Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the national average car driving test waiting time is in weeks in October 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test in October 2025 was 21.9 weeks.
There were four test centres in total where the waiting time for a practical car driving test was 24 weeks for each month from July 2023 to October 2025. Those test centres are Bletchley, Goodmayes, Pinner and Wanstead.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the forthcoming closure of the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) disabled people still feel supported in travelling by air and (b) the aviation sector can access information to assist disabled passengers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is working closely with the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People and other government departments to ensure disabled people can continue to access the mobility services they need.
Aviation must be accessible for all. UK law entitles passengers to assistance from airports and airlines to help them to travel by air, with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ensuring compliance.
To strengthen support and improve aviation accessibility, the Department established the Aviation Accessibility Task and Finish Group, which published an independent report in July 2025. The report set out 19 recommendations across five key areas: training, passenger information and communications, mobility aid design and handling, non-visible impairments and tailored support.
The Group is now focused on helping the industry implement these recommendations and will report annually to the Department on progress.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement Scheme on the (a) economy and (b) environment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recognises the benefits that the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement scheme could bring to the region. The previous government stated their support for the project but did not provide funding for it to progress.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving tests a full-time driving examiner can conduct per year, allowing for annual leave.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A full-time driving examiner can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.
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 17 November 2025 to Question 88363 on Freight: Fuels Excise Duties, whether her Department holds data on the relative changes in operating costs for (a) rail freight and (b) road freight since fuel duty was first frozen for HGVs in 2011; and whether it has assessed the impact of that freeze on the competitiveness of rail freight.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to supporting rail freight, recognising its economic and environmental benefits and the role it plays in the resilience of the UK’s supply chain. However, both road and rail freight are privately owned and operated, with a wide range of costs and other criteria which could affect competitiveness. The fuel duty decisions referenced – which were taken primarily under the last Government – are only one part of this.
The Department does not hold data on relative changes to operating costs between road and rail freight. As part of continued support for the rail freight sector, the Department has operated the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2010. Network Rail also offers the Access Charges Discount Policy to stimulate growth, supporting new to rail traffic.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 16 October 2025, to Question 77642, on Driving under Influence: Scotland, whether research has been commissioned or produced on the effect of drink driving limits on the economic viability of pubs and other hospitality venues which serve alcohol.
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 10 years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences, such as drink driving. We intend to publish this by the end of the year.
Research was conducted by the University of Bath in 2021, Dr Jonathan James and Professor Marco Francesconi, looking at the effect of the introduction of the lower drink drive limit in Scotland. The authors found that the “alcohol industry remained unscathed, with no changes in production, prices, or employment”:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s0167629621000722#sec0014
On 5 December 2014 Scotland lowered the drink drive limit to that of the majority of European countries. In 2023 Transport Scotland published casualty estimates show that the “numbers of drink-drive collisions and casualties fell by 55% and 47% respectively between 2012 and 2022 (the latest year for which estimates are available)”:
www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2023/.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to (a) protect SME hauliers from pricing by major lorry manufacturers and (b) ensure access to third-party litigation funding for those hauliers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ensuring that consumers and SMEs are only required to pay fair prices is of the utmost importance and is a key feature of truly competitive markets. The UK has a robust competition enforcement landscape to ensure that this is achieved, both through public enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority and private enforcement routes through litigation.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the cost to SME hauliers of prices set by major lorry manufacturers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ensuring that consumers and SMEs are only required to pay fair prices is of the utmost importance and is a key feature of truly competitive markets. The UK has a robust competition enforcement landscape to ensure that this is achieved, both through public enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority and private enforcement routes through litigation.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken to help reduce flight delays at regional airports.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector. UK airports and airlines are therefore responsible for ensuring appropriate contingency plans are in place to minimise potential disruption. The Department regularly engages with the UK aviation sector around resilience issues and to gain assurance of their preparedness plans, particularly ahead of peak travel periods.
In the UK there is a robust legislative framework in place to protect consumers in the event of cancellation, long delays, and denied boarding. Airlines are responsible for ensuring they provide passengers with the required support, and this is enforced by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 27 October 2025, to Question 82997, on Restoring Your Railway Fund, how much central government money was written off as a consequence of the decision to cancel the fund.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Chancellor’s 29 July 2024 announcement confirmed that the Restoring Your Railway programme would be brought to a close, as one of the steps she was taking to address the pressures on the public finances created by unfunded policy announcements made by the previous government. No funding was "written off" as part of this process.