Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential impact of planning regulations on the installation of electronic vehicle charging points.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Officials in the Department for Transport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are exploring potential changes to planning to make it easier to install chargepoints.
In 2023, the Government introduced changes to permitted development rights (PDR), enabling chargepoint operators to install through PDR on behalf of local authorities. On 13 February 2024, DLUHC launched a consultation, seeking to make further changes to PDR. The proposed changes aim to make installations at off-street locations easier and quicker. A government response to the consultation will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to encourage uptake of electronic vehicles among all socioeconomic groups.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to keeping the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) affordable for all consumers. Plug-in vehicle grants have been in place for over a decade to support the transition to EVs, and remain in place for harder to transition vehicles such as vans.
The uptake of EVs continues to be supported through generous tax incentives. The 2022 Autumn Statement extended favourable benefit in kind tax rates for EVs out to April 2028, and EVs are either exempt or pay minimal Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) until 2025. From 2025, EVs will still have preferential first year rates of VED in comparison to the most polluting vehicles.
To transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking, the Government introduced the £381 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund. This will deliver tens of thousands of local chargepoints, ensuring the transition to EVs takes place in every part of the country. The Government also continues to provide funding for domestic and workplace chargepoints. This includes the recently announced grant for eligible households without off-street parking, to install a cross-pavement charging solution.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 levels of train cancellations into Preston; and what plans he has to help reduce such cancellations.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Ministers, DfT and Rail North Partnership Officials regularly meet with the senior management of Network Rail and train operators to review performance, including at Preston. We continue to hold operators to account for matters within their control and will continue to use all contractual levers to drive the best outcomes for passengers. The Department will continue to work collaboratively with train operating companies and Network Rail to ensure a high performing railway contributes to growth and local economies.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions on 24 January 2024, Official Report, column 296, what plans his Department has to improve Preston railway station; and what his planned timeline is for those improvements.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following the Network North announcement, work is underway to consider potential upgrades to the West Coast Main Line, including improvements to Preston station, to support the introduction of High-Speed Services and improve journeys between London, the West Midlands, the North-West and Scotland. My officials are working with industry partners to review options.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of proposed rail fares for 2024-25; and if he will take steps to ensure fares do not rise further.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is continuing to support passengers with cost-of-living pressures with another significant intervention on rail fares, capping increases at 4.9 per cent, significantly below the July 2023 Retail Prices Index (RPI) figure of 9 per cent, which has historically been used to calculate fares changes.
The lower fare cap comes after the Government delivered its target to halve inflation by the end of the year.
This year’s increase builds on last year’s unprecedented intervention, which saw the Government cap the increase for 2023 at 6.4 percentage points lower than the 2022 July RPI figure. This means the Government will have helped keep ticket prices more than 9 per cent lower than what passengers would have paid if rises matched the RPI benchmark in the last two years.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help increase the affordability of bus travel for school children.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis, and decisions about offering reduced or discounted fares for commercial bus services are predominantly for operators to take. Many bus operators currently offer discounted travel cards for younger people. Our most recent set of statistics shows that operators in 70 out of 84 travel concession authority areas in England, outside London, offered some form of discounted travel for young people.
The Department for Transport is investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We are providing over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), some of which include the introduction of measures to reduce bus fares for young people. On 4 October, the Prime Minister also announced a further £1 billion for LTAs across the North and the Midlands to deliver their BSIPs. We have also announced a further £160 million of BSIP+ funding until April 2025 for LTAs to protect and enhance bus services, and deliver local fares initiatives.
The Government has also allocated nearly £600 million to introduce a £2 fare cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January 2023 to help passengers save on their regular travel costs. The Prime Minister announced on 4 October that this would be extended to 31 December 2024. The cap is available on over 5,000 routes, and services from participating operators that serve schools, are open to members of the public and run all year round are eligible for inclusion in the scheme.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with airports to ensure that airport operators security staff receive training on searching passengers who are fitted with stoma bags.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of training in the screening of passengers my department requires security staff to know how to respond to the specific needs of different passengers, including those with medical devices. It is the airport’s responsibility to ensure that their security personnel receive training to conduct security searches appropriately and are trained with a sensitive regard to the person being screened.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking with airport operators to ensure the privacy and dignity of airline passengers fitted with stoma bags when undergoing security checks by airport security staff.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of ensuring the privacy and dignity of passengers fitted with medical devices within the arrangements for the screening of passengers there is provision that allows security staff to carry out a hand search in a private room. Where necessary or appropriate, airports should enable hand searches of passengers in private.
Passengers are also able to make this request including that the security staff member is the same sex as the passenger. The passenger can also ask for a friend or family member travelling with them to be present in the room while the search is carried out.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether security checks for passengers fitted with stoma bags is uniform across all forms of international travel form the UK via (a) planes (b) rail and (c) ferries.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Secretary of State for Transport sets the security standards with which all forms of international travel must comply. This includes the requirement for people to be searched. We would expect all passengers being searched, including those fitted with medical devices, to be treated in the same respectful and dignified manner regardless of the mode of travel.
It is the industry’s responsibility to ensure that their security personnel conduct searches appropriately and with a sensitive regard to the person being screened such as passengers fitted with medical devices.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department provides additional guidance for people fitted with stoma bags on airport security checks.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Secretary of State for Transport sets the security standards with which the aviation industry must comply. This includes the requirement for people to be searched. My department provides guidance to the industry on the need for consideration of those with fitted with medical devices when undertaking security searches and we would expect all passengers to be treated in a respectful and dignified manner. It is the airport’s responsibility to ensure that their security personnel conduct searches appropriately and with a sensitive regard to the person being screened.
My department works closely with the CAA which provides advice for passengers who have medical devices. This includes a Medical Device Awareness Card for passengers to use when travelling. This outlines what documentation passenger may wish to present (such as a medical letter) when arriving at the security checkpoint. It also acts as a reminder to security officers that alternative processes should be used for screening passengers with medical devices.