Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 23803 on Aviation: South East, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the progress made by Heathrow Airport in meeting the Future Airspace Strategy Implementation South change deadlines.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department has robust governance to effectively monitor progress of airspace modernisation, alongside the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). My Officials have engaged with Heathrow Airport whilst they move towards their Stage 2 gateway under the CAP 1616 process. A decision on whether to approve changes to the notified airspace design is made by the CAA in accordance with the airspace modernisation strategy and requirements set out in the Transport Act 2000.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential barriers to wider deployment of biomass fuels.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government’s Biomass Strategy, published in 2023, analysed biomass availability and recognised that sustainable biomass is a limited resource and there is uncertainty around future availability for use in the UK. It concluded its use should be prioritised where it offers the greatest environmental, economic, and social benefits.
This analysis has been built on in the government’s response to the second Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate consultation, published in April 2024. This set out that while biofuels have a significant role to play, international availability of different types of sustainable biomass may limit their total application for the decarbonisation of aviation.
The Government is preparing a Low Carbon Fuel Strategy for future publication.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to help sustainable aviation fuel producers meet levels of demand from airlines.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting the development of a UK SAF industry to increase the supply of SAF in the UK.
We will introduce our SAF Mandate from 2025, which will secure demand, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects. It will incentivise the supply of SAF through the provision of tradable certificates with a cash value.
Thirteen projects have been awarded a share of £135m through the Advanced Fuels Fund, supporting them to reach commercial scale. Once at operational scale, funded projects could produce over 700,000 tonnes of SAF yearly. We have established a UK SAF Clearing House, which helps to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market.
We are also consulting on options to provide UK SAF producers with a revenue certainty mechanism, which will help provide greater certainty of future revenue and attract investment in commercial scale SAF plants within the UK.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Heathrow Airport, (b) the Civil Aviation Authority and (c) NATS Holdings on the timeline for progressing the Future Airspace Strategy Implementation South changes.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department has in place robust engagement and governance arrangements to effectively monitor the delivery of airspace modernisation by key organisations, such as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and NATS.
Heathrow Airport, the CAA and NATS are members of the Aviation Council. Co-chaired at Ministerial level, the council brings together industry and government to support the delivery of key policy ambitions such as airspace modernisation. The Secretary of State for Transport also visited Heathrow Airport and NATS last year.
The department also regularly engages with the Airspace Change Organising Group (ACOG) who are responsible for overseeing the FASI programme which currently includes 20 airports in the UK, including Heathrow Airport
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Defence Equipment and Support's article entitled £122m contract sees UK’s fleet of Airbus H145s expanded with six procured for overseas duties, published on 18 April 2024, whether that contract includes through-life support costs.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The £122 million contract with Airbus Helicopters UK for six Airbus H145 helicopters to provide aviation support to Defence outputs in Brunei and Cyprus encompasses the procurement of the aircraft, an initial three-year support plan, and includes the expenses required to establish the capability in each overseas location.
Support beyond the first three years is subject to a separate project which will include determining the nature of the procurement strategy for the future support solution.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is seeking a bilateral recognition of Flight Crew Licensing with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to engage with the European Union (EU) Commission on areas where future cooperation or recognition could support UK interests. Article 445(1) in the Aviation Safety Chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) outlines the areas in which both the UK and EU may cooperate, including personnel licensing. The EU Commission has to date been clear it has no desire or mandate to expand the Aviation Safety Chapter, including at the most recent EU-UK Specialised Committee on Aviation Safety in November 2023.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why OFWAT calculate gearing levels of water companies by using a debt-to-assets ratio as opposed to a debt-to-equity ratio.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is standard practice for regulated sectors to calculate gearing by reference to Regulator Capital Value (RCV). This is because there exists an RCV which represents costs incurred to date which can be recovered from customers in the future. This approach to calculating Regulatory Gearing is used by Ofgem and the Civil Aviation Authority and is recognised by the Rating Agencies.
As the RCV represents the net stock of investment that has been contributed by debt and investors over time, it grows with net levels of investment. This provides the capacity against which companies may raise debt and equity to finance investment programmes.
There is no equivalent to an RCV for companies operating in a competitive market. Gearing measured by reference to RCV is a more useful metric than standard accounting measure of gearing in a utility sector because future revenue streams are more certain than they would be for companies operating in a competitive market.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to support the use of renewable liquid fuels following the removal of renewable liquid fuel import tariffs from the US in February 2023.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government supports the use of renewable fuels in several ways. Regulations generate demand for them in the UK and provide a signal for future investments. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme continues to support renewable fuels, which are primarily deployed in road transport, and delivers a third of transport’s carbon savings under carbon budget 4. The Government will introduce a similar mandate scheme to drive the deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in 2025. We also have a track record of supporting UK production of advanced renewable fuels through grant funding programmes. Most recently the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) has allocated over £135 million of capital funding to 13 projects to support the development of a UK SAF industry.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, what regulations are being considered to ensure that ‘temporary reserved areas’ do not impact citizens regarding (1) safety, (2) noise, (3) privacy, and (4) environmental impacts; and when they will provide the necessary regulatory frameworks.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The regulatory framework exists and Temporary Reserved Areas (TRAs) are applied for through the Airspace Change Process and are assessed by the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, which under Section 70 of the Transport Act 2000, has a duty to take a number of factors into account. This includes assessing that a high standard of safety is maintained in the provision of air traffic services; specific guidance on environment objectives contained within the Air Navigation Guidance 2017; and the process allows for consultation with potentially impacted stakeholders to raise concerns such as privacy.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a legislative control framework before implementing the Future of Flight Action Plan.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We already have a regulatory framework for drones and eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing). Key legislation includes Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 on common rules in the field of civil aviation, Regulation (EU) 2019/945 on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), Regulation (EU) 2019/947 on the rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aircraft, the Air Navigation Order 2016 and the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021.
The Action Plan outlines activities to identify and develop any further regulation as needed.