Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to enable railcard holders to use their discounts with contactless payments on (a) London Northwestern Railway and (b) Govia Thameslink Railway services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Whilst currently you are not able to link railcards to contactless bankcards, we are working with Transport for London on the functionality to use Railcard discounts with Pay As You Go (PAYG) with contactless, and this will follow in due course. Passengers will continue to be able to use Railcard discounts on the equivalent barcode, smartcard, and magstripe fares which are price equivalent in many cases to the PAYG price.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support the (a) early commencement of services and (b) reliability of bus services between (i) Tring, (ii) Aylesbury, and (iii) Hemel Hempstead.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December as part of its ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including in Tring, Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead.
In addition, the Government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Hertfordshire County Council has been allocated over £12 million of this funding, and Buckinghamshire over £6 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, support early morning or evening services and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help improve bus connectivity in )a) Great Gaddesden and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December as part of its ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including in Tring, Aylesbury and Hemel Hempstead.
In addition, the Government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Hertfordshire County Council has been allocated over £12 million of this funding, and Buckinghamshire over £6 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, support early morning or evening services and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to raise the retirement age for commercial pilots.
Answered by Mike Kane
Age limits for commercial pilots are set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in standards and recommended practices, which the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) apply. These are under review by ICAO and the CAA remain engaged with them on reviewing the evidence base for future changes to age limits and making progress in this area when we can safely do so.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce (a) accountability and (b) enforcement provisions for private train companies during rail nationalisation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
During the transition of passenger services to a public sector operator, the Secretary of State for Transport will continue to hold private sector operators to account through a range of measures, using enforcement provisions where required. All operators will continue to go through an annual planning process with the Department to agree plans for changes to service specifications, performance improvements and other deliverables. If an operator’s poor performance means that contractual conditions for early termination are met, Ministers will not hesitate to take decisive action.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Oyster card scheme to stations in the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Transport for London (TfL) and Operators can consider and propose Oyster expansion where a positive business case can be demonstrated.
No such proposals have been put forward to the Department. However, we are expanding ticketing innovations such as Pay As You Go (PAYG) to more stations and this month we launched PAYG with contactless at Berkhamsted station to join Harpenden station which got contactless PAYG in 2019.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure private train operating companies are held to account for their performance during the transition to rail nationalisation; and what steps she will take to ensure that performance standards are enforced.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State for Transport will not tolerate poor performance and will continue to hold all operators to account through a range of measures, including during the transition of services to a public sector operator.
All operators will continue to go through an annual planning process with the Department to agree plans for changes to service specifications, performance improvements and other deliverables. If an operator’s poor performance means that contractual conditions for early termination are met, Ministers will not hesitate to take decisive action.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her decision on the application to expand Luton airport of the level of emissions from flights departing from that airport.
Answered by Mike Kane
The statutory deadline for a decision on the application for a Development Consent Order for London Luton airport expansion is 3 April 2025. Given the Secretary of State’s role in determining the application, it would not be appropriate to comment on the application.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of ultra fine particles at Luton airport on local residents.
Answered by Mike Kane
There are currently no legal limits for ultra fine particulate concentrations. Air quality at Luton Airport is closely monitored and is reported in its Sustainability Reports.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to update the policy paper entitled Airports National Policy Statement, published on 5 June 2018, to reflect the net zero targets set out in legislation.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer.
Once proposals have been received, the government will review the Airports National Policy Statement in line with the requirements of the Planning Act 2008.