Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the Network Rail vegetation management review, published in October 2018, what criteria are used to approve temporary variations for vegetation management from Network Rail standards for vegetation management.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The review and potential approval for temporary variations to any of Network Rail’s standards is undertaken by a competent person (such as the standard owner or a delegated authority). The risk mitigation of the non-compliance needs to clearly be provided along with timescales on when the applicant will become compliant to the standards. The applications are at local levels and can vary. Since the October 2018 review, Network Rail has improved vegetation management training, updated the vegetation standards and deployed technology to allow it to measure compliance of the vegetation profile. This has resulted in the temporary variations being annulled and alignment to the latest version of the standard.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to table amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to enable private prosecutions of shop thieves.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

We would encourage retailers to report all instances of shop theft to the police. We have no plans to include an amendment to enable private prosecutions of shop thieves to the Bill. Shops and retailers can currently make their own decision to bring private prosecutions against shop thieves if they have the needed evidence.

However, we are repealing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental impact of Network Rail’s treatment of timber waste.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Network Rail is achieving high rates of reuse and recycling across all waste types. Timber sleepers are graded and either reused on the railway, sold on for reuse, or disposed of for recovery. Pallets are reused where possible or disposed of for recycling or recovery along with other wood waste such as fence posts.