Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [HL]

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)]

My Lords, I thank everybody who has spoken in the debate. I particularly thank my noble friend Lord Shinkwin, who brought such vivid and real lived experience to the debate, and all noble Lords who took part, in particular the Minister. I thank him for all his consideration and the time that he has put into progress on this. It is a rare and positive thing to have a Minister for Transport who not only understands but loves transport. He is surely a candidate for Secretary of State. Things would improve dramatically across the piece.

I also thank my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, for all the work that he has done on this matter. Progress has been made and I am very pleased that Amendment 35A and other amendments in his name will also pass, irrespective of what may or may not happen presently. The difficulty is, for all that has been said, that too much is still voluntary and lies in guidance. It could be pinned down far more. For example, the Government could do more, particularly on not providing finance for such schemes. They could have taken a different approach—rather than guidance, they could have taken a different legislative pathway. Similarly, it is worth noting at this point that, for those local authorities that do not abide by any guidance, judicial review will be the only route of redress for an individual. In essence, for the vast majority of us, there is no route of redress whatever.

I am extremely grateful to the Minister and my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, but, to make more progress and in acting for inclusion by design, accessibility by all and public transport worthy of that title, I should like to test the opinion of the House.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

Before putting the question on the amendment, I must advise the House that, if it is agreed to, I will not be able to call Amendments 36A or 61A due to pre-emption.

North Sea Vessel Collision

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The Secretary of State’s representative for maritime salvage and intervention convened a salvage co-ordination unit yesterday morning to oversee the salvage response to this incident, working alongside the vehicles’ owners, insurers and salvors. Following the separation of the two vessels, an operational decision has been taken to form two salvage co-ordination units, one for each vessel. I believe that competently answers the noble Earl’s first question.

The second question is being discussed in this place most days of this week, next week and the week after, and I will defer to the Leader of the House on that one.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, I would not dream of adding my name to those my noble friend Lord Attlee just mentioned, but I did spend all my commercial life in the shipping industry, so I may have a slight knowledge in this subject. Can the Minister confirm that the inquiry will look into the question of negligence, be it on the part of the owners—he referred to the state of the vessel—or the captain, because either could have been negligent in this context?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I have every confidence that the inquiry will look at all the relevant aspects of this really significant incident and will include all the parties, including the two that the noble Lord describes.

Road Investment Strategy

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. In the current circumstances, he is a bit optimistic about having any money left. Of course, a substantial amount of the road investment strategy 2 money is, in fact, spent on the operation, maintenance and renewal of the national highways network. The review of the capital spend portfolio embraces all the modes of transport the department is responsible for, so there will be the opportunity to choose the best schemes that deliver the most for growth, jobs and housing.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Can the noble Lord confirm the singularly ill-conceived and unbelievably expensive plan to tunnel under Stonehenge to avoid congestion on the A303, when there is plenty of open land immediately to the south of that single carriageway?

Rail Fares

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. The rail industry is in a difficult financial position. The department has spent in the region of £31 billion of taxpayers’ money. That amounts to about £1,000 per household in 2020-21 and 2021-22, since the pandemic. Reforming the rail network is critical to improve the passenger experience and to ensure the financial and operational sustainability of the railway. The industry has put forward fair and reasonable deals, offering job security and a fair pay rise. Government funding has been secured to facilitate important reforms of the railway. However, agreeing pay increases has to be linked to taking forward these important reforms.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Will my noble friend bring his undoubted acumen to bear, in addition to the rail fares, to simplifying buying tickets to park at railway stations, where you virtually need a degree in science to work it out?

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

I must confess, I park my car every week at a station car park to come here and I have not found any difficulty: I walk into the station, buy a ticket and put it on my windscreen. So, I am sorry to hear the noble Lord’s difficulty but, again, I will take that back.

Great British Railways

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Wednesday 28th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I cannot explain the reason why because that decision has, of course, not been taken. The noble Lord mentions Avanti, and I pay tribute to Avanti, because the quality of its services has improved enormously recently. At the end of May, cancellations on Avanti were just 1.4%—which is very good among train operating companies—and 93.8% of services were “on time”, meaning within 15 minutes of arrival time. Those figures do compare favourably.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Does my noble friend find echoes in the exchanges this afternoon of that old adage of the steam train going up and then down the hill: “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could”?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

Most certainly.

Cars: Headlight Glare

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I can provide some further evidence. Between 2010 and 2020, so a 10-year period, dazzle was a contributory factor—and indeed there can be many contributory factors; you do not just have to have one—in 0.25% to 0.34% of collisions. Far less than half a per cent have dazzle as a contributory factor. However, we have also looked at the trend over time and there has been no increase in the amount of dazzle caused. Again, we will continue to look at all evidence, but I can say that a very small number of collisions even have it as a contributory factor.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Does my noble friend know whether the self-adjusting lights can be retrofitted?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. I do not know whether they can be retrofitted, but I will find out for him.

Airports and Airlines: Staff

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for raising that. I am not aware of that issue, so will take it back to the department.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Apropos the previous question, does my noble friend agree, as was my recent experience, that flying from and to Bournemouth international airport is perfectly wonderful? It works like clockwork.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I have heard my noble friend wax lyrical about the wonders of Bournemouth Airport, and there are many other airports like that around the country. I encourage everybody to look at those smaller airports; you often might get a better service.

Electric Vehicle Charge Points

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Wednesday 26th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I understand why the noble Lord might have been a little confused by that sentence. It is not the case that we are not going to do it at all; rather, we are not going to do that specific proposal. The feedback we received from our original consultation back in 2019 suggested that the proposals were not ambitious enough and that details on the implementation and the impact were unclear. We agreed that perhaps we could be more ambitious. That is why we consulted again on the future of transport regulatory review, which closed on 22 November. It sought further views on this topic. Proposals in this area are absolutely still under consideration; we just want them to be as ambitious as possible.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, sequentially over the past 10 years, I have been the owner of two hybrid cars but I am anxious to buy an all-electric car. I have yet to find one that can get to and from my home in Wiltshire without having to be recharged. What plans do the Government have for installing electric charge points within the Palace of Westminster and particularly Royal Court?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

Oh, my Lords. I am well aware that several noble Lords have repeatedly requested EV charging facilities at your Lordships’ House. The Government clearly cannot direct the powers that be in your Lordships’ House to install a charging point, but this member of the Government is disappointed by the lack of leadership.

Holyhead

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

My Lords, we want trade to be as frictionless as possible, and are therefore in discussions with ports to understand exactly what they will be doing to make the checks that will be needed. There will be new checks, but for traders that are ready there will be little or no delay in getting through the port.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, the question from the noble Lord, Lord West, prompts me to ask my noble friend about the paucity of charging points for the much-vaunted electric cars.

Aviation: Boeing 737 MAX 8 Jets

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Can my noble friend confirm the news that I heard this morning that the black box from the aircraft has been found? If that is so, when would she expect the results of the investigation to be promulgated?

[Baroness Sugg]

I have seen the same reports as my noble friend. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has offered assistance to the Ethiopian authorities. That has now been accepted and a team is now being deployed.