Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of sections 148, 149 and 161 of the Highways Act 1980.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has made no such assessment. Highway authorities are responsible for managing their road networks and for issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for offences under these sections of the Highways Act 1980.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of future of biodiesel made from used cooking oil; and what support are they giving to the sector.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) certificate trading scheme is successfully supporting a market for renewable fuels in the UK. In recognition of the carbon reduction and wider environmental benefits, the scheme provides twice the level of reward for biodiesel produced from wastes as compared to biodiesel made from crop feedstocks. This double reward extends to biodiesel produced from used cooking oil (UCO).
Information on the supply of biodiesel rewarded under the RTFO is reported by suppliers and published quarterly on gov.uk. The latest full year’s verified data indicates that in 2021, biodiesel made up 52 per cent of renewable fuel supplied in the UK and that 93 per cent of biodiesel was produced from UCO. The Department’s forthcoming Low Carbon Fuels Strategy will set a vision of the deployment of low carbon fuels across UK transport in the period up to 2050, including biodiesel. The future supply of biodiesel produced from UCO for use in the UK will depend upon a number of factors, including its price competitiveness compared to other renewable fuels.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the roll out of electric car charging points on streets in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport monitors the progress of the installation of chargepoints and it publishes data, broken down to local authority areas, on a quarterly basis, the latest of which was published on 1st October 2022.
The Government wants to ensure that the right chargepoints are installed in the right places. This spring we published our electric vehicle infrastructure strategy, which defines our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading network. In the strategy, the Government set out that it expected at least ten times more public chargepoints by the end of the decade, bringing the number to around 300,000 by 2030.
The Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) fund will support local authorities to work with industry and transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking in England. In addition, the Department’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme is available to all UK local authorities to provide chargepoints for residents without access to private parking.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the goal by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2050.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is committed to addressing international shipping emissions through the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The UK played a key role in negotiating the 2018 Initial IMO Strategy on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Ships, including pursuing efforts towards a 70 per cent improvement by 2050. Ahead of the revision of the IMO GHG Strategy in 2023, we are working to build consensus to raise ambitions consistent with a Paris-aligned, 1.5-degree pathway. That is why we are championing a 2050 target of zero emissions for international shipping.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they still support the construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) was designated as government policy in June 2018 following a vote in the House of Commons. It sets out that there is a need to increase airport capacity in the South East of England by 2030 by constructing one new runway and that this need is best met by the Northwest runway scheme at Heathrow Airport.
The Government remains supportive of airport expansion where it can be delivered within our environmental obligations. The Government has always been clear that Heathrow expansion remains a private sector project which must meet strict criteria on air quality, noise and climate change, as well as being privately financed, affordable, and delivered in the best interest of consumers.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they are they undertaking with the airline industry to cut emissions and meet long term sustainability targets.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport engages regularly and widely with the airline industry, as with many stakeholders, regarding the decarbonisation of UK aviation. Delivery in partnership is a guiding principle of the Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022 to set out the Department’s approach for achieving net zero CO2 emissions from UK aviation by 2050.
To support close collaboration between the Government and industry, the Jet Zero Council was established in 2020. The Council brings together senior leaders in aviation, aerospace and academia to drive the delivery of new technologies and innovative ways to cut aviation emissions.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the delays and cancellations experienced by passengers at (1) airports, and (2) ports, in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The aviation industry operates in the private sector, therefore it is the responsibility of the industry to manage demand, recruit and roster staff and have appropriate mitigations in place.
The Secretary of State and Minister for Aviation have made clear to the industry that the level of disruption that aviation passengers have faced is unacceptable and cannot be repeated.
Since the beginning of the year, Ministers and Officials have and will continue to extensively engage with the sector to gain a greater understanding of the issues facing the industry. We have taken action in a range of areas, including security alleviations, skills, recruitment and consumer rights to support the aviation industry. On 21 June the Government laid regulations before Parliament that will give airlines a one-off “amnesty” on airport slots rules, allowing them to hand back slots ahead of the summer peak. This will give airlines a short window to hand back slots for the rest of the summer season that they are not confident they will be able to operate.
The Department has established a Strategic Risk Group that meets weekly and Chaired by the Aviation Minister and attended by industry CEOs. This group holds industry to account for delivering a robust service working jointly with them were appropriate to deliver solutions. In support there is a senior officials Summer Resilience Group chaired by DfT with Home Office and industry operational leaders, and a Task and Finish group to support information and communications for consumers.
The Aviation Minister also regularly engages with Minister Hinds, Minister of State and Security to address possible issues at the border, jointly hosting an aviation industry roundtable 12 May providing industry with a comprehensive update from Border Force on their preparations.
The Department and Civil Aviation Authority jointly wrote to the aviation industry 14 June to outline the five priorities for minimising further disruption over the summer. These being that airlines must review schedules to make sure that they are deliverable, that everyone in the sector must collaborate on resilience planning, that passengers are informed of their consumer rights and if necessary compensated in good time, that assistance to disabled and less mobile passengers is to a high standard and that safety and security must never be compromised.
The Department recognises that there are always significant numbers of passengers at peak time departing from Dover by ferry to the Continent and Officials continue to work closely with the Port of Dover and the ferry operators to ensure that passengers face minimal delays in boarding, as well as with the Kent Resilience Forum planning in order to ensure that the right traffic management arrangements are applied.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the provision of rural bus services in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local authorities have published Bus Service Improvement Plans, as the National Bus Strategy asked, which provide an assessment of existing services in their area, including detail of current provision of rural bus services. These plans were subject to a detailed assessment and thirty-one counties, city regions and unitary authorities have subsequently been selected to receive a share of funding to level up their local bus services, drawing on the £1.2 billion announced at last year’s Spending Review, as part of the £3 billion we have promised for buses over this Parliament. The successful areas were prioritised based on criteria, which took rural considerations into account, in line with the National Bus Strategy and the supplementary guidance published in May 2021. Rural areas in receipt of indicative funding include Norfolk, Derbyshire, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.
The National Bus Strategy encourages consideration of demand responsive transport for areas where demand is more dispersed, and the distances involved make it more challenging to offer services meeting residents’ diverse needs. We awarded funding to 17 pilot projects through the £20 million Rural Mobility Fund to trial innovative, demand responsive services. The schemes provide real-world experience and data to develop our understanding of introducing such services in rural areas.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the effect of the Bus Services Act 2017 in improving bus services.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Bus Strategy, published in March last year, set out the Government’s vision for delivering better bus services for passengers across England.
Since then, all local authorities in England have published a Bus Service Improvement Plan, setting out how they will improve bus services in their areas. Improvements will be delivered using the powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 – either via enhanced partnerships or bus franchising – using over a billion pounds of new Government funding.
The Government has committed £3 billion of bus investment across this Parliament, including £1.2 billion of new dedicated funding for bus transformation.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce regulations for the use of self-driving cars on roads in England; and what is the timetable for this work.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made a commitment to creating a new legislative framework for self-driving vehicles on GB roads, to ensure that deployment of self-driving technology is safe and delivers the benefits we want to see.
The Law Commissions’ report, published on 26 January 2022, recommended new laws to regulate automated vehicles (AVs) in Great Britain, following a three-year world leading review which the Department asked them to carry out. The Department will consider the recommendations published in their report and respond in due course.