Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to question 95755 of 1 December on 30mph speed limits, what assessment she has made of changes in the levels of adherence to 30mph speed limits over the past 70 years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport produces an annual publication on speed compliance here: Vehicle speed compliance statistics for Great Britain: 2024 - GOV.UK based on speeds recorded at Automated Traffic Counter sites.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of (a) named day questions and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by her Department within the required timescale in (i) May 2025, (ii) June 2025, (iii) July 2025, (iv) August 2025, (v) September 2025, (vi) October 2025 and (vii) November 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the importance of the effective and timely handling of written parliamentary questions (PQs).
The proportion of Parliamentary Questions answered by the Department during the May-November 2025 period is as follows:
Month answered | Named Day Questions answered on time | Ordinary Written Questions answered on time |
May 2025 | 100% | 97.50% |
June 2025 | 100% | 100% |
July 2025 | 99% | 100% |
August 2025 | N/A | N/A |
September 2025 | 95% | 99% |
October 2025 | 94% | 96% |
November 2025 | 91% | 92% |
The House of Commons Procedure Committee monitors departmental PQ performance and publishes a report of the governments consolidated PQ data following the end of each session.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of ticket sales for season tickets from (a) Longbridge, (b) Northfield and (c) Kings Norton to (i) Birmingham stations, (ii) Redditch and (iii) Bromsgrove in the 2024-2025 financial year.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of season tickets is shown below
Origin | Destination | Number Of Season Tickets |
Longbridge | Birmingham stations | 1,369 |
Longbridge | Bromsgrove | 162 |
Longbridge | Redditch | 216 |
Northfield | Birmingham stations | 2,001 |
Northfield | Bromsgrove | 15 |
Northfield | Redditch | 93 |
Kings Norton | Birmingham stations | 3,446 |
Kings Norton | Bromsgrove | 43 |
Kings Norton | Redditch | 149 |
The Birmingham stations group includes Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide a list of all transport schemes given approval to progress following the Spending Review which had a lower benefit cost ratio score than the Ely Area Rail Capacity Enhancement.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) scheme was paused by the previous government in 2021, and no further funding was allocated to develop, update, or progress the EACE business case. As a result, there has been no ongoing work from which to produce a current or up-to-date benefit–cost ratio, meaning there is no basis upon which to provide the comparisons requested.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 02 December 2025 to Question 94590 on Railways: Season Tickets, what the cost of a standard-class annual rail season ticket from (a) Lostwithiel, (b) Bodmin Parkway, (c) Liskeard and (d) Saltash stations to London Paddington was between 03 March 2024 and 01 March 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The cost of Annual Season tickets to London Paddington from a) was £24,856.00, b) Bodmin Parkway was £24,856.00, c) Liskeard was £24,856.00, and d) Saltash was £24,648.00 between 3 March 2024 and 1 March 2025.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Great British Railways has published (a) service performance standards, (b) routes for consolidation, and (c) a transition timetable in November 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Great British Railways does not yet exist.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints were reported to British Transport Police for (a) antisocial behaviour, (b) sexual harassment, (c) sexual assault and (d) physical assault on trains in each of the past three years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police have provided the following figures for the last 3 years. Passenger numbers have been increasing year-on-year since the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions and will account for some of the increase in crime reports. Overall, the railway is a safe environment, with 26.0 crimes recorded per million passenger journeys in 2024/25 (0.0026%), this was 26.8 in 2023/24 and 24.4 in 2022/23.
Offence/Incident Type | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Antisocial Behaviour | 30998 | 32900 | 40932 |
Unwanted Sexual Behaviour | Not available | 1830 | 1958 |
Sex offences | 2251 | 2433 | 2655 |
Violence including assault | 12260 | 14582 | 15522 |
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what transparency, reporting and accounting requirements will be placed on the Office of Rail and Road to undertake effective monitoring and competition oversight of GBR’s retail activities.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
GBR’s licence will require it to comply with a code of practice, which will be owned and managed by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The code will govern GBR’s retail industry management functions and other relevant activity. It will incorporate clear requirements for how GBR interacts with all market participants and impose separation of decision-making where relevant.
Under this approach, third parties will be able to challenge any GBR decisions or actions they consider to be non-compliant, by raising them directly with the ORR. The ORR will be required to investigate and, if it considers that GBR has not complied, it will be able to demand corrective action by issuing binding orders.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, What assessment has been made of the adequacy of training in the use of body worn cameras for rail staff on Train companies contracted to her Department.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Train Operating Companies (TOCs) must comply with the law, which includes the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Office of Rail and Road, as the independent railway safety regulator for the UK, oversees these legal requirements. Its enforcement powers derive from the aforementioned 1974 Act, and range from giving advice and information, through to prosecution in the courts. This covers issues such as lone working, violence at work etc. The Secretary of State also requests through National Rail Contracts that TOCs measure perceptions of staff safety and develop action plans accordingly. We encourage rail operators to consider the personal safety of its rail staff, including encouraging greater use of Body Worn Video (BWV), which was proven in a 2019 trial to reduce violence against BWV wearing staff at railway stations by 47%.
Asked by: Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what provision of what statute requires that cars sold in Northern Ireland from 1 February 2026 must have EU Vehicle Type Approval; and whether that law changes on 1 January 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The EU type approval regulations for new cars are applied in Northern Ireland by Article 5(4) and Annex II of the Windsor Framework. This has applied since the original protocol entered into force on the 1st January 2021 and will continue to apply after the 1st February 2026.
There will be no changes relating to the application of the EU type approval requirements in Northern Ireland on 1st January 2026.