Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of Ofwat in ensuring that England and Wales have appropriate infrastructure for water and sewerage services.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat independently scrutinises water company plans as part of the price review process to ensure companies meet their statutory obligations and ensure value for money for consumers.
Ofwat published its final determinations for Price Review 2024 (PR24) on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030. This will deliver substantial and enduring improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector. This investment will contribute to delivery of key elements of the Government’s Plan for Change and Mission Objectives for this Parliament.
We have also overseen the launch of an Independent Commission into the water sector and its regulation, in what is expected to form the largest review of the industry since privatisation. The Independent Commission will review infrastructure resilience including enforcement of existing infrastructure requirements, infrastructure resilience standards and the setting of base expenditure allowances within the price review process.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total annual production of crude steel in tonnes by (1) the UK, (2) other G7 countries, (3) China, and (4) India, in 2024.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In 2024, the United Kingdom produced 4,011,973 tonnes of crude steel. The G7 countries collectively produced 247,817,568 tonnes of crude steel. Table 1 below provides detailed steel production figures for the rest of G7 countries. Meanwhile, China produced 1,005,090,000 tonnes of crude steel, and India produced 149,421,000 tonnes.
Table 1: Crude Steel Production by G7 Countries (excl. UK), 2024
Country | Crude steel production (tonnes) |
France | 10,754,987 |
Canada | 12,349,087 |
Italy | 20,001,983 |
Germany | 37,234,082 |
United States | 79,456,590 |
Japan | 84,008,866 |
Source: World Steel Association
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Birt on 7 April (HL6027), what assessment they have made of how (1) the incidence of train cancellations, and (2) the reasons for train cancellations, compare with the operation of rail services in other G7 countries.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
No assessment has been made on how the incidence of train cancellations and the reasons for train cancellations compare with the operation of rail services in other G7 countries.
The Independent Regulators’ Group Rail (IRG-Rail), publishes an annual Market Monitoring Report which includes European comparisons on various aspects such as infrastructure characteristics, punctuality, and traffic data for both freight and passenger services. This helps to benchmark performance, identify trends, and highlight differences and similarities among the participating countries. However, this report does not cover international comparisons of cancellations.
The Government is committed to reforming the railways, including establishing Great British Railways. This will end years of fragmentation by bringing together track and train to deliver for passengers with more reliable, better-quality services and simpler ticketing and fares.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require foreign currency cash exchange services for consumers to display (1) the live interbank exchange rate, and (2) the commission charged.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Payment Services Regulations 2017 make requirements on UK payment service providers regarding disclosure of fees and charges to the payer where currency conversion is provided as part of a payment transaction. Provisions under the Cross Border Payments Regulation, also contribute to price transparency, with further requirements regarding how foreign exchange costs are communicated before a payment is made.
The Government recognises the importance of transparency of fees and charges in ensuring effective competition between payment service providers. These regulations, amongst other things, are intended to enable consumers to make informed decisions when making use of payment services including where currency conversion is offered as part of a payment transaction.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - 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 24 March (HL6028), whether they will now answer the question put, namely whether they will conduct a strategic review of road construction, renewal and repair.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government has no plans to conduct a strategic review of this sort, but various initiatives are underway to update the guidance on the design, operation and maintenance of both the Strategic Road Network and local highways.
National Highways, for example, which is responsible for the Strategic Road Network (trunk motorways and major A roads) in England, is currently updating its Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). The DMRB contains information about current design standards relating to the design, assessment, and operation of motorway and all-purpose trunk roads in the United Kingdom.
