Roads: Private Investment

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am not quite sure about the exact proposal that my noble friend puts forward, but we are looking at all options and I will be grateful for any input from noble Lords into possible models.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, it may well be the case that the noble Lord, Lord Mawhinney, authorised an effective improvement to the roads, but I am concerned that the Minister effectively told the House that pretty well everything could be covered by this initiative. For example, would it be possible that there would be designated lanes for those who paid a road toll, so that we had the equivalent of first-class passengers on rail operating on our roads? Or would it mean that a mere resurfacing of the road, or just the addition of a junction, would effectively mean that the road had been upgraded and therefore could be subject to one of these initiatives?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the noble Lord has made just the same points as I made to my officials. The key question is: is it additional capacity or is it merely an enhancement? If it is additional capacity, we would consider tolling it, but if it was just an enhancement, perhaps that would not justify tolling. The noble Lord puts his finger on an extremely important point.

Transport: Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, ANPR technology can be fixed or mobile. Both technologies are used where appropriate. However, if you want to use ANPR technology for a prosecution, the equipment has to be Home Office approved, and there are some issues there.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

We note that the Minister has been closely involved with the police and has been helping them with any inquiries which they make, and I am very glad to see him back in his place today. Will he address his mind to the fact that the cost of motor insurance, which, after all, encourages those of a less respectable bent to try to avoid it, went up by 14 per cent last year? For young people getting their first car, if it is of a fairly clapped-out variety, insurance could be twice the cost of their vehicle. What are the Government going to do about that?

[Earl Attlee]

The noble Lord is absolutely and precisely right, as usual. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is shortly to chair a working group looking at the cost of motor insurance for young people.

Olympic Games 2012: Disruption to Businesses

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My noble friend makes an extremely important point. It is quite clear to me that those planning for the Olympics have carefully studied the experience of other nations when they have put their Games on, which is one reason why I think that we are on track to deliver an excellent set of Games.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, it is of course enormously important that transport in London is sustained sufficiently for normal businesses to be able to operate. However, the Minister will know of one form of business that will already be adversely affected—black cabs, which will not be able to go into these privileged lanes. So, that is one business that is facing a real challenge. Can the Minister assure us that government Ministers and others who have privileged transport will not trespass into these lanes, which we recognise are in response to the requirements of the Olympic authorities and already attract the unfortunate epithet of the Zil lanes, after the privileged form of transport in Moscow? I can think of nothing more offensive to the ordinary Londoner than to see that these lanes which are reserved for athletes to fulfil their Olympic obligations are being patronised by government Ministers.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, if I may say so, that was an ingenious question from the spokesman for the Opposition. However, noble Lords will recall that the bid plans were approved by the previous Administration. On a particular point about the Olympic route network and the Games lanes, the Games lanes will be put in place only where there are two lanes, and only for as long as necessary.

Airports (Amendment) Bill [HL]

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Friday 16th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, if one purpose of this debate is to call out the Government on aviation policy, the kind of question that the noble Lord, Lord Spicer, has just asked certainly does that, as indeed do the speech and the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Empey. In his excellent speech, he made a powerful case for the obvious significance of adequate transport links for regional policy. Crucially, for Northern Ireland that is bound to mean air travel. He was supported in the debate by colleagues from Northern Ireland, who indicated how crucial these air links are and the potential danger. Despite the assurances given by Willie Walsh and IAG that slots will be preserved to serve Belfast if the merger goes through, there is obvious anxiety that these assurances might not stand the test of time.

The debate is not just about Northern Ireland. As the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, indicated, Scotland has more than a passing interest in this issue, too. In many respects, Edinburgh stands to lose at least as much as Belfast. This is in circumstances in which we are all concerned about the unity of the United Kingdom—as the Prime Minister assures us that he is—and any potential threat to transport links with Scotland ought to be regarded as a very unfortunate development. Therefore, in this debate the Minister has to reply to the question about the significance of aviation policy for the regions. I might add that only brief passing reference was made to the south-west, but many who travel from there feel that they are almost as remote and limited by their links as other areas of the United Kingdom are.

