Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lilian Greenwood and Laurence Turner

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood]

My hon. Friend is a great campaigner, and she is right to continue to highlight this issue. It is already illegal to sell and display that type of number plate, but I recognise that there is more to do. The DVLA is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Home Office, various police forces and trading standards on the supply and use of these illegal number plates, and implementing stricter penalties and fines will be considered as part of our work on the new road safety strategy.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

11. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads.

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

19. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)]

We are determined to end the pothole plague on our roads, which is the result of a decade of under-investment by the previous Government. We have provided an extra £500 million for councils this year to allow them to make an immediate start on this.

[Laurence Turner]

In Birmingham, people are fed up, as they are in other parts of the country, of potholes and drains that go uncleared, after years of underfunding and short-term budgets, but unlike in other parts of the country, those services are provided under a historical private finance initiative contract. Will the Minister update the House on when a decision will be made about the future of that contract, and what steps she will take with the local authority so that Birmingham’s roads get better?

[Lilian Greenwood]

My hon. Friend has been dogged in raising this issue with me and the Department, and I assure him that we will make an announcement on the way forward as soon as possible. Following a consultation with the council, we have been carefully considering its formal representations on this matter, and we are committed to working together in the best interests of his constituents, the people of Birmingham and the taxpayer.