Written questions by Holden.

How much of the funding for the infrastructure upgrade programme on South Western Railway has been spent to date.

The most recent infrastructure upgrade programme for South Western Railway was completed in 2020. The Government keeps future investment requirements under review.

As of 15 December 2025, what the total amount of public funding committed to electric vehicle charging infrastructure to date is; and what estimate her Department has made of the average cost per operational public chargepoint delivered.

At the Autumn Budget we announced that we will invest an additional £200 million in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, building on the £400 million of funding announced at Spending Review 2025. The cost of deploying public chargepoints varies widely due to a range of factors including location, speed, anticipated utilisation, and grid connection costs, with many chargepoints delivered without any public funding. Where funding is provided, we monitor average public chargepoint costs via data from DfT grants to ensure value for money for the taxpayer. The Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund has been designed to minimise cost to the public by encouraging local authorities to leverage significant private investment.

What the expected completion date is for the redevelopment of Wickford station; and if local taxis licenced by Basildon Council have been included in any consultations about the citing of the taxi rank as part of the redevelopment.

Greater Anglia has commenced the redevelopment works at Wickford station and this is expected to be completed in autumn 2026. Greater Anglia has confirmed that the project scope does not include any changes to the current location of the taxi rank.

For each month since July 2024, how many driving test centres recorded the maximum waiting time of 24 weeks for a practical car test; and if she will publish a list of those test centres for each month since.

The attached Excel document (Table for UIN 101472) shows which driving test centres had a waiting time of 24 weeks in each month from July 2024 to November 2025.

How many full-time equivalent driving examiners employed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests in (i) July 2024 and (ii) each month thereafter up to the most recent month for which data is available.

The table below shows how many full-time equivalent (FTE) driving examiners (DE) employed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests for each month from July 2024 to November 2025. MonthNo of FTE DEs in postNo of FTE DEs delivering car practical driving testsJuly-20241,4421,439August-20241,4471,436September-20241,4641,450October-20241,4461,439November-20241,4491,423December-20241,4561,421January-20251,4881,438February-20251,4811,448March-20251,4561,415April-20251,4481,416May-20251,4541,430June-20251,4911,424July-20251,5131,438August-20251,5471,445September-20251,5441,464October-20251,5841,485November-20251,6081,539 A DE is a paid Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency employee from the point at which they start their training and therefore considered to be in post.

If if she will set out the minimum length of hire in days at which a rental vehicle is included within central government departments are counted towards the Government Fleet Commitment for the owned and leased fleet to be 100% zero emission by 2027.

Information on the minimum length of hire at which a rental vehicle included within central government departments are counted towards the Government Fleet Commitment can be found on Gov.UK.

What engagement her Department has had with the British Standards Institute’s review of BS AU 145e; and what assessment she has made of proposals to ban raised 3D and 4D number plates.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the British Standard Institute committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The committee has put forward proposed amendments which are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025. The Government has set out its intention in the Road Safety Strategy to consult on addressing the growing problem of illegal number plates, including ‘ghost’ number plates.

What estimate she has made of the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion in each month since 4 July 2024.

Deliberate fare dodging undermines our railway. It drains much needed revenue and undercuts the trust of passengers who play by the rules. It has no place on our railways. Although we do not hold data for the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion per month, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has estimated annual revenue lost to fraud and ticketless travel is at least £350-£400 million. The Office for Rail and Road have carried out a review of train operator revenue protection practices which was published in June. It set out five recommendations which include introducing greater consistency and fairness in the use of prosecutions as well as greater coordination, oversight and transparency of revenue protection. The Department has accepted all five recommendations and will publish its formal response to this review in due course.

What steps she has taken to help reduce the risk of a rolling stock shortage in 2025.

There are regular conversations with train operators who are responsible for operating and delivering the passenger timetable and ensuring they have enough rolling stock to meet their requirements. In 2026 there will be introduction of new modern fleets on South Western Railway and East Midlands Railway which have more passenger carrying capacity than the existing fleets.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 86751 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, whether any expenditure incurred on feasibility, development or preparatory work for Restoring Your Railway schemes that did not proceed following the programme’s cancellation has been subject to impairment or write-down in the Department’s accounts.

In line with our previous answers, there has been no write-down or impairment in the Department’s accounts from the decision to cancel the Restoring Your Railway programme.

Whether it is the policy of DVLA to provide registered keeper data to enforcement authorities under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004, or their commercial intermediaries, who wish to introduce traffic filters.

Regulation 27(1)(a)(iii) of the Vehicle Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to provide registered keeper information to local authorities in England and Wales for any purpose connected with its activities as an enforcement authority within the meaning of Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

How many used electric vehicles were sold in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.

The Department for Transport does not hold this information.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2025 to Question 94913 on Great British Railways, whether (a) growing revenue or (b) delivering value for money for passengers takes priority in the rollout of Great British Railways branding.

Both growing revenue and delivering value for money for passengers will be a priority.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 93777 on London Underground: Strikes, what discussions Ministers and officials in her Department have had with other transport operators regarding continuing industrial action since 4 July 2024, and which operators were involved in those discussions.

