Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with Hertfordshire County Council on the expansion of Luton Airport since 2020.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has not held any discussions with Hertfordshire County Council on the expansion of Luton Airport since 2020.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of London Luton Airport's plans to monitor noise from its flight paths in Hertfordshire in 2024.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government does not set noise controls at London Luton Airport, as these are set by Luton Borough Council. We will be assessing the airport’s Noise Action Plan for 2024-2028 as per statutory requirements.
The Government encourages all airports to be transparent with communities about their noise impacts. Effective noise monitoring, both by mobile and fixed monitoring equipment, plays a key role in helping to understand such impacts. The Government also expects airports to help local communities understand these noise impacts and the performance against relevant targets.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of London Luton Airport's Community Noise Monitoring Programme.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government does not set noise controls at London Luton Airport, as these are set by Luton Borough Council. We will be assessing the airport’s Noise Action Plan for 2024-2028 as per statutory requirements.
The Government encourages all airports to be transparent with communities about their noise impacts. Effective noise monitoring, both by mobile and fixed monitoring equipment, plays a key role in helping to understand such impacts. The Government also expects airports to help local communities understand these noise impacts and the performance against relevant targets.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the viability of the second hand market for electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Around 80% of cars are bought and sold through the second hand market. A viable second hand market for electric vehicles (EV) is therefore critical as the UK transition to zero emission vehicles.
The Government is working with industry to monitor the health of the second hand EV market and to consider whether potential support is required on issues such as battery health metrics, consumer information, and affordability.
As the 267,000 EVs sold in 2022 come onto the second hand market, motorists will be provided with even more choice over the next three to four years.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question 199520 on Luton Airport: Construction, if he will make it his policy to pause consideration of the Development Consent Order on expansion at Luton Airport until after the Government has considered the potential implications of the Climate Change Committee's recommendations.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Any planning application submitted by an airport will be judged by the relevant planning authority, taking careful account of all relevant considerations, including environmental impacts and proposed mitigations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2023 to Question 198887 on Railways: Ticket Offices, if he will publish the Equality Impact Assessment undertaken by his Department on the potential closure of railway station ticket offices in England in addition to those prepared by the train operators.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Operators prepared Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs), and these were available on train operator’s websites during the consultation. Government departments do not typically publish Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) while policy is under development. We will consider publishing the EIA once we have considered the outcomes of the industry-led Ticketing and Settlement Agreement process.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September to Question 198993 on Railway Stations: Parking, whether his Department has produced (a) an Equality Impact Assessment or (b) guidance for Train Operating Companies on accessible methods to pay for parking at railway stations.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Train operating companies are responsible for considering the equalities impacts of operational changes such as to car parking payment methods at stations, and the Department has not conducted such an assessment. The Rail Delivery Group published the Station Car Parking Good Practice Guide for train operators in 2018, which sets out that both cash and non-cash payment options should normally be provided by station car park operators.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the (a) shortest, (b) longest and (c) average time taken by National Highways to administer a red claim for compensation in each of the last three years.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Min Days - Received to Decision (Days) By Financial Year | ||||
2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | |
Other | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Vehicle Damage | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Longest time to make decision - Received to Decision (Days) By Financial Year | ||||
2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | |
Other | 935 | 927 | 727 | 650 |
Vehicle Damage | 838 | 423 | 380 | 146 |
Average time to make decision - Received to Decision (Days) By Financial Year | ||||
2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | |
Other | 85 | 91 | 60 | 66 |
Vehicle Damage | 76 | 45 | 29 | 55 |
Overall | 77 | 48 | 31 | 55 |
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Answer of 13 September 2023 to Oral Question 906407 from the Member for St Albans, whether the Government plans to accept the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee that there should be no further airport expansion until a capacity management framework is in place.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government’s existing policy frameworks for airport planning – the Airports National Policy Statement and Making Best Use of existing runways policy – provide a robust and balanced framework for airports to grow sustainably.
Any planning application submitted by an airport will be judged by the relevant planning authority, taking careful account of all relevant considerations, including environmental impacts and proposed mitigations.
The Government is considering the CCC recommendations carefully and will be responding in due course.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the Equality Impact Assessments undertaken by his Department on the potential closure of railway station ticket offices in England.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours – including closures – train operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of passengers who are disabled, and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. When consulting, operators should have also clearly considered other equality-related needs. Operators prepared Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs), and these were available on train operators’ websites during the consultation.