Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the final regulations for the zero emission car and van vehicle mandates.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has recently consulted on the proposed ZEV mandate to gather stakeholder views on how the targets, trading schemes, and enforcement for this new policy framework should work. The Department will take these views into consideration as it is finalised and will bring forward the Government’s response to the consultation shortly.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the local electric vehicle infrastructure funding allocation for local and city-region authorities on regional differences in the availability charging provision.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The £381 million Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, including both capital and resource funding, will support local authorities to provide tens of thousands of local chargepoints and transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking.
The LEVI Fund is allocated to Tier 1 local authorities (unitary, county council or combined authorities) in England on behalf of all their constituent authorities.
Allocation of the capital funding is based on an assessment of need for EV charging. The assessment looked at the levels of residential off-street parking, progress of local authorities in developing their charging network to date, the rurality of a local authority and its level of deprivation. Together these aspects look to ensure that charging provision is developed across the country.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which motorway service areas have six or more rapid electric vehicle chargers; and what progress his Department has made on the target for all motorway service areas to have at least six rapid chargers by the end of 2023.
Answered by Jesse Norman
96% of Motorway Service Areas (MSAs) have at least one rapid chargepoint. When the aim was announced, there were only 4 ultra-rapid chargepoints across MSAs in England. There are now over 260 ultra-rapid (150kw+) chargepoints, and more than 480 open-access (can be used with any electric vehicle) rapid (50kW) and ultra-rapid chargepoints at MSAs altogether.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the public charging infrastructure for battery electric HGVs.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government understands that HGV recharging and refuelling infrastructure is key to a successful transition.
The Department is working with industry stakeholders to develop a zero emission HGV infrastructure strategy for publication in early 2024. The strategy will set direction and outline the respective roles and responsibilities of both government and industry to ensure the delivery of the refuelling and recharging infrastructure required to meet the 2035 and 2040 end of sale dates for new non-zero emission HGVs. The strategy development includes an assessment of current and future public charging infrastructure requirements, currently underway.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating direct trains from Greenwich and Woolwich to London Charing Cross.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The train operator Southeastern are responsible for the detailed planning and operation of their timetable. The realignment to Cannon Street, as the terminal station for Woolwich Line services, was required to reduce congestion at the busy Lewisham Junction and delivers the most benefit for the greatest number of passengers by improving punctuality, reducing cancellations, and improving the network’s ability to recover from disruption.
Passengers on the Woolwich Line wishing to travel to Charing Cross now need to change at either Lewisham or London Bridge where there are frequent connecting trains.
I understand that this structural change is fundamental to delivering the operational and performance benefits of Southeastern’s new timetable.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials in his Department are allocated to each DfT OLR Holdings contract as of 6 September 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There are four franchises managed by OLR Holdings which have Departmental officials allocated to them. The teams of officials managing OLR TOC contracts are comparable in size to those managing National Rail Contracts. These officials provide a range of a technical, contractual, and financial support to ensure the successful daily operation of the franchise.
London North Eastern Railway | 12 |
Southeastern Trains | 11 |
TransPennine Trains | 8 |
Northern Trains Ltd | 8 |
As with commercial operations, the day-to-day decisions which drive safe delivery and manage to budget and policy are performed by the companies themselves, supported by their owning group. The DfT market teams use the same processes to manage the relationships and deliverables with OLR operators as with commercial operators.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the level of carbon emission from rail haulage in each year since 2010.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish emissions data for the rail network each year. The available data for freight emissions between April 2011 to March 2022 is provided below.
Year | Total freight traction CO2 equivalent emissions (kilotonnes) |
April 2011 to March 2012 | 545 |
April 2012 to March 2013 | 636 |
April 2013 to March 2014 | 621 |
April 2014 to March 2015 | 628 |
April 2015 to March 2016 | 559 |
April 2016 to March 2017 | 525 |
April 2017 to March 2018 | 508 |
April 2018 to March 2019 | 476 |
April 2019 to March 2020 | 493 |
April 2020 to March 2021 | 437 |
April 2021 to March 2022 | 457 |
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials in his Department have been seconded to Great British Railways.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Six officials from the Department for Transport have been seconded to the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT).
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the loss of revenue due to fare evasion on the railways in each of the last five years.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Rail Delivery Group estimates that in a normal year, approximately £240 million is lost through fare evasion on Great Britain's railways. Fare evasion is a burden on taxpayers which we expect train companies to robustly manage. In January 2023, the Department increased the Penalty Fare to ensure it provides an effective deterrent for train companies to use.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of uncommitted carriages held by rolling stock companies available for use by train operating companies which wish to lease extra carriages.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department has not made any such estimate.