Under the Conservative Government, we saw national rail disputes that caused two years of widespread strikes and disruption to millions of passengers. On coming into office, this Government acted quickly to reset industrial relations and resolve the national disputes. Since 4 July 2024, there has been limited, local industrial action, involving four of the fourteen Department for Transport (DfT) contracted Train Operating Companies (TOCs); Avanti West Coast, Cross Country, Southeastern and Transpennine Trains. Also, while no industrial action has been taken since July 2024, the RMT has been in dispute with Northern Trains since 2017 regarding who opens and closes the train doors. Northern are in detailed discussions with the RMT to try and resolve this long running dispute. DfT officials routinely and regularly have discussions with TOCs on operational and other matters. In the case of the TOCs affected by industrial action, discussions include operators’ plans to resolve disputes and where relevant, their preparedness for industrial action. Dispute resolution is a matter for train operators, as the employers, to resolve with trade unions.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 96256 on Railways: Tickets, how the proportion of rail journeys using fully digital tickets varies between train operating companies in November 2025 and in each month since and including July 2024.

The Department does not hold this information at this level. The Rail Delivery Group and individual train operating companies hold the data.

What the net zero targets are for (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s-length bodies; and whether guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.

The Department for Transport (DfT), the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Trinity House, Transport Focus, the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain, the Civil Aviation Authority, and Active Travel England (ATE) are committed to achieving the UK Government’s Net Zero Carbon target by 2050. The Department for Transport also holds policy responsibility for ensuring greenhouse gas emissions from in-use transport and transport infrastructure construction reduce in line with the legislated economy-wide target of net zero by 2050. The position in terms of other Department for Transport bodies is set out below. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) supports the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy. This includes reducing fuel lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, 80 per cent by 2040, and achieving zero emissions by 2050.National Highways has committed to achieving Net Zero Carbon for its own operations by 2030 and achieving Net Zero emissions for its maintenance and construction by 2040. National Highways is also supporting the transition to Net Zero for travel on our roads by 2050.Network Rail have committed to the railway in Scotland being net zero by 2045 and the railways across the rest of Britain being Net Zero by 2050. The British Transport Police have committed to being, operationally, Net Zero by 2035. East West Rail has committed to creating a Net Zero passenger railway by 2050. HS2 Limited has committed to its corporate activities being Net Zero by 2025. It has also committed to its trains, stations, depots and rail infrastructure using zero carbon energy, reducing emissions to Net Zero by 2035. HS2 has also committed to undertaking carbon offsetting using natural or technological methods to reduce any emissions, that cannot be eliminated, to zero. The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) has committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050. Operating the NLB vessels accounts for around 80% of its emissions and in 2025 NLB took delivery of a new hybrid vessel which will meet the ambitious targets set out in the UK Government Clean Maritime Plan. All other arm’s-length bodies will be expected to adopt the existing 2050 target or develop their own based on their operational impacts.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 96704 on Great British Railways, if she will publish any internal implementation plans, programme plans, timelines, milestone documents or transition frameworks for the establishment of Great British Railways.

As set out in previous answers, the Great British Railways (GBR) design process is underway. We expect to stand up GBR within 12 months of the Railways Bill receiving Royal Assent. We are developing our implementation plans as part of the GBR design process now and will share those in due course.

What the national average waiting time in weeks was for a practical car driving test in (a) November 2025 and (b) October 2025.

The national average waiting time for a car practical driving test in November 2025 was 22 weeks. For the national average waiting time in October 2025, I refer the hon Member to the answers I gave on 28 November and 8 December, to Questions 93246 and 96689.

What assessment she has made of the future role of the Railway Benevolent Fund under Great British Railways, and what steps she is taking to ensure the Fund can continue its support for current and former rail workers once GBR is operational.

The Railway Benevolent Institution, known as the Rail Benevolent Fund (RBF), is an independent non-membership charity, supported by charitable fundraising and donations, and regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The future role of the RBF, including when Great British Railways is established, is a matter for the charity.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the(a) current DVLA registration process for number plate suppliers, (b) background checks on number plate supplier applicants, (c) measures in place to prevent the acquisition of materials to print non-compliant plates and (d) number of DVLA enforcement officers.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of illegal plates. The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied. It is an offence to sell a number plate without carrying out these required checks and can lead to a fine and removal from the Register of Number Plate Suppliers (RNPS). Officials are considering options to ensure more robust application and audit processes which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police. Officials are also in discussions with the British Number Plate Manufacturers’ Association about the issue of non-compliant materials. The DVLA’s enforcement officers work with the police and Trading Standards to carry out educational and compliance visits to registered suppliers. Enforcement officers attend the premises of registered number plate suppliers to check working practices and inspect number plates on the premises. Enforcement officers can inspect records held, take copies and/or seize the records. In addition, DVLA officers carry out intelligence led enforcement activities to tackle a wide range of offences, actively working with our partners to investigate.