Asked by: Lord Strathcarron (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) value for money, and (2) benefit to the community, of the public funding granted to the charity Sustrans.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Department for Transport has previously provided around £75m to Sustrans to maintain and upgrade the National Cycle Network since 2018/19. The Department keeps all funding under close review.
Asked by: Lord Strathcarron (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to use all or any of sections 141(1), 142(2) or 143 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to reverse the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
It was the Mayor's decision to expand the ULEZ to the Greater London boundary. There was no legal requirement for the Mayor to consult Government on his decision. The only powers for Government sit under Section 143 of the GLA Act which are focused on correcting inconsistencies between national transport policy and the Mayor's Transport Strategy. Therefore, these powers cannot be exercised.
Asked by: Lord Strathcarron (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the scientific evidence and data upon which the COVID-19 rules in place for passengers on direct flights from China to England are based; and what assessment they have made of (1) the cost of imposing the rules, and (2) whether the benefits of the rules outweigh their costs.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The basis for the decision to introduce pre-departure and post-arrival testing for passengers arriving from mainland China is the lack of comprehensive health information being shared by China, low confidence in their published case rates and lack of transparency around genomic sequencing. Domestic infection and hospitalisation rates have surged in China and the measures introduced reduce the number of cases being imported and allow us to monitor for variants.
The measures are proportionate, targeted and time limited. They are being kept under review and will be removed if no longer necessary. HMG and other international partners are encouraging China to provide greater transparency on their COVID data. Passengers may use a PCR or low-cost lateral flow device as their pre-departure test.
Post arrival testing is being managed by UKHSA and it is for them to decide about publishing data.