Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation or guidance to centralise data collection on licensed drivers' (a) immigration status and (b) criminal history.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Immigration Act 2016 prevents illegal working in the taxi and private hire vehicle sector, as either a driver or an operator. Licensing authorities are prohibited from issuing a licence to anyone who is disqualified by reason of their immigration status, and they discharge their duty by conducting immigration checks.
Being disqualified from holding a licence by reason of their immigration status means that the person is in the UK illegally, is not permitted to work, or is permitted to work, but is subject to a condition that prohibits them from holding a licence in this sector.
The requirement to check the immigration status of licence applicants is in addition to the ‘fit and proper’ test.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides access to criminal record information through its disclosure service. As at 1 April 2024, all authorities in England required an enhanced DBS security check for all drivers as part of their ‘fit and proper’ test. The statutory guidance issued by the Department for Transport to licensing authorities in 2020 recommends that when an individual has spent an extended period (3 or more continuous months) outside the UK, licensing authorities should seek or require applicants to provide where possible criminal records information or a certificate of good character from overseas to properly assess risk and support its decision-making process. This enables licensing authorities to make an informed decision when considering if a person is ‘fit and proper’ to hold a taxi or private hire vehicle driver.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department and its agencies have spent £298,446.92 on translation and interpretation costs in 2025 (this covers the period from 1st January 2025 to 31st May 2025). The table below outlines the split of costs between the Department and each Agency. It should be noted that information is not held at the level requested.
Area | Translation and Interpretation costs |
DfTc | £196,794.16 |
DVSA | £86,581 |
DVLA | £12,218.31 |
MCA | £2,853.45 |
VCA | £0 |
ATE | £0 |
Total | £298,446.92 |
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time was to obtain a UK driving test in each region in the most recent 12 months for which data is available; and what percentage of applicants were foreign nationals.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test by driving test centre regions, for the financial year 2024/25. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not collect any data regarding the customer's nationality when they book, or attend, their car practical driving test.
Region | Average Waiting Time In Weeks |
Zone A (Scotland and North-East England) | 17.1 |
Zone B (Wales and North-West England) | 17.5 |
Zone C (Midlands and South-West England) | 21.6 |
Zone D (London and South-East England) | 22.4 |
National | 19.5 |
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of population changes due to immigration on public transport (a) capacity and (b) congestion levels in urban centres.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department models future demand for transport based on the Common Analytical Scenarios (CAS), which are a wide range of plausible scenarios related to population, the economy, behavioural change and decarbonisation. DfT publish the National Road Traffic Projections (NRTP) which are a set of estimates of road traffic using the CAS, these include estimates of urban congestion. Rail analysis also accounts for population and demographic change when estimating future capacity impacts. The population forecasts used at the DfT are published by the Office of National Statistics and include changes in population arising from births, deaths and immigration and other demographic changes.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether their Department plans to amend its policies on access to (a) toilets, (b) changing facilities and (c) other single-sex spaces in (i) Departmental buildings and (ii) other buildings within their Department’s remit following the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, is developing updated guidance to support service providers. Ministers will consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it following further work in light of this ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) religious and (b) cultural holidays are observed by their Department.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK Civil Service only formally observes the government-set bank holidays.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total number of minutes was by which trains were delayed in 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The ORR publish statistics on delay minutes on their website at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/ (Table 3184). In the year ending 4 January 2025, a total of 15,897,997 delay minutes (15.9 million) were recorded in Great Britain. For context, there were a total of 7,335,930 (7.3 million) trains planned in the calendar year January 2024 to December 2024 (Table 3123).
Of these trains, 85.2% were measured as either arriving within 5 minutes at the scheduled final destination time (for London, South-East, Regional and Scotland operators) or within 10 minutes of the final scheduled destination time (for long distance operators) (Table 3113, Public Performance Measure).
Ministers have been clear that rail services have been failing passengers, we need to improve services for passengers and deliver better value for money for the taxpayer.
The Rail Minister is meeting with the Managing Directors of all train operators and their Network Rail counterparts, to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of people impacted by train delays in 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold information on the number of people affected by train delays. Rail industry data measures train delays. The Office of Rail and Road publishes quarterly and periodic (four-weekly) statistics on punctuality, reliability and causes of delay for passenger trains operating on the mainline network in Great Britain.
This data set includes the percentage of recorded station stops that were arrived at ‘On Time’ (early or less than one minute after the scheduled time). In the year ending 4 January 2025, the proportion of station stops that were arrived at ‘On Time’ was 67.1%.
These statistics can be found on the passenger rail performance data portal at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/ .
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the powers of train conductors to tackle disruptive levels of noise on trains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Train operating companies including their conductors can already use the Railway Byelaws to address disruptive levels of noise, and we have no plans to make changes to this currently. To ensure ease of travel and safety for everyone using the railway, the rules set out in Byelaws must be adhered to and enforcement action can be taken against those who do not comply with them.