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Written Question
Airfield Advisory Team
Tuesday 18th January 2022

Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the remit of the Airfield Advisory Team within the Department for Transport; how many staff work as part of that team; and what budget has been allocated to their work.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Airfield Advisory Team (AAT) are a team within the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and were set up to provide independent non-regulatory advice and support to General Aviation airfields on a range of matters affecting their operations. The team is currently comprised of 2 personnel.

The annual budget for the AAT in Financial Year 21/22 is £375,000. This funding is made available by the DfT under sections 12 and 16 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982, which permits the department to provide the CAA funding for specific activities.

GA Airfields are the critical infrastructure which supports all aviation activity in the UK by developing a skilled workforce, the safety processes to support the entire industry, and can offer the potential as a test bed for new technology before its adoption by the commercial sector.

The GA sector including its airfields contributes around £4bn to the economy and supports around 40,000 jobs, most of which are STEM roles.


Written Question
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Monday 6th September 2021

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of closing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the travel industry; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a sector-specific extension to that scheme for industries which will not have fully reopened by September.

Answered by Jesse Norman

In order to aid businesses and employees, at Budget 2021 the Government extended the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for a further five months from May until the end of September 2021, at which point the CJRS will close. Furloughed workers in the UK will continue to receive more generous support than those in many other countries, as the CJRS ensures employees receive 80 per cent of their current salary for hours not worked, up to £2,500 per month. As the economy reopened and demand returned, the Government asked employers to make a small additional contribution of 10 per cent towards the cost of paying for unworked hours, from July. As the economy reopens further, this employer contribution has increased to 20 per cent in August and September.

It is right to continue with the existing timetable to reintroduce employer contributions, in order to strike the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns. At the end of June the number of jobs furloughed was as its lowest since the scheme began, at 1.9 million jobs furloughed. Almost three million jobs have moved off the furlough scheme since March as the economy began to bounce back and businesses reopened.

The Government recognises the challenging circumstances facing the travel sector as a result of COVID-19 and firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital and flexibilities with tax bills. The aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with over £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development.


Written Question
Aerospace Industry and Aviation: Coronavirus
Wednesday 20th January 2021

Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has for sector-specific support for the aviation and aerospace industries to offset the effect on them of national lockdowns and travel bans during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

The Government recognises the challenging circumstances facing the aviation industry as a result of Covid-19 and firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital and flexibilities with tax bills. The aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with over £11 billion support through the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, grants for research and development, and committed loan guarantees for aviation and aerospace exporters. This includes over £8bn of UK Export Finance Guarantees.

The Chancellor also announced on 17 December that the CJRS will be extended until April, with employees receiving 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. This will continue to protect jobs and businesses across the UK in light of recent developments in the path of the virus.

The Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme announced on 24 November will also provide support for eligible businesses, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities in the 2020/21 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £8m. This is intended to help reduce cash burn and could unlock shareholder and lender support.


Written Question
Aviation and Business Travel: Coronavirus
Thursday 22nd October 2020

Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide sector specific financial support for (a) businesses and (b) employees operating in the (i) aviation industry and (ii) business travel sector in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

The Government recognises the challenging times facing the aviation and travel industries as a result of COVID-19.

Firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital and flexibilities with tax bills and, where eligible, grant schemes and business rate holidays.

Firms in the aviation and travel industries will also be able to take advantage of the targeted package of measures the Chancellor announced as part of the Winter Economy Plan to support jobs and businesses through the Winter months, including the new Job Support Scheme.

The Government has also recently launched a new Global Travel Taskforce to support the travel industry and the safe recovery of international travel. The border quarantine measures in the UK are being kept under constant review, and where possible the Government has looked to open up travel corridors in order to facilitate increased travel.

The Government will continue to engage closely with these sectors on the impact of COVID-19.


Written Question
Aviation and Shipping: Coronavirus
Tuesday 16th June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) airlines, (2) airport operators, (3) ports, and (4) ferry companies, about the impact of the new requirement for passengers arriving in the UK to self-isolate for 14 days on (a) their businesses, (b) the number of people they employ, and (c) the number of flights and sailings they will operate; and about the practical implementation of associated measures at ports and airports.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Department for Transport has engaged regularly with cruise, ports and ferry stakeholders on the requirement to provide information to international passengers, sharing guidance and responding to queries. Throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, the Maritime Minister has engaged with the shipping, ports and cruise sector on fortnightly calls on a range of topics including lockdown, PPE and border measures which include the 14-day quarantine. Following the Home Secretary’s announcement, the Department has worked with the Home Office and engaged through the cross-modal and modal-specific Border Specific Implementation Group with associations and operators. An exemption has been secured for seafarers (defined in section 313 of the Merchant Shipping Act) to the quarantine element of the proposed measures. In addition, officials have engaged on border measures, including the proposed quarantine measures, restart and recovery discussions with stakeholders and additionally on daily calls with Short Straits operators.

The Department has similarly engaged with the aviation sector on this issue and will continue to do so in the coming weeks. This includes working with senior representatives from the aviation industry as part of the Aviation Restart and Recovery Expert Steering Group. This group serves as the working group for the International Aviation Taskforce – one of five sectoral taskforces announced by the Government on 13 May to support the development of guidelines for safely reopening businesses. The Aviation Minister has also carried out fortnightly calls with the sector on a range of topics, as well as bilateral conversations.


Written Question
Aviation: Coronavirus
Tuesday 19th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the aviation sector about the impact of the proposed 14 day quarantine period on that industry. [T]

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The aviation sector is important to the UK economy and the Government recognises the challenging times it is facing as a result of COVID-19.

The Department for Transport has kept an open dialogue with the aviation sector and put in place regular structured engagement on both Ministerial and official level. Recent discussions have included the impact of the proposed 14 day quarantine period. In addition, the International Aviation Taskforce has been established which aims to:

  • ensure that COVID-19 secure guidelines are developed in line with the phased approach and public health directions, building on the existing guidance and providing intelligence and sector-specific expert input;

  • agree and ensure alignment of all relevant sectoral guidance; and

  • provide key sector stakeholders direct access to Ministers to shape the guidance.

Our transport systems are critical to support the restart of the wider economy and we continue to work closely with the aviation sector on these restart plans and the longer-term recovery of the sector.


Written Question
Renewable Fuels
Tuesday 7th June 2016

Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve investor confidence in the production of (a) renewable fuel in general and (b) sustainable aircraft fuel.

Answered by Andrew Jones

Sustainable fuels have an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions from transport, particularly in sectors where there are limited alternatives for decarbonisation, such as aviation.

The Transport Energy Task Force which reported in March 2015 brought together a broad stakeholder group to provide expertise to support the Department for Transport in identifying and assessing options to decarbonise transport energy. The Task Force explored the potential for consensus amongst stakeholders on the role transport energy could play and how this could be delivered, including steps to improve investor confidence in the production of sustainable renewable transport fuels, and a specific aviation biofuels focus.

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) certification scheme is the UK’s primary mechanism to incentivise the use of sustainable renewable fuels in road transport. Following the Transport Energy Task Force report, we have been working on proposals designed to enable us to set a clear long term pathway for the use of sustainable renewable transport fuels in the UK. In particular, we are assessing the benefits of making sustainable aviation fuels eligible for certificates under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). We aim to publish a consultation on legislative amendments to the RTFO later this year.

In addition, in September 2015 the Department for Transport’s Advanced Biofuel Demonstration Competition, aimed at kick-starting a domestic advanced biofuels industry, awarded £25m of matched capital grant funding to build three sustainable biofuel plants in the UK.