Asked by: Viscount Goschen (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence of use of electric bicycles and electric scooters which do not comply with the relevant regulations.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Enforcement of the rules and regulations in respect of both e-cycles and e-scooters is a matter for the police.
Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (e-cycles) are legal to use on public roads so long as they comply with the requirements of the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle Regulations 1983. Broadly, this means that maximum continuous power of the electric motor must not exceed 250 watts, that the e-cycle must be fitted with pedals capable of propelling it, and that the electrical assistance must cut-off at 15.5mph. The Department does not have data on the number of e-cycles in use that do not comply with these requirements.
Private e-scooters remain illegal to use on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements, and rental e-scooters can only be used in national rental e-scooter trial areas.
Asked by: Viscount Goschen (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the condition of road infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
In addition to the provision of over £5.5 billion of highways maintenance capital funding for local highways authorities in England over this Parliament, the Department works with all local highway authorities in England along with National Highways to assess road surface condition on a national level. This information is presented annually in “Road conditions in England to March 2022” published on GOV.UK. It includes surface condition, skidding resistance and highway maintenance treatments and expenditure.
The Department is also working with the British Standards Institute and the Transport Research Laboratory to develop a new standard for assessing road condition. This will help authorities identify, assess, and deal with road defects, including potholes, and help drive innovation within the road monitoring sector.
Asked by: Viscount Goschen (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Southern Rail about the ongoing disruption to service on their network.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are in regular dialogue with Govia Thameslink Rail (GTR) who provide Southern services about the performance on their network. We are determined to see services improve and are working hard with the industry to achieve this.
Asked by: Viscount Goschen (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the generation of revenue from penalties is a legitimate objective in the deployment and operation of cameras used to enforce traffic regulations such as those governing the use of bus lanes and yellow box junctions.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Raising revenue is not a legitimate objective for such deployments. The objective of enforcing moving traffic contraventions should be to meet the traffic authority’s legal network management duty to secure the expeditious movement of traffic. That is, to secure the efficient use of the road network and the avoidance of congestion. Relevant governing legislation, such as the Traffic Management Act 2004, is not revenue raising legislation.