Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
A bill to make provision for the accreditation of child contact centres; and for connected purposes.
A bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling and cycling without compulsory insurance, in particular applying to pedal cycles, electrically assisted pedal cycles and electric scooters; to publish an annual report on cycling offences; and to require a review of the impact of the dangerous use of electric scooters on other road users.
A Bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling, in particular applying to pedal cycles, electrically assisted pedal cycles and electric scooters; and to require a review of the impact of the dangerous use of electric scooters on other road users.
A Bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling, in particular applying to a pedal cycle, an electrically assisted pedal cycle, and an electric scooter
A Bill Amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling, in particular applying to a pedal cycle, an electrically assisted pedal cycle, and an electric scooter
A bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to create criminal offences relating to dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling, in particular applying to a pedal cycle, an electrically assisted pedal cycle, and an electric scooter
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The UK Government uses a Lead Government Department model for the oversight of Critical National Infrastructure security and resilience policy. Each Lead Government Department is responsible for routinely undertaking risk assessments for their sector, including assessing Critical National Infrastructure risks within the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment.
The National Risk Register is the external version of the National Security Risk Assessment. It was most recently updated in January. All risks in the National Risk Register, including those related to Critical National Infrastructure, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity. A number of risks will be subject to reassessment over the next few months. An updated risk will be subsequently published to reflect these changes.
Policy interventions, to address Critical National Infrastructure risks, are sector specific and led by the relevant Lead Government Department.
The primary focus of the Emergency Planning College (EPC) is to build resilience through training and exercising. It helps organisations to build capabilities to manage emergency and crises situations. All learning material is regularly reviewed to ensure alignment with the latest government direction, policy and legislation. The EPC does not have a role in assessing risks to Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) but uses the National Risk Register (NRR) in the development of its training materials and courses.The NRR is the external version of the government’s internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment. All risks in the NRR, including those related to CNI, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity.
The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) will be established in April 2025 to ensure that all those who work on resilience have the capability, knowledge and skills they need to play their part in making resilience a ‘whole of society’ endeavour.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
11 March 2025
Dear Lady McIntosh of Pickering,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what are the trade data on (1) exports, and (2) imports, with (a) the United States of America, (b) the EU, and (c) European countries including those outside of the EU, in each of the last three years (HL5557).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish UK trade data at country level in our UK total trade, all countries release[1] which is published on a quarterly basis. These data are available up to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024. The latest full year of data available is 2023.
Data on UK trade with the United States, the European Union and Europe can be found in Tables 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Please note that all data are in current prices and, as such, include the effect of inflation.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with the United States, exports and imports, 2021-2023[2].
£ billion, current prices
Year | Total Trade | Trade in Goods | Trade in Services | |||
| Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports |
2021 | 142.3 | 80.2 | 49.7 | 39.2 | 92.6 | 41.0 |
2022 | 176.5 | 113.5 | 60.0 | 61.9 | 116.5 | 51.7 |
2023 | 179.4 | 112.1 | 60.4 | 57.9 | 118.9 | 54.2 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
Table 2: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with the European Union, exports and imports, 2021-20232.
£ billion, current prices
Year | Total Trade | Trade in Goods | Trade in Services | |||
| Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports |
2021 | 276.9 | 313.1 | 158.4 | 237.4 | 118.5 | 75.6 |
2022 | 352.2 | 419.7 | 207.1 | 306.6 | 145.1 | 113.1 |
2023 | 348.0 | 446.6 | 186.8 | 318.2 | 161.2 | 128.4 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
Table 3: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with Europe, exports and imports, 2021-20232,[3].
£ billion, current prices
Year | Total Trade | Trade in Goods | Trade in Services | |||
| Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports | Exports | Imports |
2021 | 333.4 | 393.7 | 184.7 | 298.5 | 148.6 | 95.2 |
2022 | 422.2 | 520.1 | 241.8 | 382.1 | 180.5 | 138.0 |
2023 | 415.5 | 525.0 | 215.2 | 368.1 | 200.3 | 156.9 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
[2]Data may not sum due to rounding.
[3]These data include all countries in Europe as set out in Appendix 5 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/39118/18471074/vademecum-balance-payment-november-2023-january-2024.pdf. This total includes European Union countries.
