Written questions by McMahon.

Whether the government has plans to improve parking, access and customer experience at Mills Hill and Moston train stations; and whether there any plans to bring forward a programme to reopen previously closed stations such as the former Middleton Junction station.

The Rail North Partnership between the Department and Transport for the North has regular discussions with Northern, which manages Mills Hill and Moston train stations, on its performance, customer experience and improving services. There are no proposals or plans regarding the reintroduction of Middleton Junction station. Between 2022-23 and 2026-27, we are providing £1.07bn of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding to Greater Manchester to invest in their local transport network. Beyond that, we have confirmed a £2.5billion Transport for City Regions settlement for Greater Manchester providing funding up to 2031-32. It is for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to decide how to invest the funding locally.

What assessment has taken place of the effectiveness of measures to tackle the resale of dangerous part worn tyres.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s Market Surveillance Unit works closely with local Trading Standards teams to carry out checks on garages selling part worn tyres, enforcing sanctions where necessary. Any retailer selling part-worn tyres which fail to meet these requirements is breaking the law under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and could be subject to a substantial fine or prison sentence. Tyres are safety-critical components and are checked as part of the MOT test, ensuring tyres have adequate tread depth and are free from cuts or bulges. Any vehicle with defective tyres will fail an MOT test and is not permitted to be driven on the road.

What assessment has been made of the pull and push factors driving taxi license holders from obtaining licenses out of their area of residence and operation, such as to Wolverhampton Council.

Ministers and officials regularly engage with the taxi and private hire vehicle sector. Differing licensing requirements, processing times and costs are often cited as reasons why licences are sought from authorities other than that in which the applicants intend to work. Though there is a high degree of consistency in requirements relating to safety, for example all licensing authorities in England require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service and barred lists check for drivers, the Government is taking action to ensure even greater consistency in licensing. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill seeks to introduce powers to set national minimum standards for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. If passed, national minimum standards would enable government to set robust standards for licensing across England, to keep vulnerable children and, indeed, all members of the public safe, wherever they live or travel. It would also help reduce the variability of licensing standards across the country, which is a significant factor in inducing out-of-area working.

Whether National Highways has included improvement works at Costco, Broadway, Oldham in its capital programme.

National Highways is considering the case for improvements to Junction 21 of the M60 as part of its proposed new National Programme of small scale enhancements to the strategic road network, for possible delivery in the third Road Investment Strategy period, covering 2026-2031.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of car weight trends on wear and tear on highways.

The Secretary of State has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of car weight trends on wear and tear on highways. Commercial vehicles (typically those greater than 7.5 tonnes) are the dominant factor in determining road design and contributing to road wear rather than cars.

On how many days were disabled accessible lifts at train stations recorded as being out of use for each year from 2015 to date.

This information is not held by the Department. The Office of Rail and Road publish biannual statistics containing data on passenger lifts at Network Rail owned stations in Great Britain on its data portal at the following link: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk. This includes information on the number of lifts, lift reliability and lift entrapments.

How many reports of (a) antisocial behaviour towards, (b) sexual harassment of, (c) sexual assault of and (d) physical assault of train staff were made in each of the past three years.

The British Transport Police are responsible for policing the railway in England, Scotland and Wales and have provided the following figures. Offence/Incident Type2022/232023/242024/25Antisocial Behaviour Not available as a breakdown for incidents against rail staffUnwanted Sexual BehaviourNot available7183Sex offences95111121Violence 276134153727

What assessment her Department has made of the level of (a) heavy goods vehicle and (b) large goods vehicle driver vacancies; and what steps her Department is taking to help (i) train and (ii) retain drivers.

The Department for Transport publishes data on heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver vacancies which is collected as part of the domestic road haulage survey, sent to businesses which operate an HGV. The data releases can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-freight-statistics-2024/heavy-goods-vehicle-driver-vacancies-in-the-united-kingdom-2024 In addition, the Department meets regularly with the road haulage sector through the Freight Workforce Group and Road Freight Industry meetings to discuss industry concerns, including skills shortages. The Government has confirmed £136 million for Skills Bootcamps in 2025-26 to support more than 40,000 learners, including in HGV driving. Skills Bootcamps are now funded through Mayoral Strategic Authorities and local areas directly, empowering local leaders with greater control over skills development. Local leaders are considering what occupations to prioritise. The Government also continues to support the sector with skills training through the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) driver apprenticeships, and through Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) via Jobcentre Plus.

What plans her Department has to tackle unauthorised advertising adjacent to motorways in England.

The Department does not permit advertising within the boundary of the Strategic Road Network, and National Highways removes any unauthorised signage from its land. For adverts on private land adjacent to motorways, enforcement is carried out by local planning authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007. National Highways will continue to notify the relevant authority and raise concerns where an advert poses a road safety risk.

How many new buses her Department funded annually since 2015; and how many of those were made in the UK annually since 2015.

