Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Government’s commitment to deliver 4,000 zero-emission buses by the end of the Parliament lies in tatters and is in the realms of fantasy. No creative counting can hide the fact that there are still only six buses funded through the zero emission bus regional areas scheme on the roads. Will the Minister come clean with Parliament and passengers, and admit that the Government will fail in spectacular style in their promise to deliver those 4,000 zero-emission buses on the road? Will the Minister also take the opportunity to exercise a little humility and tell us how many buses have been ordered—not funding allocated, as that does not mean anything to anyone? How many will be manufactured in the UK? How many will realistically be on the road by the end of the Parliament?

[Mr Holden]

If the hon. Gentleman had waited for a response to his written parliamentary question, which is coming later day, he would have noticed that 68 buses from the ZEBRA—zero emission bus regional areas—scheme are now on the road. He seems to have failed to realise that that is out of a total of 1,604 that are on the road, from out of the 4,233 that have been funded across the UK. He might want to ignore previous schemes, but it is very important that we look at schemes right across the country. On top of that, he asked how many had been ordered across the country: 2,464 have been ordered. We are making great progress towards the over 4,000 by the end of the Parliament. If he would like to provide some extra cash or outline a Labour policy that will do anything for bus users in this area, I would really love to hear it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 8th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am pleased that the Government’s latest bus deal lasts longer than the usual three months, but as ever, there are winners and losers. Last year, both Southampton and Swindon applied for zero-emission bus funding. They got nothing. They applied for BSIP funding, and how much did they get, Secretary of State? Nothing. Last month, every council finally received something, but Southampton and Swindon got barely £1 million between them, amounting to a pathetic £2 per person. Can he explain why areas such as Southampton and Swindon have got so little to fix their broken bus systems?

[Mr Harper]

I am pleased that, in his question, the hon. Gentleman sort of welcomed the £500 million that we made available for buses in our announcement last month, which was welcome and provides money to every local authority and to bus companies. There is a formula by which that money is awarded—it is not awarded on a whim; it is based on mileage and usage, and is done in a sensible way—and the money was awarded fairly under that process. As I said in answer to the previous question, it is all very well criticising us, but we set out clear plans to support bus services in our announcement last month. Labour Members have made no pledges on buses; it is all on rail. Is that because ASLEF pays their wages and they are not interested in buses, which twice as many people use compared with rail services?

Draft Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 11th May 2023 General Committees

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Good morning, Sir Robert. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship and to speak about this really important statutory instrument.

The SI will require bus and coach operators to provide information to passengers throughout their journey, such as the route they are on, the stopping places and when they have reached their final destination, and to inform them of any diversions. It will make a big difference to all who travel on buses—some 2.8 billion passenger journeys were made last year—but disabled and vulnerable passengers will see a particular improvement. That is why Labour welcomes the SI and will support it today.

However, I must note that we have waited a long time for this announcement. The Government announced their first partnership in 2019, with £2 million to provide audio and visual equipment for buses, yet as their own press release says, only 30% of buses outside London provide such information at the moment. That is just not good enough. It leaves 70% of services to cover, and the Government have announced £4.65 million in funding to finish the job. Disability charities such as Disability Rights UK are concerned that the money will not stretch far enough to deliver the accessibility that buses need: grants are lower in real terms than they were in the last round, and our bus fleet in England is the oldest since records began.

I recognise that under the ZEBRA—zero-emission bus regional areas—scheme, the new funded buses will have to provide audio and visual information as standard, which I strongly welcome. However, as I have said repeatedly, the scheme is being delivered far too slowly: only six buses are actually on the road. It would be helpful, in the context of the wider announcement, for the ZEBRA scheme to be speeded up in order to deliver the ambition set out by the Government in the national bus strategy.

Will the Minister share the details of any assessment that has been done on reaching that £4.65 million figure? Does he intend it to cover the remaining 70% of buses that need it? I note that under the previous guidance, wheelchairs were not given the extra display panels because they often face backwards on buses. I would be very interested to hear whether the 30% of buses that have already been covered will be upgraded further to add that extra level of accessibility.

Although Labour welcomes this legislation, we remain concerned about the cuts to bus services over which this Conservative Government have presided. More than 1,100 routes have been cut in England over the past year. In some parts of the country such as Leicestershire and Hertfordshire, nearly half of bus miles have been axed over the past five years. Bus users are being failed by this Tory Government, who are out of ideas on the reforms needed in the sector. That is why Labour’s plans for handing power and control of our bus services back to the communities who depend on them are so crucial.