We must all recognise that regional policy and development ought to be of surpassing concern to the Government. They know that our regions are ill favoured compared to the south-east. They know, when they look at the indices of growing unemployment at present and the inevitable development of poverty as a result of government measures, that a great deal of it is concentrated in certain regions. It is important that we address ourselves to the infrastructure that gives the regions a chance.

Underlying it all is the bigger aviation issue: London Heathrow is full to capacity. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, did not make a very significant point when he talked about consultation. This is not about increasing the number of flights; it is about protecting the services that we already have. That is the anxiety that underpins this measure and what the Bill seeks to address.

The worry is that, as the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, indicated in his contribution, aviation ought to be and is subject to commercial considerations. We all recognise that, but the problem is that the slots that IAG commands will be redirected on commercial grounds. I indicate to the House that IAG could merge with the airline with the second greatest number of slots after its own at the hub airport of Heathrow. International travel is more remunerative for the airlines than regional travel. Therefore, the danger is that IAG will use the slots for long-distance travel, particularly since Heathrow is struggling at the moment because the restrictions on international competition are quite great, as my noble friends Lord Soley and Lord Clinton-Davis indicated. We are already seeing airports such as Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle open up routes to Chinese cities, which Heathrow just cannot match because of its limited capacity.

That is why, when the Minister replies to this debate, he should not just respond to the Bill, although I recognise that he will address himself to its detail. The Bill raises the issue of aviation policy and the particular question of what capacity there is in south-east England, other than Heathrow, to meet the obvious demand that is presented by the regions of the United Kingdom, as exemplified by the Bill. However, it also raises wider considerations.

My party has looked carefully at the Bill. We recognise the strength of the case made by the noble Lord, Lord Empey, and are aware of its significance for the regions of the UK. However, we are not persuaded that the Bill can solve the problem that it addresses. The noble Lord has certainly cast light on an important dimension of aviation policy. However, we fear that an attempt to give the Secretary of State powers to direct airline slots will run foul of competition policy. That is why we state our position much more strongly on the response of the European authorities to this problem.

My honourable friends in the other place, the shadow Secretaries of State for Transport, Northern Ireland and Scotland, have written to the European Commission indicating that this is an issue of cardinal significance to Britain and that we are in the unique position of having a single hub airport, which is clearly what Heathrow functions as, and the regions, particularly Northern Ireland, are greatly dependent on this hub. We therefore seek a response from Europe that indicates that the bid by IAG, framed in its present terms, would create a predominance of slots at Heathrow that would be a threat to the health of the British economy in its regional development.

I have the greatest respect for the case put by the noble Lord, Lord Empey. He presented to the House, with the greatest clarity, a problem that certainly needs to be addressed. It is not being addressed at present by the Government, who continue to indicate that we all need to wait on the evolution of policy. But time marches on. The bid is before the European authorities now, yet the Government remain bereft of any policy except one—the supremely negative policy of saying that there will be no third runway or additional capacity at Heathrow. That will not do, and I hope that the Minister in his response will also open up government responses to the more fundamental issues of aviation policy in this country.

Railways: Level Crossings

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend is right to draw attention to this serious risk, which is why Network Rail pays so much attention to it. It is important to understand that we have far and away the best record on this matter in Europe, with the exception of Ireland, which is only slightly better. In this control period Network Rail will close around 556 crossings. I imagine that many of these are footpath or farm crossings. However, providing just a footbridge costs £750,000. It is very hard to construct a robust business case given the very low chance of an accident occurring at any particular crossing. Network Rail is trying to reduce the cost of these bridges. It is important to understand that where the risk is known to be higher, a crossing system with increased protection will already have been installed.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, after the court judgment against Network Rail in February over deaths that occurred on a level crossing, the executives donated their bonuses to a charity to promote level crossing safety. Is the safety of our railways to be dependent on such quixotic gestures, or should the people responsible for the safety of the railways make sure they do a proper job?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the biggest problem with level crossing safety is the behaviour of pedestrians, particularly when they get distracted. All four fatalities that occurred last year were behaviour-related and almost exclusively involved a distraction problem. The best thing that Network Rail can do is to educate people, so that sounds like rather a good strategy on its part.

Railways: Great Western Franchise

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am sure that officials take all relevant considerations into account, but I cannot comment on my noble friend’s particular point.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, no doubt rail passengers will look with some hope—which we expect to be fulfilled—for the improvement of a service that has been the subject of considerable criticism and dismay among passengers right along the line. Will the Minister confirm that the terms of the franchise will allow fares to be increased by 8 per cent in 2013-14, and possibly thereafter?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am not aware of the noble Lord’s particular point, but we cannot operate a railway system for free; it has to be paid for, and paid for by fares.

Roads: Traffic Lights

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My noble friend is absolutely right in all respects.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, I am normally in favour of the British public moving leftwards with the greatest possible facility but on this occasion I agree with the Minister. Very serious accidents have recently been caused by large vehicles turning left and hitting either cyclists or pedestrians because their visibility was restricted. As the Minister has indicated, the fact that our junctions are so much more difficult than the grid system in the United States creates an additional danger and disadvantage.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am very grateful for the noble Lord’s observations.

Transport Infrastructure: North-east England

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, first of all, the schemes on the A1 north of Morpeth are not ready to go, because they have been abandoned since 2006. However, my noble friend is absolutely right when she describes the dangers of a single carriageway, and I asked my officials precisely those questions. Interestingly, though, the accident rate for this section of the A1 was 154 per billion vehicle miles. This compares with 306 accidents per billion vehicle miles on all rural A-class roads within England. The rate for the A1, therefore, is approximately half that for rural A-class roads nationally.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, the Minister will appreciate that very significant improvements were effected to the A1 south of Newcastle with the removal of some dangerous right-hand turns and roundabouts and effective control of traffic. All these improvements, however, are a considerable way south of Northumbria and Newcastle. Is there not a case for appreciating that the A1 now does need attention to the points further north, and that in fact he should look at that scheme further?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I re-emphasise that there is not a scheme at present that we can look at. The previous Administration also found, when they carefully analysed the situation, that there was not a business case for spending £10 per man, woman and child to dual all the way from Morpeth to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Railways: Train Design

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the noble Lord has strayed a little from the Question, but I am confident that there is good news and I will write to him with further details.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, the House will recognise that the Government have had a somewhat torrid time with the carriage supply since the Siemens contract. However, would the Government take a constructive approach in these terms: can we not reduce the number of designs of carriages in order that suppliers work to a much more restricted form of contract and thereby provide much more cheaply the carriages that we all know we need?

[Earl Attlee]

On the noble Lord’s first point about the Siemens contract, he will understand that we operated the procurement process set up by the previous Administration. We look forward to the NAO investigation that will probably take place after the contract award in order not to interfere with the process. The noble Lord’s second point is an extremely good one. We have too many types of rolling stock. One difficulty is that the rolling stock has a 30-year life cycle and it is quite easy to end up with a large number of areas, but the noble Lord is absolutely right.

Company Cars

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, if a company car driver has an accident, I suspect that it would affect their no-claims bonus because they would have to declare their accident to the insurance company, but I am not absolutely certain on that point.

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, the Minister will be all too well aware—he indicated this in his Answer—that the issue of car emissions is important for the health of our environment. Will he look again, and encourage his colleagues in the Treasury to look again, at whether we are giving sufficient encouragement to companies to provide greener cars for their people than they do at present?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am confident that with the CO₂ emissions regime we already encourage cars to be as green and economical as possible. However, the noble Lord will also be aware that we are encouraging the use of electric vehicles, which are exempt from fuel duty and have numerous other taxation benefits.