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 she is taking to (a) protect SME hauliers from pricing by major lorry manufacturers and (b) ensure access to third-party litigation funding for those hauliers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ensuring that consumers and SMEs are only required to pay fair prices is of the utmost importance and is a key feature of truly competitive markets. The UK has a robust competition enforcement landscape to ensure that this is achieved, both through public enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority and private enforcement routes through litigation.
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 she has made of the cost to SME hauliers of prices set by major lorry manufacturers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ensuring that consumers and SMEs are only required to pay fair prices is of the utmost importance and is a key feature of truly competitive markets. The UK has a robust competition enforcement landscape to ensure that this is achieved, both through public enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority and private enforcement routes through litigation.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 16 October 2025, to Question 77642, on Driving under Influence: Scotland, whether research has been commissioned or produced on the effect of drink driving limits on the economic viability of pubs and other hospitality venues which serve alcohol.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for 10 years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences, such as drink driving. We intend to publish this by the end of the year.
Research was conducted by the University of Bath in 2021, Dr Jonathan James and Professor Marco Francesconi, looking at the effect of the introduction of the lower drink drive limit in Scotland. The authors found that the “alcohol industry remained unscathed, with no changes in production, prices, or employment”:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s0167629621000722#sec0014
On 5 December 2014 Scotland lowered the drink drive limit to that of the majority of European countries. In 2023 Transport Scotland published casualty estimates show that the “numbers of drink-drive collisions and casualties fell by 55% and 47% respectively between 2012 and 2022 (the latest year for which estimates are available)”:
www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2023/.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether changes are being made to the eligibility for central government funding for Kent County Council, in the context of plans not to switch its fleet of vehicles to electric vehicles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities have access to a range of central Government funding to support residents to transition to zero emission vehicles. Kent County Council remains eligible for their allocated £13.2 million capital and resource funding through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to increase the number of local public chargepoints across Kent. Their LEVI funding application has been approved to go to delivery.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 85905 on Roads: Repairs and Maintenance, whether she plans to introduce a Live Labs 3 programme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Live Labs 2 is a three-year, £30 million programme designed to support the local highways sector to adopt innovation and reduce its carbon impacts. The government will continue to support innovation in the highways sector following the conclusion of the Live Labs 2 programme and will confirm future plans in due course.
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 policy rationale is for clause 31(7) of the Railways Bill, which provides that the obligation to provide or secure the provision of designated railway passenger services does not give rise to civil liability; and whether she has assessed how this limitation of liability aligns with (a) accountability within the new rail system and (b) the protection of passenger rights.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Clause 31(7) of the Bill makes it clear that the Secretary of State, Scottish Ministers or Welsh Ministers cannot be found liable for breach of statutory duty (which allows a person to claim damages in tort) when they provide or secure designated railway passenger services. This mirrors section 50 of the Railways Act 1993 so that the same approach to civil liability is carried over to the new passenger services provisions. There are other examples of this in legislation, such as section 44 of the Railways Act 2005. If Ministers act unlawfully then judicial review is available.
Responsibility for providing designated passenger services will rest largely with Great British Railways (GBR), or, in Scotland or Wales, with another public sector company. GBR will be governed by a cohesive accountability framework. Passenger rights will be protected in that framework with the GBR licence setting minimum consumer standards. The Passenger Watchdog, established to champion passenger interests, will set and monitor these standards, with the Office for Rail and Road able to take enforcement action should these standards not be met.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's document entitled Transport for City Regions funding allocations, published on 4 June 2025, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the (a) decarbonising transport, (b) enabling healthy living and (c) promoting the modal shift from cars to public transport, walking and cycling objectives during 2027-28 to 2031-32.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The devolved (TCR) programme will enable Mayors in recipient areas to deliver schemes that align with the aforementioned objectives at a local level. The cost is reflected in the capital and resource funding allocated through these settlements and will contribute towards achievement of the overarching programme objectives. Funding allocations can be found here at Transport for City Regions funding allocations - GOV.UK
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, further to the press release, Red tape slashed to revamp high streets with new cafes and bars, of 26 July 2025, whether the Department for Transport has conducted or is planning to conduct a review of changes to the alcohol drink drive limit and potential mitigations.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads.
We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for ten years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences, such as drink driving.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Electric Car Grant criteria will change when the new science based targets come into place.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All vehicle grants are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to achieve their objectives and deliver value for taxpayer's money. This includes the eligibility criteria for the Electric Car Grant.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2025, to Question 77644, on THINK! Campaign, what is the budgeted spending on publicity on drug driving in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26, and whether such expenditure has been revised following the July 2024 savings.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The budgeted spend on publicity on drug driving is below:
| Total spend to date | Total budgeted spend |
FY 2024/25 | £35,000 | £35,000 |
FY 2025/26 | £486,724.76 | £1,830,000 |
The increased expenditure for 2025/26 reflects the launch of a new THINK! marketing campaign to raise awareness on drug driving, in response to the increasing trend of collisions involving a driver impaired by drugs. Following the reduction in overall budget, the decision has been made to prioritise budget to focus on issues and audiences where we can have the greatest impact.