Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with industry on the number of flight instructors; and assessment she has made of the capacity of flight schools to train commercial airline pilots.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials engage regularly with industry and trade bodies (including the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) on all aviation skills issues.
As the UK aviation sector operates predominantly in the private sector, it is for individual airlines to recruit and train pilots to meet today’s demand and the demand of the future.
A major training organisation has now been approved to deliver the first officer apprenticeship, which would provide training completely cost-free to young people. We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Skills England to encourage airlines to deliver this apprenticeship.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether funding from expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to maritime will be used to support maritime decarbonisation.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Receipts from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) support the Government’s priorities, including spending that helps deliver the transition to net zero.
The Government recognises that decarbonising the maritime sector requires a suite of policies, and continues to provide funding, guidance and policy support to facilitate the uptake of cleaner technologies across the sector.
In September 2025, the Government announced a further £448m funding for the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) research and development (R&D) programme between 2026 and 2030, representing the biggest government investment ever in the UK's commercial maritime industry.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what action her department is taking to support the use of digital twin technologies across the UK's transport system.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since the publication in 2023 of Transport Research and Innovation Board’s Transport Digital Twin Vision and Roadmap to 2035, DfT has established a dedicated team to lead a digital twins programme, aligned with the Transport AI Action Plan (2025).
This has already enabled the development of a diverse research programme, including the £46m TransiT research hub to decarbonise transport through digital twins; and a £5m programme to improve crisis response and resilience. These are providing the new tools and skills to ensure UK leadership in this key emerging technology.
To enable business case development and improve adoption, in 2024 DfT published its Economic Benefits Analysis for Integrated Transport Digital Twins, quantifying the key benefits this technology can bring to the UK economy, estimated to £1.85bn over the next decade.
Finally, DfT has directly supported industry innovation by funding innovative digital twin projects through the Transport Research Innovation Grants and the Freight Innovation Fund, to improve rail maintenance, traffic flow, urban resilience, better EV charging infrastructure and port operations.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the progress of the Transport Research and Innovation Board's 2023 Transport Digital Twin Vision and Roadmap to 2035.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Transport Research and Innovation Board provides regular oversight on the progress against the Transport Digital Twin Vision and Roadmap to 2035, as part of regular operations for all its areas of activity.
DfT has met all key government-owned milestones in digital twins, including working with the National Digital Twin Programme, enabling funding to research organisations, and providing a clear vision for the strategic case and benefits for digital twins in transport and adjacent sectors.
A key milestone was to provide clear evidence and guidelines on the benefits of digital twins, and DfT has published its Economic Benefit Analysis (2024) showing that this emerging technology can enable better integration of traffic management and deliver £1.85bn of benefits to the UK over a decade.
Additionally, DfT is working with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to develop guidance on data interoperability and integration across transport.
The work is ongoing, and DfT committed in the recent Climate Adaptation Strategy for Transport (Dec 2025) to a long-term digital twin programme that aims to support network management, resilience planning and climate response.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the road safety strategy on deaths and serious injuries from cycling and walking.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Road Safety Strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035. This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to protect vulnerable road users, update vehicle safety technologies and review motoring offences.
One of the Safety Performance Indicators which will be monitored alongside delivery of the Strategy is: the rate of cyclists/pedestrians killed or seriously injured on England’s roads, measured as the number of fatalities and serious injuries per billion miles walked and cycled. Monitoring this should enable government to understand the impact that the Strategy is having on deaths and serious injuries of those cycling or walking.
Our roads aren’t just for motorists; it is vitally important that everyone using our roads is kept safe. With that in mind on the 10 December 2025 we announced that we are allocating £626 million for local authorities from 2026-27 to 2029-30 to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling schemes.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what will be the remit of the new Road Safety Investigation Branch in relation to cycling and e-bikes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Improving road safety is a key priority. Injuries and fatalities from road collisions caused by driving are unacceptable, and this Government is working hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users including cyclists.
The detailed remit of the Road Safety Investigation Branch is still to be determined, but it will be built around the core objectives of the Data-led Road Safety Investigation Branch, namely using large cross-sector datasets and connected vehicle data to identify risks and thematic priorities, and providing insights and recommendations to support continuous safety learning and decision-making.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for taking legislative steps to develop a regulatory framework for low and zero emission vehicles, following the commitment in the Road Safety Strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As stated in the Road Safety Strategy, the Government has made a commitment to pursue legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of compensating victims of collisions involving illegal e-scooters and e-bikes on (a) the cost of motor insurance premiums for other motorists and (b) costs to the Motor Insurers' Bureau in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We regularly engage with the Motor Insurer’s Bureau and are working with them to understand the impact of private e-scooters and illegal e-bikes on car drivers’ insurance premiums.
It is clear the law on e-scooters needs to change, which is why the Government has committed to pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows. Any future regulations, including potential insurance requirements, will be publicly consulted on before they come into force.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the data opportunities of connected and autonomous vehicles to reduce uninsured driving.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 sets out the regulations for insurance requirements of automated vehicles. The operator or owner of an automated vehicle must hold a policy of insurance that satisfies the conditions in section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
The recent call for evidence, launched in December 2025, seeks views on various aspects of the automated vehicles regulatory framework, including insurance. Responses received will support future consultation on the proposed regulations, with full implementation of the Act anticipated by the second half of 2027.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of unlawful number plates on (a) the ability of the police to trace hit-and-run drivers and (b) efforts to reduce the proportion of untraced driver claims handled by the Motor Insurers' Bureau.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
While those specific assessments have not been made, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime. On-road enforcement of number plate and insurance offences is a matter for the police.
The Government published its Road Safety Strategy on 7 January, setting out its vision for a safer future on our roads for all. As part of this, the Department for Transport is reviewing motoring offences and has published a consultation which seeks views on the introduction of penalty points and vehicle seizure for the offence of being in charge of a motor vehicle with an incorrect/altered/false number plate. The consultation can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-penalties-for-motoring-offences.