Cycling: Women

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord will be aware that the Government have committed to extra funding to deal with potholes. He mentioned the city of Oxford, which is benefiting from extra funding as a Cycle City Ambition city, along with Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Norwich. The funding in Cycle City Ambition cities amounts to £10 per head, which is a substantial increase on the £2 per head figure in 2010, and a major step forward from the £6 per head we see elsewhere in the country.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

My Lords, a few years ago, I had a bicycle with very small wheels and I was allowed to ride on the pavement. Does that still apply?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I am not sure whether my noble friend still has her bicycle and is asking whether she will still be allowed. I am sure we all welcome her cycling aspirations, be it on a cycle with large or small wheels. There is still a law on the statute which prevents cycling on pavements, and there are some important aspects to this. Of course, when that law was enacted, cycling was not as widespread as it is today. An increasing number of children are cycling and if that law were applied in full, even they would perhaps be penalised. I am sure that no one in your Lordships’ House would want to see that.

Cyclists: Safety

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, one death from cycling is one death too many, so obviously we are very concerned with safety. Your Lordships will be aware that we launched a THINK! Cyclist campaign in 2012, and a third round of this is planned to run in 12 cities in March 2015—the original five cities and seven additional ones. We have made it easier for councils to introduce 20 miles per hour zones and 40 miles per hour zones in rural areas, and Trixi mirrors. The Deputy Prime Minister announced £100 million to improve conditions for cyclists and walkers, alongside and crossing the strategic road network. We have set up a task force with Transport for London to raise awareness of safety among HGV drivers and to take targeted enforcement against the minority of potentially dangerous operators, drivers and vehicles. We are always looking at more ways to make cycling safe.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

Would my noble friend care to comment on pedestrian safety?

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, I do not have any numbers with me on pedestrian safety, but I will be glad to write to my noble friend on that issue. Pedestrian safety is obviously a key consideration as well.

Vehicles: Heavy Goods Vehicles

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kramer]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, for his support.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

Is my noble friend aware that I had a heavy goods vehicle licence during the war, and that there were no restrictions at that time?

[Baroness Kramer]

However, I am sure that there were also no accidents or breaking of the rules.

Cyclists: Safety

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that it is extremely unwise to cover one’s ears when riding a cycle, because you cannot hear traffic approaching or someone sounding their horn. I am not sure that it is necessary to make it illegal.

[Baroness Sharples]

Would my noble friend agree that cyclists should wear some form of identification? I was nearly knocked over outside Millbank. I shouted at the cyclist—I did not swipe him—but please could we have some identification on them?

Daylight Saving

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the department’s admission that there would be casualty savings is not new, but the available savings for each year as we reduce the overall number of casualties are only approximately one-third of the annual reduction in casualties that we expect. I would be delighted to have a debate in your Lordships’ House, but of course that is a matter for the usual channels.

[Baroness Sharples]

Will my noble friend congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Tanlaw, in asking this question over more than 30 years? I have heard him do so many times.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I look forward with bated breath when the noble Lord stands to see whether he will ask about something else. One has to be persistent, but whether the noble Lord will achieve his desired outcome I cannot say.

Railways: London Midland Rail Franchise

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, first of all, there is no shortage of potential recruits to be train drivers, although a potential train driver needs to have certain attributes. The problem with the west coast line is one of franchising and procurement, but here the problem for the train operating company is in retaining and recruiting sufficient drivers to meet its obligations.

[Baroness Sharples]

Does not the present problem arise because the drivers were required to work during the Olympics, and now they need leave?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend is more or less right. The problem is that the chickens are coming home to roost because leave was restricted during the Olympics period, so the drivers want to have their leave now. In addition, we are experiencing the problems of the half term, when drivers naturally want to be at home with their families.

Directors’ Pay

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

I am very happy to reassure the noble Lord that we mean pay—all of it—and that is why we said in the Statement that there would be one figure. One figure means you do not have to work your way through myriad figures and arrangements, et cetera, so that it will be clear to everybody exactly what that person is getting.

I did hear the interview this morning. It was with two businessmen; one from a FTSE 100 company and the other one from a company that was never listed on the Stock Exchange. If you talk about closing the door, in the short time that we have been in government, we have now opened the door—a door that we feel should have been opened a lot longer ago, but we were not in government then.

[Baroness Sharples]

Does my noble friend agree that small shareholders will take considerable encouragement from this Statement?

[Baroness Wilcox]

My noble friend is right. We are very keen to make sure that shareholders feel that they are getting a fair deal. It is very useful for the very big shareholders to be able to get in and take on the companies for these pay arrangements. I have sat in FTSE 100 company meetings when the room is absolutely full of people who have only got a few shares. Up go all the hands for the vote and we add them up: 1,800 for, 246 against; and then of course we have the other votes that have come in, that are not in the room at the time: 45 million say this, and so on. So yes, the small shareholder will feel that he is in the room, and it is very important that we start to see the dividends grow, if we can, for small shareholders too. We want more shareholders. I thank my noble friend for the question.

Gypsies and Travellers

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, as I have said, we have not seen the full government policy because that will be announced shortly. The previous Government’s model of top-down pitch targets under regional strategies has not delivered. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of caravans on unauthorised developments increased from 728 to 3,895.

[Baroness Sharples]

If they are Travellers, why do they not travel rather than getting settled in one spot?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, some Travellers are static, partly because there are not the opportunities around the country and their patterns of work are changing. It would be better in those circumstances if they remained static so that their children could be properly educated, as suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Laming.

Roads: Cyclists

Baroness Sharples Excerpts

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I entirely agree with the noble Lord. I know that all noble Lords are extremely concerned about that type of offending. It adversely affects noble Lords, because they tend to be a little bit older than the average member of the population.

[Baroness Sharples]

Can my noble friend tell us how many successful prosecutions there have been against cyclists who have gone against red lights?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the short answer is no. The reason is that most offences are dealt with by fixed penalties—the penalty is about £30—but detailed records are not kept because that would not be a good use of public funds.