Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 reports of airlines flying empty flights to retain slots; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing landing slot rights to prevent airlines flying planes empty.
Answered by Robert Courts
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on air passenger demand. Following a review of the latest available evidence and consultation with the aviation industry, Ministers have decided that further alleviation from slot rules is necessary to support the aviation industry’s financial position, protect connectivity and reduce the risk that airlines operate environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights.
While aviation demand remained considerably suppressed the rules requiring airlines to use slots in order to retain them were fully suspended for the Summer 2020, Winter 2020/21 and Summer 2021 seasons.
As the pandemic has gone on and aviation demand has increased, the Government wants to encourage recovery. In the Winter 2021/22 Season, which will last until 27 March 2022, we have set the usage requirement for slots at 50% and gave airlines the option of handing back slot series that they were not intending to use before the season started to allow other airlines to use them.
A draft Statutory Instrument setting out arrangements for Summer 2022 was published on 24 January 2022. To reduce the risk of airlines operating environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights, this legislation includes an enhanced justified non-utilisation provision, meaning that airlines will not be required to operate slots where markets are substantively closed to passenger traffic.
The UK’s exit from the EU means that we have been able to take a more tailored approach that reflect the UK’s specific circumstances. Whilst these slot alleviation measures to avoid flying or near-empty flights to retain slots are only temporary, as part of the Government’s future aviation policy we are actively looking at permanent reform to the airport slot allocation process.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that guide dog owners are not illegally turned away by taxis.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Assistance dogs play a vital role in the lives of their owners, enabling them to live independently, confidently and safely. It is unacceptable that some taxi and PHV drivers continue to refuse them carriage.
Effective training is important for helping drivers to assist disabled passengers appropriately, and in December 2020, we launched the REAL training package of disability equality training to improve the transport sector’s confidence and skills in delivering inclusive journeys for disabled passengers.
The Government also remains committed to introducing mandatory disability awareness training for taxi and PHV drivers through new National Minimum Standards for licensing authorities when Parliamentary time allows.
In the meantime, we will shortly publish for consultation updated best practice guidance for local licensing authorities, including a strong recommendation that taxi and PHV drivers are required to complete disability awareness training.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending blue badge eligibility to people undergoing treatment for cancer.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Blue Badge scheme is primarily about helping those with permanent mobility issues, access the goods and services they need to use. Applications are not dependent upon condition, but are based on the need of the applicant to park closer to their destination. Anyone may be entitled to a badge if they meet the eligibility criteria. The Department has recently made changes to the online application process to make it easier and quicker for some people with life limiting diagnoses to receive a badge.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 6 December 2021 to Question 84419 on Mexico: Coronavirus, what recent discussions he has had with his Mexican counterpart on reports that citizens of Mexico are unable to have their covid-19 vaccination status recognised by the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts
As set out in the response on 6 December, the Government is taking a phased approach to the rollout of our inbound vaccination programme and will continue to work with international partners to expand the policy to more countries and territories where it is safe to do so. Vaccine certification between countries and territories varies considerably and the government has published minimum criteria on gov.uk that both digital and paper certificates must meet.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage a transition towards greener modes of international transportation.
Answered by Robert Courts
In July 2021 the department published its Transport Decarbonisation Plan that sets a credible pathway to achieving net zero emission in UK transport by 2050, and sets out our ambitions to achieve net zero in the international transport sectors of aviation and maritime. In aviation, we recently consulted on our vision for the sector to reach net zero by 2050 covering both international and domestic aviation, which focused on the rapid development of technologies in a way that maintains the benefits of air travel whilst maximising the opportunities that decarbonisation can bring to the UK. We will be publishing our final strategy later this year.
We continue to work closely with fellow Member States at the International Civil Aviation Organization and International Maritime Organization to reduce emissions from both sectors. To further drive the transition to net zero we have set the sixth carbon budget to include international aviation and shipping emissions, as recommended by our independent climate advisors, the Climate Change Committee.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the level of carbon emissions produced by the UK's aviation industry; and what steps he is taking with that industry to reduce carbon emissions from air travel in the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy publishes UK greenhouse gas emissions figures annually, including domestic and international aviation emissions. The final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics from 1990 to 2019 were published in February 2021 and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-1990-to-2019. It showed that in 2019, carbon dioxide emissions from UK domestic aviation were 1.4 Mt CO2e and carbon dioxide emissions from international aviation were 36.7 Mt CO2e.
The 2020 greenhouse gas emissions figures are due to be published on 1 February 2022.
In July 2021, the Department for Transport published the Jet Zero Consultation which sets out our vision for the aviation sector to reach net zero by 2050. We engaged with stakeholders extensively during the development of the consultation and are carefully considering consultation responses in the development of our final Jet Zero Strategy which we aim to publish later this year.
We are working closely with industry to reduce aviation emissions. We have established the Jet Zero Council, bringing together government, industry and academia to drive the delivery of new technologies and innovative ways to cut aviation emissions. We have been supporting the industry through £1.95bn of funding into aerospace R&D through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme and recently confirmed the continuation of funding for the ATI programme to 2031. We have also recently announced £180 million of new funding to support the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plants in the UK, building on the progress made through the previous Green Fuels Green Skies competition, and a £400 million partnership with Breakthrough Energy, through which SAF projects can bid for additional capital.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a failure to secure a long-term funding deal for Transport for London beyond 4 February 2022 on (a) bus and (b) tube services.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have repeatedly shown our commitment to supporting London's transport network through the pandemic, providing more than £4bn in emergency funding to Transport for London to keep essential services running, to enable businesses to continue to operate and key workers to continue their critical work in the capital. This is in addition to this year’s Spending Review settlement for London, which provided over a billion pounds of capital investment per year, in line with previous funding.
The Government remains committed to providing further extraordinary funding to mitigate fare revenue loss as a result of the pandemic and ensuring all TfL services, including the bus and tube network, keep running in a way that is fair to the national tax payer. The current funding deal was only temporarily extended until February due to the Mayor being late in terms of providing future options.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with his Mexican counterpart on reports that citizens of Mexico are unable to have their covid-19 vaccination status recognised by the UK.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Government is taking a phased approach to the rollout of our inbound vaccination programme and will continue to work with international partners to expand the policy to more countries and territories where it is safe to do so. Vaccine certification between countries and territories varies considerably and the government has published minimum criteria on gov.uk that both digital and paper certificates must meet.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what cross-Departmental steps he is taking to help make electric cars more affordable for UK consumers.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We offer a range of measures to support the purchase of electric cars in the UK. The Plug in Car Grant (PiCG) provides up to £2,500 for those making the switch to electric driving. Government also offers generous tax incentives, including favourable company car tax rates confirmed until FY24/25, which can save drivers over £2,000 a year. We have also put in place a tax regime that rewards the cleanest vehicles. Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles. This will support greater uptake of zero emission vehicles for greener journeys. Electric car drivers also benefit from comparatively cheaper running costs. Once fuel costs and tax incentives are factored in, we expect the total cost of ownership to reach parity during the 2020s, compared to petrol and diesel cars. It costs from 1p per mile to run a new electric vehicle, compared to around 10p per mile for new diesel or petrol vehicles.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to make electric car charging points more widely accessible.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are investing over £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years to give more drivers the confidence to make the switch to electric driving. This funding will target support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major roads, and installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car. Our grant schemes and the £400m Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle charge-points installed across the UK.
In the forthcoming Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy government will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will focus on how we will unlock the chargepoint rollout needed to enable the transition from early adoption to mass market uptake of electric vehicles and to achieve the 2030/2035 phase out successfully. It will clearly establish government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the planning and deployment of charging infrastructure