Contributions
2,622 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDHGV Driver ShortagesI thank the noble Viscount for his suggestion. We in the Department for Transport are great supporters of rail freight. We have made significant investments in rail freight. It is…13 Sept 2021HANSARDHGV Driver ShortagesI recognise that my noble friend wants to open the floodgates to EU drivers, but I sense that he may be waiting quite a while for the flood to arrive, because as I have outlined…13 Sept 2021HANSARDHGV Driver ShortagesMy Lords, Brexit is not the basis of this. At the current time, Germany has a 45,000 to 60,000 HGV driver shortage, France 43,000, Spain 15,000, Italy 15,000, and Poland 124,000.…13 Sept 2021HANSARDHGV Driver ShortagesMy Lords, there is so much to respond to in that question. I am sure the noble Lord knows it is the case that this issue has been around for a very long time. I was talking to a…13 Sept 2021HANSARDHGV Driver ShortagesMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat in the form of a Statement the Answer to an Urgent Question asked in the other place on HGV drivers. The Statement is as…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenYes, the Government will. The Department for Transport consulted earlier this year on measures to make the supply of renewable hydrogen into transport more cost-effective within…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenI absolutely agree with my noble friend, and that is precisely what we are doing with these many different pots of money, which are either modal focused or net-zero focused as a…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenThe Government have invested £4 million through Innovate UK’s “first of a kind” competition for new traction technologies for hydrogen and rail. We have funded both hydrogen fuel…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenActually, the focus at the moment is on making sure we have the right data and information from R&D to further develop and commercialise large-scale hydrogen refuelling systems. I…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenI could happily spend many hours answering that question, but I will not on this occasion. The Government have a target of supporting 4,000 zero-emission buses by the end of this…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenThe noble Baroness is quite right: aviation is one of the modes that we think will have a great future in using hydrogen for propulsion. She mentioned airports, and I know that…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenI congratulate my noble friend and his company on their world-beating innovation, and I look forward to visiting his facility soon to see it in action. My department is working…13 Sept 2021HANSARDTransport: HydrogenThe noble Lord is certainly making the most of his Question today. It is important to say that the Government are not putting all our eggs in a single zero-emission basket. We…13 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesI agree with the noble Lord that technology will provide at least some of the answers to the problems we currently face. As he will know, Network Rail often installs special…07 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesThe noble Baroness has taken the Question a little more broadly than the brief, and I am afraid I will not be able to comment on the capacity of trains in the south-west. However,…07 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesI am not wholly sure where the noble Lord got the figure of £23 million a year, but I would point out that costs are not necessarily met by the taxpayer; it depends on the…07 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesMy Lords, reducing bridge strikes involves interventions from the owners of bridges—usually Network Rail—highways authorities and the owners and operators of vehicles. Network…07 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesThe regulations setting out what signs are needed are actually set out in chapter 4 of the T raffic S igns M anual , which is published by the DfT. We set out comprehensive advice…07 Sept 2021HANSARDRailways: Bridge StrikesAbsolutely, and I can reassure the noble Baroness that I have already been on the case in this matter. Bridge strikes have not suddenly arrived on our doorstep recently, although…07 Sept 2021HANSARDInternational Travel RulesI thank the noble Lord for his suggestions, and I will ensure that my colleagues at the Home Office listen to them as well. We have always been very clear that wait times at the…22 Jul 2021