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 pages 30 and 31 of the Government's report entitled Motor Insurance Taskforce: final report, published on 10 December 2025, whether the Department has concluded its consideration of penalties for the offence of driving a vehicle without motor insurance; and whether she has plans to increase the fixed penalty fine for this offence.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government does not intend to commission a specific review into the motorcycle insurance market, as motor insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. It is for them to decide the level of risk that they take in issuing any policy to a given applicant. Motor insurers use a wide range of criteria to assess the potential risk a driver or rider poses including the age of the applicant, the type of vehicle being insured, the postal area where the applicant lives and their driving or riding experience. The setting of premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers based on their underwriting experience. The government does not seek to control the motor insurance market.
The Motor Insurance Taskforce focused on identifying actions that address the factors that contribute to the cost of claims and consequently, the cost of insurance premiums paid by drivers. Given the number of factors involved in pricing motor insurance, the government has not sought to estimate figures for individual consumer savings. However, the government is confident that the taskforce’s collective actions will help to reduce claims costs and, by extension, premiums.
The Government’s Road Safety Strategy was published on 7 January. Alongside the strategy, five consultations have been launched, one of which proposes reforms to motoring offences, including introducing tougher penalties for driving without insurance: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-motoring-offences
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will commission a specific inquiry into the motorcycle insurance market to examine underwriter withdrawals, geographic exclusions and pricing anomalies.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government does not intend to commission a specific review into the motorcycle insurance market, as motor insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. It is for them to decide the level of risk that they take in issuing any policy to a given applicant. Motor insurers use a wide range of criteria to assess the potential risk a driver or rider poses including the age of the applicant, the type of vehicle being insured, the postal area where the applicant lives and their driving or riding experience. The setting of premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers based on their underwriting experience. The government does not seek to control the motor insurance market.
The Motor Insurance Taskforce focused on identifying actions that address the factors that contribute to the cost of claims and consequently, the cost of insurance premiums paid by drivers. Given the number of factors involved in pricing motor insurance, the government has not sought to estimate figures for individual consumer savings. However, the government is confident that the taskforce’s collective actions will help to reduce claims costs and, by extension, premiums.
The Government’s Road Safety Strategy was published on 7 January. Alongside the strategy, five consultations have been launched, one of which proposes reforms to motoring offences, including introducing tougher penalties for driving without insurance: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-motoring-offences
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has measurable targets for helping to reduce average motor insurance premiums.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government does not intend to commission a specific review into the motorcycle insurance market, as motor insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. It is for them to decide the level of risk that they take in issuing any policy to a given applicant. Motor insurers use a wide range of criteria to assess the potential risk a driver or rider poses including the age of the applicant, the type of vehicle being insured, the postal area where the applicant lives and their driving or riding experience. The setting of premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers based on their underwriting experience. The government does not seek to control the motor insurance market.
The Motor Insurance Taskforce focused on identifying actions that address the factors that contribute to the cost of claims and consequently, the cost of insurance premiums paid by drivers. Given the number of factors involved in pricing motor insurance, the government has not sought to estimate figures for individual consumer savings. However, the government is confident that the taskforce’s collective actions will help to reduce claims costs and, by extension, premiums.
The Government’s Road Safety Strategy was published on 7 January. Alongside the strategy, five consultations have been launched, one of which proposes reforms to motoring offences, including introducing tougher penalties for driving without insurance: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-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 22 January 2026 to Question 104858 on Roads: Biodiversity, what information her Department holds on the (a) estimated cost, (b) estimated cost range and (c) modelling of the biodiversity net gain for (i) existing and (ii) planned projects related to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project on the Strategic Road Network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DEFRA’s forthcoming biodiversity net gain impact assessment, which is expected to be published shortly, will set out the impact of applying biodiversity net gain to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
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 the cost to UK Export Finance was in 2024–25 of expanding its climate stress testing models and scenarios using Network for Greening the Financial System scenarios; what the estimated cost of this work was to the public purse; and whether an estimate has been made of the resulting compliance or financing costs on UK exporters and suppliers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The work to update UKEF’s climate stress testing models in 2024-25 is in line with industry good practice on financial risk management and uses tools at no extra cost. This work is part of our ongoing responsibilities to meet government risk management requirements and was carried out by UKEF staff within existing resources. As this is an internal risk management exercise, it does not create compliance obligations or financing costs for UK exporters or suppliers.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many practical car driving tests were conducted in (a) July 2024 and (b) each subsequent month up to the most recent month for which data is available.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) publishes data on the number of practical driving tests conducted on GOV.UK.
The number of practical driving tests conducted by month, including from July 2024, is available on report DRT121G This data is updated monthly and currently shows data to January 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has conducted a comparative assessment of Air Passenger Duty rates in the UK with aviation passenger taxes and equivalent charges in other European countries; and whether such analysis is used to inform decisions on Air Passenger Duty policy.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines, not individual passengers, and is the principal tax on the aviation sector. It is expected to raise £4.7 billion in 2025-26.
The Government is clear that APD is an appropriate tax that ensures airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. Other countries also have different forms of aviation taxes.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108798 what the British Business Bank’s total programme expenditure, staffing costs, and consultancy and professional services costs were in 2024–25, broken down by programme or business line.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British Business Bank’s total staffing costs in 2024-25 were £71.591 million. In the same year, the BBB incurred total expenditure of £26.456 million on professional fees. These comprise fees relating to investment scheme design and transactions and other operational professional services.
A breakdown by business line is provided below, taken from the British Business Bank’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025.
All figures in £ '000 | Staff costs | Professional services |
British Business Finance | 2,089 | 186 |
British Business Investments | 2,588 | 3,157 |
British Patient Capital | 4,616 | 643 |
Nations and Regions Investments | 1,283 | 16 |
Start Up Loans | 4,100 | 253 |
BBB Investment Services | 169 | 17 |
Company plc, Holdings and British Business Financial Services | 56,746 | 22,184 |
Total group | 71,591 | 26,456 |
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, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2026 to Question 107769, what estimate he has made to the Insolvency Service of compliance with Net Zero, sustainability and climate-related disclosure requirements.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I have made no such assessment, however the Insolvency Service’s total emissions have been reported in the Agency’s Annual Report and Accounts since 2012/13. Progress on wider sustainability requirements is reported quarterly to the Department for Business and Trade through the Agency’s Greening Government Commitment (GGC) returns. The Agency adheres to the Greening Government Commitments and the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidance.
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 the cost to UK Export Finance was of mitigating operational emissions arising from (a) its office footprint and b) business travel in 2024-25.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UKEF’s office footprint is managed by the Government Property Agency, which is responsible for the provision of all energy and utility services. UKEF mitigates operational emissions arising from business travel through policies to reduce the cost of business travel; these measures do not place additional costs on UKEF.
Full details regarding expenditure on UKEF’s office footprint and business travel for 2024-25 can be found in the UK Export Finance Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.