Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2026 to Question 5451 on National Highways: Expenditure, how much of the expenditure on National Highways' in-house external affairs function since 4 July 2024 was spent on (a) salaries, (b) agency staff, (c) communications consultants, (d) stakeholder engagement events, (e) hospitality, (f) travel and (g) other expenditure.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

For the period between 4 July and 31 May 2026, the National Highways in-house External Affairs Team's expenditure was as follows:

(a) £1.6 million on salaries.

(b) Zero spend on agency staff.

(c) £280,921 on a technical professional services’ public affairs contract, which includes the provision of stakeholder engagement events. An additional £3,045.60 was spent separately on stakeholder events in the period.

(d) see above.

(e) £29 on hospitality.

(f) £53,328 on travel (July 2024 to March 2026 based on latest verified reporting).

(g) £58,500 on other expenditure consisting of a stakeholder monitoring service and spend on stakeholder sentiment surveys.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2026 to Question 8651 on Large Goods Vehicles: Electric Vehicles, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of charging requirements on (a) daily vehicle utilisation rates and (b) freight sector productivity for zero-emission heavy goods vehicles compared with diesel equivalents.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department will continue to engage with the sector on issues of utilisation and productivity, including through the detailed data that will be produced and shared as part of the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme.

We will set out our Zero Emission HGV and Coach Infrastructure Strategy in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 12 June 2026 to Question 4166 on Equality: Gender and Intersex, if she will place a copy of the New model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees, issued to Government departments on 22 May 2026, in the Library of the House.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

New model Gender Reassignment guidance has been issued to Civil Service departments for them to use as a template for their own departmental guidance. Internal HR policies and guidance are not published externally.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the new NHS England guidance on Children’s community nursing pathway on bladder and bowel management includes measures to ensure that children with continence challenges receive prompt access to specialist services and are provided with the most appropriate continence products for their needs in adequate numbers.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England's Standardising Community Health Services guidance supports commissioners and providers to improve the design, commissioning, and delivery of community health services. The guidance recognises bowel and bladder care as a lifelong need for children with long term and life limiting conditions and it is the responsibility of the clinical teams to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the child’s bladder and bowel needs and to prescribe continence products accordingly. Local commissioners and providers will determine their own clinical pathways and operating models for community health services, including bowel and bladder care for children.

The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/standardising-community-health-services-core-component-descriptions/

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the impact on learner drivers of average practical driving test waiting times at Lincoln Driving Test Centre; and what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times and increase test availability at that centre.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government set out a comprehensive package of measures in April 2025 to tackle long waiting times, aiming to deliver around 10,000 additional tests per month. A key step was reintroducing overtime incentives.

As well as this, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continuing with recruitment campaigns and going further to make the booking system fairer. These are practical steps to increase supply, protect access to tests, and bring waiting times down.

From recent recruitment at Lincoln driving test centre (DTC), DVSA has one new potential driving examiner (DE) currently in training. DVSA will be regularly reviewing resourcing at the DTC in line with modelling and recruitment needs.

Additionally, at Lincoln DTC, 749 additional overtime tests were delivered between June 2025 and May 2026 when compared to the previous year. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme the agency introduced in June 2025.

In the interest of transparency, DVSA has published more detailed data-sets so learners can get better understanding of the booking system. More information and waiting time data, including Lincoln DTC and other DTCs serving the area, can be found on GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the National Police Chiefs' Council on whether it retains any record containing the identities of Freedom of Information applicants and information relating to their requesting activity.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The National Police Chief’s Council is an independent public authority for the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act. The Home Office has no record of any discussions with the NPCC regarding their handling of FOI requests.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2026 to Question 7033, what estimate was made of the increase in the cost of an average package holiday attributable to Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate compliance costs.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

An assessment of the costs of SAF policies and the impact on air fares was conducted as part of the published SAF Mandate cost-benefit analysis. There has not been an assessment of the impact on holiday package prices.

