Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the efficiency savings attributed to regulated settlements arise from regulatory funding constraints imposed by the Office of Rail and Road.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road has a key role in providing assurance to Government on the regulated settlements for National Highways and Network Rail, this includes assuring what is to be delivered against the available funding as well as what is an appropriate efficiency target.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the efficiency savings attributed to executive agency reform will be permanent.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport efficiencies quoted in the Departmental Efficiency Plan are in line with the Government Efficiency Framework. In particular, the Government Efficiency Framework states that efficiencies “… should be sustainable (recurring)” and “exist in the year they are realised and remain in all subsequent years at equal or greater value.”
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the up-front technology and systems investment costs required for Network Rail and National Highways to deliver the efficiency gains assumed in the regulated settlements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Technology and systems investments are integral to delivering efficiencies within Network Rail’s plan for Control Period 7. Significant investments have been made in specific technology and systems programmes, for example £930 million on Digital Signalling, £215 million on Electrical Safety and Delivery, and £185 million on Project Reach which aims to secure external investment to upgrade Network Rail’s telecoms infrastructure through utilising private sector funding. These investments are made to drive Network Rail's delivery against its overall strategic objectives, one of which is efficiency.
For National Highways, the upfront technology and system costs required to support efficiency delivery and performance outcomes will form part of the overall investment plan to be confirmed when RIS3 is published in March 2026.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the implementation costs are for the DVSA, DVLA and VCA reform programmes underpinning the projected £39 million per year efficiency saving by 2028–29.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The forecast efficiencies of £39m in 28/29 set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plan from reform of the Executive Agencies is the net position and were based on forecasted efficiencies of £52m and forecasted costs of £13m.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the annual efficiency savings projected for 2028–29 depends on efficiencies from National Highways’ Road Investment Strategy 3 which have not yet been finalised.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The forecasted efficiencies for 28/29 set out in the Departmental Efficiency Plan do not currently assume any efficiency savings from National Highways. National Highways’ efficiency target for the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS) will be confirmed when the RIS is published in March 2026.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for driving licence applications in December 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The tables below show the average number of working days taken to process driving licence applications made both online and not online
in December 2025 for both group 1 (cars and motorcycle) and group 2 (lorry and bus) applications.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||
Date | Online applications | Non- online applications | Online applications | Non-online applications |
Dec-25 | 1.31 | 3.42 | 1.00 | 2.72 |
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem on improving grid capacity at ports to enable ferry electrification.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Reforming the connections process and investing in the grid is a key Government priority. This includes reforms that are expected to deprioritise over half of the existing queue based on readiness and strategic alignment with our strategy as set out in Clean Power 2030.
Department for Transport Ministers and officials meet regularly with their counterparts in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem. These include discussions on the significance of getting sufficient grid capacity to electrify ports, for cruise and ferries to use shore power and policy options to accelerate connection dates for strategic demand customers, such as critical port sites. This is informed by the Department for Transport call for evidence on Net Zero Ports, published in March 2025, which posed questions on managing future energy demand at ports.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for driving licence applications in December 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The tables below show the average number of working days taken to process driving licence applications made both online and not online for December 2025 up to 16 December for both group 1 (cars and motorcycle) and group 2 (lorry and bus) licences.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||
Date | Online applications | Non- online applications | Online applications | Non-online applications |
Dec-25 | 1.31 | 3.42 | 1.00 | 2.72 |
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that regional domestic ferry operators are supported to meet the goals of the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy sets out a pathway to zero emissions by 2050, and interim goals in 2030 and 2040.
To support the sector transition to zero, and near-zero, emission fuels, the Strategy sets out a number of key policies including; expanding the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to maritime, the introduction of fuel regulations, taking action to reduce emissions at berth, taking proportionate measures to reduce emissions from smaller vessels and increasing the efficiency of maritime operations.
Support is available to the maritime sector for decarbonisation through our UK SHORE Research and Development programme. Over 300 projects across the UK have been supported to date, including those that support the decarbonisation of domestic ferries. In September, I announced a further £448 million of funding for innovation through this programme, including additional rounds of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competitions, and a second round of the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure competition. We aim to launch the first two of these competitions in Spring 2026 and they will run until 2030.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time was for MOT appointments in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Neither the Department for Transport nor the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which administers the MOT scheme, collects or holds data on waiting times for MOT appointments. The MOT test is delivered by a network of around 23,000 privately operated garages across Great Britain. Based on available evidence, there appears to be sufficient capacity within this network to meet demand.