Every parliamentary written question tabled by Christopher Chope this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–5 of 5 · Department for Transport
When the Minister plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Christchurch dated 26 November 2025 on the use of civil enforcement powers by local authorities.
Following a search, I can confirm that the Department holds no record of receiving this email. If a copy can be forwarded a response will be provided.
For what reason the 19.05 train from Waterloo to Christchurch not arrive until 22.30 on Monday 14 July; what estimate she has made of the number of passengers affected; and what compensation is available.
A signal cable failure at Woking delayed the 19.05 from London Waterloo to Christchurch on the 14 July. Passengers are entitled to compensation under the national Delay Repay scheme. As the 19.05 was delayed for 120 minutes or more, passengers can claim compensation for 100 percent of the cost of their journey. Industry data doesn’t enable a reliable estimate on the number of impacted passengers to be made.
How many trains between Waterloo and Christchurch have been (a) cancelled and (b) delayed for more than 15 minutes since South Western Railway was brought into public ownership.
South Western Railway (SWR) were brought into public ownership on 25 May 2025. Since this date, 9.5 per cent of trains have been cancelled and 12.9 per cent of trains have been delayed by more than 15 minutes between London Waterloo and Christchurch. These cancellations and delays were not a result of the move to public ownership and could have equally occurred under private ownership. The new Managing Director for SWR, Lawrence Bowman, has been tasked with developing a detailed plan to improve SWR performance.
If she will make it her policy that local authorities issuing Blue Badges within her Department's guideline timescale of 12 weeks will be able to recover the full costs of delivering that service.
The Blue Badge scheme is administered, funded and operated at local level by individual local authorities. There are no timescales set for administering applications other than a suggested guideline that issuing authorities should aim to complete end to end applications within 12 weeks. In England local authorities are legally entitled to charge a fee of up to £10 for each badge issued which allows them to recover some of the costs involved in administering the scheme. The Department has no plans to amend legislation.
With reference to her Department's guidance entitled E-scooter trials: guidance for local authorities and rental operators, updated on 17 January 2024, how many applications for changes to trials her Department has received from local authorities; and how many such applications have been (a) granted and (b) not granted.
The Department received 13 applications from local authorities, requesting geographic and fleet size changes to their e-scooter trials. All 13 applications were approved as of 8 October 2024.