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Written Question
P&O Ferries: Pay
Wednesday 27th March 2024

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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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.


Written Question
Food: Import Controls
Tuesday 26th March 2024

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

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the impact of the proposed 70 per cent cut in funding from DEFRA from April 2024 for the inspection team of Dover Port Health Authority, and (2) how this will affect the action of this team to maintain UK food safety and security.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On the 31 January 2023 we introduced the first stage of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) which balances the need to protect biosecurity with the impact on trade. All port health authorities (PHAs) and local authorities (LAs) undertaking the new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on EU goods from 30 April 2024 will be able to issue charges to recover their costs in the way they do now for Rest of the World goods. In 2022, Defra began providing a temporary financial support package to PHAs and LAs to retain staff until the introduction of the BTOM. In that time, these staff were focused on supporting wider biosecurity work. This included supporting Border Force with enforcing the temporary African Swine Fever (ASF) safeguard measure on pork and pork products from the EU, in place pending implementation of a new SPS policy for goods intended for personal use.

Defra remains committed to protecting biosecurity and we are confident that this will not negatively impact UK food safety and security. We are working closely with all border stakeholders in the lead up to all implementation dates of new SPS controls. We are working with them to train and upskill staff to ensure that any new controls that are brought in are enacted in an efficient manner so as not to disrupt trade, but which crucially will maintain our high biosecurity standards.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Charging Points
Monday 18th March 2024

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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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.


Written Question
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Monday 18th March 2024

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

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bellamy on 5 March (HL2679), and in the light of recent reports of mitigating circumstances such as acute illness appear to have been overlooked, whether they intend to amend the training provided to magistrates to specify more clearly their powers to draw mitigation to the attention of prosecutors.

Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

To preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lady Chief Justice has the statutory responsibility for judicial training, including magistrates, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College.

Any training provided to magistrates on this matter is therefore for the independent judiciary to determine and it is not for the Government to comment.


Written Question
Airports: Motor Vehicles
Friday 15th March 2024

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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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.


Written Question
Meat: Imports
Monday 11th March 2024

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

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they will ensure that all freight vehicles carrying meat present themselves at the Sevington inland border facility having passed through the Port of Dover; and how these vehicles will be monitored and tracked.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Border Target Operating Model is a system deliberately designed to target risk in a proportionate way. It is not intended to carry out checks on all goods. The proportion of a particular commodity type that is required to present for physical checks is determined by the risk categorisation (high, medium or low) of that commodity. Meat products span all three risk categories, and as such will be subject to physical inspection rates between 0% and 100%.

Where a consignment is called to Sevington inland border facility for a physical inspection, those goods will not be legally cleared for sale or use within the UK until they have attended and been cleared at the Border Control Post (BCP). Where the BCP has concerns, either due to non-attendance or evidence of non-compliance, there are existing provisions, including requiring return or destruction of the goods, or for the goods to be referred for inland controls by the local authority. These are part of the established processes for Border Contl facilities like Sevington that sit outside the controlled zone of ports, including those at Liverpool Birkenhead, Newhaven, Portsmouth and Tyne. Other EU ports like Dublin also carry out checks at control posts outside of the port itself.

Goods selected for inspection will not be legally cleared for sale or use within the UK until they have attended and been cleared at the BCP. Where the BCP has concerns, for example due to non-attendance, there are existing provisions for the goods to be referred for inland controls by the local authority. There are also established processes for Border Control facilities that sit outside the controlled zone of ports.

We will look to implement the BTOM in a way that recognises that new requirements are being placed on traders. As a result, we will introduce the BTOM in a way that will focus on improving trader compliance rather than enforcement. However, enforcement will be implemented where there is evidence of deliberate avoidance, fraud or biosecurity concerns.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Charging Points
Monday 11th March 2024

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 initiating a public awareness campaign regarding the accessibility of charge points for electric vehicle users, particularly in relation to (1) disabled users, and (2) personal safety considerations for all users.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all electric vehicle drivers can easily find public chargepoints that they can use. The Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 1899 provides specifications on designing and installing accessible chargepoints. It also includes guidance on providing a safe environment around public chargepoints, through lighting and CCTV.

The Department has funded initiatives to help enhance awareness and adoption of PAS 1899. For instance, the Energy Savings Trust were commissioned to develop and disseminate information on chargepoint accessibility through digital channels and industry events, as well as to advise and support local authorities on implementation of the Standard.

Alongside this the Government is actively encouraging local authorities, and other relevant parties, to incorporate accessibility into their procurement models, including through the £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Charging Points
Monday 11th March 2024

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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

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.


Written Question
Restoring Your Railway Fund
Monday 11th March 2024

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

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government when decisions will be announced regarding applications submitted as statements of business cases in the Autumn of 2022 for the Restoring Your Railway Fund (RYR) to move forward to Stage 3 of the RYR process; and whether they will explain the reasons for the delay in announcing those decisions.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The timeframe for providing responses to schemes that have submitted business cases through the Restoring Your Railway programme will vary. The Department is not yet in a position to provide details on next steps for a number of schemes but hopes to be able to do so in due course.


Written Question
Restoring Your Railway Fund
Monday 11th March 2024

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

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what budget is available for the Restoring Your Railway scheme, announced in January 2020.

Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Following the Network North announcement, many more Restoring Your Railway projects can now be fully funded and delivered. The Department for Transport is in the early stages of planning next steps, including delivery timelines, for individual schemes and is working closely with Network Rail and other delivery partners to develop and deliver on Government priorities. Costs for delivering individual projects within the RYR programme will vary.