The UK and EU both provide for visa-free travel for short-term visits for each other's nationals in accordance with our respective laws.

The UK's offer to EU citizens is the same as our offer to the nationals of all other countries. Similarly, the EU has legislated to grant British citizens the same visa-free travel permissions they offer as standard to all other third countries.

The Government is focused on the smooth, robust and effective implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

FCDO's consultancy spend in 2019/20 was £2.96m.

Legacy DFID's current system does not allow a breakdown of consultancy spend per contract type, this information is not held centrally but at country office level. Below is a breakdown of consultancy spend for legacy FCO:

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, among other authorities, frequently presses diplomatic missions and international organisations to pay outstanding parking fines, National Non-Domestic Rates and Congestion Charge debt. The Director of Protocol raises the issue in his introductory meetings with new Heads of Mission whose missions are in debt to the relevant authorities. Protocol Directorate writes to such missions and international organisations giving them the opportunity to either pay their outstanding debts, or appeal against specific fines if they consider that they have been issued incorrectly. Two thirds of all diplomatic missions pay the London Congestion Charge, but as diplomatic missions and diplomats are immune from prosecution in UK courts without a waiver of immunity which can only be granted by the sending State, there is no legal course of action which Her Majesty's Government or local authorities can take to enforce payment of the Congestion Charge or parking fines.

Diplomatic vehicles cannot be clamped or otherwise impounded, enjoying immunity in international law.

We are currently focussed on the immediate humanitarian response to Hurricane Irma, and supporting the territories’ preparations for Hurricane Maria which we expect to cause further damage to some of the territories over the coming days. Each Overseas Territory has its own unique constitution, laws and powers to generate revenue. Therefore, the question of how off-shore companies or funds might contribute to the costs of repairing infrastructure is one for the respective Overseas Territories Governments.

We are working in partnership with the Overseas Territories Governments on a long term plan to help repair the damage caused. Most of the people affected by Hurricane Irma in the Overseas Territories are British nationals and the UK stands ready to support their governments in their recovery efforts.

As recommended by the 2015 Hendy Review, Network Rail is committed to disposing of assets, including freight estate, where ownership is not essential for the running of the railway. As well as generating funds to reinvest into the railway, this will allow Network Rail to focus on its core business of running a safe, reliable and growing network.

At this point in time all options are still being considered and no firm decisions have been made about freight asset sales. The detail of any expected future asset sales is commercially sensitive.

Spending Review 2015 set a long term funding envelope for HS2 of £55.7 billion in 2015 prices, which remains unchanged.

The key funding assumption remains that HS2 will be fully publicly funded upfront. The Department for Transport and HS2 Limited will investigate private financing and third party funding, where this could reduce cost to the taxpayer and promote value for money.

In relation to Manchester Airport station, the funding arrangements are yet to be concluded but the Government has made clear that development of a station at Manchester Airport is dependent on agreeing an appropriate local funding package. HS2 Ltd’s budgeting is in line with that and HS2 Ltd will continue to pursue avenues that encourage third party, non-Governmental funding.

Chris Gibb provided his technical advice to the Secretary of State for Transport on 30 December 2016. The advice will be published shortly, with limited redactions to protect legal and commercially sensitive information.

The total budget for High Speed 2 is £55.7bn. HS2 Ltd is currently procuring contractors to deliver the first Phase of HS2. The Department for Transport does not release details of the estimated cost of constructing individual components of the scheme as this information is commercially sensitive.

The Secretary of State for Transport still expects to make a decision later this year on Phase 2b of HS2, further to the recently closed consultation (HS2 Crewe to Manchester, West Midlands to Leeds: Route Refinement Consultation 2016).

HS2 Ltd does not expect any material time or cost delay, following the CH2M decision, to the planned deposit of its hybrid bill for Phase 2b in 2019.

CH2M chose to withdraw their bid and issued a press statement explaining their reasons for that decision.

The HS2 Ltd invitation to tender did not have a penalty provision.

The current West Coast Main Line (WCML) has been optimised for tilting trains which operate up to a maximum speed of 125 mph, whilst non-tilting trains are limited to operating at up to 110 mph.

However, north of the future Golborne Junction, track geometry on some sections of line may allow non-tilting passenger trains to operate up to 125 mph within the existing operational rules and without track changes. Further, minor infrastructure alternations could be made on the transitions between straight and curved sections of track to optimise the speed profile for non-tilting trains further, which would make no change to the speed profile of existing tilting trains. The journey time differential between a tilting train and non-tilting train would therefore be reduced.

