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Written Question
Department for Transport: Equality
Thursday 25th January 2024

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 equalities impact assessments his Department completed in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Answered by Anthony Browne

The Department does not hold a central record of Equality Impact Assesments that have been completed.


Written Question
Department for Transport: Equality
Thursday 24th September 2020

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 people his Department and its agencies employ in teams working on issues relating to diversity, equality or inclusion.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

The Department for Transport wants to make transport better and accessible for all people in UK. Part of this objective is to consider diversity and inclusion in our policy and policy developments. In line with the Civil Service D&I strategy we are particularly focused on increasing the representation of talented Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, and people with disabilities, in our organisation. For 2020/21 we have a specific Race Action Plan, setting out how we will increase ethnic diversity, and equality of opportunity for ethnic minority staff.

There are 10.95 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the central Department and its Executive Agencies working on “internal” diversity and inclusion. Additionally, there are four staff working on equality, diversity and inclusion in the Active Accessible Travel team.


Written Question
Department for Transport: Training
Tuesday 15th September 2020

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 much the Department spent on unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

Over the last five years, the total cost spent on unconscious bias training in DfT and its Executive Agencies is £44,962 and can be found in the attached table.

Figures for each Agency in the last five years can be found in the attached Table 2

Where data is not available, this is due to the Civil Service Learning Privacy Notice stating that management information will be retained by the Cabinet Office for no more than three financial years. Data may be retained by individual Department’s for the purposes of reporting beyond this period.


Written Question
Department for Transport: Staff
Tuesday 15th September 2020

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 members of staff in their Department have one or more of the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT or race in their job title.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

There are 10.95 full time equivalent staff (FTE) in the central Department and its Executive Agencies with equality, diversity, inclusion, LGBT or race in their job title.

FTE has been used as a more accurate representation because some individuals carry out D&I work alongside other roles. FTE is also a better representation of resourcing compared to headcount.

The breakdown by business unit is as follows:

DfTc: 5.8 FTE

DVLA: 2.65 FTE

DVSA: 1 FTE

MCA: 1.5 FTE

VCA: 0 FTE


Written Question
Department for Transport: Staff
Wednesday 9th September 2020

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 members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

There are 17 individuals in the central Department and it’s Executive Agencies with equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.


Written Question
Department for Transport: Training
Monday 7th September 2020

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 his Department have undertaken unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

  • Over the last five years, at least 9,976 members of staff have completed unconscious bias training in DfT including its Executive Agencies. This is set out in the attached table.

  • Figures for each Agency in the last five years is set out in the attached table

  • Where data is not available, this is due to the Civil Service Learning Privacy Notice stating that management information will be retained by the Cabinet Office for no more than three financial years. Data may be retained by individual Department’s for the purposes of reporting beyond this period.

  • Where data has not been provided within the last three years (e.g DVLA, 2018-2019), this is due to data being unavailable as a result of changes to the learning system where records have not been transferred.


Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 22 Jan 2020
All-lane Running Motorways

"Dev Naran, a young constituent of mine, lost his life suddenly in 2018 in an accident on the M6. His parents are in Parliament today. The coroner’s regulation 28 report on his death raised some of the huge issues that the hon. Lady is exploring: despite the name, there is …..."
Neil O'Brien - View Speech

View all Neil O'Brien (Con - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston) contributions to the debate on: All-lane Running Motorways

Written Question
Midland Main Railway Line: Standards
Friday 1st November 2019

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 processes Network Rail has put in place to measure the (a) track and (b) ride quality on the Midland Main Line.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

Track and ride quality on MML is monitored regularly through both visual and onboard inspections. Based on the information collected, local engineering teams record any areas of deterioration and take action to maintain the required track and ride quality.

This process is supported by regular strategic reviews that are undertaken at route level.


Written Question
Railways: Standards
Monday 5th August 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which were the 100 scheduled rail journeys which were most frequently (a) cancelled or (b) significantly late over the last six month period for which data are available; and what proportion of each were (i) cancelled or (ii) significantly late.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

We recognise performance on the railway has been unsatisfactory, and passengers have not always received the level of service they expected. While performance has improved recently, the new Transport Secretary understands passengers need the certainty of reliable journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance.

We are unable to provide the data requested, as it is owned by Network Rail. We advise you contact them directly for further information or refer to their websites.


Written Question
Railways: Market Harborough
Monday 5th August 2019

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 proportion of trains were (a) cancelled or significantly late and (b) on time in each year since 1996 from Market Harborough to London Terminals.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris

We recognise performance on the railway has been unsatisfactory, and passengers have not always received the level of service they expected. While performance has improved recently, the new Transport Secretary understands passengers need the certainty of reliable journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance.

We are unable to provide the data requested, as it is owned by Network Rail. We advise you contact them directly for further information or refer to their websites.