Written questions by Mayer.

With reference to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles' report entitled Consultation outcome: driving licence flexibility for alternatively-fuelled vehicles, published on 10 October 2023, whether her Department (a) plans to remove the five-hour training requirement for drivers of electric vans weighing up to 4.25 tonnes and (b) implement the other reforms proposed in that report.

The Government is reviewing the policy proposals detailed in the previously published consultation response on driving licence flexibilities for alternatively-fuelled vehicles.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 721 on Bus Services: Concessions, what her Department’s funding contribution was to Arriva The Shires Ltd under the £2 National Bus Fare Cap scheme?

The £2 National Bus Fare Cap is a voluntary scheme for eligible bus operators, who are provided a bespoke funding allocation to reimburse the difference between the cap and the shadow commercial fare. It is not possible to calculate the average cost per passenger journey in each county, or any designated geographic area, because the fare cap reimbursement is provided directly to bus operators, who do not operate exclusively within geographic boundaries. The Department is unable to disclose the amounts that specific operators have received under the scheme as contributions are calculated based on commercially sensitive data. The total government investment to cap bus fares at £2 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 is around £600 million.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 721 on Bus Services: Concessions, what the average cost per passenger journey to the public purse of the £2 National Bus Fare Cap scheme was in each county in England since 1 January 2023.

The £2 National Bus Fare Cap is a voluntary scheme for eligible bus operators, who are provided a bespoke funding allocation to reimburse the difference between the cap and the shadow commercial fare. It is not possible to calculate the average cost per passenger journey in each county, or any designated geographic area, because the fare cap reimbursement is provided directly to bus operators, who do not operate exclusively within geographic boundaries. The Department is unable to disclose the amounts that specific operators have received under the scheme as contributions are calculated based on commercially sensitive data. The total government investment to cap bus fares at £2 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 is around £600 million.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential options for providing relief for the trunk A5 road through Hockliffe Village during the next road investment period.

As part of their analysis of need on the Strategic Road Network, National Highways identified issues with peak period delays and unreliability on the A5 in Hockcliffe. A feasibility study has been undertaken and has identified options for improvements. This scheme is currently being considered as part of the next Roads Investment Strategy, though all future spend by National Highways is subject to the DfT’s Capital Review and the cross-government Spending Review.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of pedal monitoring cameras on all new (a) buses, (b) trams, (c) coaches and (d) other forms of public transport.

The Government currently has no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of pedal monitoring cameras on all new public transport. Some bus service providers have introduced pedal monitoring as part of their ongoing safety strategy and to aid incident investigations. Pedal errors on other forms of public transport have not been highlighted as a significant issue.

What assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Bus Service Improvement Plan on bus patronage.

The Department for Transport has commissioned a process, impact and value for money evaluation of the Bus Service Improvement Plan Programme, a £1.1 billion tranche of funding allocated to 34 Local Transport Authorities (LTAs). The work will answer questions surrounding how the plans were delivered, the scheme's impact, and its value for money, including an assessment of the scheme’s impact on bus patronage. Due to the early stage in the lifetime of the programme, data on patronage levels at an LTA-wide level is not yet available.

Pursuant to the Answer of 266 July 2024 to Question 722 on Public Transport, which Local Transport Authorities (a) are using and (b) plan to use Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport schemes.

The following Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) are either using or are exploring the use of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes. To note, this list is subject to change and may not be exhaustive due to BSIP scheme plans sometimes changing. We recommend referring to the published BSIPs of individual LTAs for more information on their DRT plans.Cheshire East CouncilCheshire West and Chester CouncilCumberland CouncilDerby City CouncilDerbyshire County CouncilEast Sussex County CouncilHertfordshire County CouncilLeicestershire County CouncilNorth East Combined AuthorityNorth Northamptonshire CouncilPortsmouth City CouncilRutland County CouncilShropshire CouncilSomerset CouncilTelford and Wrekin CouncilWestmorland and Furness CouncilWest of England Combined Authority and North Somerset CouncilWest Sussex County CouncilWest Yorkshire Combined AuthorityWorcestershire County Council

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 722 on Public Transport, if her Department will list the Local Transport Authorities that are (a) using and (b) planning to use Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport schemes.

