Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Following a thorough search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by this Department. This is because it is not a requirement of the department to hold reasons for disability.
The Department invites employees to self-declare their disability status using pre-defined criteria, including ‘prefer not to say’. Of the employees who have chosen to complete their data as of the 30th of September 2025, 238 individuals have recorded their status as disabled in the central Department for Transport.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have provided a response based on the number of submitted reviews over the entirety of a complete performance year (April 1 to March 31), for performance years 2024/25, 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21. This has been split, where possible, between Department for Transport (DfT) core and its agencies (Active Travel England (ATE), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)). In addition, data has been split by Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades (Grade 6 and below), as performance is managed differently.
The information provided does not include employees that have been marked as out of scope for review, and where figures within each business unit are below 5, these have been withheld for identification protection under S40(2) of the FOIA.
TOTAL REVIEWS CONDUCTED
Year | DfTc | DVLA | DVSA | MCA | VCA | ATE | SCS |
2024/25 | 10760 | 70181 | 14372 | 4005 | 666 | 209 | 281 |
2023/24 | 6815 | 69824 | 12669 | 4228 | 585 | N/A | 284 |
2022/23 | 10364 | 70408 | 17430 | 4169 | 634 | N/A | 271 |
2021/22 | 10915 | 62607 | N/A | 4261 | 737 | N/A | 243 |
2020/21 | 9587 | 65827 | N/A | 4409 | 515 | N/A | 232 |
NUMBER OF UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE RATINGS
Year | DfTc | DVLA | DVSA | MCA | VCA | ATE | SCS |
2024/25 | 92 | 605 | 72 | 30 | <5 | <5 | 13 |
2023/24 | 55 | 462 | 67 | 43 | <5 | N/A | 9 |
2022/23 | 106 | 379 | 115 | 50 | <5 | N/A | 11 |
2021/22 | 118 | 148 | N/A | 51 | <5 | N/A | 11 |
2020/21 | 86 | 148 | N/A | 69 | 7 | N/A | 12 |
NUMBER OF DIMISSALS AS A RESULT OF PERFORMANCE AND FTE PROPORTION
Year | DfTc | DVLA | DVSA | MCA | VCA | ATE | SCS | TOTAL (FTE proportion for whole group) |
2024/25 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | 2 (0.01%) |
2023/24 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 |
2022/23 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | 7 (0.05%) |
2021/22 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 |
2020/21 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | N/A | <5 | 2 (0.01%) |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below outlines the number of employment tribunal claims lodged against the central Department for Transport (DfTc) in each of the last five years. As requested, this information is broken down by unfair dismissal claims and claims under the Equality Act 2010.
| Unfair Dismissal | Equality Act |
2021 | 0 | <5 |
2022 | <5 | <5 |
2023 | 0 | <5 |
2024 | <5 | <5 |
2025 (to 24 Oct 2025) | <5 | <5 |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, further to the Answer of 1 September 2025 to Question 69372 on Midland Main Line: Electrification, what is her Department's estimate of the cost of completing electrification of the Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Sheffield.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s most recent estimate to electrify the Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Sheffield was c. £1.5 billion, however, before the decision to pause the programme was confirmed, work was being undertaken by Network Rail to update their cost estimate.
Since July, Network Rail have been making plans for their current activities in a way that enables work to be subsequently utilised. The design work that will be completed will enable a more robust and up to date cost estimate to be produced, as and when funding becomes available to complete electrification of the route.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the reduction in expenditure from the cancelling the electrification of the midland mainline north of Wigston.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The decisions taken in the Spending Review on rail enhancements were about prioritising the schemes that provided the greatest contribution to the government’s missions affordably. Rail enhancements are funded as a portfolio and this portfolio received increased funding from the Spending Review, meaning expenditure is expected to increase overall. The final investment decision on the electrification of the Midland Mainline north of Wigston had not been taken at the time of Spending Review, and it was not prioritised for progression in the period. While further Midland Main Line electrification is no longer expected to be funded over this Spending Review period, it has not been cancelled and will be kept under active review as part of our longer-term pipeline of schemes. This decision has not led to a reduction in expenditure on rail enhancements.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in (a) her Department and (b) HS2 Ltd have job titles which include the words (i) equality, (ii) diversity, (iii) inclusion, (iv) gender, (v) LGBT and (vi) race.
Answered by Mike Kane
As of the latest available data:
(a) Department for Transport (DfTc) A total of 9 staff have job titles that include at least one of the specified terms:
Inclusion: 6
Diversity: 4
Equality: 1
Gender: 0
LGBT: 0
Race: 0
Please note: Some roles contain more than one of the listed terms. For example, “Diversity and Inclusion Partner” includes both “diversity” and “inclusion” and therefore contributes to both counts.
(b) HS2 Ltd A total of 10 staff have job titles with at least one of the terms:
Inclusion: 10
Diversity: 3
Equality: 3
Gender: 0
LGBT: 0
Race: 0
As with DfTc, some job titles are counted under multiple categories if they contain more than one relevant term.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to mark the 200th anniversary of the Rainhill trials.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Whilst it doesn't form part of the bi-centenary celebrations, the Railway 200 team in Network Rail are working with local stakeholders to support their plans to mark the 2029 anniversary of the Rainhill Trials.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of wifi available across the rail network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I have asked my officials to explore the feasibility of a range of technology options to improve passenger connectivity on the rail network. The Department is also conducting research to measure the strength of mobile signals along the rail network to fully understand where interventions are needed, and the potential impacts.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative reforms to zig zag markings outside schools to enable enforcement even where cars are partially on the pavement.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Local authorities in England with designated civil parking enforcement powers already have the option to use existing traffic order-making powers to take civil enforcement action against vehicles which are stationary, whether fully or partially, on zigzag markings outside schools. Civil parking enforcement powers have been designated in 98 percent of local authority areas in England. Elsewhere enforcement remains a police matter.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to take steps to (a) allow local authorities with civil parking enforcement powers to enforce against unnecessary obstruction of the pavement and (b) enable highways authorities outside London to introduce a pavement parking prohibition.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In 2020, the Department undertook a public consultation on options for changing the way pavement parking is managed outside London. We are considering the views received to inform the Government’s next steps for pavement parking policy.
The formal consultation response will be available to view in due course at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.