Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much her Department has spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Department for Transport provides equipment that enables staff to work across multiple locations, including from home where appropriate. This includes meeting legal obligations to provide reasonable workplace adjustments for staff who require them.
However, the Department does not record expenditure in a way that separately identifies costs specifically related to home working. Additionally, the Department’s hybrid working policy is non-contractual and does not entitle staff to additional equipment or to be reimbursed for items to facilitate home working.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of settlements that do not have a daily bus service in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not readily hold this information, however local bus timetable data is available to download from the Bus Open Data Service: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-and-use-bus-open-data.
The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December 2024 to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them, including in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and across Lincolnshire.
In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £11.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area.
The government has reaffirmed its commitment to bus services in this Spending Review by confirming continued funding each year from 26/27 to maintain and improve vital bus services, including taking forward bus franchising pilots, and extending the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test examiners have been hired by the DVSA in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the last five years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The attached Excel document shows the number of driving examiners that have left and started at driving test centres in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the last five years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test examiners have left the DVSA in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the last five years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The attached Excel document shows the number of driving examiners that have left and started at driving test centres in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the last five years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people are eligible for free travel under the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme due to disability in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold data on the number of people eligible for free travel under the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme due to disability at any geographic level.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the average bus punctuality rates for Lincolnshire in each year since 2015.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The average bus punctuality rates (specifically, the percentage of non-frequent bus services running on time) for Lincolnshire are available for each year between the year ending March 2015 and the year ending March 2024 in the Department’s published Annual Bus Statistics. This data can be found in Table BUS09a: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#bus-reliability-and-punctuality-bus09.
More granular (daily, route-level etc.) punctuality data, including data for Lincolnshire, is provided through the Analyse Bus Open Data Service (ABODS). ABODS enables DfT, local transport authorities, and bus operators to view detailed performance metrics, including line-level, stop-level, and individual journey punctuality, as well as on-time, early, and late arrival patterns based on GPS data from buses.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people who applied to register a non-GB driving licence were rejected in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The table below shows the number of applications to exchange a non-GB driving licence for a GB equivalent that were successful and those which were rejected for the period requested.
Year | Non-GB licences accepted for exchange | Non-GB licences Rejected for exchange |
2022 | 146,672 | 98,006 |
2023 | 137,662 | 106,762 |
2024 | 117,721 | 80,798 |
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Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people exchanged a non-GB driving licence for a valid UK licence in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The table below shows the number of applications to exchange a non-GB driving licence for a GB equivalent that were successful and those which were rejected for the period requested.
Year | Non-GB licences accepted for exchange | Non-GB licences Rejected for exchange |
2022 | 146,672 | 98,006 |
2023 | 137,662 | 106,762 |
2024 | 117,721 | 80,798 |
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Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in her Department.
Answered by Mike Kane
We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.
Additionally, a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.
Following the introduction of Skills England and a recent review of DfT’s Talent & Apprenticeship Strategy, we have refined our focus on providing apprenticeships within priority skills areas that are better aligned to Government Missions and the skills we are looking to grow within the department.
HR are working to provide a wider range of apprenticeships in our Department in key fields, particularly STEM, Digital, Data, and AI, where demand is highest and in using apprenticeships as a route for individuals to obtain essential learning such as HR and Finance qualifications.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Supreme Court ruling published on April 16, what plans her Department has to amend its policy on the use of women-only spaces in its buildings by transgender women.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, is developing updated guidance to support service providers. Ministers will consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it following further work in light of this ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.