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 WPQ 87435 answered on 26 November, if he will publish copies of the modules about close relative marriage and genetic risk for midwives and health visitors and guidance on how to submit data around consanguinity and pregnancy to the Maternity Services Dataset.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has already published training modules about close relative marriage and genetic risk for midwives and health visitors, as well as guidance on how to submit data around consanguinity and pregnancy to the Maternity Services Dataset. The training modules have been published for health professionals to access and there are no plans to publish them more widely.
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 adequacy of the(a) current DVLA registration process for number plate suppliers, (b) background checks on number plate supplier applicants, (c) measures in place to prevent the acquisition of materials to print non-compliant plates and (d) number of DVLA enforcement officers.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of illegal plates.
The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied. It is an offence to sell a number plate without carrying out these required checks and can lead to a fine and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers (RNPS).
Officials are considering options to ensure more robust application and audit processes which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
Officials are also in discussions with the British Number Plate Manufacturers’ Association about the issue of non-compliant materials.
The DVLA’s enforcement officers work with the police and Trading Standards to carry out educational and compliance visits to registered suppliers. Enforcement officers attend the premises of registered number plate suppliers to check working practices and inspect number plates on the premises. Enforcement officers can inspect records held, take copies and/or seize the records.
In addition, DVLA officers carry out intelligence led enforcement activities to tackle a wide range of offences, actively working with our partners to investigate.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with police forces on illegal plates or cloned license plates and serious organised crime; and what steps she is taking with police forces to help tackle the use of illegal or cloned license plates.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of illegal plates.
The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied. It is an offence to sell a number plate without carrying out these required checks and can lead to a fine and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers (RNPS).
Officials are considering options to ensure more robust application and audit processes which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
Officials are also in discussions with the British Number Plate Manufacturers’ Association about the issue of non-compliant materials.
The DVLA’s enforcement officers work with the police and Trading Standards to carry out educational and compliance visits to registered suppliers. Enforcement officers attend the premises of registered number plate suppliers to check working practices and inspect number plates on the premises. Enforcement officers can inspect records held, take copies and/or seize the records.
In addition, DVLA officers carry out intelligence led enforcement activities to tackle a wide range of offences, actively working with our partners to investigate.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with the British Standards Institute on its review of BS AU 145e; and whether she plans to ban raised 3D and 4D number plates.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the British Standard Institution committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The committee has put forward proposed amendments which are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025.
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 Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, HC 1492, from which financial year she plans to meet her target to fix an additional one million potholes each year.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government takes the condition of our country’s local highway network extremely seriously. This is why the Government has confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment into local highways maintenance over the next four years, bringing annual funding for local authorities to repair and renew their roads and fix potholes to over £2 billion annually by 2029/30. This new, four-year funding settlement is in addition to the Government's investment of £1.6 billion this year, a £500 million increase compared to last year. These funding increases enable local authorities to fill an additional one million potholes in each year of this Parliament.
In addition to increasing the available funding, the Department has confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, providing greater funding certainty to local authorities. This enables them to better plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and to instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance so that roads can be fixed properly and kept in good condition for longer so that fewer potholes form in the first place.
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.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to amend the penalty regime to (a) make non-compliant number plates offences endorsable with up to six penalty points and (b) increase the fixed penalty fine for such offences from £100 to £1,000.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government takes road safety seriously. We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for ten years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences.
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 November 2025 to Question 92061 on Great British Railways, whether her Department has now produced (a) costed rollout plans for the Great British Railways logo and (b) estimated expenditure for the re-livery of trains; and if she will publish the estimated total cost ranges and any associated value-for-money assessments relating to the wider implementation of the Great British Railways brand.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has asked the incoming CEO of DfT Operator to lead the rollout of the Great British Railways (GBR) branding. Ministers expect the brand rollout to maximise opportunities to grow revenue as well as to ensure value for money in its application. This includes primarily repainting trains when they were due to be repainted by their leasing companies, and changing station signage when it is life expired. With this in mind, Ministers do not expect significant sums to be spent on the repainting of trains as part of the rollout of branding.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2025 to Question 94796 on Cars: Taxation, whether a weight-based system of vehicle taxation for cars is under consideration by her Department.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government annually reviews the rates and thresholds of taxes and reliefs to ensure that they are appropriate and reflect the current state of the economy. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the public finances.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in respect of train operating companies for which the Department is the operator, how many services were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed by (i) 30 minutes or more and (ii) 60 minutes or more in each month since July 2024 up to and including the most recent month for which figures are available.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish statistics on punctuality and reliability of trains operating on the mainline network on a periodic basis on their data portal: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/.
Cancellations
Information on train cancellations in Great Britain by operator is available in Table 3128: Pre-cancellations and adjusted cancellations score by operator, Great Britain (periodic data): https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/p-coded-cancellations/
The table shows
Delays
Information on train punctuality in Great Britain by operator is available in Table 3138: Train punctuality at recorded station stops by operator (periodic): https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3138-train-punctuality-at-recorded-station-stops-by-operator-periodic/
A recorded station stop refers to any location that has both a scheduled date and time in the Great Britain timetable and an actual recorded arrival date and time.
The table shows: