Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on service provision of ending the additional £150 million additional covid-19 funding to bus and light rail services after October 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has provided over £2 billion of support through emergency and recovery grants to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on bus and light rail services. A further £184 million in funding has been provided to continue supporting the sector following the Covid-19 pandemic until October 2022 to give services the maximum amount of time to recover.
The Government has also provided over £2.5 billion in new funding to support improvements to bus services and are on track to meet the commitment of £3 billion invested in buses in this Parliament. This includes over £1 billion in new funding for bus transformation deals to deliver London-style fares, infrastructure, and service improvements. It is expected that the local authorities who have been awarded indicative funding allocations to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans as announced in April should receive final allocations in October to coincide with the end of recovery funding.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to extend additional covid-19 bus and light rail funding after October 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has provided over £2 billion of support through emergency and recovery grants to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on bus and light rail services. A further £184 million in funding has been provided to continue supporting the sector following the Covid-19 pandemic until October 2022 to give services the maximum amount of time to recover.
The Government has also provided over £2.5 billion in new funding to support improvements to bus services and are on track to meet the commitment of £3 billion invested in buses in this Parliament. This includes over £1 billion in new funding for bus transformation deals to deliver London-style fares, infrastructure, and service improvements. It is expected that the local authorities who have been awarded indicative funding allocations to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans as announced in April should receive final allocations in October to coincide with the end of recovery funding.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the entitlement of the metal recycling sector to use red diesel since April 2022, in light of increases in fuel prices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced that he would remove the entitlement to use red diesel from most sectors April 2022, except in agriculture (as well as forestry, horticulture and pisciculture), rail and for non-commercial heating (including domestic heating).
The Government recognised that this would be a significant change for some businesses and ran a consultation to gather information from affected users on the expected impact of these tax changes and make sure it had not overlooked any exceptional reasons why other sectors should be allowed to continue to use red diesel beyond April 2022. As part of this, my officials met representatives from the waste processing sector to discuss these changes and carefully analysed the consultation response from the British Metals Recycling Association after the consultation closed.
Following the consultation, the Chancellor announced at Spring Budget 2021 that the Government would grant further entitlements to use red diesel after April 2022 for a limited number of users. However, having assessed the cases made by other sectors to retain their red diesel entitlement, including the metal recycling sector, the Government did not believe that they were compelling enough to outweigh the need to ensure fairness between the different users of diesel fuels, the Government's long-term environmental objectives and the need for the tax system to incentivise the development of greener alternatives to polluting fuels.
These tax changes mean that most businesses in the UK which used red diesel prior to April 2022 no longer get a significant tax break compared with ordinary motorists; they instead now need to use diesel fuel taxed at the standard rate for diesel, which more fairly reflects the harmful impact of the emissions they produce. These reforms are also designed to ensure that the tax system incentivises users of polluting fuels like diesel to improve the energy efficiency of their vehicles and machinery, invest in cleaner alternatives or use less fuel. The development of these alternatives is being supported by the Government at least doubling its investment in energy innovation by committing over £1 billion to the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
In recognition of the unique circumstances that are currently pushing up fuel prices, the Government announced at the Spring Statement that it is cutting fuel duty on petrol and diesel by 5 pence per litre for a period of 12 months. This is a significant tax cut that will deliver considerable savings to businesses, including those that use diesel, and is the first time in over a decade that the main rates of petrol and diesel have been cut.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he taking to increase the use of light rail and trams; and what plans he has to enable cities, such as York, to establish that infrastructure.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has provided more than £260 million in funding to support light rail systems in England outside London over the pandemic. And the Department continues to work with those Local Authorities to increase patronage as people return to public transport.
It is for local authorities to determine the right transport solution for their area. And Government continues to enable significant investment in local transport through devolved funding packages to cities, such as the £2.5 billion Transforming Cities Fund and the £5.7bn City Regions Sustainable Transport Settlement.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to (a) prohibit pavement parking that restricts the mobility of disabled and elderly pavement users and (b) develop standards where (i) cycle and e-scooter parking and (ii) electric vehicle charging points are accessible but located off the pavement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department consulted on measures to address pavement parking and received over 15,000 responses. Ministers are carefully considering the options in the light of the consultation findings. We will publish the formal consultation response and announce next steps as soon as possible.
The Department’s cycle infrastructure design guidance published in July 2020 (Local Transport Note 1/20) provides advice and best practice to local authorities on provision of cycle parking and storage. This is supplemented by the Bicycle Association and Cycle Rail Working Group (CRWG) quality and security standard for public cycle parking which was published in June 2021.
Local authorities are responsible for the running of e-scooter trials, this can include limiting the number of e-scooters that are available, prohibiting them from some areas, and specifying where they should be parked or docked. We have provided guidance for local authorities which can be viewed at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-local-areas-and-rental-operators/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-local-areas-and-rental-operators.
In this guidance, the Department clarifies that there needs to be sufficient parking provision in trial areas and that where a dockless operating model is being used, local authorities should ensure that e-scooters do not become obstructive to other road users and pedestrians, particularly those with disabilities.
In partnership with national disability charity Motability, the Department has commissioned the British Standards Institution (BSI) to develop accessibility standards for EV chargepoints across the country. These standards will provide industry with guidance and drivers with a new clear definition of ‘fully accessible’, ‘partially accessible’ and ‘not accessible’ public EV chargepoints.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund the cost of air or rail travel for refugees from Ukraine who are allowed to enter the UK.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Once within Great Britain, Ukrainian beneficiaries will be eligible for free onward travel via national rail, light rail, bus and coach, to their final destinations across England, Scotland and Wales. Further information on the scheme is available at: www.nationalrail.co.uk/ukraine.
We would not want the cost of travel to the UK to be a barrier and understand there are a number of schemes and offers that people can make use of. Some commercial operators have also offered free travel to Ukrainians including Eurostar.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional steps he will take to help ensure that refugees travelling from Ukraine to the UK can travel for free from their point of arrival to their host destination.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government is determined to ensure that Ukrainian evacuees encounter a warm reception in the UK, and the Department for Transport is working with partners from across the transport industry to provide free onward travel by public transport.
As part of a national scheme organised by the Department working with industry, most public transport operators will provide free onward travel to Ukrainian evacuees to their final destinations in Great Britain. All National Rail train operators in Great Britain, and most bus, coach and light rail operators are participating in this scheme.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government plans to make assistance with travel to UK available for refugees from Ukraine who successfully acquire a visa and match with a host under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Ukrainian beneficiaries will be eligible for a single onward journey via national rail, light rail, bus and coach, free of charge to their final destination in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the £150 million support package for bus and light rail operators announced on 1 March 2022 will be allocated to operators in the North East of England.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Allocations for the Bus and Light Rail recovery package have not yet been made. The Department has requested information from bus operators and Local Transport Authorities to enable us to make these allocations, which will be on the basis of need.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the bus industry following the end of emergency funding measures.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Following negotiations, over £150m is to be made available to local transport providers to continue supporting the sector as we build back better following the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding will support bus operators and local authorities responsible for bus and light rail services from April until October. This is alongside the £29m uplift to the Bus Recovery Grant announced earlier this year.