Lord Bradshaw

Neither the Government nor the House of Lords Appointments Commission endorse any service or company charging for advice on how to make and complete an application to the House of Lords.

The Government committed in its manifesto to reform the process of appointments to the House of Lords to ensure the quality of new appointments and to seek to improve the national and regional balance of the second chamber and is actively considering how this can be achieved.

The impact of competition from overseas manufacturing on the UK's bus manufacturing industry continues to be monitored. The UK bus manufacturing industry has been successful in winning most of the orders for the zero emission bus regional areas (ZEBRA) programme.

Where UK industry believe that they are being injured as the result of unfair foreign trading practices, such as dumped or subsidised imports, they can apply to the Trade Remedies Authority as the UK's independent body responsible for the conduct of trade remedy investigations.

The Secretary of State has allowed Thames Water to finalise its Water Resources Management Plan, which includes the Abingdon Reservoir (South East Strategic Reservoir Option) proposal. The South East Strategic Reservoir Option meets the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project criteria and would need development consent, under the Planning Act 2008, as well as relevant environmental permits before it can be constructed.

Development consent decisions are subject to public examination undertaken by an independent Planning Inspector and require approval by the Secretary of State. An Environmental Impact Assessment will be required, showing the potential impacts and how they will be mitigated to inform the decisions.

At Draft Determination, Ofwat propose to allow Thames Water to undertake a significant investment programme to improve the environment over the 2025-30 period worth £1.9 billion. This includes £1.1 billion to reduce nutrient pollution and £517 million to reduce the use of storm overflows, including around the Thames and its tributaries. Ofwat is considering Thames Water’s response to DDs and will make Final Determinations later this year.

Sewage infrastructure upgrades are the responsibility of the water company. As part of the Environment Act 2021, a new duty has been created for water companies in England to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs).

These plans will help sewerage companies to fully assess the capacity of the drainage and wastewater network and develop collaborative solutions to current problems and future issues. The plans will bring together various stakeholders including local authorities and industry regulators.

Natural England commissioned a review in 2023 to assess the loss of agricultural land to development, with a particular focus on Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land between 2013 and 2022. The report is expected to be published online by early 2025.

Officials and East Midlands Railway are having conversations regarding the restoration of train services between Lincoln and Newark Northgate. Reinstatement is dependent upon the implementation of the East Coast Main Line timetable recast and successful conclusion of the relevant industry and departmental processes.

The Department is not aware of any legal challenges or academic research regarding the Office of Road and Rail’s use of the 'not primarily abstractive' test when considering open access applications.

The Department requires its operators, including Southeastern, to match resources to passenger demand and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance in order to maximise value for money for the taxpayer.

Hitachi works closely with the train operators to deliver the required number of trains for service to Great Western Railway and London North-eastern Railway. Where Hitachi is responsible for any shortfall, contractual mechanisms are in place so that the operator only pays for the trains it receives each morning.

The Government does not currently hold data on the compensation that has been paid to passengers in the last two months, as data on the compensation paid by train operating companies is collected annually, at the end of each financial year.

The government is committed to creating a level playing field for all sectors by ensuring that everyone pays the right amount of tax at the right time. Like all other businesses, those which exclusively accept cash must meet their tax obligations.

Cash is a legitimate means of paying for goods and services, but sometimes cash payments/transactions are used to deliberately facilitate tax evasion.

HMRC’s approach to tax evasion aims to tackle current non-compliance and change future behaviours. Their activities include national campaigns and specialist task forces that incorporate intensive bursts of targeted activity in high risk trade sectors and locations across the UK. HMRC also work with customer groups and third parties, such as other local and central Government agencies, to reduce error and fraud within these sectors. This includes providing customer education highlighting the importance of keeping accurate records.

HMRC take reports of suspected tax evasion seriously and operate a confidential Fraud Hotline.

The Government will continue to consider options to tackle cash-facilitated evasion.

The Home Office does not collect information on the number of police officers actively monitoring road and traffic driving standards.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the primary function of police officers, as at 31 March each year, in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

Data on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in road policing functions, which includes “traffic units”, “traffic wardens”, “vehicle recovery”, “casualty reduction partnership” and “road policing command team and support overheads” have been collected since March 2015, and can be found in Table F1 of the data tables accompanying each publication. The Home Office do not hold directly comparable data on the number of police officers employed in road policing roles for years prior to 2015.

Table 1 shows the number of FTE police officers employed in road policing roles in England and Wales between 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2024. As at 31 March 2024, there were 4,215 FTE police officers employed in road policing roles, a decrease of 19.5% (1,022 FTE) compared to March 2015 when there were 5,237 FTE police officers employed in road policing roles. The proportion of police officers in road policing roles has also been declining since 2015.

Table 1: Number and proportion of FTE police officers employed in road policing roles, as at 31 March 2015 to 2024, England and Wales

The proportions have been calculated excluding police officers recorded under the ‘Other’ function category, ‘National Policing’ functions or where the function was not known. The ‘Other’ category includes police officers on maternity/paternity leave, career break, full-time education or on suspension; and those on long-term leave (sickness, compassionate special or unpaid).

This Government places great importance upon our agricultural land and food production. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how the best and most versatile agricultural land should be reflected in planning policies and decisions. The Framework is also clear that where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.