Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure Bath and North East Somerset council, rated red, for the local highway authority’s road condition ratings, improves its performance.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department published a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England on 11 January which rates authorities red, amber or green based on: the condition of their roads; how effectively they spend their record Government funding; and, whether they do so using best practice. This system allows the Government to target support to those who need extra help; red-rated authorities will receive dedicated support to bring them in line with best practice, expert planning and capability assistance.
Bath and North East Somerset Council received an overall amber rating. Its three scorecards show red for condition, green for spend, and amber for wider best practice.
The Government recognises that historic underinvestment has made it difficult for authorities to maintain their roads in the way that they would want to. The Government has therefore confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment into local highways maintenance over the next four years. This new, four-year funding settlement is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this year, a £500 million increase compared to last year. By confirming funding allocations for the next four-year period, authorities have certainty to plan ahead and shift from short-term fixes to proactive, preventative maintenance.
Local authorities can further improve their ratings by adopting new innovative approaches trialled through the government's £30 million Live Labs 2 programme. This has been extended by a year to help councils access and adopt more innovative approaches to maintenance, including uptake of longer-lasting, low-carbon materials that reduce costs, emissions and disruption while keeping roads in better condition for longer.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Mobility as a Service (MaaS) apps are in development using public funding; and which locations they cover.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is aware of several ‘Mobility as a Service’ apps at various stages of development and implementation across the country through regular engagement with local authorities. However, we do not maintain a comprehensive list of these. The geographic scope and funding models of such apps are a matter for local authorities.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the resilience of rail networks during periods of extreme winter weather.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials hold regular discussions with Network Rail and the industry to ensure severe weather preparedness plans are in place with clear mitigations to reduce the impacts of weather on the rail network. The industry’s winter preparedness regime begins in September each year.
Special trains and equipment are fully checked and any repairs carried out, while contingency plans are reviewed and agreed with train operators to keep passengers moving during adverse weather. Network Rail uses detailed forecasts from weather experts, MetDesk, to formulate local action plans during adverse weather to minimise disruption to journeys. These forecasts cover not just the weather but how the conditions will impact on specific railway infrastructure such as the tracks, conductor rails, and overhead power lines.
A network of hundreds of monitoring stations also provides real-time weather data, enabling Network Rail to respond to conditions as they develop in real time. In extreme weather conditions, Network Rail and train operators prioritise getting passengers home safely over running the normal timetable. They also prioritise vital rail freight to ensure the supply of essential goods across the country.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency last reviewed the driving test questions relating to (a) horse riders (b) cyclists and (c) motorcyclists.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly reviews the driving theory test questions to ensure they remain clear, relevant and effective in assessing candidates’ road safety knowledge and understanding. This includes the questions about how to drive safely to protect vulnerable road users such as horse riders, cyclists and motorcyclists.
In addition, the CGI video hazard perception part of the driving theory test includes hazards involving horse riders, cyclists and motorcyclists. Candidates are evaluated on their ability to identify developing hazards in good time.
Every theory test candidate is exposed to both questions and hazard clips on these topics.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made in carrying out rail infrastructure safety assessments required by the Office of Rail and Road.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department looks to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), as the independent rail safety regulator, to ensure that Network Rail is held to account for safety-related matters. ORR has assessed Network Rail’s progress in carrying out structural assessments and is assured that it is on target to complete most of the first phase by the deadline agreed with ORR. A small number of these assessments are not expected to be completed by the deadline and will be monitored on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will publish a strategy for new rolling stock to be procured by passenger train operators contracted by her Department.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has begun work to develop a long-term rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, the first for more than three decades and we expect to publish it next year. The strategy will place the needs of passengers at its heart and will pursue modern standards of carbon-friendly traction, passenger comfort and accessibility.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to promote (a) walking, (b) wheeling and (c) cycling in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Spending Review in June 2025, which covers multiple years from 2026/27 onwards, allocated £616 million for Active Travel England to support local authorities to build and maintain walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure including dedicated cycling routes. This comes on top of £222.5 million announced in February 2025 for local authorities over 2024/25-25/26.
Active Travel funding supports local transport authorities with developing and constructing walking, wheeling and cycling facilities, as well as supporting behaviour change activities and capability building measures. The West of England Combined Authority, of which North-east Somerset and Hanham constituency is part, has been allocated £3,481,065 from the Consolidated Active Travel Fund 2025-26.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress she is making on supporting people that want to use electric vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is investing over £4.5 billion to help industry and consumers transition to zero emission vehicles. The £650 million Electric Car Grant has supported around 30,000 drivers to choose an electric vehicle since its launch in July.
As of 1 October 2025, the Government and industry have supported the installation of 86,021 publicly available charging devices (including 17,354 rapid charging devices), an increase of 23% year on year. In September 2025, battery electric vehicles represented over a fifth (23.0%) of new UK car registrations, and the UK now has the largest market share for electric cars of any major European economy.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for driving tests at the Bristol (Kingswood) centre.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
On 15 July, DVSA launched a new recruitment campaign for the Bristol area. DVSA is looking to recruit two additional driving examiners (DE) at Kingwood, up to 10 additional DEs in Avonmouth and two additional DEs in Weston-Super-Mare.
Further vacancies in other sites in the surrounding area such as Taunton and Chippenham, will also be advertised in DVSA’s following recruitment campaigns shortly.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time was for a driving test at Bristol Kingswood centre on 1 June 2025.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The average waiting time in weeks for a car practical driving test at Bristol Kingswood driving test centre, for June 2025, was 21.6 weeks.