Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of parking charges for aviation workers at Heathrow airport.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Staff parking charges at Heathrow Airport are set in line with the principles set out in the under the terms of Heathrow Airport Limited’s licence, granted to the airport by the CAA.
These principles include that prices should be set to enable only the recovery of costs, with no profit margin; that pricing must be supported by transparency of costs and revenues; and that any “over” or “under” recovery in one year must be accounted for setting the following year’s charges.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to review the powers of the Civil Aviation Authority in response to the impact of covid-19 on the aviation sector.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
We continue to work with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) supporting the response to the pandemic across a range of areas. We have no plans for a comprehensive review of the CAA’s powers. However, there are areas where the pandemic has required changes to the role of the CAA, and others where the Government will keep policy under review. For example, the Government will be consulting later this year on more flexible and modern tools to protect consumers whilst travelling by air, including reforming the CAA’s enforcement powers where airlines breach consumer rights.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of updating the pricing principles underpinning the economic regulation of Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Economic regulation of Heathrow Airport is carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), independently of the Secretary of State for Transport, in accordance with the Civil Aviation Act 2012.
In line with s.19 of that act, the licence granted to Heathrow Airport by the CAA regulates the prices that the Airport may charge to its airline customers. It does this by setting a ‘cap’ on the total revenue the Airport may levy against its customers, expressed on a per passenger basis.
The CAA may include whatever conditions it deems necessary or expedient to guard against the risk of the Airport exploiting its significant market power. My Department has no reason to believe that the price control principles of the Act, and the powers granted to the CAA, are inadequate to enable the CAA to satisfy that aim and carry out its functions in line with its duties (as laid out in s.1 of the Act).
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support airports with annual business rates higher than £8 million.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Airport and Ground Operations Scheme provides eligible commercial airports and ground operators support towards permitted fixed costs subject to certain conditions. These eligible businesses can claim based on the equivalent of their business rates liabilities, or COVID losses, whichever is lower, up to the scheme cap.
The cap strikes an appropriate balance between supporting airports in financial distress while protecting the interests of the taxpayer.
In total, we estimate that by the end of September 2021 the air transport sector (airlines, airports and related services) will have benefited from around £7bn of Government support since the start of the pandemic. This includes support through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of ownership of electric vehicles in each (a) region and (b) nation of the UK.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The number of battery electric vehicles licensed at 31 March 2021 by region and nation are as follows:
United Kingdom | 249,932 |
England | 221,891 |
North East | 4,009 |
North West | 25,441 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 17,030 |
East Midlands | 12,014 |
West Midlands | 19,544 |
East | 23,894 |
London | 28,283 |
South East | 56,756 |
South West | 34,920 |
Wales | 5,389 |
Scotland | 17,268 |
Northern Ireland | 2,957 |
Vehicle between keepers | 2,400 |
Location unknown | 27 |
Source: Table VEH0132B, DVLA/DfT
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/all-vehicles-veh01
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has undertaken forecast modelling to produce scenarios on when international travel may resume in 2021.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
DfT maintain a capability to produce a range of demand scenarios, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the potential shape of recovery, for internal use.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of an airport's fixed costs that will be covered by the Airports and Ground Operators Support Scheme.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme will support airports and ground handlers that have been severely impacted by the pandemic while retaining relatively high fixed costs, including business rates liabilities. We do not comment on the commercial or financial matters of private firms, because this information is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of lifting the £8 million cap in the Airports and Ground Operators Support Scheme.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme intends to allow commercial airports and ground handlers operating at airports in England to be able to apply for support to the equivalent of their site’s business rates liabilities, up to a cap of £8m, if they meet the qualifying criteria and conditions. Final details of the scheme are still to be made and we aim to launch the scheme shortly.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on securing a common international standard for passenger covid-19 testing; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This is a very important issue. The UK has been leading work with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to help civil aviation restart and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. A key part of ICAO’s work has been agreeing guidance last November for States to use testing more as a means to reduce the reliance on quarantine or self-isolation measures, such as the UK’s Test to Release scheme. Building on this, ICAO is now looking at how to reflect progress on vaccination within that guidance and how to support the mutual recognition of tests and vaccination records for international travel. When I spoke to the ICAO President in December, I welcomed ICAO’s work so far and committed UK support.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress is being made on plans for the expansion of Heathrow Airport; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
On 16 December 2020 the Supreme Court overturned the earlier Court of Appeal decision and declared that the Airports National Policy Statement is lawful. We will carefully consider the Court’s judgment and set out any next steps in due course.
The Government have always been clear that Heathrow expansion is 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.