My Lords, perhaps we could have a bit more of an explanation from the Government as to why this Bill is being taken not on the Floor of the House but in Grand Committee. This is a major piece of legislation which affects every rail user up and down the country. It was first announced in the first Ki…
My Lords, the number of drink-driving convictions is falling, which is very welcome news. But the number of drug-related driving offences is on the increase, which is very concerning indeed. In 2015, the law was changed to make it easier to get prosecutions. I think there is still a lack of understa…
My Lords, what role will the Government take in directing the infrastructure projects that they are responsible for to ensure that the companies participating in those projects take enough apprenticeships and give the proper training via the longer opportunities which those companies can naturally p…
My Lords, first and foremost, as some who uses the railway line from St Pancras to Derby, I say to the Minister that everyone shares the thoughts of the Government, and I am sure the Minister will come to the House as soon as he has any interim information on what the Rail Accident Investigation Bra…
My Lords, the Home Secretary said yesterday in her Statement in the Commons that she knows that it is
“difficult to wait any longer for answers ”.—[Official Report, Commons, 2/6/26; col. 1015.]
Why will it take three to four months for this inquiry to take place? These inquiries seem to go on for …
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, and to acknowledge his expertise and his dedication to the rail industry. When I saw that I had been drawn to speak after him, I knew that, by the time we came to that part of the debate, we would be on the transport section. I am g…
How has Andy Burnham managed to fund it, then, in Manchester alone?
Can the Leader of the House tell us why the Prime Minister ignored the advice of the then Cabinet Secretary, the noble Lord, Lord Case, to do the vetting before the appointment was announced?
My Lords, first, I wish the Minister a happy birthday. As we have been discussing, extreme weather is our new reality, leading to the Tarka line, which links Barnstaple to Exeter in the south-west, already being closed for 24 days this year as a result of the recent storms. Will the Government commi…
I think the previous chairman of Network Rail recalls one of the previous Secretaries of State telling him to do something like that—and, as an obedient public servant, that chairman went off and did it. The lines north of Exeter to which the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, referred are, rather unfort…
The commissioners are reporting regularly to the Secretary of State. They are independent of government, but they are carrying out valuable work in Birmingham. In their most recent report, they highlighted that the council has made very positive progress in key areas, including in service delivery. …
The noble Lord is absolutely right. Community transport is a very elegant way of solving some of these issues. I am glad he cannot remember when that funding was established, because I cannot either. It might even have been when the noble Lord was the Transport Secretary himself. But his point is we…
My Lords, the Government Chief Whip in his opening statement said that he is not an expert on the Parliament Act; I think he is soon going to become one. Perhaps I may ask him a question to ensure that the briefing covers it, if it does not already. In the event that this Bill does not make progress…
The noble Lord is familiar with that system; indeed, in his Government’s time, four franchises were already in public ownership as a consequence of that. By and large, they are doing better now than they were under the previous regime. You do not need an operator of last resort if you have managemen…
Again, I think that that may be inviting me to speculate on the next Budget. I am not going to give a running commentary on the speculation there has been so far. The Chancellor will set out the Government’s tax policy at the forthcoming Budget.
The noble Lord was not an absolute failure in the job; he was brilliant, and he of course appointed a very competent chair of Network Rail in his time—for which I am grateful, but my wife is not. My noble friend Lord Livermore is sat next to me, and he deals with Treasury matters; for the moment, at…
A number of Peers present at the moment, and indeed the Clerk of the Parliaments, went home rather late last night. As we did so—the door was conveniently left open for us to go through at our liberty—I noticed a large number of heavy-duty lorries outside, parked across the bus stop. This morning, a…
My Lords, my thoughts are with the people affected by the fire in Derbyshire. The noble Lord makes a strong argument, and I will take that away with me to reflect upon.