The following Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) are either using or are exploring the use of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes. To note, this list is subject to change and may not be exhaustive due to BSIP scheme plans sometimes changing. We recommend referring to the published BSIPs of individual LTAs for more information on their DRT plans.Cheshire East CouncilCheshire West and Chester CouncilCumberland CouncilDerby City CouncilDerbyshire County CouncilEast Sussex County CouncilHertfordshire County CouncilLeicestershire County CouncilNorth East Combined AuthorityNorth Northamptonshire CouncilPortsmouth City CouncilRutland County CouncilShropshire CouncilSomerset CouncilTelford and Wrekin CouncilWestmorland and Furness CouncilWest of England Combined Authority and North Somerset CouncilWest Sussex County CouncilWest Yorkshire Combined AuthorityWorcestershire County Council

If she will make it her policy to introduce an online search facility hosted by Great British Rail to help people affected by train delays find actual past (a) departure and (b) arrival times to support their claims under the Delay Repay scheme.

Getting Britain Moving sets out the Government’s ambition for Great British Railways to simplify the ticketing system in future, including improving the Delay Repay claims process alongside improved reliability of services. Passengers currently only need to know the timetabled departure time of their service to submit their delay repay claim, however we will consider all options to improve passenger experience.

How much was paid out to passengers by (a) West Midlands Trains and (b) all train operators as part of the Delay Repay scheme in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.

The most recent published figures for compensation paid out by train operators to passengers are for 2022-2023 and can be accessed at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation.The figures include both Delay Repay compensation and also discretionary compensation paid by train operators for poor service, for example when toilets on the train are not available for use.The figures for 2023-2024 are expected to be published later this year.

What steps the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is taking to reduce waiting times for practical tests in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) priority is to reduce car practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards. To increase the number of available test slots, it is conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from driving examiners. To increase the number of car driving test slots, the DVSA deployed eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests from the beginning of October 2023 until the end of March 2024, which created over 145,000 additional test slots. Driving examiners from areas with lower waiting times continue to travel and test in those centres with longer waiting times. This is in addition to the DVSA recruiting additional examiners at Luton, Leighton Buzzard and Aylesbury driving test centres that serve the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency. The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns are ongoing across the country but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection processes.

What recent assessment she has made of (a) the adequacy of services provided by London Northwestern Railway and (b) whether London Northwestern Railway is meeting its obligations set out in the West Midlands Trains Limited 2021 rail contract.

The Department continues to work closely with West Midlands Trains (WMT), which operates London Northwestern Railway services to monitor its adequacy. The Department also monitors compliance with WMT’s contractual obligations. Although operational performance has recently been impacted by a significant number of infrastructure and weather-related incident. WMT’s performance was above expectations and other contractual metrics have also been within acceptable levels overall.

What information her Department holds on the number and proportion of miles of roads in (a) Dunstable and (b) Leighton Buzzard that are in poor condition.

The Department for Transport collects information on the condition of roads from local highways authorities. Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard make up part of the local highway authority of Central Bedfordshire. Information on the condition of roads specifically in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard would be held by the local highway authority of Central Bedfordshire. Unfortunately, it is not held by the Department at this level of granularity. Information on the condition of roads in England is collected and published by the Department annually here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-network-size-and-condition. However, no information for the condition of roads in Central Bedfordshire has been provided to the Department since the financial year ending March 2019. The data held by the Department for the financial years ending March 2010 to March 2019 showed that: The percentage of A road that should have been considered for maintenance (‘red roads’) was between 1% and 3% for Central Bedfordshire, while during the same time-period the national level of red road was between 3% and 5%.The percentage of red B & C road was between 2% and 5%, whereas the national level was between 6% and 10%.The percentage of red Unclassified (‘U’) road was between 3% and 21%, and the national level was between 15% to 18%.

If she will publish the average cost per passenger journey to the public purse of the £2 bus fare cap in each local transport authority.

The £2 National Bus Fare Cap is a voluntary scheme for eligible bus operators, who are provided a bespoke funding allocation to reimburse the difference between the cap and the shadow commercial fare. This is calculated using the Department for Transport’s methodology which uses each operator’s historic and present data to predict ticket sales for each period of the scheme. It is not possible to calculate the average cost per passenger journey in each Local Transport Authority (LTA) because the reimbursement is provided directly to bus operators, who do not operate exclusively within LTA boundaries. The total government investment to cap bus fares at £2 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 is around £600 million.

How many Demand Responsive Transport schemes in which locations have been funded under the Bus service improvement plan..

We estimate around 19 Local Transport Authorities are using or planning to use Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to fund Demand Responsive Transport schemes around England.