Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support private investment in the UK maritime industry.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The maritime sector plays a key role in the UK economy, responsible for up to 95% of our imports and exports. As much of the UK maritime sector is privately owned, our world-leading companies are well placed to seek investment opportunities through commercial means.
Nevertheless, my Department, along with our colleagues across government, work closely with all parts of the UK maritime sector to identify the support they need to support their success and growth. In particular, the Department for International Trade works closely with the industry to promote the UK as an inward investment destination for the global maritime community.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, and with whom, about the potential role of hydrogen in decarbonising the maritime sector.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
My officials have regularly engaged with the UK maritime industry and academia on this matter, particularly since the launch of the Clean Maritime Council, which was established in 2018 to ensure strong collaboration between Government, industry and academia on maritime decarbonisation.
The Council underpinned the publication of the Clean Maritime Plan, which was published in July 2019 and made a number of recommendations relating to alternative fuel technologies, including hydrogen.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they (1) have provided, and (2) intend to provide, to the maritime sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The maritime sector plays a vital role in the UK economy and continues to provide vital freight and key worker services throughout the pandemic. However, it has faced significant disruption and challenges, as have many parts of the economy. To support businesses and employees, HMG has responded with an unprecedented £330 billion of financial measures. In addition, the Department provided bespoke financial support to ensure that critical lifeline and freight services continued to operate through the most challenging period.
My Department is working closely with the maritime sector on their restart plans. This includes identifying the support that will need to be provided to enable the safe resumption and continued increase of services and operations. We are also working with the sector on a longer-term Maritime Recovery Plan which will build on Maritime 2050 published in January 2019. Given the changes that COVID-19 has caused, we are considering where new recommendations could be made in addition to Maritime 2050, or existing recommendations accelerated, to help the maritime sector recover from COVID-19 and continue to grow.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of decarbonisation of the maritime industry on the number of new jobs created in that sector.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In 2019, the Department published the Clean Maritime Plan, which noted the potential for clean economic growth in the UK as a result of the transition to zero emission shipping.
Alongside the Plan, the Department published an assessment of the potential economic opportunities from low and zero emission shipping. While this does not estimate the number of potential new jobs that could be created through the decarbonisation of the maritime sector, it identifies a large potential global market for the elements of alternative maritime fuel production technologies in which the UK has a particular competitive advantage (for example, upfront design), which could result in economic benefits to the UK of around £360–£510 million per year by the middle of the century.
Maritime UK has published its views that investment in maritime decarbonisation could in future create more than 15 thousand jobs as well as tens of thousands of jobs when considering the wider supply chain. Industry research estimates that in 2017 the UK maritime sector as a whole directly supported more than 220 thousand jobs for UK employees.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Abellio Greater Anglia about the service disruptions to rural routes within their franchise area.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has been in regular and frequent contact with both Greater Anglia and Network Rail since the start of the disruption on the rural routes within the Greater Anglia franchise area. Signalling problems on those routes caused cancellations and disruption for passengers whilst additional safety checks took place and the issue was investigated. We have raised with the rail industry the need to resolve this matter as swiftly as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the development of short sea shipping in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We fully support the development of short sea shipping in the UK and recognise the benefits increased uptake could provide as a means of freight transportation.
To better understand the markets for coastal shipping and inland waterways we have commissioned a study to explore the opportunities, barriers and the potential for mode shift from inland transport networks.
Furthermore, the Department’s forthcoming strategy – Maritime 2050 – recognises the role of short sea shipping and, more widely, sets out how the UK can remain a key competitive maritime nation through meeting the challenges of the future and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise, include those in freight transport.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total annual income derived by the DVLA from providing details of motorists' data to private parking companies.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The total fee income received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for vehicle keeper information requests in 2017-18 was £16,300,139. The fees received by the DVLA are not recorded separately and so the total includes fees for requests from both private parking companies and other requesters, including insurers, motor finance companies and solicitors. The fee is set to recover the cost of processing these requests, so that the burden is met by the applicant and not passed on to the general taxpayer.
The DVLA provides the details of the registered keepers of vehicles as a first point of contact to establish where liability for an incident or event may lie. This is provided for in law and the arrangements are subject to robust safeguards to ensure that this information is only provided to those with a legitimate need to request it.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of bioptic devices to facilitate driving for those with impaired vision.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The use of bioptic devices has been considered by an expert working group established by the European Commission Driving Licence Committee, which included a representative from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
They concluded that the minimum standards for driving should not be changed before further research is conducted into the evidence and technological development of the devices.
The use of bioptic devices for driving would be considered only if they do not compromise road safety.