Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support people with the cost of obtaining a C1 driving licence.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Individuals seeking to enter the road freight sector can benefit from a range of wider driver training opportunities available across government-supported programmes.
Skills Bootcamps remain an important part of government-funded skills provision. Their funding has been devolved to Mayor's Skills Academies and local areas directly, supporting the government’s commitment to empower local leaders with greater control over skills development.
The Government also continues to support the sector with the skills training it needs, including through apprenticeships such as the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) driver apprenticeship standards.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) accessibility and (b) suitability of Specsavers DVLA-mandated vision testing.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Drivers who notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of an underlying medical condition that may affect their vision are required to have a visual field test conducted.
Examinations by Specsavers are carried out to the exact specifications required to enable the DVLA to assess whether the visual field requirements for driving can be met.
If drivers choose to get your eyesight test from somewhere else, you can submit the results of an eyesight test done by another optician as long as it includes an ‘Esterman visual test’. DVLA do not guarantee they will accept an eyesight test done by other opticians.
Information about driving eyesight rules can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-rules.
The DVLA’s contract with Specsavers for vision testing services provides coverage across Great Britain. Specsavers is working to increase the number of stores available to carry out eyesight tests. In the meantime Specsavers may also utilise local opticians for customers who live more than 25 miles from their nearest Specsavers branch, for example those living in rural or semi-rural areas.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to hold a public consultation on the introduction of mandatory eyesight testing for drivers aged 70 and over at each three-year licence renewal.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
A public consultation on introducing mandatory eyesight testing for older drivers was launched on 7 January and closed on 11 May.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to promote the use of regional airports.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Regional airports are vital in addressing transport inequity by connecting all regions of the UK to national and international opportunities. They serve our local communities by supporting thousands of jobs while maintaining social and family ties and strengthening the bonds between the four nations.
Government supports connectivity across the union through our joint funding of two Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes into London from Dundee and Derry/Londonderry.
The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector. Airports invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines are well placed to deliver services to their customers by responding to demand for different routes.
Ministers and officials at the Department meet regularly with regional airports to discuss issues such as regional air connectivity.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support domestic ferry companies.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Domestic ferry companies operate their services predominantly in a commercial environment without intervention from the Government.
The Department for Transport continues to engage with domestic ferry companies and wider local stakeholders.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help ensure British ports operate at high efficiency.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The United Kingdom has a world leading maritime sector, including its ports. The ports sector is largely privatised, so government direct intervention is limited. Whilst there are some government bodies who do direct day to day work within ports, matters that fall within the DfT’s jurisdiction are ones concerned with safety.
The department does have a range of grant programs designed to support the wider UK ports sector, with these programs aimed at supporting the transition to a green economy and at modal shift towards rail and water. We are working with other Departments to strengthen and streamline planning, including by updating the National Policy Statement for Ports.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse report published in June 2025, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen taxi and private hire vehicle licensing regulations.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government response to Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse committed to legislate to tackle the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) driver licensing. As a first step, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill seeks a power for the Secretary of State to set national standards for taxi and PHV licensing and to enable the suspension, with immediate effect, of any licence issued by any authority in whose area it is being used if such action is needed to protect public safety.
If passed, this would enable government to set robust standards for licensing right across England and provide licensing authorities with greater powers to keep vulnerable children and, indeed, all members of the public safe, wherever they live or travel.
The Department continues to consider further options for reform, including out-of-area working and enforcement. We need to ensure that taxis and PHVs are able to work in a way that facilitates the journeys passengers want and need to make, in a consistently safe way, whilst achieving the best overall outcomes for passenger safety.
The Government is currently consulting on making all local transport authorities responsible for taxi and PHV licensing. Administering licensing across larger areas would further increase consistency in licensing and enable better resourced authorities to make better use of their current and proposed enforcement powers.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help promote British made buses.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to supporting the long-term strength and competitiveness of our bus manufacturing sector. In March 2025, the Minister for Roads and Buses launched the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel, bringing together industry experts and local leaders to ensure the UK remains a leader in bus manufacturing. A key objective of the panel is to develop a pipeline of future bus orders to give better planning certainty to the sector and UK-based manufacturers. This pipeline has been published at: 10-year zero emission bus order pipeline - GOV.UK.
Separately, on 12 March 26, my Department announced an additional £73.2 million of funding for 484 zero emission buses through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area Programme (ZEBRA) for which UK manufacturers have already won the majority of orders for the 2,500 buses delivered so far.
We are also providing further opportunities for UK manufacturers with the £15.6 billion of funding available over five years to improve local transport across some of the biggest city regions, giving local leaders the ability to allocate funding to upgrade and decarbonise their fleets.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made about the potential impact of importing Chinese built electric buses on UK security.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes national security seriously and works closely with the transport sector and others to understand and respond to vulnerabilities for all transport modes.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her department is taking to reduce waiting times for Fitness to Drive assessments.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
During a medical investigation into a person’s fitness to drive the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) may require a functional on-road driving assessment. These are delivered through specialist driving assessment centres that provide clinical and on-road evaluation of a driver’s functional ability where a medical condition may affect safe driving. These assessments require appropriately trained clinicians and specialist driving assessors, as well as access to adapted vehicles and suitable testing environments.
The DVLA is working closely with the Department for Transport and the Mobility centres network (England) to provide accessible and timely access to driving and mobility assessments.
There is a significant demand on Mobility centre assessment services, and this can result in delays in some areas. There is regular engagement with the centres to understand the challenges and maintain appropriate levels of grant funding. Individual Driving Mobility centres are responsible for managing their own assessments and waiting times. Central information on current waiting times for fitness to drive assessments is not held.
Mobility centres are responsible for providing suitable vehicles for the applicant to use. These cover a range of adaptations to meet the needs of the majority of users. The Department for Transport has also provided targeted funding to the Mobility Centres to support upgrading their vehicle fleets and enhance the range of vehicle adaptations available.