Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost to date of the installation of new emergency areas on smart motorways, broken down by motorway.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
A total of £390 million was previously committed for National Highways to construct over 150 additional Emergency Areas across the All Lane Running smart motorway network through the National Emergency Area Retrofit programme. Work was completed at the end of March 2025, and all Emergency Areas are now open with no permanent traffic management in place.
National Highways is continuing close-out activities in relation to this programme and final costs, broken down on a scheme-by-scheme basis, are expected to be available by end of June 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to Oxfordshire County Council to develop and build the proposed Greenway route between Thame and Haddenham and Thame Parkway Station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Spending Review in June 2025, which covers multiple years from 2026/27 onwards, allocated £616 million for Active Travel England to support local authorities to build and maintain walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure including dedicated cycling routes. This comes on top of £222.5 million announced in February 2025 for local authorities over 2024/25-25/26.
Active Travel funding supports local transport authorities with developing and constructing walking, wheeling and cycling facilities. Oxfordshire County Council has received £2,650,279 from the Consolidated Active travel fund 2025/6. However, it is up to local authorities to determine and put forward their local active travel infrastructure priorities for funding. As yet, ATE has not been asked to provide design assurance for this potential scheme.
ATE work closely with local authorities to ensure walking, wheeling and cycling routes are safe and accessible. ATE regularly provide design assurance services to local authorities who are planning and designing improvements to new or existing active travel facilities.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what work they are undertaking with London St Pancras Highspeed and Eurostar to review border controls at St Pancras station following the introduction of the UK electronic travel authorisation scheme, and the phased roll-out of the EES and ETIAS.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to engage with the French Ministry of the Interior and Police aux Frontieres about border control at St Pancras, including on plans for EES and ETIAS. We are working closely with Eurostar and London St Pancras Highspeed to support them in mitigating any disruption. Ultimately outbound border control, including pre-registration for EES and automation at St Pancras is a matter for the French authorities and industry.
For inbound travel to St Pancras, the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation check takes place ahead of travel to the UK, therefore this has no impact on outbound border control at St Pancras.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to allow greater automation of border controls at St Pancras station to support increased services through the Channel Tunnel, including to Germany and Switzerland.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to engage with the French Ministry of the Interior and Police aux Frontieres about border control at St Pancras, including on plans for EES and ETIAS. We are working closely with Eurostar and London St Pancras Highspeed to support them in mitigating any disruption. Ultimately outbound border control, including pre-registration for EES and automation at St Pancras is a matter for the French authorities and industry.
For inbound travel to St Pancras, the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation check takes place ahead of travel to the UK, therefore this has no impact on outbound border control at St Pancras.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the use of pre-registration services to enable passengers to complete immigration processes before arriving at St Pancras station.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to engage with the French Ministry of the Interior and Police aux Frontieres about border control at St Pancras, including on plans for EES and ETIAS. We are working closely with Eurostar and London St Pancras Highspeed to support them in mitigating any disruption. Ultimately outbound border control, including pre-registration for EES and automation at St Pancras is a matter for the French authorities and industry.
For inbound travel to St Pancras, the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation check takes place ahead of travel to the UK, therefore this has no impact on outbound border control at St Pancras.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to procure electric and battery-powered rolling stock as part of the move to Great British Railways.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the potential for electric and battery-electric trains to reduce the long-term operating costs of the railway, to improve the service it provides for passengers and to meet our environmental obligations. We have committed to develop a long-term rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, the first in thirty years, which will place the needs of passengers at its heart and will pursue modern standards of carbon-friendly traction, passenger comfort and accessibility. As we develop this strategy, we will carefully consider the opportunity presented by electric and battery-electric trains, and the associated infrastructure requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered the extension of Heathrow Express paths to (1) Reading or (2) Surrey and Hampshire; and what assessment has been made of modal shift and other benefits of these options.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the vital role that surface access will play as part of any future expansion of Heathrow Airport. As part of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), launched on 22 October 2025, we will consider all the transport infrastructure and supporting services required to support a third runway, including rail connectivity and mode share targets. This will include considering the impacts for travellers from different regions.
The Government has been clear that expansion must be affordable and delivered in the best interest of passengers. Scheme costs should be minimised and privately financed, including any surface transport costs.
While it would not be appropriate to pre-empt the outcome of the ANPS review at this stage, it will be the responsibility of any expansion promoter to set out a surface access strategy demonstrating how they will meet the requirements set out in the ANPS.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reducing speed limits on roads outside of schools to 20 miles per hour during school arrival and collection times.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not conducted a specific assessment of the impact of reducing speed limits on roads outside of schools to 20 miles per hour during school arrival and collection times.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of Heathrow Express for wider access to Heathrow as part of Heathrow expansion plans; and when this will be made publicly available.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As part of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), launched on 22 October 2025, we will consider the transport infrastructure required to support a third runway, including rail connectivity and mode share targets.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they intend to implement to support schools in educating children about road safety and in reducing the number of road traffic accidents involving school children.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government’s flagship road safety campaign THINK! provides a wide range of free educational resources to help improve children's road safety.
THINK! launched its ‘Safe Adventures’ campaign to help parents across the country prepare their children for independent travel ahead of moving to secondary school: This activity focuses on the risky behaviours assigned to child pedestrian casualties, which includes failing to look and distractions, finding a safe place to cross and being in a hurry.
The Government is also committed to Bikeability training, a national cycle training scheme funded by the Department, which to date has trained over 4 million children to cycle safely on today’s roads. Recent funding aims to train 1 million more.