operational performance and introduce the new Class 701 fleet.
I have asked the new Managing Director of South-Western in due course to review catering on longer distance routes including the London Waterloo to Exeter service - any decision will be subject to a positive financial case which balances the need of passengers and taxpayers.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with Sunderland City Council about changes to the Port of Sunderland Byelaws 1978.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department has not recently engaged in discussion with Sunderland City Council regarding changes to the Port of Sunderland Byelaws 1978.