Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people have been prosecuted for the illegal use of disability parking blue badges in the past two years.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold data about the number of prosecutions for illegal badges.
The Department for Transport sets the legislation that governs the scheme and provides guidance for local authorities who are solely responsible for administrating the scheme.
Current legislation provides local authorities with the means to tackle abuse of the Blue Badge scheme locally, such as the power to retain and cancel badges found to be misused.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total number of recorded cases of the illegal use of disability parking blue badges.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold data about the number of prosecutions for illegal badges.
The Department for Transport sets the legislation that governs the scheme and provides guidance for local authorities who are solely responsible for administrating the scheme.
Current legislation provides local authorities with the means to tackle abuse of the Blue Badge scheme locally, such as the power to retain and cancel badges found to be misused.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce regulations to provide for a photographic image of the registered disabled person to be placed on the authorised displayed front of a disability parking blue badge.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The legislation governing the Blue Badge scheme requires that the side of the badge bearing the photograph should not be on display. Many disabled people have concerns about personal security and would not like to have such information on view. There are no plans to change this requirement.
Blue Badges have key information which enables on-street enforcement officers to check the details of the badge and the badge holder, and to view a photograph at the roadside on a smartphone or similar device.
The Department for Transport keeps the Blue Badge scheme under review, carrying out research and working closely with local authorities aiming to improve the consistency of local enforcement to tackle fraud and misuse of the Blue Badge scheme by acting swiftly and sharing best practice.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect evidence or carry out research into the illegal use, production, sale or theft of disability parking blue badges.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The legislation governing the Blue Badge scheme requires that the side of the badge bearing the photograph should not be on display. Many disabled people have concerns about personal security and would not like to have such information on view. There are no plans to change this requirement.
Blue Badges have key information which enables on-street enforcement officers to check the details of the badge and the badge holder, and to view a photograph at the roadside on a smartphone or similar device.
The Department for Transport keeps the Blue Badge scheme under review, carrying out research and working closely with local authorities aiming to improve the consistency of local enforcement to tackle fraud and misuse of the Blue Badge scheme by acting swiftly and sharing best practice.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the effects of (1) vehicle speeds, and (2) journey times, on emissions in urban areas; and if so, whether higher (a) vehicle speeds, or (b) journey times, have a greater effect on emissions levels.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Government has commissioned studies to assess the impact of vehicle speed on emissions, for example undertaking a high-resolution emission modelling approach to understand changes in vehicle speeds and how it relates to emissions. The Department uses the best available evidence to model emissions in urban areas, including evidence linking vehicle speeds with emissions based on international guidelines. The evidence is that the factors influencing emissions are complex and the relative impact of vehicle speed, acceleration/deceleration and distance travelled (which are all related to journey times), will vary depending on the local situation.
In addition, the Government’s Joint Air Quality Unit helps local authorities to calculate NOx emissions in their local areas using outputs from traffic models, which use a range of parameters including speed and distance travelled (which influence journey time) and the number of vehicles. The results of these parameters are contained in their Full Business Cases which are all published documents.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effects of low emission zones in urban areas on (1) vehicle usage, (2) average vehicle speeds, (3) average vehicle journey times, (4) emissions levels, and (5) overall air quality.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Government has commissioned a robust evaluation programme for the collection and analysis of air quality, traffic, and behavioural insights data from Local Authority areas implementing measures for the reduction of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Case studies give further understanding of how local plans are affecting local groups and businesses.
The Government has published a series of annual reports which set out and discuss the analysis of these evaluation findings. Headline findings from these reports and other analyses give an insight into the effects of Clean Air Zones and other measures on air quality and vehicle fleets in Local Authorities. The 2021 annual report is available to view on the Defra Science Search - AQ0851.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence they use to inform policy about vehicle (1) speed limits, and (2) emissions; and what assessment they have made of the emissions levels of (a) petrol, and (b) diesel, vehicles between 1,000–3,000cc travelling at a constant speed of 20mph in (i) first gear, (ii) second gear, (iii) third gear, (iv) fourth gear, (v) fifth gear, and (vi) sixth gear.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The aim of speed management is to deliver a balance between safety objectives for all road users and mobility objectives, to ensure efficient travel, as well as environmental and community outcomes. The Department has published guidance designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately and consistently set while allowing for flexibility to deal with local needs and conditions.
The regulatory emissions tests for type approval of new vehicles are conducted under dynamic rather than constant speeds in order to be more representative of real-world use. The Department does not have specific results for the situations outlined. Transport emission factors are used within the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory to provide information on the emissions of vehicle fleets based upon factors such as their average speed, fuel type and engine capacity. These are also used within the Emissions Factor Toolkit, published by DEFRA, to assist local authorities carrying out assessment of local air quality.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to assist the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association to deliver its 2018 Plug-in Pledge that will see its members' combined plug-in vehicle fleet size increase from 50,000 to 720,000 by 2025.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
This initiative from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is most welcome. Many forward thinking businesses and consumers are already benefiting from whole life cost savings that can be made from choosing plug-in vehicles. The Government already offers the Plug-in Car Grant to help with the cost of purchasing electric vehicles and has pledged that this will continue in some form until at least 2020. Consumer incentives in some form will continue to play a role beyond 2020. The Government has established a favourable tax regime to incentivise the purchase of the cleanest vehicles, in particular zero emission vehicles.
The Government recognises that the availability of adequate charging infrastructure is vital and offers a variety of grant funding schemes to support recharging infrastructure in motorists’ homes, workplaces and on residential streets. The Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF), funded with £200m of new Government investment and matched by £200m from private investors, will accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure and enable thousands more publicly accessible chargepoints. The full range of steps that the Government is taking was set out in the Road To Zero Strategy in July 2018.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what level of subsidy they are providing, or plan to provide, towards the cost of dredging work in the harbour area of Ramsgate.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Infrastructure work is necessary to enable the port to resume Ro-Ro services. Thanet Council is in discussion with both the Department and Seaborne Freight to finalise the funding arrangements for the infrastructure works at the port, and vital dredging work has already started.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter sent by the President of Getlink to the Secretary of State for Transport on 2 January, whether (1) the provision of £103 million to ferry operators for the provision of additional cross-Channel freight capacity breaches the concession agreement with Eurotunnel, and (2) they conducted an assessment of the impact on obligations under competition and state aid law.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
In the Government's view, the contracts do not breach the concession agreement with Eurotunnel. Obligations under competition and state aid law were taken into account as part of the contractual process.