Under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement there are 19 Specialised Committees. These are co-chaired by a UK and EU senior official, and have met 67 times since 2021. The Specialised Committees report into the Partnership Council, which is the ministerial body set up by the TCA. It has met three times since 2021 and is currently chaired by Minster for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds and Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič. Further information is provided on GOV.UK.
Post Offices play an important role in communities across the country, and particularly in rural areas where some branches act as a community hub. We are listening carefully to stakeholders to ensure the whole network, including these important rural branches, is sustainable.
The Government-set Access Criteria ensures that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens. Government's minimum access criteria for Post Offices mean that 99% of the UK population must be within three miles of their nearest post office outlet and 90% must be within one mile of their nearest post office outlet.
The report on the last statutory review of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), which was published in July 2023 concluded that a decision by the GCA to launch an investigation should be based upon some evidence or intelligence of non-compliance. The government will conduct the next statutory review of the GCA next year and all interested parties will have an opportunity to contribute their views.
‘Fair Dealings’ Regulations under the Agriculture Act 2020, including those which have already been introduced to cover the UK dairy sector, will be enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator.
The Government recognises the important role community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change and the sector’s asks around future funding. Great British Energy will build on existing support for community energy by partnering with, and providing funding and support to community energy groups, to roll out up to 8GW of cleaner power. Further details will be set out in due course.
There are currently no plans to review the Warm Home Discount rebate value, and this will remain at £150 for the remainder of the scheme.
We have recently published a consultation on expanding the Warm Home Discount Scheme for next winter, where we propose to remove the high cost to heat threshold, making all those on means tested benefits eligible for the scheme. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million.
We are exploring options to improve the design of the scheme beyond the current regulations which expire in 2026.
The creation of the Framework Document is linked to the set-up of Great British Energy (GBE) and the document itself will be published in 2025, following Royal Assent, to ensure it reflects the final form of the legislation.
Regarding progress and parliamentary scrutiny, following the requirements of Managing Public Money, the Framework Document will be agreed between the Secretary of State and GBE itself, as well as HM Treasury and Cabinet Office. It will then be published on both the Department and GBE’s website.
Once published, the relevant select committees will be free to scrutinise GBE’s governance arrangements alongside any other matters they consider appropriate.
As set out in the Clean Power Action Plan, we are committed to nature restoration and to ensuring joined up delivery of our climate and nature targets. We are considering how to use clean energy development to fund nature recovery unlocking a win-win outcome for the economy and for nature. We will be launching an engagement exercise this year to invite communities, civil society and wider stakeholders to submit their ideas on how government can best encourage nature‑positive best practice into energy infrastructure planning and development.
Our Government’s Clean Energy Superpower Mission is to accelerate to net zero and deliver Clean Power by 2030 alongside our commitment to restoring nature. This includes through delivering the Environment Act targets in England and honouring our international commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD). In making Britain a clean energy superpower, we will ensure that a reformed planning system works for nature through measures such as the new Nature Restoration Fund and the Marine Recovery Fund (MRF) for Offshore Wind.
The Warm Home Discount provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill and is expected to support over three million households this winter. There are currently no plans to increase the rate of the Warm Home Discount.
Superfast broadband (>=30Mbps) is now available to 98% of UK premises, with Project Gigabit delivering gigabit-capable broadband (>=1000 Mbps) to those not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
Over 86% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, according to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com. Our goal is that at least 99% of UK premises will be able to access gigabit coverage by 2030.
Some rural and remote premises will remain too expensive to build a gigabit-capable connection to. The government is considering what policy measures may be required to help provide them with ultrafast (>=100Mbps) connections.
The copper landline network, also known as the Public Switched Telephone Network, is a privately-owned network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry. The industry’s decision to upgrade the PSTN is due to necessity, as the network is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure. In 2024, Ofcom (the independent telecoms regulator) recorded a 45% increase in PSTN resilience incidents. The PSTN is not being retained anywhere.
In the event of a power cut caused by extreme weather events, telecoms companies have a regulatory obligation to ensure that customers have access to emergency services for a minimum of one hour, for example by providing them with battery back-ups that power telephones during a power outage. In practice, many are offering solutions which exceed these minimum standards.
