Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of overseas tender for the procurement of vessels for Trinity House, in terms of foreign government support for the tenders and subcontracting of work to third parties in the Far East.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Trinity House vessel procurement required bidders to state social value and UK content commitments as part of their bids, which accounted for ten per cent and five per cent respectively of the overall evaluation.
All bids are assessed against these criteria as part of a fair and open competition. Given that this procurement remains live at this stage it would be inappropriate for me to comment further before this process concludes.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the procurement of vessels for Trinity House prioritises those which are built in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Trinity House vessel procurement required bidders to state social value and UK content commitments as part of their bids, which accounted for ten per cent and five per cent respectively of the overall evaluation.
All bids are assessed against these criteria as part of a fair and open competition. Given that this procurement remains live at this stage it would be inappropriate for me to comment further before this process concludes.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether funding has been allocated to Harland & Wolff to run a ferry service between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly.
Answered by Guy Opperman
£48 million has been allocated to the Council of the Isles of Scilly from the Levelling Up Fund.
No funding has been awarded by my Department for Harland & Wolff to run a ferry service between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the successful bids to the Restoring Your Railway Fund as of 19 December 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Under the Network North announcement, the Department confirmed that a further 11 RYR-originated schemes will progress to delivery, subject to successful business cases. We are in the early stages of planning next steps, including delivery timelines, for these schemes and are working closely with Network Rail and other delivery partners to develop and deliver on these Government priorities.
There are a number of RYR schemes awaiting feedback on next steps. The Department hopes to be able to provide further details in due course.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has plans to legalise the use of private e-scooters.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
It is our intention that the Transport Bill will create a Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle category that is independent from the cycle and motor vehicle categories. New powers in the Bill would subsequently allow the Department to decide which vehicles will fall into this category, and how they should be regulated to ensure safe use. We intend to use these powers to legalise private and rental e-scooter use in the future, with robust technical requirements and clear expectations on users.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that electric charging points are accessible for wheelchair users.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government has committed £2.5 billion since 2020 to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, with funding to offset their higher upfront cost, and to accelerate the rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 23730 on Maritime Skills Commission: Staff, whether the Commission's focus is to increase diversity in the maritime taskforce.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Maritime Skills Commission was established with the purpose of assessing the current and future skills needs of the maritime sector. A separate body, the Diversity in Maritime Taskforce, with networks for Ethnicity, Mental Health, Pride and Women, was established to support increasing diversity in the sector. The two bodies, along with the Careers Taskforce, sit within Maritime UK and work closely together to support the ambitions of the Maritime 2050 Strategy and People Route Map, which included increasing diversity as a key objective for the UK maritime industry.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Veterans Railcards have been issued since the inception of that scheme.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As of June 2022, 53,900 Veterans Railcards have been sold.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June to Question 19580 on Railways: Concessions, whether his Department undertakes cross-data analysis with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that people applying for veterans railcards are veterans.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The documents needed to apply for a Veteran’s Railcard are set out on the Veteran’s Railcard Website: https://www.veterans-railcard.co.uk/are-you-eligible/
Verifying the eligibility of applicants and the validity of their documents is a matter for the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). The department is not responsible for processing railcard applications and does not, therefore, conduct cross-data analysis with the Ministry of Defence on Veteran’s Railcard applications.
We urge anyone who is aware of any incidences of fraud to contact the RDG and relevant authorities.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many full-time staff the Maritime Skills Commission has.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Maritime Skills Commission has one member of staff shared with the Diversity in Maritime Taskforce. The post is funded on a two-year basis from the Department for Transport and they are employed by Maritime UK. The Chair and Commissioners are part-time volunteers.