Through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) programmes, the Department has provided funding which has procured 1300 buses through ZEBRA 1, 1,955 buses through ZEBRA 2 and a further 319 buses due to scope increases. These buses were funded in 2021, 2024 and 2025 respectively and around 60% of these are from UK manufacturers.The Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a leader in bus manufacturing, and earlier this year launched the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel. The Panel brings together industry experts and local leaders to achieve three key objectives of supporting growth in UK bus manufacturing, developing a pipeline of future bus orders and prioritising passenger-centric bus design.

How many complaints were reported to British Transport Police for (a) antisocial behaviour, (b) sexual harassment, (c) sexual assault and (d) physical assault on trains in each of the past three years.

The British Transport Police have provided the following figures for the last 3 years. Passenger numbers have been increasing year-on-year since the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions and will account for some of the increase in crime reports. Overall, the railway is a safe environment, with 26.0 crimes recorded per million passenger journeys in 2024/25 (0.0026%), this was 26.8 in 2023/24 and 24.4 in 2022/23. Offence/Incident Type2022/232023/242024/25Antisocial Behaviour 309983290040932Unwanted Sexual BehaviourNot available18301958Sex offences225124332655Violence including assault122601458215522

What information her Department holds on the number of (a) licensing authorities in England whose policies permit the licensing of drivers with non-UK driving licences and (b) licensed taxi and private hire vehicle drivers who hold a non-UK driving licence, by the country of issue of those licences.

The Department does not hold this information centrally.

What (a) land and (b) property was acquired for the construction of the HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg route from Birmingham to Leeds is (i) still held, (ii) sale pending and (iii) sold.

562 properties have been acquired for HS2 on the former Phase 2b East route between Birmingham and Leeds. These are 20 agricultural units; including land where there are no dwellings, 5 commercial properties and 537 residential properties. In 2022, 6 of these properties on the former Phase 2b East route were sold as part of a pilot disposal project. In July, safeguarding was removed along the majority of the former HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg. We are now initiating a programme to dispose of properties on the former Eastern Leg that are no longer required. We expect disposals on the open market to begin in 2026. Before then, former owners whose property was acquired under statutory blight will have the opportunity to reacquire their former property at the current market value.

What (a) land and (b) property acquired for the construction of the HS2 Phase 2b Western Leg route from Crewe to Manchester is (1) still held, (2) sale pending and (3) sold.

208 properties have been acquired for HS2 on the former Phase 2b West route between Crewe and Manchester. These are 16 agricultural units; including land where there are no dwellings, 12 commercial properties and 180 residential properties. No land or property has been sold or is in the process of being sold, as the department is continuing to review the position we have inherited and potential requirements for new infrastructure in the future.

What (a) land and (b) property acquired for the construction of the HS2 Phase 2 route from Birmingham to Crewe is (1) still held, (2) sale pending and (3) sold.

337 properties have been acquired for HS2 on the former Phase 2a route between Birmingham and Crewe. These are 122 agricultural units; including land where there are no dwellings, 4 commercial properties and 211 residential properties. No land or property has been sold or is in the process of being sold, as the department is continuing to review the position we have inherited and potential requirements for new infrastructure in the future.

How many commercial food delivery cyclists does the government estimate currently operate in the UK; and how many are assessed to have valid public liability insurance in place.

The department does not collect any information relating to either the number of food delivery cyclists or how many of them might have liability insurance.

What information her Department holds on the number of winter grit salt bins that were provided by local authorities for each year from 2015 to date.

Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on highway authorities to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. It is for local highway authorities to determine what the most appropriate measures are to achieve this, based on local circumstances. Most local highway authorities publish information about their winter service online. For example, Oldham Council’s website states that it currently maintains over 600 grit bins. Local people can access a map of where these are located and request new grit bins. The Government also conducts a survey of local highway authorities every year to gather information about their preparations for winter and planning for extreme weather. This survey is mandatory, and includes information about how many continuous days their salt stocks will last for in severe winter conditions. It does not include detailed information about how many grit bins each authority maintains or where these are located.

What assessment she has made of (a) trends in the level of the build-up of traffic congestion and (b) the effectiveness of traffic light sequencing on the A663 Broadway in Chadderton, Oldham.

The Department has made no assessment of traffic congestion or the sequencing of traffic lights on this road. Traffic management is the responsibility of the relevant highway authority who are best placed to understand traffic flows and signal sequencing.Traffic authorities are subject to the statutory network management duty which requires them to manage their roads to secure the ‘expeditious movement’ of all traffic, with a view to reducing congestion, and they have a wide range of tools already available to them to enable this.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of detrunking the A663 Broadway in Chadderton, Oldham.

During the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) covering the period 2020-25, National Highways undertook a comprehensive review of the extent of the Strategic Road Network (SRN). The A663 Broadway in Chadderton was not identified for assessment and therefore was not included in that review. As part of the forthcoming third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) for 2026-31, National Highways will revisit the scope of the SRN, and this corridor may therefore be considered for inclusion in a future assessment.

How much did train operators pay passengers in compensation for delayed journeys for each year from 2015 to date.

The Government produces annual figures relating to the amount of compensation that is paid out by train operating companies. The data between 2020 and 2024 can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation. The data between 2015 and 2020 can be found here:https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210904023528/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation.