Tag: Lord Greaves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 December (HL3988), what is the expected difference, in each county, between an increase of two per cent of the council tax levied by counties in two-tier areas, and the same increase in total if levied by both the counties and all the districts in each of those counties.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The flexibility is not being offered to districts, and so we have not calculated figures for a hypothetical difference. Councils, including non-metropolitan districts, can set any council tax increase they like. If the increase is above the threshold approved by the House of Commons, they must obtain the consent of their local electorate in a referendum.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the role of district councils in two-tier areas in the maintenance of drainage systems, the prevention of local flooding, and action when flooding occurs.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

District councils have several responsibilities and powers in relation to flooding and land drainage. These include powers to carry out flood risk management works on ordinary watercourses, powers to make bye-laws to manage flood risk in the authority’s area from ordinary watercourses and to secure the efficient working of a drainage system in the authority’s district or area. Those in coastal areas are also Coastal Protection Authorities.

District councils are also responsible for a set of civil protection duties for emergencies. Plans are regularly reviewed and tested as part of local exercise arrangements.

Defra commissioned an independent evaluation into the arrangements for managing local flood risk under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The evaluation has now concluded and will be published in due course. One of the areas the evaluation explored was partnership working between the Lead Local Flood Authority and other risk management authorities, including district councils.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether it is legal to cause a driverless vehicle to be operated on a public highway, and if not, what legislation would be necessary to allow that to happen in the future.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

In February 2015, the Government published “The Pathway to Driverless Cars”: a detailed review of the regulation around the use of driverless cars on UK roads. It was followed by the Code of Practice for testing which was published in July 2015 – a light-touch non-regulatory approach that established the UK as among the best places in the world to test driverless cars.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of the present design of ballot papers for persons with difficulties of sight.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The design of ballot papers used in elections and referendums in the UK was revised by the last Government to make them clearer and easier to understand for voters. The changes were subject to a programme of user-testing involving representative samples of the voting public. RNIB, who were consulted on the changes, considered that they did not raise significant issues for blind and partially sighted people

Returning Officers are required to display an enlarged version of the ballot paper in each polling station and provide upon request a large hand-held sample copy to assist visually impaired electors to vote. They must also ensure each polling station is equipped with a tactile voting device to assist blind / partially sighted electors. This device has raised numbers and numbers in Braille and fits over the ballot paper. When the Presiding Officer or a companion reads out the list of candidates or parties to the voter, it enables them to cast their vote independently and in secret.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by KPMG Skills to Build?, stating that housebuilding capacity could be restricted by a construction skills shortage; and whether they will take steps to increase the amount of education and training places for construction trades.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government has made no separate assessment of the KPMG report. There are a number of reports that provide a good indication of the skills the construction industry believes it will require between 2015 and 2019, for both housing and wider construction.

The Government values post-16 education, including construction education and training, highly. We have made substantial progress driving up the quality and rigour of the post-16 offer, and area-based reviews of 16+ provision are providing an opportunity for institutions and localities to restructure provision to achieve maximum impact.

Initiatives, by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), or flowing from the work of the Construction Leadership Council, are seeking to encourage more young people into construction careers including the launch of the GO-Construct website and work with the National Careers Service and Construction Ambassadors for schools. In addition the CITBhas developed a range of initiatives, working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Armed Forces resettlement service and Local Enterprise Partnerships, to encourage experienced individuals into the sector.

While CITB returned over £42m last year, supporting 18,500 first, second and third year construction apprentices, it is clear that the sector is not currently offering enough apprenticeships nor opportunities for young people to train. The 17,000 apprenticeships starts in 2015/16 is still some way below the 27,000 offered in 2006. The CITB has developed a number of shared apprenticeships schemes and reformed the grant process to encourage apprenticeship take up. In addition, the Government continues to pay AGE grant, on top of its usual support for the training of young apprentices, to encourage companies to take on their first apprentices.

At the summer budget the Chancellor announced a levy on large employers across all sectors to fund apprenticeships. This will link larger employers directly to its skills investment and promote the value, and drive the uptake, of apprenticeships.

The Chancellor will announce further details of the apprenticeship levy, including the scope and rate, at the Spending Review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of (1) batteries, and (2) other waste electrical and electronic equipment, are recycled by (a) domestic households, (b) small and medium-sized commercial enterprises, (c) large commercial enterprises, (d) government departments, (e) local authorities, and (f) other public sector bodies.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government does not hold information in the form requested, but the overall collection and recycling rates for 2014 for these products and equipment expressed as a percentage of tonnage placed on the market is: –

36% of portable batteries;

37% of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Industrialand automotive batteries are subject to a landfill disposal ban. Accordingly, all such batteries have to be recycled.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what statutory duties local authorities have to provide library and library-related services.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 places a duty on local authorities to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. It is for individual local authorities to determine how best to provide this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what reasons there are for the recent and proposed closures to road traffic at Allen’s West Level Crossing at Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, and what action they plan to take to minimise any future unplanned and planned closures.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Network Rail operates at arm’s-length from the Department for Transport and is not expected to involve Ministers in its regular operational decisions such as its proposals for works at level crossings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which national and local authorities have the powers to allow structures and equipment to be erected on or adjacent to highways in order to allow driverless vehicles to use those highways; which authorities would be responsible for giving technical accreditation and approval to such erections; whether a person responsible for the operation of a driverless vehicle requires a driving licence or some other kind of authorisation; and whether a person when operating a driverless vehicle is required to be present in that vehicle while it is moving or otherwise in operation on a highway.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Any structure off the highways would need local planning permission. For structures on the highways, local planning authorities have a power to stop the erection of structures within the permitted development rights of all highway authorities where they think there would be an environmental impact. This includes visual as well as other impacts.

The local Highway authority is responsible for technical approval of structures‎ within the highway boundary. In the case of the Strategic Road Network the agency would be Highways England and design would be in line with the requirements of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB).

In February 2015 the Government published “The Pathway to Driverless Cars”: a detailed review of the regulation around the use of driverless cars on UK roads. It established that it is possible for a driverless vehicle to be tested on UK roads provided that, among other conditions, a suitably qualified test driver or test operator would be in a position to take control of the vehicle if necessary. A test operator is someone who oversees testing of an automated vehicle without necessarily being seated in the vehicle, since some automated vehicles might not have conventional manual controls and/or a driver’s seat.

The Government is currently working to establish what changes to the domestic and international regulatory system will be necessary to safely enable the sale and use of driverless vehicle technology on UK roads.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether train operating companies are required to offer the cheapest relevant ticket to passengers at ticket offices, on websites and from ticket machines; and if so, what action they are taking to make sure that this happens in all cases.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Rail passengers are protected by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage and also the terms of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA), an inter-operator agreement that governs, among other things, the retail of rail tickets. These provisions safeguard passengers’ interests by requiring train operators to provide clear information and to sell the most suitable ticket for their journey. This will, in many cases, be the cheapest ticket. Operators are required, under the terms of the TSA, to ask sufficient suitable questions in order to ascertain and sell the best ticket for each passenger’s needs.

There are a wide range of tickets on offer, including some very low-priced fares which allow more people to travel by rail. However, we recognise that this choice can often be confusing for passengers. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have worked with industry to develop a Code of Practice on ticket retailing, this was published in March 2015. The aim of this Code is to give passengers clearer information and access to the most appropriate tickets, regardless of the sales channel. . Working alongside the ORR in its role as consumer regulator, we continue to challenge the industry to address the remaining issues as soon as possible. The Rail Minister has also raised this with the Rail Delivery Group that represents all train operating companies as there is clearly more to be done.