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These initiatives were driven by Lord Bradshaw, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Lord Bradshaw has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Lord Bradshaw has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
A breakdown of the current Feed in Tariffs (FIT) for domestic solar can be found on Ofgem's website (copy attached).
The FIT tariff rates are adjusted annually, in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and there are no current plans to adjust this policy.
The Government is committed to exploring the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier, alongside electricity and other decarbonised gases. As such we are currently developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and its potential to deliver against our net zero goals. In November 2019 we published the Energy Innovation Needs Assessment (EINA) for hydrogen and fuel cells. This identified that the future market for all hydrogen technologies could yield around £5.3bn of GVA and create nearly 50,000 jobs by 2050 to meet demand in export and domestic markets.
We are already investing up to £121m in innovation to support a range of projects exploring and developing hydrogen across the value chain, unlocking jobs and growth. We are developing further policies to grow the UK hydrogen sector and will assess the impact of these in due course, including the positive impact this could have on clean growth and jobs.
The Government is committed to the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier for the UK. We are currently developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and its potential to deliver against our net zero goals. We will set out our plans in due course.
In order to inform our approach we are undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement as we develop new policy to help bring forward the technologies and supply chain we will need to grow the UK hydrogen economy. This includes business models to support the deployment of, and investment in, low carbon hydrogen production and a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to stimulate capital investment. We will be further engaging with industry on both schemes throughout the year.
We are exploring hydrogen’s potential to deliver against our clean growth goals – meeting our decarbonisation needs and capturing the commercial opportunities of the global low carbon shift.
In November 2019 we published the Energy Innovation Needs Assessment (EINA) for hydrogen and fuel cells. This identified that the future market for all hydrogen technologies could yield around £5.3bn of GVA and create nearly 50,000 jobs by 2050 to meet demand in export and domestic markets.
While Government does not have a formal assessment of all private capital that might be invested in the hydrogen economy, it is clear that there is growing interest in this area and we are in regular discussions with businesses about their investment plans for hydrogen projects, including those that are ready for very near-term deployment.
We are undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement as we develop new policy to help bring forward the technologies and supply chain we will need to grow the UK hydrogen economy. As part of this we are looking to formalise regular engagement between Government and industry to discuss and drive development if the UK hydrogen economy. This will consider how we can best work together to encourage increased private sector investment in hydrogen projects, growing the hydrogen supply chain and providing clean growth and new jobs across the UK.
In the recently published England Peat Action Plan we have committed to undertake a full consultation in 2021 on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this Parliament. As part of that consultation, we will be considering opportunities to reduce both the costs and availability of alternatives to peat in growing media.
As outlined in the Action Plan, the Government is committed to working with the industry to understand the implications of our proposals, identify blockages and to working with the private sector to develop and enact solutions, thus making the transition to peat alternatives as seamless as possible.
The England Peat Action Plan is attached.
There have been no prosecutions of Thames Water for pollution to the Thames or its tributaries in 2020.
The Water Industry Act 1991 places a duty on water and sewerage companies to provide, maintain and extend a system of public sewers to ensure that the area is and continues to be effectually drained. Water and sewerage companies and the Environment Agency are statutory consultees on local authority development plans, which provide the primary means of determining where future development should be located, including in respect of wastewater infrastructure. Local councils in their role as local planning authorities adjudicate on individual planning applications which, under planning law, must be decided in accordance with the development plan, subject to other material planning considerations. Water and sewerage companies can comment on individual applications and their representations should be taken into account by the planning authority where they raise material planning considerations.
The table below shows the prosecutions of Thames Water Utilities Limited by the Environment Agency during the five calendar year period (from 2015 to 2019) for illegal discharges of sewage to the River Thames and its direct and indirect tributaries.
Each row of the chart represents one prosecution. The watercourse related to the prosecution is shown in the centre column, and the type of penalty which resulted from the prosecution is shown in the right-hand column.
Table title: Prosecution of Thames Water Utilities Limited by the Environment Agency, 2015 to 2019, for sewage discharges to direct and indirect tributaries to the River Thames | ||
Date of Prosecution | Name of Water Course | Outcome |
16/02/2015 | River Blackwater | Fined |
29/08/2014 [03/06/2015] | River Enborne, Chase Brook and nearby watercourses | Fined |
04/01/2016 | Grand Union Canal | Fined |
07/03/2016 | Horsenden Stream | Fined |
22/03/2017 | Fawley Court Stream | Fined |
22/03/2017 | River Thames | Fined |
22/03/2017 | River Thames | Fined |
22/03/2017 | Moor Ditch | Fined |
22/03/2017 | River Thames | Fined |
22/03/2017 | Barkham Brook | Fined |
10/07/2019 | Maidenhead Ditch and River Cut | Fined |
21/12/2018 [26/07/2019] | Idbury Brook | Fined |
Ofwat has not fined Thames Water for illegal discharges of untreated sewage into rivers. Regulation of discharges of untreated sewage to the water environment is the responsibility of the Environment Agency (EA) and not Ofwat.
