Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Written Statement of 12 January 2026 on Local roads and highways, HCWS1232, whether it is her policy that local authorities that have spent all of their Highway Maintenance Grant allocations can be categorised as Red.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities that stated they had plans to spend 100% of their DfT capital grant for highways maintenance on this purpose in 2025/26 received an amber, not red, spend scorecard. The vast majority of local highway authorities stated they had plans to spend an additional 30% or more in capital to maintain their highways, and these 113 local highway authorities received a green spend scorecard.
The ratings consider road condition, capital investment levels, and wider best practice to produce an overall rating, with each of these three elements making up a third of the overall rating. As such, it is possible for authorities to receive an overall red rating despite individual areas of good or mixed performance and where based on an overall assessment of all areas considered by the ratings the threshold for an amber rating was not met. All red-rated authorities will receive access to a dedicated support offer to help them improve their rating and to ensure road conditions improve nationwide.
This information, and the full methodology for the local road maintenance ratings has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, whether the exercise carried out by her Department assessed physical road conditions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This information, and the full methodology and data sources used to produce the ratings, has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, when her Department told local authorities which data sets were to be used to complete this assessment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Prime Minister announced on 24 March 2025 that local highway authorities would be rated on their progress in maintaining local roads and highways. This was announced alongside the introduction of new reporting requirements for local highway authorities for the 2025/26 financial year, including a requirement to publish transparency reports to improve transparency for local residents so they can see how funding is being spent.
On the same day, the Director General for the Road Transport Group in the Department for Transport wrote to Chief Executives of all local highway authorities setting out the details and data that needed to be included in those transparency reports.
The ratings used the data provided in local highway authority transparency reports, as well as official statistics. Further information on the data sources used is published online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/methodology-used-to-calculate-ratings-for-local-road-maintenance.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the higher Rateable Values in the 2026 business rate revaluation on revenue from the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement; and whether the multiplier or threshold for the supplement will be amended.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This is a matter for the Mayor of London.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 4.15 of HM Treasury's document entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 12 June 2025, if she will list the congestion improvement measures her Department will fund; and whether these will include (a) Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, (b) traffic filters, (c) congestion charging and (d) workplace parking taxes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Section 16 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 places a Network Management Duty on all traffic authorities in England to manage their road networks as efficiently as possible for the benefit of all traffic (including pedestrians), with a view to reducing congestion.
Local authorities have a wide range of traffic management measures available to them, and it is for them to determine what measures may be required to help meet this duty.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to request an indicative vote from this House on the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. Once proposals have been received, the Government will review the Airports National Policy Statement, which provides the basis for decision making on granting development consent for a new runway at Heathrow.
When conducting the review, the Secretary of State will comply with the consultation and parliamentary requirements of the Planning Act 2008, as is usual.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to provide support for the proposed Liverpool to Manchester railway improvement project.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and the Government is committed to improving rail connectivity across the North, including boosting rail connectivity from East to West.
As announced in the Autumn 2024 Budget, the Government is maintaining momentum on Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) by progressing planning, design and development works to support future delivery. Providing better rail connectivity between Liverpool and Manchester is a key part of NPR.
The Government is committed to improving the performance of the railways.In addition to NPR, the Government is supporting the development of a multi-billion pound investment programme upgrading the North’s transport network. This work includes the Transpennine Route Upgrade and the Greater Manchester and North West programme, including exploring options between Liverpool and Manchester.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to revise the Airports National Policy Statement, published on 5 June 2018, in the context of the proposed Heathrow Airport expansion.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer and is clear that any scheme must be delivered in line with the UK’s legal, climate and environmental obligations.
Once proposals have been received, the government will review the Airports National Policy Statement in line with the requirements of the Planning Act 2008.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to review the air traffic movement cap at Heathrow.
Answered by Mike Kane
Any proposal for change to the existing planning cap on air traffic movements at Heathrow airport would need to form part of a relevant planning application.
There is currently no live Development Consent Order application from Heathrow Airport.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to review the policy paper entitled Airports National Policy Statement, published on 5 June 2018.
Answered by Mike Kane
As required by the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State will review the Airports National Policy Statement when she considers it appropriate to do so.