Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Future of Flight Industry Group will consider air taxi routes in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Future of Flight Industry Group is the joint government and industry group for the future of flight in the UK. It acts as a senior decision-making body and provides insights to support the delivery of Future of Flight policy and recommendations on how to address challenges and opportunities facing the industry. One of the group’s aims is to deliver the objective of commercial electric vertical take-off and landing operations from 2028.
Whilst civil aviation is a reserved matter for the UK government, local transport is devolved.
Decisions on specific routes will be taken by industry, in consultation with devolved administrations, regional bodies and local authorities, within a framework that ensures accountability and supports the development of Future of Flight in a way that benefits communities.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps is she taking to support the development of electric vertical take off and landing vehicles in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport (DfT) is committed to the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry and to delivering on the future of flight objectives, which include piloted commercial electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) operations from 2028.
The Future Flight Challenge was a £300m investment programme designed to support the development of new aviation systems — including electric and autonomous aircraft, drones, advanced airspace management, and supporting infrastructure. This year, over £4.4m of investment is funding projects to demonstrate progress towards commercialisation of Future of Flight technologies. These investments included projects in devolved administrations, such as SATE 1 and SATE 2, which explored the application of eVTOL aircraft.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will list the allocation of responsibilities of Ministers in the Department for Transport.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The responsibilities of Ministers in the Department for Transport can be found below:
The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for all Department for Transport business, including:
The Minister for Rail is responsible for:
The Minister for Roads and Buses is responsible for:
The Minister for Local Transport is responsible for:
The Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation is responsible for:
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support businesses developing vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK aerospace sector is a global leader in aircraft innovation. Through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme, the Government is investing up to £2.3 billion in R&D to 2035. This includes over £34 million awarded to Vertical Aerospace, supporting its development of electric vertical take-off landing (eVTOL) aircraft and reinforcing the UK’s position in sustainable aviation. Such support will enable the government to meet its objective of commercial piloted eVTOL from 2028.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of the UK Climate Change Committee's report entitled the Sixth Carbon budget, published in December 2020.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As the UK’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, transport has an important role in the UK economy meeting the Sixth Carbon Budget.
Transport emissions reduced by 10% between 2019 and 2023, but must fall faster to achieve our legal targets. The Government is committed to achieving this through turbocharging the rollout of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, overhauling public transport services to make sustainable choices more convenient for more users, making the UK a world-leader in the production and use of sustainable aviation fuels, and delivering our Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy.
The Government will produce an updated delivery plan for meeting legislated carbon budgets later this year, with policy detail for all sectors provided up to the end of the Sixth Carbon Budget.
Asked by: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of licensing requirements on small and medium-sized enterprises in the aviation sector; and what steps they are taking to streamline regulatory processes for both labour mobility and innovative and low-emission technologies.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government’s New approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth, which launched in March, has introduced a host of initiatives to streamline regulatory processes across aviation and all other sectors. These include committing to cut the administrative costs of regulation to businesses, whether small, medium sized or large, by 25% by the end of the Parliament.
Government is funding the Civil Aviation Authority to deliver this for innovation and low emission aviation technologies through: the Future of Flight Programme that is developing the regulatory framework to enable innovative aviation technology, such as electric Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft (eVTOL) and Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (e.g. drones); and the Hydrogen Regulatory Challenge to support its engagement with innovators on the development of the regulatory framework for this technology.
The Government and the Civil Aviation Authority are also taking steps to streamline the regulatory processes for people working in the sector, including by bringing in a digitised process for commercial pilot licence applications to speed up and deliver admin savings for up to 6,500 pilots every year.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential role of technology in the decarbonisation of the transport sector.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Technological solutions will play a critical role in decarbonising transport across all modes, including through accelerated electric vehicle rollout and low carbon fuel deployment in shipping and aviation. Government will produce a plan later this year for reducing emissions from all sectors, including transport, in line with legislated carbon budgets.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of banning the advertising of (a) sports utility vehicles, (b) flights and (c) other high carbon products on levels of carbon emissions.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy
The Government is committed to reducing emissions from road transport, aviation and high carbon products in support of our national missions to kickstart economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower. This includes overhauling public transport services to make sustainable choices more convenient for more transport users, turbocharging the rollout of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, and making the UK a world-leader in the production and use of sustainable aviation fuels. The government will set out further detail on its plans for reducing emissions from all sectors later this year.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating advertising in the UK across traditional forms of media (print, radio, TV) and online. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sister organisations to the ASA, are responsible for codifying the standards for advertising to the marketing industry as part of their UK Broadcast Advertising Code (‘BCAP Code’) and UK Non-Broadcast Advertising Code (‘CAP Code’), which include standards regarding environmental claims. The government is not involved in these codes, nor in the investigations and enforcement delivered by the ASA.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to review compliance costs related to net-zero regulations.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy
Regulation plays a critical role in supporting the low-carbon technologies of the future, whether in electric vehicles or sustainable aviation fuel. DESNZ is taking steps to review the compliance costs of regulation as part of the Government’s Regulation Action Plan. For example, the Department has started a review of the energy and emissions reporting landscape to identify opportunities to reduce undue administrative burden, and has launched its Review of Ofgem.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to support the development of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Government is supporting and accelerating the introduction and use of new aviation technologies, including electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) and other zero-emission regional air mobility aircraft.
My Department is working closely with industry, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and community representatives on the uses of these aircraft to ensure that they are sustainable, safe and offer benefits and opportunities across the UK.
I have committed my Department to working toward seeing initial demonstrations of piloted eVTOLs, followed by routine operations and then demonstrations of autonomous eVTOL flights - once the technology has been proven. I will be chairing the Future of Flight Industry Group, bringing government and the CAA together with industry leaders to discuss future of flight technologies, including eVTOLs.
The Jet Zero Taskforce Expert Group, convening representatives from government, industry, and academia with an interest in aviation decarbonisation, have agreed to establish a dedicated group to unlock barriers to the commercial operation of zero-carbon hydrogen aircraft.