Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to ensure that cycle parking is (a) secure, (b) convenient and (c) sufficient.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is for local authorities to decide on appropriate cycle parking provision that would best serve the needs of their local communities. These can be funded through a range of local transport and levelling up funding programmes.
As a statutory consultee, Active Trave England makes recommendations for the provision of cycle parking in line with the standards set out in Local Transport Note 1/20 in developments it is consulted on.
Alongside this, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has opened a consultation on the relaxation of ‘permitted development’ rights. These proposals include the right for homeowners to place a bike store in their front garden without the need for planning permission.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to support cycle businesses in England.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses that manufacture, retail and service cycles and e-cycles. This support takes many forms including unprecedented investment in safe cycling infrastructure which enables more people to cycle safely; and initiatives such as the Cycle to Work scheme which allows many people to access cycles more cheaply. These and other measures help increase the demand for new cycles and e-cycles, and for the servicing of existing cycles and e-cycles.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Philip New independent review on sustainable aviation fuel will be published.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In October 2022, the Department commissioned Philip New to lead an independent evaluation into ‘Developing a UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry’, with the aim of stress testing its evidence base on the barriers to investment in UK SAF production and consider options for addressing those barriers. The Department will publish the report shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take steps with Cabinet colleagues to incentivise the manufacture of new zero emissions aircraft in the UK for use on (a) regional and (b) sub-regional routes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 which sets out it’s approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050. The Strategy considers the potential for zero emission flight alongside other measures. This includes exploring the feasibility of using zero emission aircraft on existing UK government funded PSO routes, as well as noting the balance between reducing aviation emissions and ensuring value for money on routes supported by public funding.
As part of the Jet Zero Council, the Department has established a dedicated Delivery Group to convene activity across Government, industry and academia on the development of zero emission flight.
The Government is also investing £685 million between 2022 and 2035 through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme to co-fund, with industry, the development of zero-carbon and ultra-efficient aircraft technology. A recent example, announced at the seventh meeting of the Jet Zero Council in February, was £113 million of joint government and industry investment in R&D projects to develop liquid hydrogen combusting jet engines and high-end lightweight batteries for small aircraft.
ATI funding is also supporting the current flight testing by ZeroAvia of a 19- seater aircraft using hydrogen propulsion. If successfully brought to market such aircraft could provide zero emission flight on regional and sub-regional routes.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of using public service obligation air routes to introduce zero emissions regional flights in the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 which sets out it’s approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050. The Strategy considers the potential for zero emission flight alongside other measures. This includes exploring the feasibility of using zero emission aircraft on existing UK government funded PSO routes, as well as noting the balance between reducing aviation emissions and ensuring value for money on routes supported by public funding.
As part of the Jet Zero Council, the Department has established a dedicated Delivery Group to convene activity across Government, industry and academia on the development of zero emission flight.
The Government is also investing £685 million between 2022 and 2035 through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme to co-fund, with industry, the development of zero-carbon and ultra-efficient aircraft technology. A recent example, announced at the seventh meeting of the Jet Zero Council in February, was £113 million of joint government and industry investment in R&D projects to develop liquid hydrogen combusting jet engines and high-end lightweight batteries for small aircraft.
ATI funding is also supporting the current flight testing by ZeroAvia of a 19- seater aircraft using hydrogen propulsion. If successfully brought to market such aircraft could provide zero emission flight on regional and sub-regional routes.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to open the second sustainable aviation fuels mandate consultation.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is planning to publish a consultation on the detailed design of the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate shortly. The Government recognises the need to get legislation in place to launch the mandate in 2025, and the likely importance in helping to secure investment in SAF production in the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing funding and (b) implementing mechanisms to help support sustainable aviation fuel through a (i) Contracts for Difference mechanism or (ii) equivalent scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government recognises the significant challenges facing investment in emerging technologies such as SAF. That is why the Government launched the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund in July and is actively looking at what more is needed to create the long-term conditions for competitive SAF projects in the UK. The Department recently commissioned an independent review to look at evidence that industry has provided regarding the barriers, opportunities and conditions required for a competitive SAF industry in the UK. More information will be provided on this in due course, subject to interactions with wider fiscal events.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help support UK businesses working on net zero aviation.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is supporting UK businesses working on net zero aviation through a variety of programmes and policies which are set out in our Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022.
We have also committed to introducing a SAF mandate requiring at least 10% of fuel to be made from sustainable sources by 2030. Over the next three years we are also providing £180 million of funding to accelerate the commercialisation of SAF plants and fuel testing, including £165 million for the Advanced Fuels Fund. We are looking carefully at how to create the long-term conditions for investable projects in the UK and have said we will set out a preferred position by the end of the year.
To support the development of new and zero-carbon emission aircraft technology still further, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is providing £685 million of funding to the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme over the next three years, an increase of £235 million over the previous three years.
We continue to work with businesses through the Jet Zero Council and other forums to consider how to develop and industrialise clean aviation and aerospace technologies, establish UK production facilities for SAF and develop a co-ordinated approach to the policy and regulatory framework needed to deliver net zero aviation.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to open a fourth round of applications for the Active Travel Fund.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Active Travel England was launched in January 2022 to manage the £710m Active Travel budget and to drive up the standards of Local Authority projects.
Further information on the process will be published shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bridleways have been incorporated into safe cycling routes to date.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is committed to ensuring that the public has good access to the countryside through the creation of new, waymarked and maintained paths. It is, however, for local authorities to decide how and where to incorporate bridleways into their cycling networks and to maintain them accordingly, and the Department does not hold a central record of this. The UK-wide National Cycle Network, managed by Sustrans, incorporates a number of bridleways, and the Department has provided £20 million to Sustrans during the current financial year to improve and resurface parts of the network.