Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to consider the recommendations of the Safer Streets for All report by Living Streets and the Bikeability Trust, published on 19 May 2025, in the Road Safety Strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department welcomes the findings of this report and will consider its recommendations carefully as we develop our future plans for active travel and road safety.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will respond to the recommendations of the Safer Streets for All report by Living Streets and the Bikeability Trust, published on 19 May 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department welcomes the findings of this report and will consider its recommendations carefully as we develop our future plans for active travel and road safety.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to increase the availability of practical driving tests in Gosport constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA’s) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at all driving test centres (DTC), include the recruitment of new driving examiners (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from DEs. DVSA also continues to deploy DEs from areas with lower waiting times into those where waiting times are longer.
As part of recent recruitment at DTCs that serve the Gosport constituency, DVSA has had two new examiners successfully complete training, with another potential new examiner currently in training. A further seven potential applicants are in the application process and if successful, will be offered training courses in the new year.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the level of the bus fare cap on rates of bus travel in Gosport constituency.
Answered by Mike Kane
In the Budget on 30 October, the government confirmed it will invest over £150 million to introduce a new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025. Under the plans of the previous administration, the current £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain the cap beyond this point.
Considering all its impacts, the fare cap is not financially sustainable for taxpayers and bus operators at £2. Capping fares at £3 will keep bus travel affordable while ensuring the cap is fair to taxpayers, helping millions of people access better opportunities, travel for less and protect vital bus routes, including in Gosport.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 availability of driving tests within (a) half an hour, (b) an hour and (c) two hours travel of the Gosport peninsula.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA’s) main priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.
DVSA continues to take measures to increase test availability. These include the recruitment of driving examiners, conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays and buying back annual leave from driving examiners.
As of 21 October 2024, there were 567,344 car practical driving tests booked, and 84,092 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The table below shows the current average waiting time and number of tests available at the driving test centres within up to two hours traveling distance from the Gosport peninsula.
Driving test centre (DTC) | Travelling distance from the Gosport peninsula | Average car practical driving test waiting time (Sept 24) | Booked tests (As of 21/10/2024) | Tests available in 24 week booking window |
Lee On Solent | Within half an hour | 24 | 4,123 | 203 |
Portsmouth | Within half an hour | 24 | 4,143 | 231 |
Chichester | Within an hour | 24 | 4,146 | 44 |
Southampton (Maybush) | Within an hour | 24 | 3006 | 32 |
Winchester | Within an hour | 24 | 1082 | 24 |
Basingstoke | Within two hours | 24 | 1511 | 31 |
Burgess Hill | Within two hours | 24 | 2,479 | 116 |
Crawley | Within two hours | 24 | 2,502 | 119 |
Dorchester | Within two hours | 24 | 1622 | 34 |
Farnborough | Within two hours | 18 | 2,774 | 129 |
Greenham | Within two hours | 7 | 650 | 22 |
Guildford | Within two hours | 15.8 | 836 | 50 |
Newport (Isle of Wight) | Within two hours | 24 | 1527 | 65 |
Oxford (Cowley) | Within two hours | 8 | 1454 | 15 |
Poole | Within two hours | 24 | 3977 | 10 |
Reading | Within two hours | 24 | 1,364 | 47 |
Salisbury | Within two hours | 24 | 1915 | 45 |
Swindon | Within two hours | 24 | 2878 | 28 |
Trowbridge | Within two hours | 24 | 680 | 10 |
Worthing | Within two hours | 19.2 | 1,821 | 94 |
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 (a) number and (b) frequency of train services in the South Hampshire region.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials work closely with all operators on seeking to increase service levels. The Department needs to balance demand with taxpayer money when approving additional service levels across the country.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with train operating companies on the feasibility of increasing the frequency of train services in South Hampshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials work closely with all operators on seeking to increase service levels. The Department needs to balance demand with taxpayer money when approving additional service levels across the country.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing five-year funding settlements for (a) local transport and (b) bus service improvement plans.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government is committed to providing greater stability to local government by giving councils multi-year funding settlements and ending wasteful competitive bidding.
Improving bus services is a key part of this Government’s growth mission, and the government has set out plans to deliver better services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions. This plan includes reforming bus funding by giving local leaders more control and flexibility over bus funding and allowing them to plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to maintain the £2 bus fare cap after 31 December 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services for passengers is one of the government’s top priorities as we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth. The Department for Transport is looking at the future of the £2 fare cap as a matter of urgency and is considering the most appropriate and affordable approach for the future of the scheme.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2023 to Question 3453 on Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions, what support the Government has provided to the Powered Light Vehicle Community in the last 12 months.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Government has provided the powered light vehicle sector with a variety of support to assist in the transition to zero emission vehicles. The plug-in motorcycle grant, introduced in 2017 to stimulate the early market for zero emission mopeds and motorcycles, has provided over £8m to support the purchase of over 12,000 zero emission mopeds and motorcycles. To grow and develop the zero-emission powered light vehicle supply chain in the UK, the Government has made up to £350,000 of funding available for research and development projects.