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Cost Benefit is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66601969dc15efdddf1a872d/uk-saf-mandate-final-stage-cost-benefit-analysis.pdf, see section 4 for ticket price impacts.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2026 to Question 4598 on Great British Railways, what estimate her Department has made of the annual financial savings arising from ending the fragmentation between Network Rail and train operating companies.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Railways Bill Impact Assessment assesses the potential costs and benefits of integrating track and train. This includes potential efficiencies from reducing fragmentation in the industry.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff are assigned to delivery of the Lower Airspace Concept programme.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The delivery of changes to lower terminal airspace, as part of the Airspace Modernisation Programme, is undertaken by the airports for three of the four Clusters; Scotland, Western and Manchester. The fourth cluster, London, will be undertaken by the UK Airspace Design Service, which is operated by NATS (En Route) plc.

As all of these are private companies with varying staff levels delivering the changes, this is not information that that Department holds.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Active Travel England requires local authorities to reconcile differences between published promotional material and baseline traffic counts contained within Outline and Full Business Cases.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There is no requirement from Active Travel England for authorities to publish information on traffic counts. Active Travel England provides guidance on appraisal and monitoring and evaluation of active travel schemes to authorities. For transparency purposes, many authorities publish information on traffic counts as part of local engagement activities when developing new schemes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fixed penalty notices and prosecutions were issued for road traffic offences in England and Wales in each year since 2010, broken down by offence category.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested.

Fixed penalty notices are a matter for the Home Office. The Home Office publishes statistics on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences as part of its Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics. The latest data can be found in the Home Office publication Police powers and procedures: Roads policing, to December 2024. The accompanying fixed penalty notices and other outcomes data tables include breakdowns by offence type and year, including offences relating to the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions at criminal courts, including motoring offences, as part of its Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly series. The latest data can be found here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: December 2025 - GOV.UK. Prosecution data by offence are published in the accompanying all-offences prosecutions and convictions data tool and outcomes by offence data tools.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many drivers received six penalty points for using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving in each of the last five years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested.

Fixed penalty notices are a matter for the Home Office. The Home Office publishes statistics on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences as part of its Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics. The latest data can be found in the Home Office publication Police powers and procedures: Roads policing, to December 2024. The accompanying fixed penalty notices and other outcomes data tables include breakdowns by offence type and year, including offences relating to the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions at criminal courts, including motoring offences, as part of its Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly series. The latest data can be found here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: December 2025 - GOV.UK. Prosecution data by offence are published in the accompanying all-offences prosecutions and convictions data tool and outcomes by offence data tools.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what percentage of South Western Railway services arrived on time in (a) the final full year before transfer into public ownership and (b) the most recent year for which data is available.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

At the end of May 2025, 84 per cent of South Western Railway (SWR) services arrived on time, or within three minutes of their scheduled arrival time. At the end of May 2026, the same metric showed 83.1 per cent.

SWR inherited delays to the introduction of the new Arterio fleet and a shortage of trained drivers, which has affected service resilience and contributed to cancellations, but the combination of new rolling stock, more drivers and a better timetable will create the ability for better performance in the future.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June to Question 9171, whether the £65.5 million difference between the forecast and actual reduction in Support for Passenger Rail Services in 2025-26 was attributable to (a) lower than forecast revenue, (b) higher than forecast costs, or (c) a combination of both.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The department does not intend to publish operator-level comparisons of subsidy requirement against forecast ahead of the publication of Train Operating Companies’ final audited accounts and financial statements. This is because the underlying revenue and cost information at TOC level is commercially sensitive, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to disclose this information in advance of publication by the operators themselves.

Information on TOC financial performance is subsequently made available through the operators’ own published accounts and through the Office of Rail and Road’s annual financial statistical publications, which are published after the close of the relevant financial year.

