Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 27 October (HL11341), what delays faced by road users during the works were factored into the calculations of overall reduction in congestion and journey times.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In line with the Department for Transport’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) Unit A1.3, User and Provider Impacts, costs to existing transport users due to the construction of a road investment scheme are recorded in the appraisal. The impact of delays during construction and maintenance are estimated using the same transport models used to predict the overall traffic effects of the scheme. Bespoke software packages, as described in TAG, are used to value the delays to transport users using standard economic parameters.
The Transport Economic Efficiency (TEE) table, produced for all road investment schemes, allows for the user delays during construction and maintenance to be recorded alongside the travel time benefits of the road investment scheme, to ensure that the economic appraisal accounts for both the benefits and disbenefits for users of the road investment scheme.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 16 October (HL10758), whether the Green Book Guidance and the Transport Analysis Guidance make allowance for large scale delays in the commissioning of new and road improvement schemes, and accidents associated with those schemes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Transport appraisals informed by HM Treasury’s Green Book and DfT’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) take account of delays in the commissioning of road schemes via a few mechanisms.
As set out in the Transport Business Case Guidance, the established business case process is designed to be flexible, and responsive to evidence that emerges throughout the duration of the proposal’s development. This includes reflecting emerging evidence on project timelines in the analysis that informs the economic dimension.
TAG contains detailed guidance on setting an appropriate appraisal period, running from the scheme opening date. We intend to include plans to expand this guidance to make it more helpful for promoters assessing potential changes in opening dates, as part of our upcoming Appraisal, Modelling and Evaluation Strategy (AMES), to be published early next year.
Where scheme delivery is expected to take longer, TAG also contains advice on how to appraise impacts to existing transport users that occur during the construction of schemes.
Regarding accidents, TAG contains extensive guidance and tools to assist promoters in assessing the likely accident and safety impacts associated with a scheme. As with all TAG methods, these approaches are kept under review, and updated with robust evidence where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the buses purchased with government assistance under the Bus Service Improvement Plans are purchased from (1) UK manufacturers, and (2) China.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport provides funding to local transport authorities (LTAs) to support the delivery of their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs). Decisions on how this funding is used to improve services for passengers are for local authorities to make. The majority of projects delivered by LTAs using capital BSIP funding are used on bus infrastructure, such as bus priority schemes. The Department does not track the manufacturers of buses procured using BSIP funding.
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a leader in bus manufacturing, and earlier this year launched the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel. The Panel brings together industry experts and local leaders to achieve three key objectives of supporting growth in UK bus manufacturing, developing a pipeline of future bus orders and prioritising passenger-centric bus design.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 16 October (HL10758), when assessing the benefits of new road schemes how long those benefits are expected to last, and how loss of benefits are accounted for if congestion reoccurs.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The approach recommended to assess benefits from road investment schemes is set out in DfT’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG), which is based on HMT’s Green Book Guidance. This sets out the best practice guidance on assessing and evaluating policies, programmes and projects. The guidance is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect new evidence.
How long benefits may last will be very much dependent on the nature of the scheme, the local area and the strategic objectives being sought. TAG recommends, therefore, that infrastructure schemes should do bespoke analysis using transport modelling. These models, such as the types described in TAG, allow benefits to be calculated based on various behavioural responses expected. For instance, where infrastructure improvements decrease the cost, time and inconvenience of using that infrastructure, transport users may decide to use that infrastructure, change their destinations or activities, or change their mode of travel.
TAG recommends an appraisal period that is linked to the life of the infrastructure asset. This allows accounting for the foreseeable costs and benefits over that time horizon, where they are expected to occur. The appraisal period is usually for 60 years after scheme opening, which is used reasonably consistently in the sector. Allowances may be made for infrastructure that is expected to have longer-lasting benefits and costs after 60 years. TAG recommends that, in such cases, the analysis may cover up to a 100-year appraisal period from scheme opening as a sensitivity test. This is the recommended treatment, since large uncertainty is a feature of the very-long-term, and costs and benefits are heavily discounted in this period.
The benefits of road travel, in particular transport user benefits, can indeed deteriorate for each road user as congestion reoccurs. TAG methods allow for this, utilising the modelling previously mentioned. The “counterfactual” position is important here. This is the state of transport conditions in the case where there is no investment. Benefits are counted across the entire transport network, including non-road travel. Even where the road in question may reach the levels of congestion seen today, benefits, albeit potentially weaker, are still expected to occur even over long-time horizons, when considering the operation of the whole network. For example, traffic may reroute from previous local bottlenecks, some decongestion on public transport services may occur, and so on. In the counterfactual, people would effectively see higher costs/time/inconvenience of reaching the destinations they desire, or indeed become ‘priced off’, the transport system providing them with lower access to opportunity. Again, local conditions are important in understanding the precise source of such benefits.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 16 October (HL10758), how they assess the benefits of a new non-road transport project with a potential life of up to a century, what network benefits are accounted for in that assessment, and how new jobs and housing developments are included in such infrastructure planning.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
DfT assesses the benefits and costs of transport interventions using our published Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG), which is based on HMT’s Green Book Guidance. This covers a wide range of social, environmental and economic impacts of transport investment. We use transport models to understand how non-road interventions will interact with the existing network, and the pattern of passenger demand. This will reflect users changing their route or mode of travel to make use of the new project.
