Written questions by Mayer.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the allocation of the transport budget in England for walking and cycling initiatives.

The Government recognises that investment in active travel supports its economic growth, health and net zero missions by helping to revitalise high streets, reduce emissions, and enable people to live longer, healthier lives. We have already announced an additional £100 million investment in walking and cycling infrastructure for 2025/26, to enable local authorities to install cycling infrastructure and upgrade pavements and paths. Decisions on funding for active travel for 2026/27 and beyond will be a matter for the Spending Review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18740 on Driving Tests, whether the DVSA has developed a training schedule for organisations requiring delegated examiners in 2025.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continuing to explore this matter in a way which balances all of the demands on DVSA’s training resource. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.

Whether the new government-backed train ticket website will include a search facility 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.

Once Great British Railways is established, it will retail online by consolidating individual train operators’ ticket websites. It will work alongside a thriving private sector retail market, which will continue to play a key role in driving innovation and investment and encouraging more people to choose rail. Exact plans will now be developed in close partnership with industry, the private sector and wider stakeholders, with further detail to be consulted on shortly as part of the Railways Bill consultation.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of existing regulations for demand responsive transport.

The Department has supported sixteen demand responsive transport (DRT) trials through the Rural Mobility Fund (RMF). Each scheme is taking part in a detailed monitoring and evaluation process which will provide a better understanding of challenges associated with introducing and operating DRT, including those arising from regulation. An interim monitoring data collection and process evaluation report was published in September 2023 and a second concluding process evaluation report will be published later this year.There is recognition that the regulatory framework covering DRT is complex, not least because it includes elements of taxi, private hire vehicle and bus legislation, including vehicles using community transport permits. We keep all policies under review and my officials have regular engagement with a range of stakeholders across the DRT sector, ensuring that key regulatory issues are considered.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating her Department's guidance for local transport authorities to require them to have an alternative dispute resolution when franchising services.

The Department for Transport published guidance to local authorities on tendering for road passenger transport contracts in 2013. This included advice on dispute resolution. There are no plans to revise that guidance because there are no specific rules or requirements for tendering or awarding bus contracts in buses legislation. It is for individual franchising authorities to determine the appropriate dispute resolution process when tendering or awarding local service contracts.

How many driver shortages have been reported by each rail company in the most recent period for which data is available.

Driver shortages and unavailability cause delays and cancellations, and so it is a very high priority for this government to ensure operators have sufficient number of drivers trained and available across the network. Train operators use a variety of measures to track availability of drivers. For example, total headcount against target, unavailability due to training, illness or leave and levels of overtime, which may be used to balance fluctuations in availability. While these measures are not systematically reported to the Department, ministers have commissioned work to look in detail at the impact of driver unavailability on train performance and suggest options to improve.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure local authorities have adequate resources to process the anticipated increase in claims following the 2031 cut-off date for recording historic rights of way.

The Government has announced that it will repeal the 2031 cut-off date for the recording of historic rights of way as soon as parliamentary time allows. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-2025. The majority of this funding is not ringfenced in recognition that local authorities themselves are best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding accordingly.

What steps she is taking to ensure people who could not pay their Self Assessment Tax because of the Barclays outage do not have to pay a fixed penalty.

No Barclays customers who filed their tax return and paid their Self Assessment tax liability by 3rd February will face a penalty.

Whether the final evaluation report for the Rural Mobility Fund will include a conclusion on the optimum zone size for Demand-Responsive Transport services.

The Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) impact and value for money evaluation will seek to explore what works best, when and why in the RMF scheme areas (rural and suburban). However, it may be the case that there is no single optimal zone size, as the optimal size may vary depending on the number of vehicles in operation, hours of operation, traffic congestion, rurality, population density, other transport infrastructure and connections and demographics. Additionally, DRT Best Practice Guidance is being developed which will support local authorities in determining whether DRT might be a suitable option in certain areas.

Whether his Department plans to include information on the benefits of updating circulator pumps in official energy efficiency guidance for consumers and businesses.

The Government will consider how circulator pumps alongside other technologies will support greater energy efficiency and the transition to Net Zero. The Government provides advice on energy efficiency improvements at the following Find ways to save energy in your home - GOV.UK.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the widespread adoption of updated circulator pumps in the UK on energy savings.

