Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of permitting crop-based biofuels to be eligible under the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate on (a) the environment and (b) food security.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In August 2025 the Secretary of State for Transport confirmed that a call for evidence on the eligibility of crops in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate would be published by the end of this year. This followed a call for evidence on the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).
Crops encompass a variety of feedstocks with different impacts. It is right that we gather up-to-date evidence and information on emerging developments, including on the sustainability risks associated with crop-based Sustainable Aviation Fuel and how regulation could mitigate these risks.
The call for evidence does not propose any changes to the SAF Mandate nor does it signal the future direction of the SAF Mandate; it is intended to support assessment of the potential impacts, including on the environment and food security, of crop-based biofuels by the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to allocate a proportion of support from the Revenue Support Mechanism to power-to-liquid fuel projects.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We recognise the importance of Revenue Certainty Mechanism (RCM) contracts supporting a range of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production technologies.
Power-to-liquid (PtL) SAF projects present significant opportunities for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reductions compared to fossil jet fuel, and this, along with other factors such as the cost of production for PtL SAF projects in the UK, is being considered as we design our approach to allocating RCM contracts. The Department will consult with industry in due course to gather stakeholder views on the approach to allocating RCM contracts.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 66780 on Transport: Disability, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting access panels to create a national network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Sustrans Transforming Mobility Report recommends that local leaders, who best understand their communities, use access panels to engage disabled people in shaping, reviewing, and monitoring transport policies and projects. Paid access panels are one potential method for ensuring meaningful involvement.
The government recognises that accessibility improvements require collaboration across national and local authorities, transport operators, and industry. Central to this effort is the voice of disabled people. For nearly 40 years, the Department for Transport has led by example, being advised by the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, which mandates that at least half its members are disabled.
More broadly, the government is committed to making public transport more inclusive, enabling disabled people to travel safely, confidently, and with dignity. As part of this commitment, it is working with disabled people’s organisations, service providers, and stakeholders to develop an Accessible Transport Charter. This charter will set out clear, shared commitments based on the principles of accessible and inclusive travel.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish an update of recent progress in meeting the objectives of the second cycling and walking investment strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The latest National Travel Survey figures published on the 27th August revealed that in 2024 43 percent of short journeys in towns and cities were walked or cycled; 339 walking stages were walked per person; the estimated total number of cycling stages was 0.94 billion stages and 51% of children aged 5 to 10 reported usually walking to school.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many full-time equivalent staff are working on responding to the Managing Pavement Parking consultation.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
My Department currently has a 0.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) policy lead working on pavement parking. This individual is supported by officials from various Civil Service professions across the Department, including analysts and lawyers, who provide occasional support as necessary as part of their jobs. The timing of the consultation response publication is not dependent on resource, but rather on ensuring the policy decision is correct. A policy announcement is expected imminently and plans are in place to resource the work necessary after an announcement.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 3.36 of the policy paper entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, published on 19 June 2025, when she plans to request the Climate Change Committee's advice on whether a third runway at Heathrow airport is consistent with the UK's net zero framework.
Answered by Mike Kane
The government has been clear that any airport expansion proposals need to be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding climate change commitments.
The government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. Once proposals have been received, the government will review the Airports National Policy Statement. As part of this process, we will consider how and when to engage with the Climate Change Committee.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals under the Environment Act 2021 on the compulsory recall of vehicles and engines on the grounds that relevant environmental standards are not met.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Vehicle manufacturers are required by law to ensure that the vehicles they place on the market in the UK meet rigorous environmental standards and to recall or fix vehicles if they are found to not meet those standards when on sale. Where vehicle manufacturers do not comply with their obligations, the Market Surveillance Unit within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is already empowered to take restrictive measures to prevent vehicles from being made available on the market, or to recall them.
The Government is currently considering how a mandatory recall regime under the Environment Act 2021 could strengthen enforcement of vehicle environmental standards.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29617 on Heathrow Airport, if she will update her Department's Appraisal of sustainability for the proposed Airports National Policy Statement, published 5 June 2018, as part of her review of the Airports National Policy Statement.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Secretary of State will determine the scope of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement. She will comply with any statutory requirements relating to carrying out an appraisal of sustainability of an amended National Policy Statement set out in the Planning Act 2008.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of agricultural land required for bio-aviation fuels to meet (a) existing and (b) potential demand to allow for expansion of (i) Heathrow airport and (ii) other UK airports.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mandate scheme is driving the uptake of lower carbon fuels used in aviation. The scheme does not support the supply of biofuels made from food, feed or energy crops. SAF must be made from sustainable wastes or residues (such as used cooking oil or forestry residues), recycled carbon fuels (e.g. unrecyclable plastics), or be power to liquid fuels made using low carbon (renewable or nuclear) electricity. Given these feedstocks do not require land, no estimate has been made of the amount of agricultural land required for bio-aviation fuels, under current or future demands.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies on food production of the report by the Royal Society entitled Net zero aviation fuels: resource requirements and environmental impacts, published on 28 February 2023.
Answered by Mike Kane
The report in question concluded that a significant proportion of the UK’s land would be required for fuel production if crops were used to decarbonise aviation. The UK’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate, which is designed to increase the amount of sustainable fuels used in aviation, prevents the diversion of resources away from food production. The Mandate includes strict sustainability criteria and SAF produced from food, feed or energy crops are not eligible under the scheme.