This is a very important issue which the government has been closely engaged with since it took office. It is important to note that landlines are not being withdrawn, but their underlying technology is being moved from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
The switchover is an industry led programme. The Government is determined to ensure that any and all risks of the industry-led migration from PSTN to VoIP are mitigated. Communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024, ensuring their commitment to protect vulnerable consumers during the PSTN migration. On 18 November 2024, the major communication providers agreed to adhere to further safeguards set out in the non-voluntary migrations checklist before restarting non-voluntary migration of customers from PSTN to VoIP.
We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Gambling Commission assesses information gathered from multiple sources and works closely with partner agencies to prevent access to illegal websites by consumers in Great Britain, regardless of where the website itself is based.
In the past year, the Commission has significantly increased its disruption activity and has a renewed focus on finding innovative ways to tackle the illegal market. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will also grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Having the opportunity to study a modern foreign language should be part of the broad and rich education that every child in this country deserves.
Languages provide an insight into other cultures and can open the door to travel and employment opportunities. They also broaden pupils’ horizons, helping them flourish in new environments.
The government is committed to providing enriching opportunities for students and young people to experience other countries and cultures, including through school trips and exchanges. We also recognise the difficulties that schools have faced in recent years when it comes to organising visits. The UK has agreed measures with France which make school trip travel between the UK and France easier.
The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s global programme for students to study and work abroad. Students can develop new skills, including language skills, gain international experience and boost their employability. The scheme has been helping tens of thousands of UK students to study and work abroad for four years and we have recently announced that the scheme will be running for a fifth year.
The UK has a bilateral student exchange programme with Germany, the UK German Connection (UKGC), which provides opportunities for children, young people, and a limited number of language teachers in the UK and Germany to engage in a range of activities, including seminars, exchanges, visits and study courses. UKGC seeks to support current German learners in the UK and encourage more to learn the language.
The department also has a long-standing Language Assistants Programme, delivered by the British Council, to improve modern foreign language skills through direct interaction with native speakers from around the world. This includes arranging placements in the UK for non-UK residents to assist with teaching French, Spanish, Mandarin, German and Italian (as Modern Language Assistants). In the 2024/25 academic year, there are 700 Modern Language Assistants allocated to UK schools.
We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for upland farmers – and we strongly want the scheme to be available to them as we move forward.
We have closed SFI for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.
We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.
We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.
In the meantime, as announced on 25th February, we’re increasing HLS payment rates. We believe this uplift better reflects the contributions made by those with HLS agreements and will support the continued protection and management of these sites.
We will also open the rolling application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.
Defra announced details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2024 offer on 21 May 2024, at GOV.UK. This included details of the criteria for applications made by upland famers.
Defra has now closed SFI for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements. Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.
We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.
There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union (EU) do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on GOV.UK.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. This was established following the 2013 horsemeat incident.
The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government recognises the importance of the equine sector to the UK economy and of improving equine identification and traceability. We have no current plans to implement mandatory digital identification, but we remain in close touch with the industry to look at potential improvements.
Defra is aware that Stansted has signalled an intention to relocate its Border Inspection Post to another site and that the timing of this remains uncertain. This is a commercial decision for the airport’s owners. No application to de-designate the existing site or designate a new site has been received. The Department stands ready to help progress such applications when received.
The Government is committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by seeking to negotiate a SPS agreement. We have been clear that an SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. We will not be providing a running commentary on discussions with the EU. We cannot provide further information at this stage whilst negotiations are continuing.
We do not have an estimate for the proportion of public sector food which is locally sourced. However, as announced at the Oxford Farming Conference, the government wants to back British produce where possible. Over the next year, the government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will start right away and be a significant first step in understanding how to capitalise on the Government’s purchasing power: informing any changes to public sector food procurement policies in due course.
Defra is confident that existing and new BCP infrastructure has sufficient capacity and capability to handle the volume of expected checks outlined in the Border Target Operating Model, with robust, dynamic, and effective operational measures ready to call upon if needed. Defra will continue to work with existing BCP operators to ensure they remain operational
It is worth noting that commercial ports are responsible for determining and setting their own rates for recovering costs at their facilities.
Border Control Post (BCP) facilities and suitability for receiving any given commodity are
dependent on designation and facilities. The following ports are currently listed as LA-E designated (suitable for equine movements):
To check the details of available BCPs for any commodity, details can be found at GOV.UK (see attachments).
My department welcomes the Office for Environmental Protection’s report reviewing “Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2023/2024”. We will respond in full to this report in due course.
The Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note assesses our residual waste treatment capacity need to 2035, as well as giving consideration to the long-term residual waste reduction target. The Capacity Note shows that, as of 2022-23, there were certain areas in England where significant volumes of non-recyclable household waste are sent to landfill. There is also a need to divert non-household wastes away from landfill.
The Capacity Note was published which set out that the Government will only back new energy from waste projects that meet strict conditions. Proposals for new facilities will have to demonstrate a clearly defined domestic residual waste treatment capacity need to facilitate the diversion of residual waste away from landfill, or enable the replacement of older, less-efficient facilities. Additionally, new facilities will have to maximise efficiency and support the delivery of economic growth, net zero and the move to a circular economy.
The Government encourages those developing energy from waste facilities (at all stages in the process) to consider forecast changes to future capacity, demand, and the Government’s circular economy opportunities, in light of the evidence published in the Capacity Note.
The occupier of a property has a legal responsibility to pay the water bill of that property. Water sector bad debt is money owed to water companies which customers are failing to pay off.
This Government expects all water companies to proactively engage with supporting their customers and to put robust support in place to help customers make payments on any outstanding debt.
Between 2019 and 2024 bad debt cost the sector £2.205 billion. Under Ofwat’s PR24 Final Determinations, companies have committed to contributing £197 million of funding to reduce the number of households in debt.
The Environment Agency plan to carry out dredging on 147 miles (236km) of watercourses for which they are responsible in 2024/25. Figures can be subject to change based on in-year inspections and the potential to have a requirement to redistribute resources to incident response and recovery.
Currently, dredging is part of the Environment Agency’s routine maintenance programme on its watercourses.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. Longer term funding decisions will be made at the next Spending Review.
The UK’s self-sufficiency ratio has been stable for several decades, currently producing 62% of all the food we need, and 75% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. UK food security is built on supply from diverse sources: strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes.
UK food security is high and strengthening it by supporting our farmers and food producers is a top priority for this Government. This government will protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals; lower energy bills; use the Government purchasing power to back British produce; introduce a land-use framework, the first ever Cross-Government Rural Crime Strategy; and set up a new British Infrastructure Council.
The latest figures for 2023, as set out in the government’s official statistics, show that the UK is 53% self-sufficient for fresh vegetables and 16% self-sufficient for fruit.
Figures for England have been taken from published statistics and also calculated from data held in the WasteDataFlow web portal. The information is provided in the table below:
Table 1: Percentage of household waste by main disposal route for the past 3 years in England
Percentage of Household waste sent for Reuse, Recycling or Composting | Percentage of Household Waste sent to Landfill | Percentage of Household Waste sent for Energy Recovery | |
2020/21 | 42.3% | 7.7% | 47.9% |
2021/22 | 42.5% | 8.1% | 47.4% |
2022/23 | 41.7% | 7.3% | 48.9% |
Source: WasteDataFlow
The percentages above will not sum to 100% as some household waste is sent to ‘Other' treatments or to non-energy from waste (EFW) incineration. Other treatment refers to input to mechanical biological treatment (MBT), residual material recovery facilities (MRFs), refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and other plants prior to treatment and disposal.
A separate figure for reuse is not available. Household waste sent for energy recovery does not include waste sent for non EfW incineration.
The Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy, a future where we keep our resources in use for longer, waste is reduced, we accelerate the path to net zero, we see investment in critical infrastructure and green jobs, our economy prospers, and nature thrives. As part of this we will consider the role of Energy from Waste, including waste incineration, in the context of circularity, economic growth, and reaching net zero.
As we move towards a circular economy there will still be a need for the safe and sanitary management of residual waste. In accordance with the Waste Hierarchy, sending residual waste that cannot currently be prevented, prepared for reuse, or recycled to Energy from Waste plants is preferable to disposal in landfill.
Defra will publish an analysis of municipal residual waste treatment infrastructure capacity including exports, against expected future residual waste arisings in England, so we can understand what future capacity may be required following implementation of the packaging reforms. This analysis will support decision making relating to planning for new residual waste treatment infrastructure.
There are many requirements that developers must comply with when designing and building new developments. For example, developers must provide funding for schools, hospitals, and other local infrastructure projects among other things.
