Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to encourage bus companies to install cycle racks on their vehicles in (a) rural and (b) other areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to delivering better bus services that meet passengers’ needs, including in rural areas, and has set out ambitious plans to reform bus services, including through the Bus Services (No.2) Bill and investing over £1 billion to support and improve bus services. The majority of bus services operate on a commercial basis, and decisions about the management and design of their bus fleet are for bus operators to make, including whether to install cycle racks.
The government recognises that bus services are part of a wider transport ecosystem, and it is vital to view them in the context of an integrated transport network designed with passengers as the priority. We have announced plans to develop an Integrated National Transport Strategy to set the long-term vision for transport in England. This will focus on how transport should be designed, built and operated to better serve the people who use it and ensure that the transport network is complementary, including the interaction between different modes of travel.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to increase the provision of fast chargers for electric vehicles.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Government and industry have supported the installation of over 61,000 publicly available charging devices. This is a 44% increase on last year. There are now more than 10,000 rapid charge points available.
ChargeUK members have committed to investing more than £6 billion in developing and operating charging infrastructure before 2030.
Going forward, the Government’s £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund is already supporting local authorities to deliver tens of thousands of local chargepoints and the £70 million Rapid Charging Fund pilot will future-proof electrical capacity at strategic locations
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to help sustainable aviation fuel producers meet levels of demand from airlines.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Government is supporting the development of a UK SAF industry to increase the supply of SAF in the UK.
We will introduce our SAF Mandate from 2025, which will secure demand, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects. It will incentivise the supply of SAF through the provision of tradable certificates with a cash value.
Thirteen projects have been awarded a share of £135m through the Advanced Fuels Fund, supporting them to reach commercial scale. Once at operational scale, funded projects could produce over 700,000 tonnes of SAF yearly. We have established a UK SAF Clearing House, which helps to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market.
We are also consulting on options to provide UK SAF producers with a revenue certainty mechanism, which will help provide greater certainty of future revenue and attract investment in commercial scale SAF plants within the UK.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Centre for Economic Business Research entitled The pothole crisis is costing £14.4 billion a year in economic damage in England alone, published on 29 April 2024.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Government agrees that, whilst local road maintenance is the responsibility of individual local authorities, more that needs to be done to improve the condition of roads across the country.
That is why we’ve committed £8.3 billion extra from savings as a result of cancelling HS2 Phase 2 to help local councils fill potholes and resurface roads.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the safety of smart motorways; and what evidence was used to make that assessment.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The latest published safety data and assessment can be found in National Highways’ ‘Third year progress report 2023’.
Since then, massive investment of millions of pounds has been spent to upgrade and improve the safety of all motorways. Ongoing assessment is being made.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent reports that flights to and from the UK may have been affected by alleged Russian jamming of GPS systems.
Answered by Anthony Browne
Aviation remains among the safest forms of travel. There are several safety protocols in place to protect aircraft navigation and loss or denial of global positioning should not directly affect the safety of an aircraft. Nonetheless we continue to work with the Civil Aviation Authority and industry to mitigate any risks posed to aviation.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Department is working with HS2 Ltd and its supply chain to assess the cost implications of the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2a and 2b. This work is ongoing and updates will be provided in future Parliamentary Reports on HS2.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent negotiations he has had with trade unions on planned train strikes.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Government has no role in negotiations. Negotiations must take place between the employer, which the Rail Delivery Group has done on behalf of the train operating companies (TOC), and the trade union. We remain committed to supporting those who are involved in resolving this dispute so that important workforce reforms can take place, supported by a fair pay deal. ASLEF remains the only TOC in a national level dispute causing disruption to passengers and impacting the economy. We continue to urge them to negotiate with industry.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to increase staffing levels on trains to improve public safety.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The train operating companies, as employers, are responsible for ensuring there are adequate numbers of staff to suit their operational needs, which includes maintaining the safety of the public using their trains. The British Transport Police (BTP) is the national dedicated police force for the railways in England, Scotland and Wales. It also has responsibility for the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the Midland Metro tram system, Croydon Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro, Glasgow Subway and the IFS Cloud Cable car. We urge all passengers, to please report any incidents to the BTP either via its text-reporting service on 61016, its Railway Guardian App, online via its website, or in an emergency by dialling 999.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
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 findings in SusTrans' Walking and Cycling Index 2023, published in March 2024, relating to people's opinions on relative funding for (a) road building schemes and (b) walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport options.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has noted the findings in this report and agrees that it is important that people should be able to choose how they make their everyday journeys. The Government is investing around £3 billion over the current Parliament in schemes to enable more people to choose walking, wheeling and cycling, which is more than any previous Government has invested. The Government also recognises the importance of local bus services and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services in England outside London since 2020.