Speeches by Mayer.

“Do we want to talk about vans now, or shall we save that?”

“We just did HGVs, but can you tell me about coaches in the same space?”

“Before you carry on, you are talking about local authorities as if they are just one, in the singular. When there is a combined authority, and it is the transport authority, it is getting the money—yet an awful lot of this is about highways. Is there any inherent problem or challenge, particularly as this will become a…”

“Is this definitely the right way of doing it? Do we need all these individual areas procuring their own very slightly different sets of charging infrastructure, when across the rest of continental Europe they have exactly the same infrastructure between countries? Why do we need it to be different when I cross the bord…”

“You will probably tell me this is a Home Office problem, but there is an increasing problem with cable theft, which means that charging points can be out of order. I had an example in my constituency where about 20 of them were all chopped off outside a Starbucks. Is the Department suggesting ways to try to make sure c…”

“Moving to street work permits—[Interruption]—which you know this Committee is interested in, despite recent changes that allow the use of street work permits, local authorities are often still using section 50 licences for charging infrastructure installation. Can the Department help local authorities feel comfortable …”

“Battery health worries would-be consumers, probably because we are used to phone batteries that go wrong after a short time. Labour’s manifesto committed to standardising battery certification. Helpfully, the UN has global technical regulation No. 22. In DFT’s written evidence to the Committee, you said that you were “…”

“Can you talk us through the relationship between the Department and local transport authorities in terms of trying to ensure we have an equitable spread of charging infrastructure?”

“On the depot charging scheme, in answer to a written question, Minister, you told me that three of the 92 projects were to do with coaches. Do you think we need to have a more targeted approach to coaches?”

“I have two other questions; this is just going back to the question I asked before about whether you do things differently. When the A421 near Bedfordshire was flooded for quite a long time and you had to pump out swimming pools-worth of water, when you put everything back did you do it differently?”

“RIS3 says that National Highways will support industry to accelerate the rollout of EV charging infrastructure. Can you talk us through what that is going to look like in practice?”

“Very briefly on trees if I can, in your document it says that you are committed to supporting government tree planting targets. Do you just mean planting them or do you mean making sure they survive as well?”

“The Government have recently published “Better Connected: A Strategy for Integrated Transport”. What do you see National Highways’ role as in terms of building a more integrated transport system?”

“How do you expect that climate adaptation is going to change your decision making across the strategic road network particularly on how you prioritise investment and design of schemes?”

“Your strategy talks about a shift towards renewals. To what extent does that mean that you have to change your ways of working, and do you have the right staff in place with the right skills for the future?”

“Do you have any sense at all, with numbers attached to it, of what good might look like at the end of this period?”

“What contributions do you think a renewals heavy programme can make for additional capacity?”

“Are all of your renewals like for like?”

“Are you forecasting that demand in any way?”

“Why are there no targets, even if it was a target with a range?”