The cumulative impact of these requirements could render some developments unviable for developers, if unchecked. The Government must be mindful of these concerns at this time, during one of the most acute housing crises in living memory.
The Government is considering how to achieve our ambitions on sustainable drainage while being mindful of the impact on developers and to ensure that we are achieving environmental protections whilst also deliver much-needed housing.
This Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised SuDS (sustainable drainage systems) in new developments.
We must see SuDS in more developments; to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits and helping to improve water quality. It is also important to ensure that appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.
We believe that these outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months.
Following the initial findings of cases of bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) virus in Norfolk in August 2024, Defra implemented a Temporary Control Zone (TCZ) around the affected premises and humanely culled infected animals to prevent potential spread. Our risk assessments had indicated the risk of incursion was high given the circulating disease in Europe and warmer weather.
After confirmation of BTV-3 on further premises and evidence of local transmission of bluetongue virus, in accordance with the bluetongue disease control framework we replaced the TCZ with a Restricted Zone and are no longer culling animals in this zone. This Restricted Zone prevents all ruminants, camelids and their germinal products moving outside the zone and potentially spreading disease. The Restricted Zone initially covered Norfolk and Suffolk and was subsequently extended to Essex.
Following suspicion of disease in cattle at a premises near Withersea, East Riding of Yorkshire, a case of BTV-3 was confirmed on 4 September. This is in an area previously free of bluetongue. A Temporary Control Zone (TCZ) has been implemented and the affected animal will be culled to minimise the risk of onward transmission.
Defra and APHA continue surveillance of susceptible animals and epidemiological assessments. Defra has also permitted the use of vaccines for BTV-3, under certain circumstances, in the high-risk counties of south east England.
The Government continues to monitor the outbreak closely.
This Government is committed to implementing the Windsor Framework in good faith, including commitments on the use of 'Not for EU’ labels, as well as taking all steps necessary to protect the UK internal market.
We are committed to working closely with industry on the rollout of ‘Not for EU’ labelling requirements for goods for sale in NI moving through the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme. We will carefully consider the views of business on this issue, including those in response to the public consultation undertaken by the previous Government on extending that requirement GB-wide.
The government is considering how best to implement its ambitions on sustainable drainage.
The Government has no current plans to legislate in this space. However, we are determined to seize the opportunities of emerging micromobility and tackle any negative impacts which may arise. We are actively monitoring the industry, new vehicle types, and new business models, and we will keep under review the case for legislative change.
The Department monitors how the e-scooter trials are running on a continuing basis to ensure they are operating safely and developing the evidence base that will inform our future decisions on e-scooters.
A second national evaluation of e-scooter trials will start early this year. This will look to understand what journeys are being replaced by e-scooter journeys and how they integrate with public transport; their safety for users and for others; and examine accessibility impacts of e-scooters. It will also explore changing travel patterns since the coronavirus pandemic, when the trials were initially set up, and as e-scooters have become more embedded in public life.
This Government takes road safety seriously, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. We are currently considering policy options in this area.
The Government understands the need to resolve the longstanding question of regulating micromobility devices such as e-scooters. We are carefully considering next steps on this.
As part of policy development, we are working with local authorities and industry through our e-scooter trials to inform options for future regulation. Any option requiring users of private e-scooters to have insurance will require careful consideration. No decisions have been made on the future regulation of e-scooters and the Government will consult before any regulations come into force.
Railway 200 is a partner led initiative to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. Network Rail are leading the initiative in partnership with industry, Government and a wide range of other partners including the Heritage Railway Association. Many heritage railways are playing an active part with events planned throughout the year and advertised on the Railway 200 website under the Railway 200 banner.
The programme is encouraging all heritage railways across the country to join the celebrations with a ‘whistle off’ at midday on 1 January 2025 and Visit Britain are a key partner, encouraging more tourists to visit events throughout the year.
We have made no assessment of the impact on the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) of incidents involving e-bikes and e-scooters. However, pedal cycles and Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (EAPCs) do not require insurance, so they have no impact on the MIB.
The Government regularly meets with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau to discuss issues around micromobility insurance.
The information requested is not held by the Department.
Statistics on road casualties reported to police, including where pedestrians are injured in collisions with pedal cycles or e-scooters, are published annually.
However, this data does not attribute causation to collisions which means that it is not possible to determine in how many cases deaths or injuries to pedestrians were the result of dangerous or careless cycling.