Our forecasts of travel demand, on which these appraisals are based, take account of the expected locations of housing and jobs in the future. For major schemes, we also model how land uses may change in response to the investment – for example, housing developments near new or improved railway stations. There is a significant body of evidence linking transport connectivity and jobs, which our appraisals take account of. Currently, this tends to be small component of appraised project benefits. We are undertaking research to improve how we predict and value transport’s impact on unemployment, which is likely to increase magnitude of these appraised benefits in deprived areas.
TAG recommends an appraisal period that is linked to the life of the infrastructure asset. This allows accounting for the foreseeable costs and benefits over that time horizon, where they are expected to occur. The appraisal period is usually for 60 years after scheme opening, which is used reasonably consistently in the sector. Allowances may be made for infrastructure that is expected to have longer-lasting benefits and costs after 60 years. TAG recommends that, in such cases, the analysis may cover up to a 100-year appraisal period from scheme opening as a sensitivity test. This is the recommended treatment, since large uncertainty is a feature of the very-long-term, and costs and benefits are heavily discounted in this period.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current surface access arrangements between London and Heathrow, and whether these arrangements make the best use of available infrastructure capacity.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Heathrow Airport has a wide range of surface access infrastructure, including rail services through Heathrow Express and Elizabeth Line trains, underground services on the Picadilly line, a wide network of bus and coach connections as well as being close to the M25 and M4 motorways. This network supported 83.9 million passengers to access the airport in 2024.
The most recent Heathrow Surface Access Strategy covers 2022 – 2026 and sets out how Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) supports passengers, staff and freight to arrive at the airport, including the continued use of available infrastructure and sets out any new requirements. Any expansion proposals for Heathrow Airport are currently subject to the 2018 Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which sets out targets for increasing public transport mode share and reducing staff car journeys which the proposals will need to meet. These targets will be reviewed as part of any future ANPS review, and the department will engage with promoters of a third runway to ensure future surface access arrangements make effective use of capacity to the airport.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that third rail extension projects include financial assessments of safety concerns, to ensure compliance with the Office for Road and Rail.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We expect Network Rail to undertake an assessment of the costs and benefits for all its schemes, including safety aspects.
It has been encouraging to see recently that the new Chief Inspector at ORR has not closed his mind to further extensions of third rail electrification.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider the current methods of assessing the benefits of major railway investment schemes, such as the recent proposals by Midland Connect, to be appropriate.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The approach recommended to assess benefits from rail investment schemes is set out in the Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG), which is based on HMT’s Green Book Guidance. Together, they set out the best practice guidance on assessing and evaluating policies, programmes and projects. The guidance is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect new evidence.
The Department has been working closely with the scheme promoters of Midlands Connect proposals to ensure that the analysis of benefits is appropriate and proportionate for the state it is at.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the use of railway replacement bus services under Great British Railways by improved planning of engineering works and by keeping at least one route open between principal points.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to delivering a simpler, more accountable railway with clear responsibilities. The establishment of Great British Railways (GBR) will end years of fragmentation and will have a relentless focus on driving up standards for passengers.
GBR will have the independence and tools it needs to deliver improvements to rail services, and plan and run the railway on a long-term basis in the interest of its passenger and freight customers and taxpayers. The Railways Bill is due to go before Parliament in this parliamentary session and GBR is expected to be operational around 12 months after the Bill receives Royal Assent.
Prior to the establishment of GBR, train operating companies are responsible for the procurement, planning and setting of the timetable for rail replacement services and work with Network Rail to ensure that any rail replacement services are co-ordinated with any planned engineering work or other disruptions on the railway. We expect under GBR that operations will take maximum advantage of alternative routes where possible to minimise the use of rail replacement road transport.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what fees are charged by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for access to their database by (1) legal firms seeking to pursue claims, and (2) those seeking to enforce parking fines.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The law permits the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to provide information from its vehicle record where the requester can demonstrate reasonable cause to receive it. The fee payable by private sector organisations seeking the contact details of the registered keeper of a vehicle is £2.50 but if additional information is needed the fee is £5.00. The fee is set to recover the cost of providing the information and ensures that the cost is borne by the requester, not passed on to the taxpayer.