The government holds regular discussions with Network Rail to discuss a wide range of topics, including the asset disposal programme. This programme is ongoing and the detail of any future sales are commercially sensitive.

HM Treasury is engaged in these asset sales discussions, working through the Department for Transport, who manage the relationship between Network Rail and central government alongside UK Government Investments. Specifically, HM Treasury is represented on a Network Rail chaired meeting where potential sales of assets are discussed and where its input can be sought.

I understand that no discussions have taken place between Highways England and the Treasury about the sale of operational land.

Highways England own 21 Motorway Service Area sites and are currently looking at how to secure best value for the taxpayer from these sites.

No estimates have been made from the sale of motorways or trunk roads.

My Lords, assessments of the safety regime for shipping are undertaken by the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee. The particular issue of large passenger ship evacuation was the subject of significant additional work following the loss of the “Costa Concordia”, and regulations relating to passenger safety drills were subsequently adopted internationally.

HS2 Ltd has collaborated with several high speed rail Infrastructure Managers, including SNCF, to ascertain the implications of running trains at 360km/h.

Using recommendations based on experiences of managing High Speed Lines in Europe, HS2 Ltd intends to incorporate specific components in the track design which will improve the system performance whilst utilising an Infrastructure Management System that determines asset performance and condition at all times.

The combination of these factors and the use of innovative maintenance activities, that go beyond current best practice, should reduce the maintenance implications of running at these speeds.

The inclusion of a link at Handsacre to allow HS2 trains to pass onto the West Coast Main Line is contained in the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Act 2017. Furthermore, the Government has given a specific assurance to build the Handsacre link before the launch of Phase One services.

The Phase 2a strategic outline business case, published in November 2015, includes Handsacre Junction in our assessment of the benefits of the 2a scheme, and the Full Y scheme. Handsacre Junction would allow us to serve stations along the West Coast Mainline such as Stafford. Government also sees the potential benefits of serving Stoke-on-Trent in support of the wider development plans of the Northern Gateway Development Zone and the ambitions of the Midlands Engine. The Secretary of State has therefore asked HS2 Ltd to take forward more detailed work on train planning for options to serve Stoke via Handsacre Junction, including operational feasibility in both 2027 and 2033.

However, we do not break down the economic benefits of different parts of the scheme, including Handsacre Junction.

Reducing the maximum speed of trains from 360km/h to 320km/h would result in trains taking longer to complete their overall journey. This means that, unless we buy more train sets, we will not able to run as many train services on HS2 and therefore capacity will be reduced.

In my previous answer [HL5562], reduced capacity was also in the context of running tilting trains at 300km/h on the HS2 network. Mixing tilting trains running at 300km/h on HS2 with non-tilting trains running at 360km/h would also reduce capacity because it would reduce the number of train paths available per hour. Furthermore, the response to our market sounding of rolling stock manufacturers has indicated that titling trains offer reduced seating capacity per train set compared with non-tilt.

The minor line speed improvements on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), mainly north of Preston, would increase the maximum permissible speed for non-tilting rolling stock to towards the maximum permissible speed for tilting rolling stock. These improvements would not therefore have any effect on the journey time of four hours and seventeen minutes for Pendolino services between London and Glasgow.

The Government expects, as set out in the Aviation Policy Framework 2013, the cost of any surface access works required solely to enable airport expansion to be met by the promoter.

Where proposed projects have wider beneficiaries, the Government will expect the airport operator to fund an appropriate proportion of the costs based on the direct benefits for the airport.

Under the terms of the Railways Act 2005, the publication of the Government’s High Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available responds to the publication of the independent Office of Rail and Road’s Review Initiation Notice. Following publication of the Review Initiation Notice, Government is obliged to respond within three months.

The Government is currently consulting on a draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) which will set the framework for any planning process, should the NPS be designated. The draft NPS proposes targets to increase the number of airport users accessing the airport by public transport.

As part of any planning application the promoter would need to set out in detail how it would achieve these targets as part of its plans for mitigating the impact of expansion.

The Government expects, as set out in the Aviation Policy Framework 2013, the cost of any surface access works required solely to enable airport expansion to be met by the promoter.

In the case of Heathrow expansion, this would mean that Heathrow Airport Limited, will meet the cost of the surface access improvements necessary to allow expansion of the airport, including re-alignment of the M25, the A4 and A3044, as well as airport and terminal access roads.

Where proposed projects have wider beneficiaries, such as Western Rail Access and Southern Rail Access, the Government will expect Heathrow to fund an appropriate proportion of the costs based on the direct benefits for the airport.