Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 9 December (HL12329), when they plan for Euston station to be equipped with full step-free access for passengers.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Work is continuing with delivery partners to develop affordable, integrated plans for Euston Station, which will include the new HS2 terminus, along with upgrades to the existing Network Rail and London Underground stations and local transport facilities. The development of these plans will include provision of step free access for passengers. The Department will set out more details in due course as the plans for Euston Station are progressed.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many mainline railway stations in London currently have full step-free access for passengers, and what plans they have to guarantee step free access in those stations.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Based on data from a 2023 national accessibility stations audit, there are 138 mainline railway stations in London that currently provide full step-free access for passengers. This is out of a total of 335 mainline stations within the Greater London Authority area.
The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail, train operators and local authorities to improve step-free access at stations in London. For example, a major upgrade to deliver step free access at Hither Green station is forecast to open to passengers in 2027.
Where step-free access is not available, train operators are required to provide alternative transport at no additional cost to the passenger.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the Welsh economy of the delay to the work on the Oxford to Milton Keynes passenger service.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Major infrastructure work for the first phase of East West Rail has been delivered, and the Department for Transport is working with industry partners to start passenger services as quickly as possible. The UK government continues to fund, deliver and manage rail infrastructure enhancements across both England and Wales to support growth and connectivity in both countries.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, or plan to take, to control the ownership and use of drones and to minimise their use for illegal purposes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
This Government is delivering the following reforms in the Unmanned Aircraft (Amendment) Regulations 2025.
(a) From 1 January 2026, all drones weighing 100g or more with a camera must be registered.
(b) From 1 January 2026, drones weighing 250g or more must have geo-awareness requirements. Then, from 1st January 2028, Geo-awareness requirements will apply to all drones weighing 100g or more with a camera.
(c) From 1 January 2026, drones weighing 250g or more must have remote identification (RID) requirements. Then, from 1st January 2028, RID will apply to drones weighing 100g or more with a camera.
These reforms will improve traceability because they will enforce the registration of a RID “digital numberplate” that can be linked to a registered operator. Geo-awareness and RID will help law enforcement to target the actively non-compliant drones that have switched off RID and are ignoring geo-awareness alerts of airspace restrictions, therefore reducing the volume of incidents and length of investigation for suspicious drone activity.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the Welsh Government about the construction of a third road bridge across the Menai Strait.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There have been no recent discussions between His Majesty's Government (HMG) and Welsh Government regarding a possible third road bridge across the Menai strait. HMG, through the Union Connectivity Development Fund, provided some financial support to Transport for Wales to undertake a study of the resilience of the existing Menai crossings.
The maintenance and improvement of the road network in Wales is a matter devolved to the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the Rail Accident Investigation Board to publish its final report on the collision between passenger trains near Talerddig on 21 October 2024.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) currently expects to publish its final report on the collision between passenger trains near Talerddig on 21 October 2024 during Spring 2026.
RAIB published an interim report on the Talerddig collision on 30 April 2025, which is available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Swansea Council regarding the proposal to establish a car ferry between Swansea and south-west England; and what ports in England are being considered for such a project.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has had no discussions with Swansea Council regarding the proposal to establish a car ferry between Swansea and south-west England.
The provision of maritime transport services is predominantly left to the commercial market, meaning the Department does not, as a matter of course, get involved in discussions around options for new routes or services. The establishment of the above-mentioned car ferry service is therefore a matter for the relevant local authorities, based on their transport priorities and budgets.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to revise section 19 of the Transport Act 1985 to require those driving school minibuses to hold a professional driving qualification or equivalent.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Transport Act 1985 permit system was designed to recognise the value of not-for profit organisations that provide services for community, social and charitable benefit including schools and the wider education sector.
Whilst there are no immediate plans to alter the section 19 and section 22 permit system, ensuring the arrangements work well and are safe is something that is regularly under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what volume of freight entered Britain from (1) Northern Ireland, and (2) the Republic of Ireland, in (a) the most recent year for which figures are available, (b) 2020, and (c) 2015; and what proportion of each of those figures was goods for onward transport to countries within the European Union.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport publishes Port Freight Statistics annually where the statistics are broken down by route. They show that in 2023 (latest data available), Great Britain imported 19.2m tonnes of goods from Northern Ireland through its maritime ports, and Great Britain imported 6.8m tonnes goods from the Republic of Ireland through its maritime ports.
The maritime freight from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and, from Republic of Ireland to Great Britain for 2020 and 2015 can be seen in table 1.
Table 1: Maritime freight from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain in the years 2015, 2020 and 2023. (Source: Department for Transport)
Year | Northern Ireland – Great Britain (million tonnes) | Republic of Ireland – Great Britain (million tonnes) |
2015 | 15.4 | 7.2 |
2020 | 17.7 | 7.8 |
2023 | 19.2 | 6.8 |
For the time series back to 2000, please see the Department for Transport’s published tables, PORT0707 for Northern Ireland - Great Britain and PORT0499 for Republic of Ireland - Great Britain.
The Department for Transport (DfT) also publishes road freight statistics, which provides information about the domestic and international activity of British-registered and Northern Ireland-registered heavy good vehicles (HGVs). This excludes activity by foreign-registered HGVs and light good vehicles. This is collected by DfT road freight haulage surveys. Due to a methodology change in the data collection, domestic road freight statistics data before and after 2021 should not be compared.
For 2023 (latest figures), 2.2 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and 0.5 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered vehicles between Great Britain and the Republican of Ireland. This is published in the domestic road freight statistics table RFS0130 and RFS0131. Please note, this refers to the volume lifted from and to, not just entering Great Britain.
The Department for Transport has not included aviation freight because these volumes are significantly lower than maritime and road freight (of the order of a few thousand tonnes).
The Department for Transport does not hold information on the proportion of the goods that were subsequently moved onwards to countries within the European Union.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what figures relating to (1) train service cancellations, and (2) the punctuality of arrival at final destinations, they require the major UK train service operators to provide; and how are these figures used to evaluate the performance of those operators.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Most operators currently have a National Rail Contract, which sets quantifiable performance targets for operators to earn a performance-based fee. There are six measures including train service cancellations and the punctuality at each station call. A proportion of the total fee is available for each of the six different measures designed to incentivise on-time operations and fewer cancellations.
Performance targets are intended to be stretching, balance a range of outcomes, and represent value for the taxpayer. These targets are set as part of a commercial contract and are subject to negotiation.
Work is currently underway on setting out new performance targets for train operators in public ownership.