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.

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.

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.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise access to electricity grids for port electrification, including in relation to onshore power supply for ferries and cruise ships.

Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Department is working closely with Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator, and network companies on fundamental reforms to the connections process. This is expected to release up to 500GW of capacity from the queue enabling quicker connections for many demand projects. This may include acceleration of shore power projects where capacity is released in port locations.

As announced in the Industrial Strategy, my department is also developing measures to accelerate the connection of strategic demand projects in a wide range of sectors, including through a new Connections Accelerator Service, to be launched this year.

Submit Evidence (by 29 Sep 2025)

Equal access to justice is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and it is vital that everyone involved at each stage in any criminal case is presented with a fair and accurate account of evidential proceedings. Transcripts are produced by the police and outsourced companies as a public service to the courts. They provide a written record of a police interview with a suspect or witness or to help in understanding unclear audio material.

Submit Evidence (by 23 Sep 2025)

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