Written questions by Mitchell.

What discussions she has had with the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police about increasing officer numbers serving the rail network in the West Midlands.

The British Transport Police has recently been given an increased budget - a 15% rise with an increase of £63 million over the three-year settlement, which will see over 200 additional officers over two years, improving coverage at key hubs across England, Scotland and Wales including the West Midlands. The West Midlands is covered by BTP’s C division, which currently has 700 officers. This will be further bolstered by BTP’s new officer intakes once they’ve completed their initial training.

What steps her Department is taking to improve public transport connections in the West Midlands.

The West Midlands Combined Authority will receive almost £2.4bn in Transport for City Region (TCR) funding up to 31/32. Enabling Mayors in recipient areas to deliver schemes that align with local priorities, the TCR programme provides unprecedented, multi-year, consolidated funding settlements to enhance the local transport networks of some of England’s largest city regions, including investment in public and sustainable transport infrastructure, to help to drive growth and productivity. It is for the Combined Authority to determine how this funding is allocated across the city region in line with local priorities.

What steps her Department is taking to support public awareness campaigns aimed at improving road safety in the West Midlands.

THINK! is the Government’s flagship road safety campaign, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. It targets those most at risk, particularly male drivers aged 17–24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over. Recent campaigns have addressed drink driving and speeding, with paid media activity delivered nationally, including in the West Midlands. The Department also provides toolkits, creative assets, and guidance to help local authorities deliver tailored road safety messaging. This has included working closely with West Mercia Police to extend the reach of the campaign in the region through campaign messaging on ad vans and distribution of posters and beermats to bars and pubs. All departmental campaigns will continue to target the West Midlands as part of national behaviour change efforts.

What assessment she has made of the prevalence of speeding in the West Midlands.

The Department for Transport has not conducted a specific assessment of prevalence of speeding in the West Midlands. The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department for Transport issues best practice guidance on setting local speed limits. This is designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately and consistently set, whilst allowing for flexibility to deal with local needs and circumstances. The guidance can be viewed at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-local-speed-limits.

What discussions she has had with (a) West Midlands Police and (b) Birmingham City Council on the forthcoming Road Safety Strategy.

The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. My Department regularly engages with the police and local authorities. With regards to the West Midlands, my officials have held conversations with Transport for the West Midlands and the West Midlands Road Safety Commissioner. More details on the Road Safety Strategy will be set out in due course.

How much funding has been allocated from the Active Travel England fund to local authorities in the West Midlands.

From 2020/21 to 2025/26, Active Travel England has allocated a total of £101,488,475 to the West Midlands. Funding from 2025/26 for the combined authority has been provided through the Integrated Settlement.

How many public electric vehicle charging points have been installed in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Sutton Coldfield constituency in the last 12 months.

Data on public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK, held by the Department for Transport, are sourced from the electric vehicle charging platform Zapmap. These statistics show when charging devices were added to the data source, which is not necessarily when they were installed. Between 1st April 2024 and 1st April 2025: 2,122 public charging devices were added to the network in the West Midlands region18 public charging devices were added to the network in the Sutton Coldfield parliamentary constituency

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the punctuality of (a) Avanti West Coast, (b) CrossCountry and (c) West Midlands Railway.

Punctuality (percentage of station calls made within three minutes of schedule) for these three operators were as follows in the most recent rail period 3 (25 May to 21 June): Avanti West Coast – 60.1 per cent period 3, 59.1 per cent moving annual average; CrossCountry – 66.9 per cent period 3, 69.0 per cent moving annual average, and; West Midlands Trains – 84.1 per cent period 3, 82.9 per cent moving annual average, which includes the West Midlands Railway 86.3 per cent period 3 result. We recognise performance is not where it needs to be for passengers, particularly for Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry which are consistently among the least punctual operators. Officials and Ministers have regular engagement with operators and their Network Rail counterparts, to address poor performance and demand immediate action to raise standards. We are also working with the rail industry on a Performance Restoration Framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels, including timetable resilience, staffing and keeping trains safely moving during disruptive events.

