Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating standardised wildfire (a) definitions and (b) recording protocols.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included reviewing existing frameworks and governance. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Officials continue to engage actively with key stakeholders including landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department's planned timetable is for reviewing the national wildfire framework.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included reviewing existing frameworks and governance. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Officials continue to engage actively with key stakeholders including landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost of a practical driving test was in each year since 1995.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows the cost of a car practical driving test on weekdays (normal hours) and on evenings, weekends and bank holidays (out of hours), from 1 April 1994 to 30 March 2009. The table also shows the cost of an extended car practical driving test for disqualified drivers.
Please note that the cost of a car practical driving test has remained the same since 30 March 2009.
Car Practical Driving Tests - Cost (£)
Driving Test | Extended Test | |||
Date Introduced | Normal Hours | Out of Hours | Normal Hours | Out of Hours |
30-Mar-09 | 62.00 | 75.00 | 124.00 | 150.00 |
01-Apr-08 | 56.50 | 67.00 | 113.00 | 134.00 |
01-Apr-06 | 48.50 | 58.00 | 97.00 | 116.00 |
10-Aug-05 | 45.50 | 55.00 | 91.00 | 110.00 |
08-Dec-04 | 42.00 | 51.00 | 84.00 | 102.00 |
14-Nov-02 | 39.00 | 48.00 | 78.00 | 96.00 |
27-Aug-01 | 38.00 | 47.00 | 76.00 | 94.00 |
10-Feb-99 | 36.75 | 46.00 | 73.50 | 92.00 |
01-Apr-98 | 32.75 | 43.00 | 65.50 | 86.00 |
01-Apr-97 | 31.00 | 41.00 | 62.00 | 82.00 |
29-May-95 | 28.50 | 38.50 | 57.00 | 77.50 |
01-Apr-94 | 27.50 | 37.50 | 55.00 | 77.50 |
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled On track and online: landmark deal to end mobile dead zones, published on 26 June, if she will list the locations of the 57 tunnels due to receive improved coverage in Project Reach.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The list of tunnels is shown below. Please note the exact timings are subject to commercial discussions with Mobile Network Operators:
| Tunnel | Region | Route |
| MONUMENT LANE TUNNEL | North West & Central | Central |
| BEECHWOOD TUNNEL | North West & Central | Central |
| NEW STREET NORTH WESTERN LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | Central |
| NEW STREET MIDLAND LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | Central |
| POTTERS BAR EAST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| POTTERS BAR WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| WELWYN NORTH TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| PEASCLIFFE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| STOKE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| WOOD GREEN CENTRE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| WOOD GREEN EAST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| WOOD GREEN WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| BARNET WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| BARNET EAST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| BARNET CENTRE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| COPENHAGEN CENTRE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| COPENHAGEN WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| GASWORKS CENTRE TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| GASWORKS WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| WELWYN SOUTH TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| HADLEY WOOD SOUTH EAST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| HADLEY WOOD SOUTH WEST TUNNEL | Eastern | East Coast |
| CLERKENWELL NO 1 | Eastern | Thameslink |
| LUDGATE TUNNEL | Southern | Kent |
| ARDSLEY TUNNEL | Eastern | North East |
| MACCLESFIELD TUNNEL | North West & Central | North West |
| FARNWORTH TUNNEL | North West & Central | North West |
| FARNWORTH TUNNEL | North West & Central | North West |
| PRESTBURY TUNNEL | North West & Central | North West |
| NEWPORT NEW TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Wales |
| NEWPORT OLD TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Wales |
| KILSBY TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| WATFORD TUNNEL SLOW LINES | North West & Central | West Coast |
| WATFORD TUNNEL FAST LINES | North West & Central | West Coast |
| PRIMROSE HILL SLOW LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| PRIMROSE HILL FAST LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| SHUGBOROUGH TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| STOWE HILL TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| NORTHCHURCH FAST LINE TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| NORTHCHURCH UP SLOW TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| NORTHCHURCH DOWN SLOW TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| KENSAL GREEN FAST LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| KENSAL GREEN SLOW LINES TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| HARECASTLE NEW TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| LINSLADE UP SLOW TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| LINSLADE CENTRE BORE (UP FAST/DN SLOW) | North West & Central | West Coast |
| LINSLADE DOWN FAST TUNNEL | North West & Central | West Coast |
| SODBURY TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| PATCHWAY UP NEW TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| WHITEBALL TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| MARLEY TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| POLPERRO TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| TREVERIN TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| PARSONS TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| ALDERTON TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| WIVELISCOMBE TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
| BUCKSHEAD TUNNEL | Wales & Western | Western |
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's press notice entitled On track and online: landmark deal to end mobile dead zones, published 26 June 2025, if she will publish the location of the rail lines due to get improved coverage with 1,000 of ultra fast fibre optic cable.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
New high-count 432 fibre |
|
|
|
Routes | KMs |
London Kings Cross to Newcastle | 432 |
Birmingham New Street to Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Deansgate | 133 |
London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street (via Chilterns) | 177 |
London Paddington to Bristol Parkway to Cardiff | 235 |
Other routes - Great Western Route | 26 |
Total Km | 1003 |