The Department for Transport is also starting the process of updating the UK Roads Leadership Group’s guidance document Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice. This will provide new guidance to local highway authorities on how best to look after their local highway networks, and the Department will engage with the local highway sector as appropriate as the review progresses.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the relative cost of installing National Grid electricity cables that are (1) suspended from pylons and (2) buried underground.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The relative costs of overhead lines and burying underground electricity cables are assessed by National Grid at a project-specific level, with costs varying depending on factors such as the terrain and other site conditions. The Institute of Engineering and Technology Study, 2012, found that the lifetime costs for overhead lines range from £2.2m to £4.2m per kilometre, while direct burial underground cables range from £10.2m to £24.1m per kilometre, meaning that undergrounding can cost between 5-10 times more than overhead lines.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey about the detention and deportation of BBC journalist Mark Lowen.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government provided consular assistance to Mark Lowen, a British journalist detained and subsequently deported from Turkey. The Foreign Secretary spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan on Saturday 29 March. The UK expects Turkey to uphold its international commitments and the rule of law, including the protection of the fundamental rights to free speech, peaceful assembly and media freedom.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of trains on Network Rail are (1) cancelled, and (2) arrive more than five minutes later than timetabled, and what proportion of these cancellations and delays are caused by (a) signal failure, (b) lack of crew availability, and (c) other reasons.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
(1) The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) reported that in the 12 months up to December 2024 the cancellation measure was 4.0%.
(2) The ORR publish train punctuality on a quarterly basis. They report trains arriving within 59 seconds, within 3 minutes or within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time. These are reported in Table 1.
Table 1. Train punctuality in the year ending December 2024, Great Britain
Trains arriving within 59 seconds | Trains arriving within 3 minutes | Trains arriving within 15 minutes |
67.0% | 84.8% | 98.2% |
Source: ORR Table 3133: Delay minutes by operator and cause
The proportion of cancellations by the available causes is report in Table 2.
Table 2. Train Cancellations by cause and responsibility in the year ending December 2024, Great Britain
Infrastructure and network management | Infrastructure owner external event |
|
|
26.0% | 18.6% | 51.4% | 3.9% |
Source: DfT analysis of ORR Table 3123: Trains planned and cancellations by operator and cause
Information on the cause of delays is published by Rail Period by the ORR. This information is reported in delay minutes. The latest data (covering 3 March 2024 – 2 March 2025) on the proportion of delays minutes attributed by the available causes is reported in Table 3.
Table 3. Share of delay minutes by cause in the year ending 2 March 2025, Great Britain
| |
NR-on-TOC | |
External | 14% |
Network Management / Other | 16% |
Non-Track Assets | 17% |
Severe Weather, Autumn, & Structures | 7% |
Track | 7% |
NR-on-TOC total | 61% |
TOC-on-Self and TOC-on-TOC | |
Fleet | 15% |
Operations | 3% |
Stations | 3% |
TOC Other | 7% |
Traincrew | 10% |
TOC-on-Self total | 39% |
Source: DfT analysis of Office of Rail and Road Table 3184 - Delay minutes by operator and cause | |
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will conduct a strategic review of road construction, renewal and repair to identify the most economic approach to reduce potholes and costs to road users caused by potholes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
It is the responsibility of individual highway authorities to maintain and improve their networks, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances, and priorities. This includes decisions on how best to prevent road surfaces from deteriorating in the most economic way. The Government is committed to updating its guidance to local highway authorities on how to manage their networks, which will include advice on matters of this sort.
For 2025/26, the Government is providing almost £1.6 billion for local highway maintenance, an increase of £500 million compared to 2024/25. Funding is not ring-fenced, and it is a matter for local authorities to determine how the money is best spent. The Department for Transport has written to all local highway authorities asking them to demonstrate that they are complying with certain criteria aimed at driving best practice and continual improvement. The Department will assess the information provided by local highway authorities in due course.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the economic case for small modular nuclear reactors compared with alternative options for achieving net zero.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is clear that nuclear power is and will continue to be an essential part of our journey to net zero by 2050, in combination with other low carbon and renewable technologies. Great British Nuclear is pushing forward with its SMR competition for UK deployment with final decisions to be taken this spring. The economic case for SMRs would be factored into any investment decision into the technology.