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.
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 ensure that people are provided vehicles similar to their usual vehicle during 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.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data her department holds on current 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.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what measures are in place to ensure provisional driving license applications are processed within DVLA target times during periods of high demand for applications.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. There are no delays in applications for a provisional licence where there is no medical condition involved. The DVLA’s target for driving licence applications is to dispatch 95 per cent within three working days for straightforward online applications and 90 per cent within ten working days for straightforward paper applications. In the current financial year, the DVLA has achieved 100 per cent for online applications and 99.9 per cent for paper applications.
Driving licence applications where a medical condition must be investigated can take longer to process as the DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.
The DVLA is currently experiencing an increase in the volume and complexity of driving licence applications. Unfortunately, this has led to longer waiting times for some customers. In 2024/25 the DVLA made more than 830,000 medical licensing decisions with forecasts showing that more than 925,000 medical applications and notifications will be received in 2025/26.
To keep up with growing customer demand and to offer a better service, the DVLA is updating its online service and is launching a new casework system which will deliver significant improvements to drivers with medical conditions. These enhancements, alongside the recruitment of additional staff to deal with medical applications and answer telephone calls, will deliver real improvements for customers.