Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the press notice entitled Mirror, signal, manoeuvres: Military driving examiners mobilised to cut test backlog, published on 12 November 2025, what the total full-time employee equivalent contribution of the defence driving examiners is expected to be during the year of their deployment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has agreed with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) that 36 defence driving examiners (DDE) will do driving tests for one day a week for 12 months. This equates to a total full-time employee equivalent contribution of up to 6,500 more tests during the year of their deployment. The DDE will predominantly focus on car driving tests but will have the flexibility to do vocational testing as well if needed.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October 2024 to Question 6462 on Driving Tests: Waiting Lists, what the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test was at each (a) driving test centre and (b) zone in each month since April 2015.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The answer to Question 6462 on 9 October 2024 provided data covering April 2015 to September 2024. The attached spreadsheet shows the monthly average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for each month between October 2024 and October 2025.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the cost implications of transferring research and advisory functions from Network Rail to Great British Railways.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 86324 on DfT Operator: Standards, if she will publish copies of all written instructions issued by her Department to DfT Operator train operating companies since April 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not routinely publish instructions made to train operators.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 27 October (HL11341), what credit was claimed for the potential reduction in congestion and journey times arising from the widening scheme on the south-western stretches of the M25; for what period these claims were made; and what has been the actual experience.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The widening of the south-western stretches of the M25 took place over twenty years ago, with the most recent scheme (M25 J12-15) completed in 2005. Any information available on schemes completed a long time ago will be held in the National Archives.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the negative impact on soil cohesion when trackside trees and bushes are cut back hard and the roots destroyed by poison, or root killing herbicides, by Network Rail.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail recognises that vegetation can both support and affect the stability of railway embankments and cuttings. While roots help stabilise soil by absorbing moisture, vegetation can also increase risks such as soil drying and cracking, or rockfall.
To manage these risks, Network Rail operates in line with its vegetation and earthworks standards. Where trees are felled for safety or operational reasons, stump treatments are sometimes used to prevent regrowth, but they are never applied to retained trees or branches. In many locations, Network Rail cuts trees back to encourage regrowth, helping to maintain both biodiversity and soil stability.
Based on information provided by Network Rail, the Government’s assessment is that these measures help to minimise the risk of negative impacts on soil cohesion and support a balanced approach to safety, performance and environmental protection in managing lineside vegetation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85911 on Railways: Fares, what estimate she has made of the percentage of passengers travelling from (a) London, (b) York, (c) Newcastle and (d) Edinburgh who would experience fare increases under the demand-based pricing model trialled by LNER.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ‘Simpler Fares’ trial is running on routes from the London area to stations between and around Newcastle and Edinburgh. York is not a station in the trial.
The trial aims to address the situation where some ‘peak’ trains run nearly empty while some ‘off-peak’ trains are overcrowded by adjusting pricing to reduce crowding, making travel more comfortable for passengers.
The trial allows passengers to benefit from increased flexibility at lower prices than before, and LNER reports that, as of July 2025, around a third of the new Semi-Flexible (70 minutes Flex) fares sold in the preceding four weeks cost less than the old Super Off-Peak fare.
The results of this trial will be carefully considered before taking any further decisions.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of track access charges for operators outside Great British Railways following the implementation of the Railways Bill on applications for (a) new and (b) renewed access rights.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is fundamentally reforming the track access charging framework by transferring the responsibility for who sets charges from the ORR to GBR. This is so the body who maintains the infrastructure (GBR) will be able to set charges appropriately to recover those costs associated with running services on its network.
Regarding existing rights, the charges already in place will be honoured for the current control period (until April 2029).
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 77641 on Railways: Facilities Agreements, if she will publish (a) the terms of reference, (b) the memorandum of understanding and (c) associated documents which set out the role of DfT Operator Limited in operation of the railways, (i) prior to and (ii) subsequent to renationalisation.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she will publish environmental impact assessments for plans to expand (a) Heathrow, (b) Luton and (c) Gatwick airports that include Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.