Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report commissioned by the Local Government Association The path to inclusive footways, published on 10 February; and what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and (2) micromobility parking provision, do not obstruct footways.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Strategy, published in March 2022, outlined that local authorities are best placed to understand what charging infrastructure is required, and have a key role in ensuring the delivery of chargepoints meets the needs of their areas. The Government and industry sponsored, Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 1899 provides specifications on the placement, design and installation of accessible public EV chargepoints.
Cross-pavement cable solutions can be used to channel EV charging wires across the pavement safely. As part of the Plan for Drivers, the Government committed to provide guidance on the use of safe cross-pavement charging solutions, best practice to local authorities on relevant legislation, permissions, and how to consider applications.
The Government has extended its e-scooter trials until May 2026 to build on current learning across areas including usage, safety, parking provision and environmental impacts. The Department’s guidance for local authorities and operators taking part in trials sets out that appropriate parking provision should be provided to ensure e-scooters do not become obstructive.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to implementing a windfall tax on the excess profits of UK banks.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banks already face an additional rate of tax on their profits in the form of the Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge – meaning they pay 3 percentage points more on their profits (28%) than most other businesses (25%). This is in addition to a charge on the largest banks’ balance sheets in the form of the Bank Levy.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the incentives required to encourage housing developers to join a voluntary energy-use monitoring scheme.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We are committed to ensuring that good quality homes are built which meet the energy efficiency standards they were designed to. That is why, as part of the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, we are consulting on introducing a post-occupancy fabric performance testing scheme for new homes.
We are proposing that developers opt-in to performance testing a proportion of their new homes. This would enable us to gather better data on how significantly new homes are underperforming.
We envisage that many developers will opt-in to the performance testing scheme and have been encouraged by work some developers are already doing to monitor and improve the actual performance of their homes.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce mandatory energy performance testing for new homes.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We are committed to ensuring that good quality homes are built which meet the energy efficiency standards they were designed to. That is why, as part of the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, we are consulting on introducing a post-occupancy fabric performance testing scheme for new homes.
We are proposing that developers opt-in to performance testing a proportion of their new homes. This would enable us to gather better data on how significantly new homes are underperforming.
We envisage that many developers will opt-in to the performance testing scheme and have been encouraged by work some developers are already doing to monitor and improve the actual performance of their homes.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their most recent assessment of the expected cost of HS2, and what assessment they have made of whether this represents good value for money.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The most recent cost assessment of the HS2 programme was published in November 2023 through the six-monthly update to Parliament. The Department will provide a Value for Money assessment via an update to the Phase One Business Case, due in the course of 2024.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to mitigate the rising cost of insurance for electric and hybrid vehicles.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance.
It is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set their premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies, and the Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
However, the Department will continue to engage with motor insurance stakeholders to understand the challenges facing motor insurance providers and any potential solutions. The Government is determined that insurers should treat customers fairly, and firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority rules.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, in the light of current cost increases, they intend to review the business case for HS2.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Work has begun on an updated Business Case for the HS2 programme. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to stop managing agents charging leaseholders excessive commission charges for renewing buildings insurance.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill seeks to ban the placer of insurance on residential leasehold properties from receiving any form of commission that is passed on to leaseholders as a cost. Instead, costs relating to the placement and management of buildings insurance will be issued through a transparent handling fee, proportionate to the value of the work done. The detail will be set out in affirmative secondary legislation.
Transparency reforms within the Bill will require the placer of insurance to disclose information about their decision-making process when purchasing buildings insurance on behalf of leaseholders. These measures will support responsible, transparent, and accountable sourcing of buildings insurance for leaseholders of multi-occupancy buildings.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to set the deferment rate in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to 5 per cent or greater.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Our reforms will make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to extend their lease or purchase their freehold. An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has been carried out and published on the Parliament website at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
The rates used in enfranchisement valuation calculations will be prescribed by the Secretary of State and the Government is giving further consideration to how these rates should be reached.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is A1P1 ECHR compliant as introduced on 27 November 2023.
We are going to launch an online calculator which will help leaseholders understand how much it will cost to extend their lease or purchase their freehold upfront.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an online calculator for the cost of lease extensions under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Our reforms will make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to extend their lease or purchase their freehold. An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has been carried out and published on the Parliament website at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
The rates used in enfranchisement valuation calculations will be prescribed by the Secretary of State and the Government is giving further consideration to how these rates should be reached.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is A1P1 ECHR compliant as introduced on 27 November 2023.
We are going to launch an online calculator which will help leaseholders understand how much it will cost to extend their lease or purchase their freehold upfront.