Labour agrees that these changes will improve accessibility on our buses and coaches. We therefore welcome this SI, but we will continue to call on this Government to give communities more control over the bus services on which they depend and to speed up the pace of delivering on the commitments in the national bus strategy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 20th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The cross-party Transport Committee recently published its report on the Government’s national bus strategy, which found that the Government are unlikely to meet their target on zero-emission buses. The Committee is disappointed that the Government have not delivered on their promise to publish guidance on franchising and socially necessary services. The long-term future of the bus sector remains uncertain. Labour has a plan to get our buses back on track. What is the Government’s plan? Will it be more dither, delay and short-term sticking plasters?

[Mr Holden]

I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman said that, because through the city regional sustainable transport settlement this Government have provided billions of pounds of long-term funding for greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and other combined authorities right across the country, allowing them to do that long-term investment. Labour might claim credit for it on the ground, but this Government are providing the money to allow it to happen.

Decarbonising Rural Transport

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies, and to speak for the Opposition in a Westminster Hall debate for the very first time.

I congratulate the hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) on securing this debate and I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting it. The hon. Member’s opening remarks underscored the importance of decarbonising our transport, especially in our rural communities, and the contributions from Members throughout have demonstrated why we need to take urgent action in this area. Indeed, decarbonising our transport sector is one of the most pressing challenges to overcome if we are to meet our net zero goals.

I am proud to represent the Wakefield constituency, which has both the city of Wakefield and a large rural community, with villages such as Netherton, Middlestown, Durkar, Hall Green and Woolley. I know first hand the challenges those areas have in accessing transport, and I understand that many of the solutions that work in cities may well not work as well in rural communities.

I will address a number of the various transport sectors that Members have referred to, but I will start with active travel, which is a sure-fire way of improving air quality, reducing congestion, improving physical health and, of course, lowering carbon emissions. Research shows that the benefit to cost ratio of investments in walking and cycling are estimated at 5.62:1.

However, one of the biggest barriers to active travel, especially in our rural communities, is safety. A recent survey found, unsurprisingly, that most people prefer to cycle where it is safe, and the same can be said for walking. Improving real and perceived safety is an effective way of encouraging more people to walk and cycle, and the Government and local councils must do what they can to improve routes and roads to facilitate that.

The Government really need to step up. In 2017, the Department for Transport provided guidance for local authorities to develop local cycling and walking infrastructure plans, but there was no funding available for that. I am pleased that many rural authorities have developed such a plan. However, my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Gill Furniss) recently asked a parliamentary question to find out how many councils had developed one, and the answer was just 78, which is only around a quarter of all local authorities. That is simply not good enough and the Government must do more to ensure that rural areas have these plans in place.

Another example is the Government’s consultation on personal safety measures on streets in England, which specifically covered rural streets, to seek views on how street design, maintenance and operation could be improved to make people feel safer. The consultation closed in August 2021, yet 19 months on the Government have not responded. I hope that the Minister will be able to shed some light on that.

As the hon. Member for North Devon said, many people in rural communities are very dependent on cars, and we must continue to encourage the transition to electric vehicles. We have some good momentum as we transfer away from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. That is one of the primary ways to decarbonise our transport. The RAC estimates that there are now 712,000 zero-emission electric cars on our roads, along with more than 400,000 plug-in hybrids.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is right that charging points are few and far between in rural areas. However, people might not think that, given what the Government talk about. The latest figures show that we have just 37,055 public chargers in the UK at the moment. Rural communities are lagging far behind.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (Ind)]

The hon. Gentleman is making a very valid point. As we make the transition towards electric vehicles and electric heating, there is a big issue about grid capacity and resilience in rural areas; I just do not believe that it will cope at the moment. The Government have enabled challenger companies to the traditional distribution network operators—they are called independent distribution network operators—to bring in their own infrastructure. The issue in rural areas is that metal pylons for electricity transmission are extremely controversial. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this is going to happen very quickly and that, as we push the transition, decisions will have to be made about where to locate the infrastructure? We have to work with local communities, and in rural areas we need to work on the basis that the infrastructure needs to go underground.

[Simon Lightwood]

The hon. Member makes a valid point, and if the Government are serious about installing 300,000 charging points, they need to redouble their efforts. At this rate, we would not get to even 100,000 by the date they have set. Monthly installations would need to rise by 288% to meet that ambition.

[Gavin Newlands]

Just before the intervention from the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), the hon. Gentleman mentioned that rural areas are missing out in terms of the charging network. I made the point in my speech that in Scotland that is not the case. The areas with the highest penetration of public charge points per capita are Orkney, the Western Isles, Argyll and Bute, Highland, Shetland, and Dumfries and Galloway. That is because the driver was Scottish Government public investment. Down here, the UK Government have relied on private investment. Does the hon. Gentleman think that is why rural areas in England do not have the connectivity that Scotland has?

[Simon Lightwood]

The hon. Member makes an interesting point, and I share his concerns about the Government’s focus in achieving their targets. Obviously, this is a pressing matter for our rural communities, which are being underserved, and if drivers cannot access charging points, they will be far less likely to make the transition to electric.

