Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on tackling non-exhaust emissions from road transport as a source of particulate pollution.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to meeting legal targets for air quality, including the PM2.5 targets recently set under the Environment Act 2021. My officials have regular discussions across Government about the policies needed to ensure we meet these targets, including officials in the Department for Transport on action to reduce non-exhaust emissions from road transport.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help tackle the sources of littering in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) England.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Littering is a crime that blights communities and the environment. Local councils are usually best placed to respond to littering and related problems, in a way tailored to the community in which they occur. They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal including fixed penalty notices of up to £500 and prosecution action which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £2500. We are considering how we can further support local councils.

In the meantime, we are targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these on our streets. The sale of single-use vapes was banned on 1 June and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. The DRS will introduce a redeemable deposit on single-use in-scope drinks containers which can be redeemed when the empty container is returned. Litter composition data indicates that 55% of litter by volume is made up of containers in-scope of DRS. The DRS will therefore significantly reduce this form of litter.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase opportunities for people to visit (a) theatres, (b) galleries and (c) museums.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This Government is committed to increasing opportunities for people to visit theatres, galleries, and museums.

This year the Government is delivering a £270 million Arts Everywhere package, providing a major boost for arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings to allow people across the nation to benefit from access to the arts and culture on their doorstep. The package includes:

• A new Creative Foundations Fund to invest £85 million to support arts and cultural organisations, including theatres, across England to resolve urgent issues with their estates, ensuring they can be enjoyed by visitors for many more years to come.

• Support for museums through the £20m Museum Renewal Fund, £25m Museum Estate and Development Fund, and £120m Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund, supporting cherished institutions to continue providing valued opportunities for visitors.

• £3.2 million for four cultural education programmes which will enhance access to the arts for children and young people.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to roll out rail-5g.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail and industry to look at solutions to improve connectivity on trains, which includes rolling out rail 5G on the rail network.

Following the spending review, funding has been made available to invest in low earth orbit satellite connectivity, to improve passenger mobile connectivity. We also continue to work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to develop further interventions on the railway.

The department has been working with Network Rail to deliver improved connectivity on the rail corridor. Project Reach, which will renew fibre optic cables and address signals in mainline tunnels and stations was signed 26 June 2025 between Network Rail, and telecoms companies, Neos Networks and Freshwave.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the existing regulatory framework for open access rail operators.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government believes the existing regulatory framework that governs access to the railway is not fit for purpose. It has failed not only passengers but also freight operators as it is designed for each part of the railway to act in isolation, resulting in fragmented decision making and conflicting accountabilities. Our consultation set out proposals for fundamental reform of the framework, with Great British Railways as a single directing mind, able to strategically plan the best use of the network, implementing an achievable, reliable timetable, so that the services promised to passengers are delivered. Better coordination of the timetable will reduce delays, improve reliability, reduce costs and boost growth.

The Government will respond to the consultation in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits for businesses of adopting Single/Double Summer Time.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government believes the current daylight-saving arrangements represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK. Therefore, we have no plans to introduce double summertime, permanent summertime, or other such changes which would require considerable planning and action by business. Since the Government does not intend to make changes to the existing system, we will not be conducting an assessment of the impact on businesses at this time.

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 (£)

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).

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).

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:

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)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish a list of locations with enforceable School Keep Clear road markings in each local authority area.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government has no plans to publish such a list. Local authorities are responsible for these markings and maintaining their own records.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to include the safety of road workers in its Road Safety strategy.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This Government takes the safety of all road users seriously, including those who work on our roads. We are developing a Road Safety Strategy and further details will be shared in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the provision of basic life support education in schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

All state-funded schools are required to teach first aid as part of the statutory health education curriculum, as part of relationships, sex and health education. This includes basic treatment for common injuries, life-saving skills, including how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators and when one might be needed.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is considering taking steps to reform the escalation process for Penalty Charge Notices in cases where the original notice was for a minor offence and was not received by the registered keeper.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

With regard to on-street parking, local highway authorities are responsible for enforcing parking restrictions under the system of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE). Penalty charge notices must be issued in line with the Secretary of State’s ‘Statutory Guidance on the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions’ which is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-enforcement-of-parking-contraventions/

The Department has no plans to change the process for issuing Penalty Charge Notices.

With regard to private and off-street parking, policy on this including enforcement is the responsibility of the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to introduce species-specific requirements for the slaughter of farmed fish.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since publication of the Animal Welfare Committee’s updated Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing a GB-wide joint government-industry working group on farmed trout has been examining the issues raised in the report. This co-design work has made good progress on exploring potential options for more detailed welfare at killing requirements. We are now exploring all the potential next steps, including options for creating detailed guidance and new legislation. The Scottish Government is also working closely with the salmon industry on more detailed welfare at killing requirements.

Found: (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine Atkinson; Mrs Elsie Blundell; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer

Found: present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Steff Aquarone; Dr Scott Arthur; Catherine Atkinson; Olly Glover; Alex Mayer

Found: North) Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat; Didcot and Wantage) Katie Lam (Conservative; Weald of Kent) Alex Mayer

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Mrs Elsie Blundell; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Ruth Cadbury (Chair); Mrs Elsie Blundell; Alex Mayer; Baggy Shanker

Submit Evidence (by 8 Sep 2025)

Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) form a key part of the transport network, particularly for people who face barriers to using other forms of transport and as a driver of the nighttime economy. However, the current system for regulating these vehicles can vary across different licensing authorities, creating inconsistencies and raising questions about how effective present standards are.

Submit Evidence (by 15 Sep 2025)

The UK has a long tradition of manufacturing motor vehicles, buses, aeroplanes, trains, and ships, but manufacturers in the transport industries are concerned about skills shortages. These industries are integral to the economic health of the communities they are based in, and they provide high-quality, British-built equipment for companies here and around the world.

Submit Evidence (by 16 Oct 2025)

The Transport Committee is looking at how Government can mould transport services, networks and options around the journeys that people need and want to make in their daily lives. We want to find out what kinds of changes need to be made to bring this about, including in different parts of the country and for transport users with different needs.