Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 53771 on Railways: Finance, what recent progress she has made on the Union Connectivity Development Fund.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Union Connectivity Development Fund (UCDF) has provided financial support for a range of transport connectivity projects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This includes funding to support four rail feasibility studies in Northern Ireland, the conclusions of which have just been published in a Translink report.
While there are no plans for further UCDF-supported projects once those already underway are concluded, the Department remains committed to its strong partnerships with the Devolved Governments, focusing on collaboration, capacity building and the sharing of best practice, where appropriate.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are sufficient replacement trains in operation following the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West does not result in severe disruption and cancellations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a list of any outstanding safety recommendations from the Air Accident Investigation Branch, along with the planned implementation date for each of the outstanding recommendations.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
All Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) Safety Recommendations are published within the investigation reports to which they relate. In addition, the AAIB provides regular updates on the status of these recommendations on its website. These updates include the responses received, the AAIB’s assessment of those responses, and the progress of any actions taken.
This information is also summarised in the AAIB Annual Safety Review which is published in the second quarter of each year. The review covers recommendations that were opened or closed in the previous year and includes its status at the time of publication as well as expected timelines for further updates.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential differences in terms and conditions between outsourced and directly employed staff within train operating companies, including pay, sick pay, pensions and travel facilities; and whether the Railways Bill will include measures to address employment practices and contractual arrangements affecting outsourced rail workers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not made an assessment of the potential differences in terms and conditions between outsourced and directly employed staff within train operating companies. These matters are managed directly by the operators and employers themselves. In the future, workforce issues, including employment practices and contractual arrangements, will be a matter for Great British Railways. The Railways Bill does not cover matters relating to employment.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to PQ82726 answered on 21 October 2025 about Cross Country Strikes, whether her Department has recently had discussions on that dispute with key parties to seek a resolution.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
CrossCountry kept the Department advised on their progress this autumn resolving issues raised by the RMT. It was welcome news that on 2 December the RMT confirmed to CrossCountry that proposed strike action was suspended and they were no longer in dispute with CrossCountry, so passengers can book their travel on this basis.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she will take through the Road Safety Strategy to raise awareness among motorists of their responsibilities when passing pedestrians on roads with no footpaths.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
My Department is developing our road safety strategy and we will set out more details in due course.
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 to include changes to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, including guidance on safe passing distances and speeds and the introduction of a hierarchy of road users. The advice on safe passing distances in Rule 163 says that motorists should “allow at least 2 metres of space and keep to a low speed when passing a pedestrian who is walking in the road (for example, where there is no pavement)”.
The Government's flagship road safety campaign, THINK! plays an important role in raising awareness of, and encouraging compliance with road safety legislation, including the changes to The Highway Code. THINK! ran campaigns to alert road users of the changes as they came into effect, and broader behaviour campaigns to encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. Over £2.4 million has been spent on media to promote this campaign, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.
We will continue to promote The Highway Code changes on THINK! and DfT social media channels and via our partner organisations.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how the Government plans to curb dangerous driving on the A52 in Broxtowe.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for ten years. Details on this will be published shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the comparative operational performance of publicly owned rail operators versus privately owned rail operators since December 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport holds all the operators that it funds to account for delivering performance for passengers. The Rail Minister meets regularly with the Managing Directors of train operators and their Network Rail counterparts to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.
The table below shows the most recent data on levels of reliability and punctuality for DfT funded services over the past year. This compares operators currently in public ownership and shows that reliability is higher for operators currently in public ownership under DfT Operator Ltd (DFTO) compared to private sector operators contracted by DfT.
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“Time to 3 punctuality” refers to the proportion of trains calling at stations within three minutes of schedule.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken to recover the 6120 missing responses from the Railways Bill consultation; and what steps she is taking to ensure the integrity of the consultation process for future consultations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has written to the Transport Select Committee on this issue, a copy of which can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50296/documents/271772/default/.
We have no evidence of other consultations being affected and are taking all steps necessary to ensure our suppliers prevent a recurrence. This includes reviewing our email filtering system logs for all open consultations and seeking separate external assurance on the configuration of our replacement filtering system.