The Government is continuing to monitor the UK circulator pump market and will consider how these, alongside other technologies could support greater energy efficiency and the transition to Net Zero.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a separate regulatory framework for Demand-Responsive Transport services, distinct from taxi and bus regulations.

There is recognition that the regulatory framework covering demand responsive transport (DRT) is complex, not least because it includes elements of taxi, private hire vehicle and bus legislation, including vehicles using community transport permits. We keep all policies under review and my officials have regular engagement with a range of stakeholders across the DRT sector, ensuring that key regulatory issues are considered.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND provision in schools in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) the East of England.

Bedford Borough was inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November 2024 and received the strongest possible outcome: “the local area partnership’s special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND”.In 2022, Ofsted and CQC revisited the area of Central Bedfordshire to decide whether sufficient progress had been made in addressing the areas of significant weakness detailed in its 2019 inspection. They found sufficient progress in three of six significant weaknesses.The department and NHS England continue to support and challenge the local area by assessing progress and providing advice through a SEND expert advisor.Since the introduction of the current Ofsted and CQC Area SEND inspection framework in January 2023, five local areas in the East of England have undergone inspections. Suffolk and Hertfordshire were found to have systemic failings, while Southend-on-Sea exhibited typically inconsistent outcomes. In contrast, Bedford Borough, as stated above, demonstrated generally positive outcomes. Cambridgeshire was inspected in January 2025, but the report has not yet been published.The department issued improvement notices to Hertfordshire and Suffolk and is working with NHS England to continue to assess progress against priority and strategic action plans.

When she expects the final evaluation report for the Rural Mobility Fund to be published.

The Rural Mobility Fund evaluation consists of two elements – a first stage including monitoring data collection and a process evaluation and a second stage including impact and value for money evaluation. An interim monitoring data collection and process evaluation report was published in September 2023 and a second concluding process evaluation report will be published later this year. The impact and value for money evaluation will be published in 2026.

Representing the House of Commons Commission, how many and what proportion of cleaning products used on the parliamentary estate are cruelty free certified.

We currently use 40 products on site; 31 products are confirmed as not tested on animals.The remaining nine products are not cruelty free certified or we do not hold the relevant information as they are used by a contractor.We are committed to supporting cruelty free alternatives and, where possible, we will be working with our suppliers to find cruelty free alternatives for these items.

If she will make a comparative assessment of the potential advantages of TransXChange over the GTFS Plus format for bus Real Time Information provision.

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. The Department for Transport ran a public consultation on Bus Open Data policy prior to the launch of BODS, which included consideration of the use of different data formats, including TransXChange and GTFS. The response to this consultation can be found on GOV.UK at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ca4b38d40f0b625eb19dba5/bus-open-data-consultation-response.pdf.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of potential impact of the switch-off of 2G and 3G networks on the (a) accuracy and (b) availability of Real-Time Information for bus services in rural areas.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations. As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies. The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making it a mandatory requirement for bus Real-Time Information (a) apps and (b) roadside displays to mark when data is taken from scheduled bus service information as opposed to a calculation based on live data.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations. As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies. The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a single, universal app for bus Real-Time Information provision.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services, and part of this work is working closely with bus operators and local transport authorities to improve the information available to passengers about their bus services. The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) was launched in 2020 and requires all bus operators of local services in England to provide passengers with high-quality, accurate and up-to-date passenger information including timetables, fares, tickets and vehicle location information. Bus operators are obliged to have working systems to provide real-time information for bus services in order to fulfil the requirements of the Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations. As part of this work, the government understands the importance of having real time information widely accessible in a range of spaces that passengers use, and is conscious of the need to continually consider new ways to improve access to real-time information, whilst staying in line with wider government digital and data strategies. The government also recognises the importance of building local transport authority (LTA) capacity and capability to improving bus services. The government has allocated funding in 25/26 to each LTA in England outside London to support the capacity and capability of local areas. This builds on the work of the government-funded Bus Centre of Excellence which seeks to deliver a long-term programme of activities to support and upskill the bus sector.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring utility companies to coordinate the digging up of roads and pavements.

My Department issues statutory guidance in the form of the Co-ordination Code of Practice as we know that effective planning and coordination of works can reduce congestion and impacts of works on local communities. Highway authorities have a duty to co-ordinate all works, including their own, and they are responsible for managing street works in their area.