(https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/finance/rail-industry-finance/table-7226-franchised-passen…

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the UK automotive industry in the context of increasing reliance on software-defined vehicle technologies.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

This Government is supporting the long-term competitiveness of the UK automotive industry by backing the technologies that will shape the next generation of vehicles. Our flagship DRIVE35 initiative is supporting research and development in zero emission vehicle technologies including software defined vehicle technologies, accelerating commercial scale up, and attracting investment in manufacturing.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the amount of fuel burn resulting from the time taken for Free Route Airspace implementation.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Following the implementation of the Free Route Airspace over Scotland, NATS have calculated a predicted reduction of emissions by approximately 17,000 tonnes of CO₂e per year.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of active travel schemes funded since 2020 have had their Outline and Full Business Cases published in full.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department has funded more than 2,000 active travel schemes since 2020, with many of these funded through the Active Travel Fund and wider cross-modal funding programmes. Responsibility for publishing business cases for these schemes resides with the authority receiving the funding, and many authorities publish business case material as part of local transparency arrangements.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2026 to Question 9696 on the Low Carbon Fuels Fund, what estimate the Department has made of the amount of private sector investment that will be leveraged by the £219 million available through the scheme.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

We expect the £219m of capital funding available through the Low Carbon Fuels Fund to be invested directly into progressing projects through the early lifecycle stages towards a Final Investment Decision, by contributing to development costs, whilst maintaining a pipeline of demonstration projects to diversify technology. Projects able to evidence match funding, such as private sector investment, will be scored preferentially during the assessment process and so have more likelihood of success. Until the bidding process is complete, we will not have a view on the level of private investment supported but for comparison the Advanced Fuels Fund leveraged £76.5m match funding against £198m allocated through grant funding.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to NHS trusts on making reasonable adjustments when an attorney holding a valid power of attorney is unable to attend in person to verify their status due to (a) a disability or (b) caring responsibilities.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983 and their respective statutory codes of practice lay out the guidance for National Health Service trusts regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA), including verification through the Office of Public Guardian (OPG).

The OPG provides online guidance on the verification of an LPA and EPA on the GOV.UK website, which is available to NHS trusts. This includes the online “Use and View an LPA” service for LPAs registered on or after 1 January 2016. This service allows attorneys to provide a digital access code through which organisations, including NHS trusts, can digitally verify that the LPA is registered, and view details of the attorneys authorised to act. The OPG guidance also provides that if the LPA cannot be shared via the “Use and View an LPA” service, an attorney may present an office or certified paper copy to the institution, to use the LPA.

NHS trusts are also bound by the Equality Act 2010 to make relevant reasonable adjustments where appropriate which would cover attorneys acting under an LPA.

The Department does not hold information on individual LPA or EPA verification outcomes in NHS trusts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on whether NHS trusts have refused to engage with the legal representative of a patient on the grounds of being unable to verify a power of attorney in person.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983 and their respective statutory codes of practice lay out the guidance for National Health Service trusts regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA), including verification through the Office of Public Guardian (OPG).

The OPG provides online guidance on the verification of an LPA and EPA on the GOV.UK website, which is available to NHS trusts. This includes the online “Use and View an LPA” service for LPAs registered on or after 1 January 2016. This service allows attorneys to provide a digital access code through which organisations, including NHS trusts, can digitally verify that the LPA is registered, and view details of the attorneys authorised to act. The OPG guidance also provides that if the LPA cannot be shared via the “Use and View an LPA” service, an attorney may present an office or certified paper copy to the institution, to use the LPA.

NHS trusts are also bound by the Equality Act 2010 to make relevant reasonable adjustments where appropriate which would cover attorneys acting under an LPA.

The Department does not hold information on individual LPA or EPA verification outcomes in NHS trusts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department issues to NHS trusts on the verification of (a) Lasting Powers of Attorney and (b) Enduring Powers of Attorney; and whether trusts are required to accept certified copies in lieu of original documents.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983 and their respective statutory codes of practice lay out the guidance for National Health Service trusts regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA), including verification through the Office of Public Guardian (OPG).

The OPG provides online guidance on the verification of an LPA and EPA on the GOV.UK website, which is available to NHS trusts. This includes the online “Use and View an LPA” service for LPAs registered on or after 1 January 2016. This service allows attorneys to provide a digital access code through which organisations, including NHS trusts, can digitally verify that the LPA is registered, and view details of the attorneys authorised to act. The OPG guidance also provides that if the LPA cannot be shared via the “Use and View an LPA” service, an attorney may present an office or certified paper copy to the institution, to use the LPA.

