Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government who is responsible for undertaking and funding the decommissioning and removal of (1) offshore oil and gas platforms and connections, and (2) offshore wind turbines and connections.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following the ‘polluter pays’ principle, industry is responsible for undertaking and funding the decommissioning and removal of (1) offshore oil and gas platforms and connections and (2) offshore wind turbines and connections.
The Petroleum Act 1998 and Energy Act 2004 provide a statutory regime to ensure industry fulfil these responsibilities.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intercity train services operated by Great Western Railway are operating in unplanned short formation; what is the reason for this; and when the normal operating arrangements will be reinstated.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
1.37 per cent of Intercity Trains were short formed in period 13 (the most recent rail period). Although more reliable than the trains they replaced, Great Western Railway has more intercity sets out of service than normal due to damage caused by infrastructure issues (such as flooding), the long-term crack repairs programme, and the impact of poor performance on the network. Great Western Railway is working with Hitachi Rail Group to resolve this and senior staff at Great Western Railway meet frequently with Hitachi counterparts to ensure that the necessary fleet numbers are available.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 29 April (HL3718), in which circumstances, and why, it would not be applicable to apply the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book to HS2 property compensation cases.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Red Book sets out the approach to be adopted for property valuation. It is not applicable to compensation cases where there is no claim for property value and the claim is limited to disturbance compensation or losses not based on the value of land, such as relocation costs.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) police officers, and (2) police community support officers, were employed in neighbourhood policing in Devon & Cornwall Police in each year from 2010 to present.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police workers, as at 31 March each year, in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.
Since 2012, the Home Office has published statistics on the functions of police workers which includes a “neighbourhood policing” function. From 31 March 2015 onwards, the Home Office replaced the ‘old’ functions framework with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) framework. The POA framework also includes a “neighbourhood policing” function although the two frameworks are not directly comparable.
Data on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in neighbourhood policing roles, collected under the CIPFA POA framework, in Devon and Cornwall, between 31 March 2015 and 2023, can be found in Tables F1 and F3 of the data tables accompanying each publication. The Home Office do not hold directly comparable data on the number of police officers and PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles for years prior to 2015.
Table 1 shows the number of FTE police officers and PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles in Devon and Cornwall between the 31 March 2015 and 2023. As at 31 March 2023, there were 264 FTE police officers employed in neighbourhood policing roles in Devon and Cornwall, an increase of 1.6% (4 FTE) compared to March 2015. The number of officers in neighbourhood policing roles had been declining between 2015 and 2018, when it reached a low of 220 FTE, before increasing year on year to levels seen in March 2015. Whilst the number of officers in neighbourhood police officers is similar to 2015, the proportion has decreased by 1.2 percentage points from 8.9% in 2015 to 7.7% in 2023.
As at 31 March 2023, there were 129 FTE PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles, a decrease of 61.2% (204 FTE) compared to March 2015 when there were 333 FTE PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles. Whilst the number of PCSOs has been declining, the proportion of PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles has remained consistent.
Table 1: Number and proportion of full-time equivalent police officers and PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles, as at 31 March 2015 to 2023, Devon and Cornwall
As at 31 March | Police officers | PCSOs | ||
Number | Proportion (%) | Number | Proportion (%) | |
2015 | 260 | 8.9 | 333 | 100.0 |
2016 | 240 | 8.4 | 339 | 100.0 |
2017 | 231 | 8.2 | 300 | 100.0 |
2018 | 220 | 7.7 | 245 | 100.0 |
2019 | 228 | 7.9 | 203 | 100.0 |
2020 | 228 | 7.7 | 189 | 100.0 |
2021 | 236 | 8.0 | 164 | 100.0 |
2022 | 253 | 7.9 | 154 | 99.4 |
2023 | 264 | 7.7 | 129 | 100.0 |
Some forces are not able to make a clear distinction between certain subfunctions and therefore record the majority of, or all, employees under one function. This is particularly apparent for the ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ (1a) and ‘Incident (Response) Management’ (1b) functions, so the Home Office recommends using the wider function of “Local Policing”. Data for local policing is shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Number and proportion of full-time equivalent police officers and PCSOs employed in local policing roles, as at 31 March 2015 to 2023, Devon and Cornwall
As at 31 March | Police officers | PCSOs | ||
Number | Proportion (%) | Number | Proportion (%) | |
2015 | 1,393 | 47.5 | 333 | 100.0 |
2016 | 1,310 | 45.8 | 339 | 100.0 |
2017 | 1,259 | 44.9 | 300 | 100.0 |
2018 | 1,291 | 45.5 | 245 | 100.0 |
2019 | 1,304 | 45.0 | 203 | 100.0 |
2020 | 1,416 | 47.6 | 189 | 100.0 |
2021 | 1,459 | 49.5 | 164 | 100.0 |
2022 | 1,522 | 47.7 | 154 | 99.4 |
2023 | 1,679 | 48.8 | 129 | 100.0 |
Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether HS2 Ltd and its agents base their offers to acquire property in connection with HS2 upon valuations fully in accordance with (1) the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Red Book, and (2) the compensation code; and, if not, what criteria they apply to property compensation valuations.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HS2 Ltd makes offers to acquire properties under a variety of statutory and discretionary schemes. There is no single or universal process that applies to all acquisitions. HS2 Ltd and its agents apply the Red Book and Compensation Code where applicable, dependent on the circumstances and type of offer being made.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Euston ministerial task force was created; what are its terms of reference; who are its members; on what dates has it met; and whether it intends to publish minutes of its meetings or other relevant papers.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The establishment of the Euston Quarter Ministerial Task Force was announced at Spring Budget on 6 March 2024. It will oversee the next stages of delivery at Euston, set strategic direction and facilitate decision making. Membership of the Task Force will include Ministers from the Department for Transport, HM Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Officials from these Government Departments and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority will also attend. Further details will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to (1) their announcement on 29 June 2022 about the creation of the Road Safety Investigation Branch, and (2) the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 7 March (HL2831), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what progress they have made in setting up the Road Safety Investigation Branch.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is using the Automated Vehicles Bill to enable the creation of a capability within my department to investigate safety incidents involving at least one self-driving vehicle. Further development of this will be dependent on the availability of legislative time in future parliaments.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the latest design for the approach tunnels and grade separation works for the HS2 approaches to Euston; how many station platforms are they designed to accommodate; whether this design has received full safety approval and from whom; and whether they plan to place a copy of the plans in the Library of the House.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
HS2 Ltd is responsible for designing and building the Euston Approaches. The Company is continuing to progress with the existing design for the approach tunnels and grade separation in line with the requisite technical, safety and environmental standards at all times. The design of the HS2 tunnels has been refined to minimise ground movement and settlement mitigation measures have been developed to be compatible with the operation of the existing railway. As set out on the Network North Command Paper the HS2 station at Euston will comprise 6 platforms which can accommodate the trains we will run to Birmingham and onwards.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in setting up the Road Safety Investigation Branch.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government introduced the Automated Vehicles Bill to Parliament, which moved to the other place on 20 February. This includes proposed legislation to enable the creation of a capability within my department to investigate safety incidents involving at least one self-driving vehicle.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to reply to the letter dated 15 September 2023 from Lord Berkeley to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the Leader of the House of Commons, regarding the governance of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I apologise for the delay in responding to my Noble Lords’ correspondence. The department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Noble peers. A response issued on 27 February 2024.