In March 2017, Thames Water was ordered to pay fines of almost £20 million following a series of significant pollution incidents on the River Thames and its tributaries in 2012 to 2014. The fine, for six separate cases, was a record as the highest ever set by the courts in a prosecution brought by the EA. More recently, in July 2019, Thames Water was ordered to pay costs and fines of about £700,000 for pollution from Maidenhead Sewage Treatment Works.
British environmental and safety standards will apply to all vehicles operating on British roads. This is as true of vehicles imported under a free trade agreement as it is to vehicles that have been manufactured here.
Vehicles exported to the United States will similarly need to adhere to the environmental and safety standards that are in force there. This is true of both federal and state level standards / regulations.
British vehicle safety standards are amongst the best in the world. HM Government welcomes input from industry and we share their view that our standards should not be compromised as part of future free trade agreements.
Due to their sensitive nature, it is not appropriate to discuss the details of ongoing free trade agreement negotiations.
Continuity trade agreements that have been completed are published in full on GOV.UK at: gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-with-non-eu-countries. Each completed agreement includes a Parliamentary Report, which provides further details.
The Government published its objectives for UK-US Free Trade Agreement negotiations on gov.uk on 1st March 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-approach-to-trade-negotiations-with-the-us
Due to their sensitive nature, it is not appropriate to provide further detail while negotiations are ongoing.
The United Kingdom is currently in negotiations with the USA, Australia and New Zealand to establish new Free Trade Agreements, and with Japan based upon the existing Economic Partnership Agreement between Japan and the EU. The UK intends to pursue accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We are also undertaking ongoing discussion with partners with whom we have not yet finalised continuity agreements transitioning existing EU Free Trade Agreements to bilateral agreements.
1.3 million cars were produced across the United Kingdom in 2019, of which 81% were exported. According to SMMT this represents £42.4 billion of exports, or 13% of the United Kingdom’s total exported goods. The industry is clearly an important exporter for Britain and is a significant consideration in all free trade agreements that the Department is pursuing.
It would not be appropriate to comment on progress while negotiations are ongoing.
British vehicle safety standards are amongst the best in the world. HM Government welcomes input from industry and we share their view that our standards should not be compromised as part of future free trade agreements.
Due to their sensitive nature, it is not appropriate to discuss the details of ongoing free trade agreement negotiations.
Continuity trade agreements that have been completed are published in full on GOV.UK at: gov.uk/guidance/uk-trade-agreements-with-non-eu-countries. Each completed agreement includes a Parliamentary Report, which provides further details.
Network Rail will be using standard industry processes to progressively formalise train service changes as the programme progresses, in line with the TransPennine Route Upgrade’s (TRU’s) key delivery milestones. The last stage of the fully approved timetables will be in place in the early 2030s when the full service uplift, which TRU enables, is able to come on line.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when revenues dropped very significantly, the Government introduced emergency agreements that transferred day-to-day revenue and cost risks to the Department. These agreements protected services that key workers depended on. Under the agreements, the Government effectively receives the revenue and pays an operator’s reasonable costs, subject to the revenue incentive mechanism introduced recently to encourage operators to grow patronage and revenues.
Operators are compensated by the Government for all reasonable costs incurred that are accumulated in accordance with the terms of the contract, including those in relation to Delay Repay.
Payments made to rail passengers for Delay Repay as well as discretionary compensation are published annually, and for 2022-23 totalled £101 million.
There are no plans to reinstate direct access services from Northolt Junction to Paddington.
Chiltern Railways used to run a twice-daily service from Northolt Junction (i.e. South Ruislip Station) to London Paddington. In December 2018, this route was cancelled with the closure of the Acton to Northolt line to enable High Speed 2 works. Chiltern Railways made representations to alternatively run to West Ealing via the Greenford branch line, however this was not possible due to Crossrail capacity constraints.
I can confirm there are no plans to reinstate direct access services from Northolt Junction to Paddington.
