The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how far they have progressed in preparing the regulations required following the passing of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 received Royal Assent on 12 May 2016. Work is ongoing to develop regulations and they will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require bus operators to collaborate to make bus journeys more integrated.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Bus operators and local transport authorities can work together to improve bus services for passengers through voluntary arrangements and statutory partnerships. The Bus Services Bill will improve the range of partnership options available to authorities and operators.
The Bill will make the statutory partnership schemes more attractive by removing the requirement that the scheme must involve the provision of specific facilities. The Bill will also create a new enhanced partnership arrangement. This will enable local transport authorities to set the frequency and timing of specific services, introduce a zonal ticketing scheme, mandate types of payment that must be accepted, and require certain information to be given to passengers. Any proposals must receive sufficient support from the bus operators before they can be introduced.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require bus operators to make buses disability friendly.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Single deck buses designed to carry over twenty two passengers on local and scheduled routes must already comply with the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR), including incorporating a designated wheelchair space and boarding facilities, priority seating and colour-contrasting hand-holds. Double deck buses must comply by the 1st January next year, and coaches by 2020. As at 2014/15, 95% of buses in England were low floor or had an accessibility certificate, compared to 80% in 2009/10.
Positive driver interactions and accessible on-board information also make a big difference for many disabled passengers. We are developing best practice guidance on providing disability awareness training for drivers, and have supported innovative approaches for providing next stop information on-board vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require bus operators to use greener fuel.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
A series of measures have been brought in in recent years to encourage bus operators to use greener fuels.
Under the Green Bus Fund which ran from 2009-2014, £89m of Government funding helped purchase over 1200 buses. These vehicles met strict rules covering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, compared with ordinary buses, taking into account both the production and consumption of the fuel. The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred more low emission buses.
The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive under which eligible services receive an additional 6p per kilometre.
The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements.
The Government has also invested over £26m since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what types of data they envisage bus companies outside London will have to make available under the provisions of the Bus Services Bill.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The provisions of the Bus Services Bill enable the creation of a single repository of information that could contain information about routes, timetables, fares and tickets, as well as live information about bus arrival times. The information would be open to the public and could be used by software developers to create, for example, information applications for mobile devices.
The detail of what information is to be provided, and in what format, will be developed through close consultation with bus operators, local transport authorities and potential users and will be included in secondary legislation subject to the affirmative procedure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of unlicensed firearms in circulation in the UK.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The table provided contains statistics on the number of licensed firearms and shotguns, by police force area, in England and Wales as at 31 March 2015.
At this time there was a total of 1.34 million licensed shotguns and 0.53 million licensed firearms.
The Home Office does not centrally hold any estimates for unlicensed firearms.
Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many licensed firearms there are in the UK broken down by police force area.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The table provided contains statistics on the number of licensed firearms and shotguns, by police force area, in England and Wales as at 31 March 2015.
At this time there was a total of 1.34 million licensed shotguns and 0.53 million licensed firearms.The Home Office does not centrally hold any estimates for unlicensed firearms.
Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of powdered or vaporised alcohol and its availability.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is taking action to ensure that alcohol in a powdered or vapourised form is subject to controls under the Licensing Act 2003 through a clause in the Policing and Crime Bill currently before Parliament.
This amends the definition of alcohol to cover its form in any state. We are not aware of powdered alcohol being sold in the UK. Vaporised alcohol is sold as a novelty item and its sale has not been widespread across the UK. Licensing authorities treat it in the same way as liquid alcohol for licensing purposes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK is still bound by the provisions of Directive 2004/83/EC on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, despite having not opted in to the recast Directive 2011/95/EU on standards for the qualification of third country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK remains bound by the provisions of the Procedures Directive 2005/85/EC and the Qualification Directive 2004/83/EC and not the recast Directives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK is still bound by the provisions of Directive 2005/85/EC on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status despite having not opted in to the recast Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK remains bound by the provisions of the Procedures Directive 2005/85/EC and the Qualification Directive 2004/83/EC and not the recast Directives.