NHS trusts are also bound by the Equality Act 2010 to make relevant reasonable adjustments where appropriate which would cover attorneys acting under an LPA.

The Department does not hold information on individual LPA or EPA verification outcomes in NHS trusts.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 17 February 2026 to Question 111859, whether a departure from standard was approved for the replacement of central reserve barrier on the A1(M) between Junctions 61 and 62.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Yes, in this instance a departure from standard was reviewed and approved by National Highways’ Technical Specialists. Any departures of this sort are assessed on a site-specific basis, with each installation representing an improvement on the barrier it replaces. The newly installed barrier system at this location meets required safety standards and is of a type that has been thoroughly tested to confirm the type and weight of vehicles it can contain.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many full-time equivalent driving examiners recruited by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests in May 2026.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In May 2026, there were 1,630.14 full-time equivalent driving examiners in post, and out of those, 1,577 were available to deliver practical car driving tests.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of long term visa applications subject to a minimum service standard were decided within the relevant service standard by visa category since 1 January 2025.

Answered by Mike Tapp

Visa processing times are published on the UKVI website at Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). UKVI are currently processing applications on the overwhelming majority of its long-term visa routes within their published customer service standards.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department requires independent verification of baseline cycling and pedestrian counts used to support applications for Active Travel England funding.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Following publication of the Devolution White Paper in 2024, the Government has consolidated most local transport funding streams into a single flexible fund that enables local areas to align investment with priorities and reduce burdens on accessing the funding. Authorities no longer apply for funding and independent verification of baseline counts are not a requirement of consolidated funding for any transport mode. Authorities instead provide delivery plans to set out their investment priorities.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on the Liverpool Street Station redevelopment scheme of changes in senior leadership at Platform4 and Network Rail Property since January 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Platform4, GBR Anglia & Network Rail Eastern region continue to work together on the scheme.

The Liverpool Street Redevelopment scheme is being promoted by Platform 4 on a commercial basis – no government funding has been allocated. Any specific queries regarding this scheme should be directed to Platform 4 ([email protected]).

The transformation of Liverpool Street remains a strategic priority for Network Rail, and this was demonstrated by taking the scheme to Committee in February 2026 - where resolution to grant consent was given.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate has been made of the total funding gap associated with the Liverpool Street Station redevelopment scheme.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Liverpool Street Redevelopment scheme is being promoted by Platform 4 on a commercial basis – no government funding has been allocated. Any specific queries regarding this scheme should be directed to Platform 4 ([email protected]).

Schemes of this scale often face initial viability challenges and are successfully delivered. The office is expected be one of the City’s most sought-after locations. Market conditions are improving and limited supply of Grade A office space is expected to support successful letting.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2026 to Question 7617 on Electric Vehicles: Excise Duties, when the Government expects to publish its response to the Consultation on the Introduction of Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), which closed on 18 March 2026.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 29^th June to Question 11460

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the HS2 six-monthly report to Parliament published in May 2026, what lessons learned and innovative construction methods were deployed in the completion of the north portal structure at the Chiltern Tunnel; and which other transport or infrastructure projects have subsequently adopted, or are expected to benefit from, those lessons and methods.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Chiltern Tunnel North and South Portals have been specially engineered with perforated concrete hoods to prevent the possibility of sudden changes in air pressure and a resulting ‘sonic boom’ caused by trains entering and exiting the 10-mile-long tunnel at high speeds. Delivered by our construction partner, Align, the North Portal was built several months faster than the South Portal, drawing on lessons learnt from the South Portal. The formwork for the walls of the North Portal was set up in panels on rails, the steel reinforcement was assembled on the ground, lifted and placed in the preset formwork ready for concrete to be poured, and the walls on both sides of the Portal were advanced concurrently. The formwork for the curved roof was similarly set up on rails, steel reinforcement pre-assembled on the ground and the roof panels constructed sequenced with the advancing wall construction. The use of rails significantly reduced the number of shutter lifts required, reducing the risk of down time as a result of high wind speeds.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much her Department and its arm's-length bodies have spent on (a) advertising, (b) marketing, (c) external public relations and (d) other communications activity on their announcement regarding regulated rail fares in England for the year 2026-27.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Other than that reported in the answer on 13 March to Question 117710, the Department has not found any additional external expenditure on advertising, marketing, external public relations or other communications activity specifically in relation to the announcement of regulated rail fares for 2026-27. Any routine communications activity associated with this announcement has been delivered using existing departmental and arm’s‑length body resources and budgets, and costs are not held separately.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2026 to Question 4598 on Great British Railways, if she will list examples of current open access passenger rail services that her Department considers genuinely add value that benefits the public and align with the overall strategy for railways.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In the right circumstances, Open Access can provide benefits to rail passengers, such as improved connectivity and choice. However, Open Access can also increase costs to taxpayers and create additional performance pressures on an already constrained network.

