Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from the introduction of self-driving cars in the United States, particularly in relation to safety.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 (AV Act) sets out a comprehensive legal framework with safety at its core. The ongoing Call for Evidence, “Developing the Automated Vehicles Regulatory Framework”, aims to gather information from a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that future development of this work is thoroughly grounded in expertise from across the sector.

Throughout this work we will continue to utilise the experience and best practice of international partners. In particular, ongoing deployments of automated vehicles in the United States will enable practical lessons to be learned from interactions with a wide range of road users and the general public.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have carried out safety checks on (1) Lyft, and (2) Baidu, as part of the self-driving car pilot scheme; and if not, why permission was granted to those companies to take part in the pilot scheme.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Automated Passenger Services (APS) permitting scheme has been accelerated to spring 2026. As the scheme has not yet been introduced, no permits have been issued.

Operators and technology developers announcing their ambitions to operate pilot deployments under the APS permitting scheme is a vote of confidence in Great Britain’s regulation of self-driving vehicles.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government why interest rates on student loans are set using the Retail Prices Index rather than the Consumer Prices Index.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Interest rates on student loans have been consistently linked to a widely recognised and adopted measure of inflation. Interest rates are set in legislation in reference to the Retail Price Index (RPI) from the previous March and are applied annually on 1 September until 31 August.

The Office for National Statistics has undertaken a substantial programme of work over the past two years to enhance how inflation is measured and this will be carried over into student loans. The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that from 2030 at the earliest, movements in RPI will be aligned with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Further details are available at:

https://obr.uk/box/the-long-run-difference-between-rpi-and-cpi-inflation/.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is preventing the implementation of the recommendation set out in the Independent panel report to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, published on 30 May 2019, that no student should repay more than 1.2 times their initial loan in real terms.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Following the review on post-18 education and funding, Plan 5 terms and conditions were introduced for new students in England who started their studies from the academic year 2023/24.

Interest on Plan 5 student loans is charged at the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation only (currently 3.2%), meaning graduates will not repay more than they borrow in real terms. As an additional borrower protection, interest rates are automatically capped by the prevailing market rate for comparable unsecured personal loans, ensuring borrowers are protected if market conditions change.

It is reasonable to ask those graduates who do benefit financially from higher education to contribute towards the cost of their studies. Borrowers earning below the repayment threshold of £25,000 per year are not required to repay anything. Any outstanding loan including interest built up is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what, if any, provision is being made to allow independent schools which have a Combined Cadet Forces Unit to offset the associated costs against their VAT commitments.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

VAT registered schools, like all VAT registered businesses, are entitled to recover VAT incurred on the goods and services they purchase and use in making taxable supplies. Costs relating to non-business activities cannot be recovered as input tax. There is no special provision to allow recovery of VAT incurred for non-business activities.

Where Combined Cadet Forces related costs also support the broader educational provision, schools may be able to deduct a portion of the VAT incurred on the associated costs.

HMRC has published guidance specifically for private schools, including how they can recover VAT on costs.