Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps (1) to ensure that maritime infrastructure projects, including shoreside electrical power, can speedily connect to the National Grid, (2) to build infrastructure for shoreside electrical power at UK ports to help decarbonise shipping, and (3) to enable cruise ships to connect to shoreside electrical power when docked at UK ports to assist them in reducing emissions in port.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
On 22 November 2023, the Government published the Connections Action Plan (jointly with Ofgem) and the Transmissions Acceleration Plan. These reforms will speed up connections to the grid and the build of new transmission infrastructure in Great Britain. This may help unlock and speed up investment in new maritime infrastructure projects in Great Britain that are reliant on upgrades to the grid, including shore power projects.
In addition, the government announced £29.5m of R&D funding will be allocated to shore power projects at the Port of Aberdeen, Atlantic and Peninsula’s Falmouth Port and Portsmouth International Port under the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure R&D competition. As well as helping to reduce shipping emissions at these locations, including from cruise ships that call at their shore power enabled berths, these demonstration projects will also provide valuable evidence to inform future industry investment, research, and policy and regulation development.
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 manufacturing standards will be in place for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), and when, to ensure compliance with Regulation (EU) 2019/947 which requires operators to ensure UAS are capable of performing intended flights safely.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Regulation (EU) 2019/945 sets out the product standard requirements for uncrewed aircraft systems, which will come into force on the 1 January 2026 (as set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/947).
The CAA recently consulted on product standards and will be providing the department with recommendations on potential regulatory amendments. There are four areas that DfT particularly intend to focus on: remote ID, geo-awareness/fencing, lighting requirements and manufacturer requirements.
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 - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
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: 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, when they anticipate that the British Standards Institute will report on recommended performance standards for uncrewed aircraft systems for testing in operational non-segregated airspace environments known as ‘temporary reserved areas’.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
It is within the Action Plan for CAA to start an Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) sandbox this year to allows testing in non-segregated airspace environments.
Any recommended performance standards for uncrewed aircraft system testing will need to meet the expectations of the CAA, to ensure that all airspace users meet the necessary safety requirements.
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, where the ‘temporary reserved areas’ will operate; and what will be the size of those areas.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Details of location and size are proposed by the industry, before assessment by the CAA on a case-by-case basis, to consider safety in the proposed operational environment.
Temporary Reserved Areas (TRAs) are applied for through the Airspace Change Process, which allows for consultation with potentially impacted stakeholders.
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 is their timeline to achieve operational ‘temporary reserved areas’ by end of 2024.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Operational temporary reserved areas (TRAs) are in use now and throughout 2024 for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) trials, enabling the CAA to validate the use of airspace policy concepts with real world use cases.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with P&O Ferries regarding the wages currently paid to its staff, following reports that those are below the National Minimum Wage; why the provisions of the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023 have not yet been implemented; and when they expect that to happen.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
We welcome P&O Ferries’ recent commitment to working towards the requirements of the Seafarers’ Charter, joining Britanny Ferries, Condor, DFDS and Stena Line in doing so. Officials have begun technical discussions with the company about compliance with the Charter, which requires paying seafarers an equivalent to the UK National Minimum Wage throughout their engagement.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for designating a standard sign for use on highways to indicate the location of electric vehicles charging stations; and whether they have any plans to initiate such a scheme.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The Department has published guidance on the design and use of a standard sign indicating the location of on-street EV charging bays, and conditions of their use, in the Traffic Signs Manual.
The Government recognises that traffic authorities must strike an appropriate balance between the provision of adequate information and over-provision of traffic signs. The Department’s guidance should help traffic authorities deliver this balance.
Best practice guidance regarding the provision of signage for EV chargepoints has also been included in Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 1899, published by the British Standards Institution in 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on tourism-related businesses of recent significant increases in fees charged by some airports for vehicles to drop off passengers, and what recent discussions they have had with representatives of the aviation industry about the transparency of the overall structure of their fees and charges.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Most airports in the UK are managed and operated as private businesses, and parking arrangements are subject to contractual agreements between airport operators and car parking companies covered by consumer laws.
While the Department for Transport regularly engages with airports and airport operators on a range of issues, the provision and charging of car parking at airports (including drop off and pick charges) is a matter for the airport operator as a commercial business to manage and justify and therefore no assessment has been made on any impact on fees charged by airports for vehicles to drop off passengers.
However, the Department expects car parking and drop off charges at airports to be managed appropriately and consumers treated fairly.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to mandating a uniform application process for all distribution network operators to reduce costs and delays and to level the playing field for electric vehicle charge point operators.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
As set out in the Connections Action Plan, Government is committed to improving the connections process for all customers including electric vehicle chargepoint operators.
In the Connections Action Plan, Ofgem committed to reviewing to end connection process to improve customer experience and ensure network companies provide a more consistent service to customers. This review will explore the incentives and penalties for network companies.
Building on this work, the Grid Connections Review announced in the Plan for Drivers will investigate specific issues the chargepoint sector is facing when looking to reinforce the grid. This includes exploring how we can work with network companies to provide a more consistent application process. The outcomes of the review are expected to be published in Spring 2024.