Chiltern Railway used to run a twice daily service from Northolt Junction (i.e. South Ruislip Station) to London Paddington. In December 2018, this route was cancelled with the closure of the Acton-Northolt line to enable High Speed 2 works.
A number of train service specifications were developed as part of the Business Case development process for TransPennine Route Upgrade. This was last provided to Network Rail in 2023 as part of a review of the integration between other major infrastructure programmes. The final train service specification has yet to be finalised and approved.
The Department regularly assesses the quality of service provided by the train operators, including through independent inspections that take place across the network every Rail Period, which is typically every 28 days. The results are used to inform frequent performance discussions and are published online for passengers.
Performance Fees for service quality are based on scores achieved over a longer Assessment Period. This is annual in the current National Rail Contracts and was bi-annual in previous contracts.
Train service specifications were produced whilst the TransPennine Route Upgrade programme was at the development stage, before the commencement of programme delivery. However, these specifications continue to be refined as programme design matures to ensure the most efficient use of programme resources and funding.
CrossCountry is working with industry partners to acquire additional trains as they become available within the rolling stock market. CrossCountry is assessing whether it would be possible to operate a small number of additional trains during 2024 to deliver additional capacity, subject to their availability, the contractual terms with the rolling stock owner and an appropriate business case. All trains in the CrossCountry fleet are also due to be refurbished to improve passengers’ on-board experience.
Train operators are responsible for meeting the costs involved in maintaining their fleets in accordance with the leasing and operating arrangements they have in place with the rolling stock owners.
The need to replace railway infrastructure is determined by regular inspections and reviews of the current state of the network. These test that the infrastructure is sufficient to safely and reliably support the type and speed of trains that it is intended to allow the operation of.
The Department publishes annual figures on the amount of compensation paid by train operating companies to passengers. These figures include delay compensation paid out under the Delay Repay and Traditional Charter schemes when passengers’ journeys are disrupted by delays or cancellations; and discretionary compensation that is paid following complaints of poor service, for example when toilets on the train aren’t working.
The Department for Transport are working closely with Transport Focus and other bodies within the industry to develop cost effective proposals for improving understanding of customer satisfaction across the rail network. This seeks to build on existing sources of information including independent research, complaints data, “mystery shopper” research and other surveys.
The Department uses performance fees to incentivise operators to deliver the right outcomes for passengers.
Standards provided at stations and on trains are evaluated through an independent regime, the Service Quality Regime (SQR), so fees are awarded fairly and accurately ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
To date no fees have been paid to Avanti under SQR. The first period assessed under SQR are scores for April to October 2023 and evaluation is currently underway.
No further services are planned to be reintroduced between Nottingham and Lincoln stations, as services are now back to the regular frequency that was historically the case.
The department considers a range of factors including demand, revenue impact, cost to taxpayers, network capacity and operational performance when considering whether to increase rail services. Delay repay compensation varies with operational performance and is not considered directly when assessing potential new services.
Great Western, as the operator of the trains, is in continual contact with their delivery partners to ensure that any sets that are damaged are repaired in a timely manner and at the most appropriate repair location.
Cross Country trains are continuing discussions with the rolling stock market and it is hoped that confirmation of its future fleet will be made public in due course. In assessing the Business Case for additional train fleet, actual or potential loss of revenue is one of the factors that are considered in making such decisions.
The Department considers a range of factors, including both revenue and cost (i.e. the impact on the taxpayer) when making decisions, including those that relate to the capacity of railway services.
The Department has been in regular dialogue with Hitachi with regards to the use of its Newton Aycliffe facility. The Department works with the train operator in their monitoring of ride quality.
The Department for Transport is working closely with East Midlands Railway to reintroduce services which were removed in June 2021.
In May, six weekday services and eight Saturday services between Leicester and Lincoln via Nottingham were reinstated.
Officials meet regularly with train operators. Under the new National Rail Contract that commenced in October, additional carriages are due to be added to the CrossCountry train fleet in the next few years, as they become available in the rolling stock market. It is for operators to determine how best to match capacity to expected passenger demand on individual services making the most efficient use of the train fleet available to them.
The vast majority of GWR services between London and Cardiff are operated by its Hitachi Intercity Express Train (IET) fleet. Under the terms of its National Rail Contract, GWR must use its rolling stock to deliver a consistent, efficient service. GWR review loading and capacity data to try and ensure appropriate formations and fleets for passengers.
