Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Network Rail’s progress in (a) undertaking risk assessments for assets that do not comply with its internal standards and (b) evidencing its (i) identification and (ii) management of associated safety risks.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This is a matter for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), as the independent rail safety regulator and enforcement body for Britain’s railways.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the risk of organised-crime groups targeting high-value freight loads during peak retail periods; and what steps she is taking to improve freight-security measures.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government recognises the serious threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy.
Through the HGV parking and driver welfare grant scheme (MFGS), the Department for Transport and industry partners are projected to deliver up to £35.7m of joint investment to enhance driver facilities and improve security at truck stops across England.
Drivers are now seeing the improvements that the scheme has been able to support, with more in development. The scheme is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve driver facilities, including investment in security measures.
The Home Office is working closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime. The Home Office has regular discussions with key partners, including Opal, about tackling organised freight crime.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of moving rail functions from Transport Focus to the new passenger watchdog on integration between train and bus.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Passenger Watchdog will be grown out of Transport Focus, which will be given significantly stronger powers to become a more effective passenger champion in rail. Therefore, no rail functions are being moved out of Transport Focus. The watchdog will be multi-modal from the start and continue to cover Transport Focus’ existing watchdog functions covering trams, buses, coaches and England's strategic road network. This ensures it can monitor transport user experience across these modes.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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) Leighton Buzzard to Euston, (b) Cambridge to Kings Cross, (c) Bath to Paddington, (d) Three Bridges to Victoria, and (e) Guildford to Waterloo in 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 |
BATH SPA | LONDON TERMINALS (Paddington) | 1,535 |
CAMBRIDGE | LONDON TERMINALS (Kings Cross) | 13,026 |
GUILDFORD | LONDON TERMINALS (Waterloo) | 26,655 |
LEIGHTON BUZZARD | LONDON TERMINALS (Euston) | 25,914 |
THREE BRIDGES | LONDON TERMINALS | 564 |
THREE BRIDGES | VICTORIA LONDON | 1,397 |
Where London Terminals is listed as the destination, this is used rather than the mainline station as a destination. London Terminals is the London all terminals ticket, this gives the passenger flexible travel into London when multiple terminal options exist.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the coach industry on battery electric motorway charging networks.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In line with the Government’s ambitions for zero emission vehicles, the Government is working with industry to make charging for longer journeys easy, fast and reliable.
Officials continue to engage with industry, including motorway service area operators, chargepoint operators, and coach operators, on supporting provision for larger vehicles such as coaches.
Coach operators were also eligible for the up to £30 million Depot Charging Scheme, which opened in July 2025 and for which applications are now being assessed.
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 policy paper entitled Railways Bill factsheet: tickets and retail, published on 5 November 2025, whether the Office of Rail and Road will lead the consultation on the statutory Code of Practice or whether this will be undertaken jointly with her Department.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The future rail retail industry code of practice will set out clear requirements for how Great British Railways (GBR) interacts with all market participants. It will be owned and managed by the Office of Rail and Road, and GBR’s licence will require compliance with it. The Railways Bill enables the Secretary of State to introduce the licence condition that will underpin the code of practice and give it force.
The Government has confirmed that there will be full consultation on the production of the code of practice. Further detail on that consultation will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on policies to support growth in the bus manufacturing sector.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My officials work closely with DBT officials, including through the ongoing work of the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the level of additional funding for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to undertake the proposed functions in the Railways Bill; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring the ORR has sufficient levels of resources to achieve a sufficient level of (a) independence and (b) expertise to fulfil the proposed functions in the Railways Bill.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Railways Bill gives ORR a statutory power to levy a fee, providing stable and predictable funding to support its independence and effective operation. ORR's own analysis has been reflected in the SR settlement for 2026–27 to 2028–29. Final funding levels will depend on how ORR implements its new role and will remain subject to Spending Review outcomes.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of public procurement reforms on the long-term competitiveness of the UK bus manufacturing sector; and what steps her Department is taking to maximise procurement opportunities for UK manufacturers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to supporting UK jobs and industry, including the UK bus manufacturing sector. As part of this, we have consulted on further procurement reforms to boost domestic supply chains and create more opportunities for businesses, including the UK bus manufacturing sector.
Additionally, we are supporting Combined Mayoral Authorities to coordinate the procurement of buses through a Crown Commercial Service commercial agreement; supplemented by the soon to be published ten-year pipeline of future bus orders, which will provide much needed certainty to the UK manufacturing sector. This includes providing advice on using social value criteria that play directly to the strengths of domestic suppliers when procuring new buses, such as creating and retaining jobs.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking through the forthcoming 10-year bus procurement plan to support UK (a) bus manufacturers and (b) UK businesses in the bus manufacturing supply chain.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 13 March 2025 I launched the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel, bringing together industry experts and local leaders to ensure that the UK remains a leader in bus manufacturing. The Panel is a forum to enable collaboration between Government, manufacturers and the wider industry.
The Panel has been developing a pipeline of future zero emission bus orders to provide better planning certainty to the sector – for both manufacturers and their supply chain. Data has been gathered on potential bus orders over the next ten years and will be published on GOV.UK shortly.
The procurement of zero emission buses is led by Mayoral Combined Authorities, Local Transport Authorities and bus operators.