Railways: Midland Main Line

Debate between Lord Scriven and Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Thursday 25th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Scriven]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Midland Mainline will be electrified all the way to Sheffield.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Vere of Norbiton) (Con)]

My Lords, the midland main line enhancement programme will extend electrification from Bedford to Kettering and, subject to design, Market Harborough. Further to this, HS2 phase 2B will electrify the line from Clay Cross to Sheffield. The Department for Transport has taken the decision not to extend electrification beyond this, but instead to deliver new bi-mode trains for intercity services. This will mean that passengers benefit from faster journeys, more seats and better-quality trains.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

I welcome the Minister to her new post and wish her well. However, the Royal Institute of Mechanical Engineers and the Rail Industry Association point out that hydrogen bi-modal trains, which look to be piloted on this line, cannot exceed 87 miles per hour and cost more over the lifespan than electrification, while the capacity for storage means that they are not suitable for high-speed, long-distance railway trains. Why are those organisations wrong and the department correct?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I thank the noble Lord for his kind words and pay tribute to my predecessor, my noble friend Lady Sugg. People say to me, “She was a very good Minister, you know?”—yes, I know exactly what they mean. Bi-mode trains at the moment run on electricity and diesel, depending on electrification of the track. GWR is already running these trains, and they will be available on LNER on 19 May. The noble Lord talks about hydrogen cell trains, which are a very important development. Abellio, which has the East Midlands franchise, will trial those trains from 2026. With all due respect to current experts, I expect there to be improvements in these trains and we will see how they work when they come into trial in 2026.

Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019

Debate between Lord Scriven and Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Thursday 11th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Scriven]

I have sat on a licensing committee. We do not have that kind of detail at local authority level. The only way to determine that would be whether the person had a fare in the cab or vehicle at a certain time. Local authorities will not, therefore, be able to make a determination based on the information which the Minister has just referred to. We are going to have to have some national guidance which helps all local authorities make that decision. Otherwise, we are going to get decisions, which are not consistent across the country, that will feed into the database—whether or not the vehicle is being used as a private family vehicle. The information being sought is not collated by local authorities at the moment.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I thank the noble Lord for his intervention. I was not saying that the local authority would have the information, but one would certainly expect it—particularly if it was a larger one—to be in contact with its local fleets of taxis and PHVs to understand the more general working practices. Each of these charging clean air zones will have been set up after local consultation. I expect that is one of the issues which the local fleets would have put into the consultation. We are not minded to provide national guidance at the moment, although obviously that may change in the future. For the time being, we believe that this should be a local decision and that it should be up to the local licensing authorities to come up with a reasonable solution for what works in their areas.

Security of data is obviously an important issue. Because of the powers in the Environment Act 1975, under which this is set up, the data can only be shared for the purpose of enforcing air quality measures. The Act limits the information that can be provided to the minimum necessary to identify the vehicle as a taxi or PHV and does not cover any personal data about the licence holder.

I believe I have covered pretty much everything.

Disposable Cups Ban

Debate between Lord Scriven and Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Monday 21st May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Scriven]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to ban the sale of hot and cold drinks in disposable cups.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

My Lords, a call for evidence on how taxes or charges could reduce the waste from single-use plastics, including disposable cups, closed on 18 May. We are reviewing the responses and considering future policy options. The noble Lord has asked whether we plan to ban the sale of hot and cold drinks in disposable cups. While it is true that we would like to see a lower volume of single-use plastic waste, currently we have no plans to ban disposable cups.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. Does she agree that if we are going to do away with the throw-away culture, the Government must lead by example? Will the Government therefore look as a matter of urgency at their procurement rules and perhaps consider taking up the Freiburg cup, which is recyclable, can be used 400 times and is transferable, as part of a mission to ensure that central government lead by example in stopping the use of single-use disposable cups?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

My Lords, it is right that the Government and indeed Parliament should lead by example. Defra has already removed all single-use plastic cups from the department and new catering services have no single-use plastics at all. I know that the FCO is following suit. Moreover, we can use the greening government commitments to deliver on and report progress across central government. I am sure that noble Lords will be pleased to see that the Parliamentary Estate is also committed to removing all avoidable single-use plastics.