Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether ice cream vans parked on red lines on Westminster Bridge are monitored by the Government Secure Zone control room.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Government can confirm that vehicles are monitored within the Government Secure Zone. However, the Government does not comment in detail on security arrangements within the Government Secure Zone.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the future role of the Railway Benevolent Fund under Great British Railways, and what steps she is taking to ensure the Fund can continue its support for current and former rail workers once GBR is operational.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Railway Benevolent Institution, known as the Rail Benevolent Fund (RBF), is an independent non-membership charity, supported by charitable fundraising and donations, and regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The future role of the RBF, including when Great British Railways is established, is a matter for the charity.
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 4 December 2025 to Question 94308 on Railways: Facilities Agreements, when the updated Framework Document is expected to be published.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Framework Document is being reviewed and updated following the change of role from the DfT Operator of Last Resort to the Operator of First Choice and the transfer of circa 200 DfT staff to DFTO on 31 March 2026. The Department intends to publish the new Framework Document on gov.uk in 26/27.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was for commissioning or licensing material from Dovetail Games for use in promotional content relating to the Great British Railways branding, including the computer-generated train livery featured in public communications.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The new brand for Great British Railways (GBR) was developed in-house by the Department for Transport with support from a livery design specialist working for a train operator in public ownership, with the only minimal design cost being audience testing. This approach was chosen to ensure good value for money for the taxpayer.
As part of unveiling the new branding, the Department collaborated with Dovetail Games to connect with a larger audience. Though details of licencing contracts are commercially confidential, this agreement returns a premium to the department through licencing fees, rather than being a cost to the public purse. No payments have been made, or are due to, Dovetail Games.
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 3 December 2025 to Question 94307 on Railways: Private Sector, what metrics her Department plans to use to measure the potential impact of the Railways Bill on levels of private sector innovation; and whether baseline data has been established for those measures.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in the answer to Question 94307, establishing GBR through the Railways Bill will provide an integrated approach and greater longer-term certainty for rail, giving the private sector the confidence it needs to invest and support innovation throughout the sector. The Railways Bill Impact Assessment provides an assessment of the potential impacts of the rail reform policies within the Railways Bill, including the impacts on Business Environment.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2025 to Question 92091 on NHS England: Carbon Emissions, what estimate has been made of the cost to the NHS of delivering the net zero targets; and whether those costs have been broken down between capital spending, operational changes and procurement requirements.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
These targets are system–led and were set by NHS England, in collaboration with its Net Zero Expert Panel, to support the United Kingdom’s legislative target in a way that is ambitious but achievable. NHS England has been clear that its approach is designed to align with different sectoral pathways, and to be consistent with the UK's overall approach on decarbonisation. No National Health Service specific cost-estimate of achieving Net Zero has been made, and both NHS England and Department are clear that NHS budgets will only be used to support the targets where this can deliver better value for money for the taxpayer and better care for patients.
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 4 December 2025 to Question 95727 on Driving Instruction: Staff, how many civilian driving tests the 36 defence driving examiners are expected to conduct over the 12-month support period.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The announcement on this measure by the Secretary of State for Transport on 12 November, provided further details regarding the number of tests.
Information on this and other measures announced is available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the national average waiting time in weeks was for a practical car driving test in (a) November 2025 and (b) October 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test in November 2025 was 22 weeks.
For the national average waiting time in October 2025, I refer the hon Member to the answers I gave on 28 November and 8 December, to Questions 93246 and 96689.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of upgrading and expanding monitoring and stabilisation works on Victorian railway embankments; and whether she plans to publish a timetable for funding for this infrastructure.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, is responsible for maintaining the integrity and safety of the rail network to ensure passenger and freight services can operate reliably. Network Rail manages Victorian-era embankments—some over 150 years old—as part of a comprehensive, risk-based earthworks strategy. Its approach comprises policies, monitoring, maintenance, and engineering interventions. It is spending over £1bn on drainage and earthworks in 2024-2029 to ensure the integrity of the rail network, which includes embankment stabilisation.
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 27 October 2025 to Question 82988 on Bicycles: Infrastructure, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of floating bus stops on independent access to bus services for blind and partially sighted people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recognises the concerns raised about floating bus stops, particularly by vision-impaired people, and we are taking steps to address them.
Section 31 of the Bus Services Act 2025 requires the Secretary of State to publish statutory guidance for local authorities in England on the provision and design of floating bus stops, within three months of Royal Assent. This must be consulted on with the Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee and other relevant organisations before publication. Local authorities will be required to have regard to this guidance.
In addition, local authorities have been asked to pause implementation of certain designs of floating bus stop. I wrote to all local traffic authorities on 20 November setting out the terms of this pause. This applies to floating bus stop schemes which are at the design stage, and which include designs which require people to board or alight directly from or into a cycle track.