Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that a high level of adulterated honey is sold in UK supermarkets; and what plans they have to strengthen product testing standards in the UK to bring them in line with those of the EU.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Food Crime Unit’s 2024 strategic assessment of food crime concluded it is unlikely that adulterated honey is broadly present on the UK market. All honey on sale must meet the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 which lay down detailed specifications for honey in terms of its composition and quality criteria. The Government keeps its rules under continuous review to ensure they continue to meet their objective and protect consumers.
Honey authenticity analysis is challenging due to natural variations in honey composition and harvesting practices. No single test can definitively determine a honey’s authenticity.
The Government has an active programme of research dedicated to standardising and improving honey authenticity testing, working to support monitoring and enforcement to protect consumers and legitimate businesses. This includes enabling ways to validate testing approaches to assess compliance to ensure they are fit for purpose including use of a weight of evidence approach.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 30 October (HL1684), whether they are considering centralised procurement for buses as part of their bus services improvement strategy.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There are currently no plans to centralise the procurement of bus service contracts. The government believes that local leaders are best placed to make decisions about funding and bus services in their communities.
As announced in the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the government will introduce a Buses Bill later this session. The Bill will increase powers available to local leaders to choose the model that works best in their area, whether that be franchising, high-quality partnerships with private operators or local authority ownership.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential uses for electric rolling stock which is non-compliant with disability access legislation for freight.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Any passenger rolling stock that did not meet the relevant accessibility regulations was returned to their respective owner prior to 31 December 2021. One such owner, Varamis Rail, has been successful in launching a freight service using converted Class 321 units following First of a Kind funding from the Department for Transport, in partnership with Innovate UK.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to reduce the number of suicides on the railways; what additional resources and measures, if any, they plan to introduce for the British Transport Police to minimise disruptions; and what additional training they plan to provide, if any, for railway employees.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is committed to working with the rail industry to reduce the number of deaths by suicide. Each rail operator is responsible for delivering a suicide prevention plan and maintaining accreditation to the independently assessed Safeguarding on Rail Scheme.
Their plan must include training of public-facing staff in suicide prevention, putting in place mitigation measures at stations and promoting avenues of help for vulnerable people at risk of suicide or self-harm.
The British Transport Police works in collaboration with its partners to ensure incidents are managed swiftly and people are treated with dignity.
Network Rail has a long-standing relationship with The Samaritans and funds the ‘Small Talk Saves Lives’ campaign. Since launching in 2017, the campaign has successfully raised awareness within railway stations and other public settings about the need to trust your instincts and start a simple conversation if you think someone might need help.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the successful rollout of suicide prevention strategies for the rail network during and after the process of nationalisation.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to delivering a railway which is safe and secure for the public.
Reducing the number of deaths by suicide is a priority for the Department for Transport (DfT), with each rail operator currently responsible for delivering a suicide prevention plan, which includes the training of public-facing rail staff in suicide prevention and working with the British Transport Police (BTP) to deliver mitigation measures.
The Government will continue to make suicide prevention a priority for public sector operators, and will work with the BTP, Network Rail, the operators and DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL) to enhance the existing approach to suicide prevention, including improvements to training for all staff working on our railways.
Network Rail has a long-standing relationship with The Samaritans, and funds the ‘Small Talk Saves Lives’ campaign. Since launching in 2017, the campaign has successfully raised awareness within railway stations and other public settings about the need to trust your instincts and start a simple conversation if you think someone might need help.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many electric trains are being held by rolling stock companies and have not been released to train operators; and how many electric trains have been scrapped in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department does not track how many electric trains are with rolling stock operators but not leased to train operators.
I am able to say however that there are a number of new electric passenger train fleets undergoing testing prior to delivery to operators; these include South Western Class 701, East Midlands Class 810 and West Midlands Class 730. It is a matter for rolling stock owners to determine the future use of any fleets returned by passenger train operators.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 21 October (HL1180), what assessment they have made of the decline in the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed in road policing roles over the last 10 years; and how many (1) traffic collisions, and (2) injuries to drivers, pedestrians and other road users, there have been in each year over the same period.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has not conducted any such assessment.
As a general rule, how the police enforce the law is a matter for individual Chief Constables who will decide on the deployment of officers in dealing with all the issues for which the force is responsible, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 22 July (HLWS15), when they will introduce a Bill to establish a revenue certainty mechanism for sustainable aviation fuel; what is their assessment of the impact that delays in the introduction of the Bill have had on investment in the United Kingdom; and what progress they have made towards introducing a sustainable aviation fuels mandate to start from by 1 January 2025.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As announced in the King’s Speech, we will legislate in this session to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism for sustainable aviation fuel. We are on track to have legislation in place by the end of 2026. We will continue to work to support the development of a UK SAF sector.
The Government will be ready to implement the SAF Mandate on 1 January 2025. The SAF Mandate statutory instrument was approved by the House of Commons on 9 September with the House of Lords approving the regulation today (6 November).. The Department for Transport has shared draft guidance with obligated parties and aims to publish final versions of the guidance before the end of 2024. An IT system to administer the SAF Mandate is on track to be operational for the start of the SAF mandate scheme and is currently being tested with industry.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations they had with the aviation industry before the publication of their Industrial Strategy Green Paper Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy and what steps they will take to enable the aviation industry to contribute to carbon removal projects in developing that Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the importance of the aviation sector to the UK economy. International connectivity, underpinned by strong airports and airlines, drives economic activity through facilitating trade and investment and enabling the movement of workers and tourists.
In the Green Paper the Government committed to engage widely throughout the development of our Industrial Strategy. This will include convening and co-design of ambitious Sector Plans for all eight growth-driving sectors (e.g. advance manufacturing). The UK approach to developing the Industrial Strategy focuses on growth that is aligned with our net zero and environmental objectives.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following their announcement on 9 September of the extension of bus franchising powers to local authorities, what steps they are taking to support and ensure that local authorities explore all franchising options, including (1) demand responsive transport, and (2) cross-boundary services.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The government has set out a plan to improve bus services based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve, including how demand responsive transport and cross-boundary bus routes can improve the experience for bus passengers.
On 9 September, the government laid a Statutory Instrument to open up bus franchising to all local transport authorities (LTAs). It also published a consultation on proposed updates to bus franchising guidance. These measures will speed up and lower the cost of franchising for LTAs. This Government will also bring forward a Buses Bill later in this parliamentary session which will remove the ban on the creation of local authority owned bus companies. This would give LTAs the option to improve connectivity for their passengers by, for example, potentially increasing services that run across local authority boundaries.
The government is also building capacity within the Department for Transport to provide practical support to LTAs throughout the process of delivering public control of buses.