In London, there are 131 charging points per 100,000 of the population, but in the south-west region the figure is a third of that—44 per 100,000. The hon. Member for Strangford will be interested to hear that the figure is only 19 per 100,000 in Northern Ireland. Indeed, more charging points were installed here in Westminster in the previous quarter than in any English region outside London. The Government must urgently come up with a plan for how they will drastically speed up the roll-out, especially in rural communities, otherwise the campaign to get people to transition their vehicles will be undermined completely.

As the shadow Minister covering buses, it would be remiss of me not to mention the vital role that the sector is playing in decarbonising our transport. That is especially the case in rural areas, where buses can be a lifeline for many, especially the elderly—connecting people with friends and family, and getting people to work, hospital or school.

As the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) said, getting to hospital appointments is really important, but the rural bus network is desperately struggling, and cuts in Government funding have hampered rural routes, leaving behind a patchy network that cannot get people from A to B. I have seen that in my constituency, where several services have been cut altogether and others run at a reduced frequency. One service, which is the only bus covering a village of about 500 people, runs only until 5 pm. Another village service runs only three buses a day.

People cannot get to work, cannot get to the shops and cannot attend hospital appointments with services like that, and they are left having to depend on taxis or the car when the bus does not turn up. That is creating what the charity CPRE calls transport deserts, whereby public transport is severely limited, which stops people being able to do basics such as shopping or meeting friends. In 2020, CPRE found that 56% of small rural towns had become transport deserts or were at risk of becoming a transport desert. I imagine that figure will have risen since then.

In recent years, local authorities have had to step in to support many rural bus services that have become commercially unviable, but reductions in their funding have meant that many routes have been lost. That is why Labour’s plans for franchising could help many rural communities and give them greater certainty over the routes they have. I continue to urge the Government to look at the proposal in more detail.

Furthermore, buses need to be transitioned from diesel. The Government announced that they would deliver 4,000 zero-emission buses in this Parliament, but, as I pointed out during Transport questions in the Chamber last week, only 341 have been ordered and just six are on our roads. At that rate, it will take 23 years to meet the Government’s target. Many bus operators serving rural routes will be relying on Government grants to decarbonise their fleets, so the lack of progress with the scheme is hampering the business planning process and efforts to push forward with bus company investments.

I am pleased that we have had the opportunity to debate this important issue. It is clear that our rural communities want to play a part in the clean transport revolution, but they need more support to do so. Whether we are talking about buses, cycling, walking or cars, there are opportunities for decarbonisation, but rural areas are lagging behind. The Government must match their rhetoric with a proper plan to deliver what they have promised, so that we can see those zero-emission buses on our roads, have enough electric charging points to encourage people to transition, and encourage people to cycle and walk more. The Government must get their act together, and quickly; otherwise, it will be our rural villages and towns that suffer the most.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 2nd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to the shadow Minister.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

In 2020, the Government promised to deliver 4,000 zero-emission buses in this Parliament, but just 341 have been ordered, and only six are on our roads. At this rate, it will take 23 years to meet that target, and we will not get diesel buses off our roads completely until the end of the century. With manufacturers ready to deliver a brighter, greener future for Britain’s buses, when will the Minister get out of first gear and match their ambition?

[Mr Holden]

The hon. Member has clearly missed our announcement this morning of extra buses across the country—an extra £25 million going into York, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and delivering 3,452 zero-emission buses, to date, on that 4,000 target, so we will definitely get there before the end of the Parliament.

Draft South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (Transfer of Functions) Order 2023

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 General Committees

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir George, and to be speaking to this statutory instrument—my first—on behalf of the shadow transport team.

As the Minister has outlined already, this statutory instrument is a simple piece of legislation, effectively dissolving the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and transferring its functions to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. We on this side welcome this move as a long overdue return of democratic control of transport to local leaders across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. The first two Labour Mayors for South Yorkshire, my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central and the incumbent, Oliver Coppard, have developed innovative policy on public transport.

Devolved powers have allowed the Mayor to deliver the £2 fare cap on buses and trams, the zoom pass—providing concessionary travel for young people—and they have put supertram’s future into public hands. They have built South Yorkshire’s reputation in public transport and proved that they are serious about delivering for passengers, especially during the current cost of living crisis. I want to pay tribute to their trailblazing work, and I would invite the Minister to reflect on these successes too in his wider transport policy going forward. This statutory instrument formally merges the two organisations into one, allowing the combined authority to invest in and manage the 102 million passenger journeys made each year. With one entity responsible for regional transport strategy and delivery, there can be a clearer organisational focus on delivering for passengers and for user-centred transport design and delivery.

