Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Great Western Railway’s proposed reductions on ticket office staffing on access for disabled and elderly passengers in Wiltshire; and if she will publish that assessment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Any changes to ticket office opening hours in relation to regulated stations covered by Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) must be made following the TSA process and Secretary of State guidance. This includes a requirement to consider the impact the change will have on those with protected characteristics. No proposal has been submitted through the TSA Process.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of Great Western Railway’s proposals to reduce (a) ticket office windows and (b) station staffing levels on passenger (i) service and (ii) safety in Wiltshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
While ticket office opening hours are regulated through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement process, the operation of ticket office windows and staffing levels is the responsibility of the train operator. We understand that Great Western Railway has no plans to reduce station staff in Wiltshire.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken to (a) support and (b) encourage the installation of more audio-visual real time information on (i) busses and (ii) trains for (A) visually-impaired and (B) hard of hearing passengers in Wiltshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to improving transport services right across the country, including in Wiltshire, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity.
On 1 October 2024, the first phase of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 came into force, meaning that newer vehicles providing local services must provide accessible audible and visible information on stops, destinations and diversions. The majority of services will need to comply by October 2026. Last year, the Department launched the £4.65 million Accessible Information Grant Scheme, to support the smallest bus and coach companies to provide audible and visible information onboard their services consistent with the Regulations.
With regard to rail, as of 1 January 2022, all passenger rolling stock is compliant with modern accessibility standards, including the requirement to have a dynamic audio-visual passenger information system for the benefit in particular of vision-impaired and hearing-impaired passengers.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) early morning and (b) late evening bus services in Wiltshire for (i) shift workers and (ii) NHS staff.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to keeping communities connected, and ensuring people can get to education and work, including shift workers and NHS staff.
The government believes that local transport authorities, working with bus operators, are best placed to determine and design local bus networks in their area. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities that rely on them.
In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Wiltshire Council has been allocated £6.9 million. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce improvements to bus services and infrastructure to best meet the needs of passengers in their local area, which could include supporting off-peak bus services.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the average bus punctuality rates for Wiltshire for each year since 2015.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The average bus punctuality rates (specifically, the percentage of non-frequent bus services running on time) for Wiltshire are available for each year between the year ending March 2015 and the year ending March 2024 in the Department’s published Annual Bus Statistics. This data can be found in Table BUS09a: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#bus-reliability-and-punctuality-bus09.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is her policy to maintain the number of driving test centres in rural communities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train services were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed by more than 15 minutes on routes serving Chippenham railway station in the most recent 12 month period for which data is available.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - 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.
The Train Operating Company providing services to Chippenham station is Great Western Railway. In the financial year 2024/25:
a) An average of 4.6% of services scheduled by Great Western Railways were cancelled.
(Source: ORR - Table 3124 https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-by-operator-and-cause-periodic/).
b) On average, 96.6% of services run by Great Western Railway trains arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time
(Source: ORR - Table 3138 https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3138-train-punctuality-at-recorded-station-stops-by-operator-periodic/).
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to assess the potential impact of the extended £2 bus fare cap on residents' access to (a) essential services and (b) employment opportunities in Wiltshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is investing over £150 million to deliver the new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help keep bus fares affordable. Under the plans of the previous administration, the £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain a cap on bus fares beyond this point.
The final monitoring and evaluation report into the impact of the £2 bus fare cap was published on 12 February. An evaluation of the £3 fare cap is due to be commissioned shortly.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to maintain the current number of driving test centres in rural communities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help tackle bots in the DVSA's online booking system for driving tests.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
The table below shows the number of car practical driving tests booked and available in the 24-week booking window, as of 31 March 2025, for the driving test centres (DTCs) serving customers in Wiltshire:
DTC | Car practical driving tests booked | Car practical driving test available |
Chippenham | 2,721 | 138 |
Salisbury | 1,795 | 84 |
Swindon | 3,233 | 144 |
On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK.
DVSA continues to recruit DEs DTCs serving customers in Wiltshire and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA has four potential new DEs booked on training programmes.
On 31 March 2025, DVSA launched its latest DE recruitment campaign and has two vacancies for the area as part of this.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
On the 18 December 2024, a call for evidence was launched, seeking views on the current rules to book tests. This will lead to consultation on improving processes, with potential future legislative changes.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 25 warnings, 4 suspensions, and closed 90 business accounts.
DVSA has deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.