Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is tacking to help tackle anti-social behaviour on the bus network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is working across government and with partners, industry and local transport authorities, to ensure that everyone feels and is safe when travelling by bus. Through the Bus Services Act 2025 we have introduced measures to combat anti-social behaviour (ASB) on the bus network. This includes mandating training for staff working in the bus industry, introducing a power to enable the Secretary of State to publish statutory guidance on the inclusivity of bus stations and stops and giving local transport authorities the power to create byelaws and deploy officers who can deal with ASB and fare evasion on the bus network.
In addition, the Department previously provided £2.5 million to pilot five Transport Safety Officer (TSO) teams on the network. The pilots ended in March 2025, and a full evaluation of the programme will be published in due course. We have also recently published TSO practitioner guidance for local authorities wanting to implement a scheme in their area.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 1 December 2025 to Questions 93461 and 93459, if she will publish the locations, route sections and lengths for a) the 52.6 km of rigid concrete barrier installed in each of the periods 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, b) the 14 km of forecast steel to concrete barrier replacement projects proposed for the Interim Settlement period 2025-26, and c) the projected total length of steel to concrete barrier replacement during RIS3 (2026 to 2030), including any year by year profile held.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The data requested in parts (a) and (b) is currently undergoing verification and will be supplied to the Rt. Hon Member shortly. With respect to part (c), the projected total length of steel to concrete barrier replacement has not yet been finalised for Road Period 3.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when her Department plans to publish the updated Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/24; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recommending that local authorities permit motorcycles to use bus lanes.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not currently have plans to update Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/24.
The Department for Transport undertook a consultation on the potential merits of recommending that local authorities permit motorcycles to use bus lanes in 2024. The responses received to the consultation did not provide a robust evidence base on which to amend the current policy that it is for local authorities to determine whether to allow motorcycles to use bus lanes in their areas.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what is the policy of (a) the Cabinet Office people group and (b) the Office for Equality and Opportunity, on white privilege.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government wants to ensure that whoever you are, wherever you come from, Britain is a country that will respect your contribution and give you a fair chance to get on in life.
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving outcomes for everyone.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108300, how many fires involving road vehicles of all types were recorded by Fire and Rescue Services in England in each of the last 15 years.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England through the Fire & Rescue Data Platform (FaRDaP), and previously through the Incident Recording System (IRS). This includes information on primary fires, fire-related fatalities, and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles. Data covering the year ending March 2025 is published here: Fire statistics data tables - GOV.UK, see FIRE 0302 ‘Primary fires, fatalities and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles by motive and vehicle type, England’. These tables present the number of primary fires for each recorded type of road vehicle per year.
Data is also available on the number of accidents involving fire and rescue authority vehicles, by fire and rescue authority, in the FIRE1402 data table.
Incident level data for road vehicle fires can be found here: Fire statistics incident level datasets - GOV.UK, see ‘Road vehicle fires dataset’ for the raw data, and ‘Road vehicles fire dataset guidance’ for guidance on the dataset.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108300, when the rollout of the Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDAP) will be completed; and from what date Fire and Rescue Services will be required to record whether fires involve lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Fire and Rescue Data Platform (FaRDaP) Version 1 was successfully rolled out to 48 Fire and Rescue Services in England, Scotland and Wales by 14 November 2025. At present, Fire and Rescue Services are not required to record whether fires involve lithium-ion batteries or electric vehicles in national incident data, and no date has been set for when such recording will become mandatory. However, work is underway on FaRDaP Version 2 to update the data collected, including the development of categories to capture incidents involving lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles (including e-bikes and e-scooters).
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the provision of central reservation barriers on the National Highways motorway and trunk road network, how many crossover accidents, where vehicles have breached the central reservation, occurred in 2024 and 2025 on sections equipped with a) steel barriers, and b) rigid concrete barriers; and what is the total length and number of assets of life expired steel central reservation barrier on that network that require replacement.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Data on road traffic casualties on the roads in Great Britain is collected via the STATS19 process. The most recently available STATS19 dataset is for 2024 and was published by DfT in September 2025:
https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/cb7ae6f0-4be6-4935-9277-47e5ce24a11f/road-safety-data.
STATS19 does not record the barrier type and so it is not possible to ascertain the answers to points (a) and (b).
Based on the available asset data, there are approximately 10,400km of vehicle restraint barriers on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) operated by National Highways, which is made up of barriers in the central reservation and verges. This comprises 9,300km of steel barrier, 870km of concrete barrier and 230km of wire barrier.
1% (equivalent to approximately 100km of barrier) is categorised as the worst condition banding (i.e 'severely corroded / unserviceable / at end of life'). National Highways prioritises for intervention those assets in the worst condition and barriers in higher risk locations, such as the central reservation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2026 to Question 105288 on Railways: Repairs and Maintenance, what criteria is used to determine which rail infrastructure schemes are included in the Department’s longer-term rail infrastructure pipeline.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government believes in the importance of rail investment to support economic growth and bring connections to people all across the country. The type and level of investment is determined by the needs of passengers, rail users and the network, while delivering value for money and meeting the government’s priorities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2026 to Question 110889, when the shore power trial at Portsmouth International Port began; what the outcomes have been; and whether any evaluation has been produced.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The shore power demonstrator trial at Portsmouth International Port was publicly awarded nearly £20m of R&D funding in September 2023. Portsmouth International Port began delivery of the project shortly afterwards as part of the UK SHORE Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition.
Most civil and electrical infrastructure works within the port side boundaries of Portsmouth International Port are now complete and the multi-berth shore power units are now on the berths. In November 2025, a successful dry connection test (without the provision of electricity) was completed, where one of the shore power units was plugged into Britanny Ferries’ Guillaume de Normandie vessel.
Separate to the UK SHORE funded project, Portsmouth International Port accepted a connection offer from Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE). This connection offer was for a 15 Megawatt grid upgrade to secure the grid capacity for the shore power units. The Port is awaiting final details from SSE on energisation of the grid upgrade.
No specific evaluation for this project has yet been completed as the demonstration phase isn’t complete. A technical study is underway for all ZEVI projects, including Portsmouth, that will analyse the data generated throughout the multi-year demonstration period.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what staffing or system costs are associated with monitoring, reporting and compliance activity relating to official travel emissions in his Department.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We can confirm that the Department for Business and Trade does not hold any information associated with monitoring, reporting and compliance activity relating to official travel emissions in his Department.