Speeches by Alexander.

“This is an issue that has been left to languish for far too long. It was one of the first conversations that the Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood, had with me when I joined the Department in December. We are committed to publishing a response to that consultation. I want to make sure that local author…”

“I have been struck, since coming into the Department, that this is an area that has not had the attention that it should have had in recent years. The last Government’s inclusive transport strategy dated back to 2018. There were a lot of lofty aspirations but the actions which followed simply did not match up to the rh…”

“I would expect the integrated national transport strategy to be clear about how transport planning, the planning system and the delivery of homes and spatial planning work together. We are doing that work on the new freight plan. I have talked about the work that will be happening on things like the roads investment st…”

“Later this year.”

“The integrated national transport strategy should set out the vision for transport across England. It should focus on how we better design, build and operate the transport network to meet the needs of the people who are using it. I want to be clear that this is not another infrastructure strategy. We have the 10-year i…”

“The question is how you would get freight across the River Thames when it comes to rail. If you think about the rail links, that is the issue around the Thames estuary. Creating links from Kent to Essex on the road network is critical. I speak to a lot of Mayors of big cities who want, some of the time, to see less rai…”

“I am very keen to see an increase in rail freight. One of the things that we consulted on in the rail consultation document that we published a couple of months ago was not only putting a duty on Great British Railways around freight, but setting targets for growth in rail freight. Getting huge lorries off our roads an…”

“It is obviously the right question to ask because we inherited an absolute mess on HS2. As someone who chaired the Crossrail project in the last two or three years of its existence before we brought the line into use, we said at that point in time that we would not make the same mistakes again. It is, frankly, heartbre…”

“It is a fair point. Historically, as a country, we have made some use of private finance initiative and private sector concessions, thinking of the Mersey Gateway bridge and the M6 Toll. In London there are examples like the DLR extension and the Silvertown tunnel. As part of the spending review, we are considering two…”

“The capital budget for the Department for Transport in 2025-26 is £21.8 billion. That is broadly in line with the levels that have been spent in recent years. I think it was £22 billion in 2023-24 and just under £20 billion in the financial year just ended. Some of the fluctuations that you see on individual years can …”

“I take your point. It is a point that has been made to me by various sources. I met very early on with Ken Skates, who is the Welsh Government Transport Minister, along with Jo Stevens, the Secretary of State for Wales. They were making a very similar case to you, pointing out that historic rail investment in Wales has…”

“Since joining the Department I have prioritised engagement with our Mayors—people like Richard Parker and Claire Ward in the midlands, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram in Manchester and Liverpool, the great collection of Mayors that we are now blessed to have in Yorkshire, and Kim McGuinness in the north-east. They have…”

“Of course. I am always very happy to update the Committee in whatever form is most appropriate and most convenient. We will be responding to the report that you have published in line with the deadline. I think we are due to report to you next month—in May. I have looked at it very carefully and will continue to do so,…”

“You would expect me, when I came into post in December, to sit down with officials in the Department and look closely at all the schemes that were on the books, be they road projects or rail projects, and look at the benefits that those schemes offered, the costs, and the stage of delivery that they were in. Clearly we…”

“I think the intention of my predecessor was that the review would be an internally-focused piece of work. We don’t intend to publish a document, because that was not the way they operated, but it will inform the negotiations that we are having in the spending review. To reiterate the point, it was not about individual …”

“It is probably quite important to give a little context about the capital review panel that my predecessor appointed last summer. Obviously, it was at the point when the dire state of our inheritance with regard to the public finances became obvious. She put together a panel, headed by Rachel Skinner, to advise on stra…”

“Yes, very much so. Chair, it might be helpful if I were to say something about the way I am approaching my spending review discussions with the Treasury, and what I am prioritising within that. It is important that we prioritise investment in transport that will deliver economic growth in this Parliament and contribute…”

“I am happy to start, and then perhaps Jo will want to pick up some of the detail. You and other Committee members will be aware that the Government have set an objective to reduce the administration costs of government by 10% by ’28-29 and 15% the year after. We have not talked about headcount reductions as such, becau…”

“It is a statutory instrument—so secondary legislation. The DVSA is running a campaign encouraging individuals to consider whether they are ready to pass, because if we can reduce the number of failed examinations it will reduce pressure on the system overall; but we are looking at all measures. A broader point is that …”

“We have not ruled anything out at this stage, but if we were to consider raising the price of taking the driving test people would, rightly, say, “We want a decent system in place for accessing that.” There is a chicken and egg element to all this. I would need to check on the legislative process by which it would happ…”