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 1 April 2026 to Question 123240, what contribution improved cycling facilities will make to balancing aviation sector growth.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Airports and their local stakeholders consider all transport options as part their surface access strategies, which cover staff as well as customers.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to respond to Question 123167 from the Hon. Member for Maidstone and Malling.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the Right Honourable Member to the answer given on 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to respond to Question 122529 from the Rt Hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Question 122529 was answered on 2 April 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the decision was first taken to withdraw Class 455 units from the South Western Railway network; and how many such units were withdrawn in each month from the date that decision was taken until the final unit was removed from passenger service.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of the 2017 South Western refranchising competition, First MTR announced on 20 June 2017 that it would procure a new fleet of Aventra trains to operate on the Waterloo suburban routes over which Class 455 units operated. The Class 455 units were originally intended to be returned to their owner by December 2020, however delays to the introduction of the replacement units under SWR’s previous ownership meant that withdrawals commenced later than planned with the first Class 455 being returned in May 2022 and the final unit being returned in March 2026. In the intervening period, units were returned progressively to their owner on a flexible basis as new Class 701 units were introduced.
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 30 March 2026 to Question 121180 on Network Rail: Assets, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decline in the Composite Sustainability Index for rail assets on long-term network resilience; and what steps her Department is taking to address the deterioration in underlying rail infrastructure condition.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is clear that Network Rail must ensure that network resilience is either maintained or improved during the current Control Period to an extent that is reasonable.
Network Rail assesses the resilience of the railway network on a continuing basis, under the oversight of the independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road and has had a Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation strategy in place since 2017.
Objectives for Great British Railways (GBR) in the next Funding Period regarding the condition of railway infrastructure will be a key element of Government’s considerations during the coming Funding Period Review. The impact of rail infrastructure condition on its resilience will be a part of this work. The condition of the network as assessed via the composite sustainability index metric does not necessarily correlate directly with levels of resilience.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people are currently engaged by her Department in roles providing political advice or support to Ministers; and how many such individuals are classified as (a) special advisers and (b) ministerial or other political appointees outside the special adviser classification, including those not formally designated as special advisers but undertaking equivalent functions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department currently has (a) 5 special advisers, and (b) no ministerial or other political appointees.
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 her Department's report entitled Department for Transport annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July 2025, what expenditure is included under the category entitled Science, research and support functions, and if she will provide a breakdown of this spending by programme, activity, and delivery body for each year listed.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
‘Science, Research and Support Functions’ is an Estimate Line descriptor shown in the Statement of Parliamentary Supply within the 2024-25 Annual Report & Accounts. All costs recorded on this Estimate line are incurred by the Core department. A breakdown of the spending recorded in this Estimate Line for 2024-25 and 2023-24 is provided below.
Spending in 2024-25
| Resource DEL | Capital DEL |
Business area | Amount £m | Amount £m |
Public Transport & Local Group | 11 | 11 |
Road Transport Group | 16 | 4 |
Decarbonisation, Technology and Strategy Group | 0 | 4 |
TOTAL | 27 | 19 |
Individual programmes incurring more than £5m spending in 2024-25, were:
Spending in 2023-24
| Resource DEL | Capital DEL |
Business area | Amount £m | Amount £m |
Roads and Local Group | 22 | 13 |
Decarbonisation, Technology and Strategy Group | 6 | 6 |
Rail Strategy and Services Group | 3 | 0 |
TOTAL | 31 | 19 |
Individual programmes incurring more than £5m spending in 2023-24, were:
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date her Department will publish its annual report and accounts for the financial year 2025 to 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department plans to publish its 2025-26 Annual Report and Accounts ahead of the Parliamentary summer recess.
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 26 March 2026 to Question 121006, when the review of the highways maintenance funding formula will be completed; and if she will publish the outcomes of that review.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Any review would be conducted to align with the end of the period for which highways maintenance block allocations have already been made.
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of enforcement powers available to Trading Standards authorities at county level to take action against premises engaged in persistent breaches of consumer protection and trading laws; whether he has considered devolving powers to county-level Trading Standards authorities to enable them to apply for the closure of premises in cases of serious or repeat offending; and what discussions he has had with the (a) Home Office and (b) Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on aligning enforcement powers between licensing authorities, the police, and county-level enforcement bodies.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for delivering trading standards services, aiming to ensure fair trading and safeguard both consumers and reputable businesses. Trading standards services operate independently from central government and enforce a wide range of laws, tailored to local needs.
Where issues impact on a wider group of consumers or businesses, or the detriment is particularly high, other regulators have power to take action. For instance, National Trading Standards plays a role in delivery of broader national and regional enforcement issues, supported by local trading standards services.
We keep this system under review, and the Department for Business and Trade is reviewing the current duties of Trading Standards to ensure that consumers remain protected from harm. My department is working with the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Whitehall Departments in this work.
The Business Secretary and the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister recently wrote jointly to Cabinet colleagues to ask them to set out what further action they plan to take in this Parliament to address consumer harms in their areas, including on toughening enforcement actions against conduct and businesses that do the most harm to the community.
We will report back on this work in due course.