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 19 March 2026 to Question 120874, whether his Department plans to publish the baseline information it holds on private parking appeals; and if he will provide a breakdown of the number of disputes and appeals relating to private parking charges for each of the last five years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not hold a breakdown of the number of disputes and appeals relating to private parking charges for each of the last five years.
Some baseline information on private parking appeals includes information already in the public domain such as the trade associations’ annual reports and these may be accessed via the IAS and POPLA sites.
Any other relevant information will be published in the government response when the Code is laid in autumn 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2026 to Question 118924, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the proportion of UK Emissions Trading Scheme costs in the maritime sector expected to be passed through to consumers and (b) how that estimate varies by subsector, including ferries and passenger services; and what international evidence underpins those assumptions.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Impact Assessment finds UK ETS compliance costs are modest relative to operators’ overall costs and does not identify significant consumer price impacts. This is expected to be consistent across maritime subsectors.
For ferries and passenger services, the Government has not undertaken route level modelling for the UK ETS domestic maritime expansion, as operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely.
The EU ETS, which includes some passenger ferries in scope, shows fare changes have generally been in the low single digit range. Early evidence from the EU scheme suggests short‑sea shipping routes and ferry fares increased by 3-11% under comparable carbon pricing.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to Question 119499 from the Rt Hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Rt Hon Member received a response to PQ UIN 119499 on 20th April 2026.
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 122319, what performance metrics the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency uses to assess the effectiveness of recruitment campaigns for driving examiners; and what the outcomes were for each campaign in terms of (a) applications received, (b) candidates progressing to interview and (c) appointments made.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 31 March 2026, the Driver and Vehicle Service Agency (DVSA) had 1,604 full-time equivalent driving examiners (DE), the highest number since 2018 and 188 more DEs than on 30 April 2025.
The table below shows the number of total completed applications DVSA received, the number of applicants invited to interview, the number of applicants invited to the driving assessment stage, applicants recruited and placed on a training course and how many applicants successfully passed training for the 10 recruitment campaigns in each of the three financial years to date:
Campaign date | Total completed applications received | No of applicants invited to interview stage | No of applicants invited to driving assessment stage after a successful interview | No of applicants recruited and placed on a training course | No of applicants that successfully passed a training course |
May-23 | 655 | 432 | 432 | 79 | 62 |
Sep-23 | 1,168 | 718 | 152 | 53 | 40 |
Feb-24 | 2,629 | 1,578 | 273 | 79 | 62 |
Jun-24 | 1,816 | 1,207 | 501 | 175 | 125 |
Sep-24 | 2,248 | 1,460 | 479 | [note 3] | [note 3] |
Mar-25 | 3,865 | 2,388 | 361 | [note 3] | [note 3] |
Jul-25 | 1,182 | 602 | 267 | [note 3] | [note 3] |
Sep-25 | 2,676 | 1,658 | 380 | [note 3] | [note 3] |
Dec-25 | 3,409 | 1,014 | 504 | [note 3] | [note 2] [note 3] |
Feb-26 | 1,141 | 777 | 388 | Ongoing campaign still at selection stage therefore no applicants yet recruited and placed on a training course | |
[note 1] - No of applicants invited to interview and driving assessment are the same as this was an assessment centre.
[note 2] - 26 applicants booked to a future training course. No applicants from this campaign have yet passed training.
[note 3] – DVSA continue to recruit from merit lists for these live recruitment campaigns. The final numbers for the recruitment campaigns shown are therefore not yet known.
For all Civil Service roles, after starting an application, an applicant must complete initial forms with their personal details and to confirm such details as to their right to work in the UK. For a DE role, there are further questions to assess eligibility for the role, including the age of the applicant, and whether they hold a driving licence. If an applicant meets the necessary eligibility requirements, they are then asked to complete a full application form for DVSA to sift and progress to interview if successful.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to Question 107772 from the Rt hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to Question 120023 from the hon. Member for Twickenham.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The responses to these Written Parliamentary Questions have been issued.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to Question 120171 from the hon. Member for Yeovil.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The responses to these Written Parliamentary Questions have been issued.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the monthly average waiting time was for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre and zone for a) March and b) April 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a written assessment of the commercial impact on existing private sector BNG technology providers was completed before the Alpha phase of contract C24064 was approved.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The statutory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) metric is a Government‑owned tool and is currently only available to users in spreadsheet format. The existing tool has well‑recognised issues relating to accessibility, usability, and data integrity, which the Government's digitisation project will address. Contract C24064 is for Application Development Services and provides digital specialist support and programme delivery capability. The Discovery phase of the BNG metric digitisation project explored a wide range of user needs and potential options and does not represent a delivery commitment. Discovery reports are not routinely published but can be made available on request. Defra first became aware of written representations from private sector companies alleging procedural irregularities in the BNG metric digitisation procurement on 4 March 2026. Checks were undertaken to make sure the work is following due process. User research activities conducted during the Discovery phase were reviewed and found to be compliant with Government standards for research, and therefore further advice has not been sought. We are keen to work with private sector BNG technology providers to ensure digitisation of the BNG metric is a success.
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 19 January 2026 to Question 104693, what conclusions were reached at the meeting between National Highways, BWB Consulting and Kier on 17 December 2025 regarding temporary slip roads at M6 junction 38.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
At the meeting, National Highways shared information on its proposed delivery approach and emerging design and construction methodology. BWB Consulting raised questions and outlined high‑level proposals.
National Highways committed to further engagement.