This is essential in a county aspiring for greater modal integration across buses, walking, cycling, trains and trams. The instrument would bring South Yorkshire into line with other city regions, such as my home authority in West Yorkshire. However, from the day this merger happens, the combined authority will still not have the Government’s commitment to sustained investment, nor will it have a multi-year funding settlement. That means that it will not have the certainty it needs to invest and plan for the future.

That has unfortunately become an all-too-familiar story in local transport, as operators and authorities face cliff edge after cliff edge in funding settlements, which we can currently see with the bus recovery grant. I would be grateful if in his response, the Minister could outline the funding that the South Yorkshire combined authority will have going forwards, and express whether he intends to move towards a multi-year funding settlement.

To conclude, we support the Minister in laying this statutory instrument before Parliament, and look forward to seeing the fruits of returning democratic control of local transport to South Yorkshire. Labour will continue to call on the Government to let communities control the public transport that they depend on, with the power to set bus routes and fares. However, until that is delivered, we acknowledge that this legislation will help the authority deliver on its mission of a stronger, greener and fairer South Yorkshire. Alongside that, we hope the Government will do more to provide funding certainty to local transport authorities so that they can properly use their devolved powers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Nationwide, almost one in 10 bus driver positions is vacant, hitting vital services across the country hard, but Ministers are asleep at the wheel, with no action plan to tackle it. Currently, the DVSA requires a provisional bus licence to start training, but with huge paperwork delays, 20% of applicants give up before their training begins. Will the Minister listen to calls to speed up this glacial process to allow applicants to begin their theory tests while they wait for their provisional licences?

[Mr Holden]

The Opposition spokesperson raises an important point that I have been raising myself. I have spoken to both the unions and the management during recent visits to Stevenage and Gateshead bus depots. There is an under three-week wait for practical driving tests for bus drivers. We are looking to do everything we can to speed that up. On a recent visit to the Gateshead depot I was told that at the start of the pandemic they had more than 150 vacancies. They are now down to under 20. We are seeing massive progress across the country. I want us to do everything we can to go further, which is why we have increased the number of driving tests, and during the pandemic we prioritised both HGV drivers and passenger transport drivers. I will continue to do everything I can in that space.

Seafarers' Wages Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 17th January 2023 Public Bill Committees

[Grahame Morris]

Thank you, Mr Davies. I will hurry along.

To reinforce the point made by the hon. Member for Dover, I say to the Minister—I am sure he is aware of this—that some academic studies into crew fatigue were published in 2012 by Cardiff University. Further research is provided by the EU’s Horizon project and the World Maritime University’s EVREST report, and all the evidence highlights the dangers of crew fatigue caused by long hours. I believe the replacement crews on the Dover-Calais ferry were working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for up to 17 weeks without a break, when they slept on the ship. That must be a cause for concern in terms of health and safety.

In conclusion, I say to the Minister that we really need a maximum roster pattern in the seafarers’ charter. For the ferry sector, two weeks on, two weeks off is the pattern favoured internationally and by the maritime unions, for health and safety reasons as much as anything. I urge the Minister to work with the maritime trade unions and the Labour party in respect of this issue, and on refining the seafarers’ charter to get this right and to help restore jobs, fair pay agreements and training programmes, starting with the ferry sector.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. I rise to speak in favour of amendment 62, which stands in my name and those of my hon. Friends, on the deduction of accommodation, food costs and other entitlements, and of amendment 45, which stands in the name of the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, on preventing port hopping.

The intention of amendment 62 is to prevent operators from deducting accommodation, food and other costs from the national minimum wage equivalent. We do, of course, welcome the intention to ensure that operators pay a national minimum wage equivalent to those who have close working relationships with the UK, but as we have heard, significant elements of the provisions and their enforcement must be strengthened to prevent avoidance, which we know is rife in the sector.

First, the minimum wage provision has an offset allowing employers to deduct costs for providing accommodation. That is clearly ripe for abuse and must be ruled out explicitly. We know that P&O could potentially deduct £1,035 and Irish Ferries nearly £490 from a non-qualifying seafarer’s wages, if the accommodation offset is available to them under the secondary legislation provided for in the Bill.

Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I welcome the new shadow Minister, Simon Lightwood.

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. In the new Transport Minister’s own area of Cambridgeshire, dozens of crucial bus services, including school routes, will be slashed imminently. Can the Minister explain why they think it is fair that communities in Cambridgeshire and many others across the country did not receive a penny to improve bus services after a £2 billion cut to the bus back better strategy, while the same Government will this year hand over billions of pounds of tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations? Is it not the truth that under this Government bankers are being put before buses and the services that millions rely on?

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Member makes an important point about buses more broadly and in the Cambridgeshire region. I reiterate that the Government have invested £3 billion in buses, and Stagecoach East is getting £427,000 every month to support bus services. Government considered the bids as they were put forward by the Mayor, and I know the Mayor is considering very carefully how he can resolve this issue in Cambridgeshire.