Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of passengers who will pay more than £1,000 in Air Passenger Duty on a long-haul Premium Economy family flight by 2027.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Air Passenger Duty is levied on the airline on a per passenger basis. The charge in respect of any individual passenger does not exceed £1,000 on a long haul flight in premium economy class.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effect of business rates increases at Gatwick, Manchester and other UK airports on passenger ticket prices and airline route planning.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is committed to enabling investment so that airports can play their full role in the growth mission.

Properties seeing large bill increases as a result of the business rates revaluation - including airports - will benefit from a redesigned transitional relief scheme worth £3.2 billion over the next 3 years.

At Budget 2025, the government also published a Call for Evidence on Business Rates and Investment. It will explore the concerns that airports and a small number of other ratepayers have raised around the ‘Receipts & Expenditure’ valuation methodology and its impacts on long-term, high value investments. The government is seeking to address issues raised ahead of the 2029 revaluation, aiming to conclude this work in sufficient time before pre-list discussion commences.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many compensation claims were submitted for train operating companies for which her Department is the operator of last resort in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish quarterly statistics on the volume of compensation claims submitted and closed by train operating companies. Table 4410 (https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/passenger-experience/delay-compensation-claims/table-4410-delay-compensation-claims/) provides the number of delay compensation claims submitted from July 2024 to July 2025. The data for the next quarter of 2025 is due to be published in January.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the identified in the Government’s October 2023 cost-benefit analysis of the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate represents costs to the public purse; and if she will publish a breakdown of those Government costs.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is the largest single carbon saving measure across Government and fundamental to the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. The cost-benefit analysis for the ZEV Mandate and CO2 regulations estimated the net value to society of the regulations. This was estimated at a benefit of £39 billion (2022 prices) over the full appraisal period, between 2021 and 2071.

There are three main sources of Government costs:

1. Taxation impacts, which are a transfer from vehicle owners to government, were also assessed (Vehicle Excise Duty, fuel duty and VAT), but these reflected policy at the time. At the time, fuel duty and VAT losses from reduced fuel consumption were estimated at £20 billion (2022 prices) over the period from 2024–2035. This does not reflect subsequent taxation decisions since publication.
2. The administrative costs of the regulation were estimated at £24 million (2022 prices). Wider indirect effects on public expenditure such as any costs from changes in traffic volumes and the weight of vehicles, and savings to the NHS from improved air quality were not quantified.
3. Some of the costs attributed to business (notably vehicle/infrastructure, and electricity network reinforcement capital costs) could fall to government, particularly where purchases or installations are subsidised, and through public-sector procurement (e.g., the Government fleet). The proportion of costs falling to government were not separately quantified and, for Government vehicles, should be considered alongside the operating cost savings from switching to electric vehicles. The proportion of expenditure that purchase grants cover implies that the vast majority of these costs will be borne by the private sector.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are sufficient replacement trains in operation following the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West does not result in severe disruption and cancellations.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.

Found: Alex Sobel, Sarah Olney and Ellie Chowns: Proportional Representation for general elections • Jerome Mayhew