The Department will assess the financial, operational and performance impacts of individual applications and can provide support where benefits clearly outweigh costs to taxpayers without impacting upon the efficient operation of the network. However, access to the rail network is currently a matter for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and the Department is unable to direct the ORR in its decision-making. When making decisions the ORR will publish representations it receives.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what lessons learned reviews have been undertaken by her Department into delayed railway station construction projects since 2020.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Since 2020, the Department for Transport has undertaken a number of lessons‑learned reviews relevant to delayed railway station construction, including reviews of the sponsorship, governance, and assurance of major rail infrastructure programmes. The Department has drawn on findings from reviews of delayed rail infrastructure, such as the Elizabeth line lessons‑learned review (2024) and the independent Stewart Review of major transport projects (2025), to inform its approach to governance, sponsorship, and procurement for complex station schemes, including Leicester.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2026 to Question 121192 on Network Rail: Assets, when Network Rail's next Delivery Plan update is expected to be published.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Network Rail expects to publish the Delivery Plan update document for 2026/27 in July 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specific steps he is taking to ensure that the new value-based procurement assessment methodology published by the Department’s Medical Technology and Innovation Directorate is adopted and implemented by all NHS trusts; and if he will take steps to ensure that trusts involve clinicians early in the procurement process to identify improvements in patient experience and outcomes that procurements should seek to deliver.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

The Department published the Value Based Procurement (VBP) Standard Guidance on 11 June 2026, in line with commitments in the 10-Year Health Plan for England and Life Sciences Sector Plan. The Department will be undertaking an engagement programme with National Health Service procurement teams to spread awareness of the guidance and encourage uptake. The Department will also convene a VBP Champions Network to promote uptake of the guidance within NHS organisations and will launch expressions of interest to join the network this summer.

Also, in line with commitments in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Department will monitor usage of the guidance with feedback from procurement teams and suppliers to inform any refinements or iterations over time. Finally, NHS England and the Department will be launching a training offer to upskill procurement teams on the VBP methodology, including encouraging early clinician involvement within procurement processes as outlined in the guidance.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Treasury has considered calculating benefit-in-kind tax on used company vehicles by reference to their market value rather than their original P11D list price.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

The Government considers P11D list prices the fairest and most practical way to calculate benefit-in-kind liabilities for company cars and has no plans to move away from this approach. However, the Government will keep the second-hand EV market under review and continue to monitor developments closely.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2026 to Question 10561 on Department for Transport: Public Relations, which PR firms have been hired since July 2024; on what campaigns and topics; and at what cost.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Since July 2024, Department for Transport have hired the following PR firms:

• 23red, to work on the Electric Vehicles campaign. For spend relating to the Electric Vehicles campaign please contact the lead department, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
• 23red, to work with JOE Media for PR activity on Drink Driving to challenge young men's perception of "feeling fine to drive". This included a pre-recorded audio package and social media content. This activity came to a total cost of £49,974.89.
• 23red, to work with JOE Media and The News Movement for content on the effects of drugs on people's ability to drive, and how peers can support each other to avoid risks. This included the production of social media reels and advertorials. This activity came to a total cost £67,039.76.

Social Security