Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Great Western Railway and Hitachi on the failure of IET trains at Dawlish after coming into contact with waves; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
GWR and the train manufacturer, Hitachi, are working on further solutions for issues caused by sea water on electrical equipment on the roof. My Officials are working with GWR and Hitachi to ensure that any lessons learned are fully understood and recommendations implemented.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has requested operating reductions in costs or routes from Great Western Railway.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Negotiations are ongoing with Great Western Railway regarding a new National Rail Contract. It would be inappropriate to comment any further at this point.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans (a) his Department or (b) the franchise operator has to end the Night Riviera sleeper service from London Paddington to Penzance via Plymouth.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There are currently no plans to end the Night Riviera sleeper service.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made on the environmental impact of using Avgas 100.
Answered by Robert Courts
This is a global issue since nearly all commercial flight training involves fuel incorporating TEL since it reduces the risk of engine misfires with potentially serious consequences for aircraft safety. The use of fuel incorporating TEL is widespread across many countries’ GA sectors, including the United States and many European countries, where it is the dominant fuel used for piston engine aircraft.
The Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs leads the development of the UK REACH alongside the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). My officials engaged with them to understand the legal status of TEL in the EU, as well as to understand how the UK REACH regulations would work. No country globally has banned TEL. The HSE recently announced that they would not include TEL in their list of authorised chemicals under the UK REACH as they judged that with intensive efforts already ongoing to find a substitute, additional regulatory pressure is unlikely to speed this up keeping the UK in line with the EU, but would revisit this when substitutes had been tested and certified.
Aside from noting whether TEL would be assessed for inclusion in Annex 14 of UK REACH, neither my officials, myself nor the Secretary of State have engaged either organisation to influence their decision.
In response to an enquiry by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association about the future of 100LL the Secretary of State asked his officials to speed up work on finding safe alternative unleaded fuel such as UL91. This is highly technical safety work involving the FAA, EASA and engine manufacturers in which the UK seeks to play a leading part.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish all correspondence his Department has had with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association on AVGAS 100.
Answered by Robert Courts
This is a global issue since nearly all commercial flight training involves fuel incorporating TEL since it reduces the risk of engine misfires with potentially serious consequences for aircraft safety. The use of fuel incorporating TEL is widespread across many countries’ GA sectors, including the United States and many European countries, where it is the dominant fuel used for piston engine aircraft.
The Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs leads the development of the UK REACH alongside the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). My officials engaged with them to understand the legal status of TEL in the EU, as well as to understand how the UK REACH regulations would work. No country globally has banned TEL. The HSE recently announced that they would not include TEL in their list of authorised chemicals under the UK REACH as they judged that with intensive efforts already ongoing to find a substitute, additional regulatory pressure is unlikely to speed this up keeping the UK in line with the EU, but would revisit this when substitutes had been tested and certified.
Aside from noting whether TEL would be assessed for inclusion in Annex 14 of UK REACH, neither my officials, myself nor the Secretary of State have engaged either organisation to influence their decision.
In response to an enquiry by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association about the future of 100LL the Secretary of State asked his officials to speed up work on finding safe alternative unleaded fuel such as UL91. This is highly technical safety work involving the FAA, EASA and engine manufacturers in which the UK seeks to play a leading part.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of ivory items owned by or collated by his Department.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
We have not made any estimates of the number of ivory items owned by or collated in this Department or institutions owned or managed by the Government and are not aware of any ivory items in our possession.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that increasing energy costs do not discourage freight operators from sending freight by rail instead of reverting to road transport.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Government recognises fully business concerns around increasing electricity prices and we are regularly engaging with the rail freight industry on this issue. We are not aware that increasing energy costs are causing freight operators to send freight by road instead of rail.
The Government strongly supports the modal shift of freight from road to rail to reduce congestion and carbon emissions from across the freight sector. This is supported through significant investment in the rail network to improve its capability and capacity for freight, and through £20m per year grant schemes which support the carriage of freight by rail and water on routes where road haulage has a financial advantage, resulting in the equivalent of 900,000 fewer HGV journeys in 2021/22. The Government has also committed to introducing a rail freight growth target to encourage the continued growth of the sector and its success in the future.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance he has provided to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution on the potential risk of that organisation's activities being defined as illegal when rescuing migrants from the English Channel in respect of the Government's plans to bring forward new legislative proposals under the Government's Our New Plan for Immigration.
Answered by Robert Courts
The MCA are engaged with DfT and Home Office officials on the drafting of new legislative proposals under the Government’s Our New Plan for Immigration. This has included work to ensure that the activities undertaken by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution when responding to Search and Rescue incidents and rescuing migrants in the English Channel are not considered as illegal activity.
The MCA is also in regular dialogue with the RNLI Executive teams to brief them on our activity in ensuring their action is not considered as illegal when they are tasked to Search and Rescue Incidents to rescue migrants in the English Channel.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what improvements have been made to ventilation infrastructure on (a) buses and (b) trains since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department for Transport has published ‘Safer Transport’ guidance for operators, which helps transport organisations understand how to provide safer workplaces and services for themselves, their workers and passengers.
The Safer Transport guidance includes a section on ‘Ventilation’, which suggests ways in which transport operators could ensure that a fresh air supply is consistently flowing through vehicles.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has to ensure the affordability of bus fares in rural areas.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government pays almost £260 million per year in Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), which benefits passengers by helping operators keep fares down, and enabling operators to run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation, particularly in rural areas.
In the National Bus Strategy, published on 15 March, we set out our intention to consult on reforms to BSOG. We will consider the needs of rural bus users amongst many things.
The Government is committed to ensuring the unique needs of rural areas are met, and so will boost the Rural Services Delivery Grant by £4 million to £85 million next year, making it the highest rural grant paid to date.