In recent times, however, GWR have experienced challenges with both their IET fleet availability and the reliability of network infrastructure which means they are not always able to operate the optimum formations and fleets for passengers. A number of IETs have been out of operation due to significant damage including long-term crack repairs, engine issues and water ingress. The Department is engaged with GWR and Network Rail to seek improvements to the situation and secure a level of service which taxpayers expect and deserve.
We are aware and welcome the work by Leeds ITS. It is a valued contribution on station appraisal. We are reviewing our guidance in this area which we will update in due course.
As with all areas of transport appraisal, suppliers are welcome to innovate and develop their own approaches providing they are well justified and evidence based.
There are no current plans to introduce a pilot scheme to abolish peak time railway fares in England. Peak and off-peak fares are an important tool to manage demand and alleviate crowding on peak time services by encouraging those who can travel off-peak to do so.
In recent years, we have introduced several initiatives to support passengers and improve affordability of rail. We have successfully launched flexible season tickets to support commuters’ return to the rail following the pandemic. We have also saved a generation of passengers a third off their fares through the 16-17 and 26-30 Railcards and went even further in November 2020 by extending these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.
We are now rolling out single leg pricing to most of London North Eastern Railway’s (LNER’s) network following a successful trial. We will carefully consider the impacts of expanding single leg pricing to most of LNER’s network before taking decisions on any wider extension.
The business case for Worcestershire Parkway forecasted a range of demand scenarios to account for uncertainty around the modelling. These included different assumptions on external events, expectations for housing growth and level of abstraction from surrounding stations. We are due to receive a report on the station’s performance from Worcester County Council. We will work through the findings on the differences between the forecasted demand and actual performance and use this to help inform future stations appraisals.
The Transport Analysis Guidance continues to be recommended best practice for transport appraisal. We recognise the analytical challenges associated with forecasting demand for new stations, and valuing the benefits they bring. Following research carried out by Leeds ITS for Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), published on their websites research catalogue as "Rail Openings Appraisal (COF-ECO-ROA)", we are reviewing our guidance in this area and plan to bring forward improvements to it in future.
There are currently no plans to negotiate any variations to the Intercity Express Programme’s contracts with Agility to extend the incentive regime. The contracted arrangements for instances where full service provision is not offered are contained in the existing contracts, as articulated in previous responses.
The Intercity Express Programme contracts requires the daily provision of trains of the correct formation to operate the planned timetable.
As there has been full transfer of delivery risk passed to the train supplier, when a train provided that is shorter than that planned there is a reduction in the lease charge.
The effect of this is that Hitachi will suffer the financial impact of these circumstances arising from the loss of income.
The Intercity Express Programme contracts requires the daily provision of train sets sufficient to operate the planned timetable.
As there has been full transfer of delivery risk passed to the train supplier, when a train is not provided there is no charge.
The effect of this is that Hitachi will suffer the financial impact of these circumstances arising from the loss of income.
CrossCountry has increased the number of services on this route as part of its timetable re-organisation in May 2023, although some trains have become busier as a result.
We expect CrossCountry to monitor this and seek opportunities to mitigate it in future. The Department is working on a new contract for CrossCountry. Subject to demonstrating an appropriate business case, the intention is that this will facilitate increased capacity on CrossCountry routes in future.
For the Strategic Road Network, funding for enhancements, which includes junction improvements and widening schemes as well as new roads has been allocated as follows as part of the Road Investment Strategy.
£m | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
| 2,027 | 1,773 | 1,983 | 2,228 | 2,474 | 10,485 |
For local roads funding varies depending on progress with individual local authority schemes and the amount would vary from year to year. In some cases schemes do not progress to construction due to low or poor value for money. The current forecast spend from 2023/24 onwards is as per the table below but these are liable to change as various schemes update their financial information.
£m | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
| 115.2 | 156.38 | 168.51 | 339.48 | 853.80 | 1,633.37 |
The Department does not have this information available.
The total amount of funding requested by Local Transport Authorities for Bus Service Improvement Plans was £13.02bn. This figure includes all schemes, including those beyond the BSIP funding period.
Domestic and international rail freight services are private operations run on a commercial basis. The Government provides some limited support in specific areas.
The Government incentivises modal shift from road to rail through the £20 million per year Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme.
The Government provided £2.155 million to rail freight projects through the First of a kind competition for cutting edge ideas to help transform the railway. These projects include rail freight express parcel delivery.
DfT also contributes to some of the Operations, Maintenance and Renewals Charges (OMRC) charges for international freight trains using the Channel Tunnel under the terms of the commercial agreements which established the Channel Tunnel. This amount is variable but is approximately £13m per year.