What steps she plans to take to improve rail services in the West Midlands.

West Midlands Trains has recently introduced two brand new fleets of high capacity trains in the West Midlands area, with a third new fleet on its West Coast routes starting service shortly. Five new stations are also under construction. Meanwhile, CrossCountry started operating a bigger fleet last weekend, significantly boosting capacity on its network, and all its trains will be fully refurbished in the next three years. A Pay-As-You-Go scheme is being implemented to help deliver seamless journey integration. Longer term, work continues on developing the Midlands Rail Hub scheme.

What funding she has allocated for the repair of roads in Sutton Coldfield in the last two years for which information is available.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) is the local highway authority for Sutton Coldfield and is a constituent authority of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).BCC has a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) agreement for its highway maintenance operations, under which the Department for Transport provides approximately £50.3 million per year to BCC. The Department will make an announcement in due course on the future of this agreement.In addition, WMCA receives a City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) from the Department, that runs for 5 years between 2022/23 – 2026/27. This settlement consolidates all transport capital funding allocations, including highways maintenance. The WMCA has a total CRSTS settlement of £1.05 billion; decisions on how this funding is allocated is a matter for WMCA. On Friday 20 December, the Government announced that, as part of the £500 million autumn Budget uplift, WMCA will receive an additional £8.61 million funding for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year.

What plans she has to improve the electric vehicle charging network in the West Midlands.

The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). As of 1 January 2025, there were 6,484 public charging devices in the West Midlands region, or 108 per 100,000 of the population.Going forward, the West Midlands region has been allocated over £37m capital and resource funding as part of the £381m Local EV Infrastructure Fund (LEVI), to transform the availability of EV charging for drivers without off-street parking in the area. The LEVI Fund is expected to leverage significant further private investment and support the installation of at least 100,000 local chargepoints across England and will give EV drivers, especially those without off-street parking, confidence they are never too far from a chargepoint.

Whether she is taking steps to implement a (a) long term and (b) devolved approach to funding for (i) local and (ii) regional transport services in the West Midlands.

The department is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to implement an “Integrated Settlement” for the West Midlands Combined Authority from April 2025. This will give the Mayor and Combined Authority a consolidated budget across local transport, housing, regeneration, local growth, skills, buildings retrofit, and employment support, with much greater freedom and funding flexibility to drive forward the local economy and deliver growth. The department is also looking to simplify the current funding arrangements for all other Local Transport Authorities so that they can spend funding according to their local priorities and avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. Multi-year funding will be confirmed at the upcoming spending review.

What steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of practical driving tests in the West Midlands.

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. On the 18 December, 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 recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in the West Midlands region and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA is currently aiming to recruit up to twelve potential new DEs in the Birmingham area, five in the Worcester area, two in Ludlow and two in Hereford. There is also the potential for five new DEs for DTCs in Gloucestershire, which might also serve customers in the West Midlands region. Some of these candidates have started training, whilst others are currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process.

What plans she has to support funding for (a) small transport projects and (b) local infrastructure after the latest round of Levelling Up Funds is completed in March 2025.

The Budget announcement on 30 October confirmed departmental budgets for the rest of this financial year and the financial year 25/26. This included a commitment of over £650m in local transport funding beyond city regions in 25/26 to ensure that transport connections improve in our towns, villages and rural areas as well as in our major cities. Allocations for individual local authorities will be confirmed by the Secretary of State for 25/26 in due course. Funding for the Department post 25/26 is subject to a comprehensive bottom-up Spending review process that is planned to conclude in June. Local funding options are being considered as part of this review.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Remembrance Day travel concession to include The Royal Tank Regiment parade.

The rail industry continues to offer free travel in the same way it has done historically, this includes free travel to Remembrance Sunday events. Eligible passengers can also apply for a Veterans Railcard which offers discounted prices on train fares for those who have served in the UK Armed Forces.