Written questions by Holden.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 13 October 2025 on Transfer of Greater Anglia’s Services into Public Ownership, HCWS949, whether her Department plans to (a) define and (b) publish guidance on best practice across publicly-owned train operating companies; and who will be responsible for monitoring compliance with those standards.

Ahead of the establishment of Great British Railways, public sector operators are managed by Department for Transport Operator Limited (DFTO), the Government’s public sector owning group. As more services move into public ownership, DFTO will be able to identify and share examples of what works well among public sector operators, in turn driving improvement across the railways.

Whether her Department will use the same performance metrics as were applied under private operation under public ownership of Greater Anglia; and if she will publish those metrics on (a) punctuality, (b) cancellations, (c) passenger satisfaction and (d) financial efficiency.

While train operating companies will be measured on a similar basis, there will be a greater whole-industry focus for the growing group of public sector operators as we move towards GBR. GA Trains Limited will be required to meet targets for punctuality, reliability, service quality and customer satisfaction under the Services Agreement, and will be required to publish its performance against these targets on a regular basis.

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.

In the 2025 Spending Review £400 million of capital funding was allocated to support the rollout of charging infrastructure in the four financial years from 2026/27 to 2029/30. 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 estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the 300,000 public chargepoints required by 2030 that will come from the installation of the 100,000 local chargepoints announced on 13 June 2025.

An estimate of potential UK future demand for chargepoints was originally published in the 2022 “Taking Charge: the National Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy” and ranged from 280,000 to 720,000 in 2030. This analysis was updated in 2024 resulting in a range of 250,000 to 550,000 in 2030. While the precise number of public chargepoints needed is uncertain, the majority of these will be delivered by industry. The Government’s LEVI Fund will support the installation of at least 100,000 chargepoints across England, nearly all in addition to over 86,000 publicly available chargepoints to date.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of public electric vehicle chargepoints that will be installed in each year between 2025 and 2030.

An estimate of potential future demand for chargepoints was originally published in the 2022 “Taking Charge: the National Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy” and ranged from 280,000 to 720,000 in 2030. This analysis was updated in 2024 resulting in a range of 250,000 to 550,000 in 2030. Both the 2024 NAO ‘public chargepoints for electric vehicles’ report, which presents annual projections out to 2030, and the Climate Change Committee 2025 Progress report, concluded that rollout to date is on track.

If she will make an estimate of the number of bus journeys for which passengers have paid a fare between £2 and £3 since 5 July 2024.

The Department for Transport does not routinely collect fare-level data for individual bus journeys.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Greener flights ahead for UK aviation, published on 1 January 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the additional cost per passenger flight of the requirement for airlines to use 10% sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.

The press release relates to the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate which came into force on 1 January. The Department published a Cost Benefit Analysis for the SAF Mandate, alongside the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) Order 2024 SI No.1187 which introduced the mandate. That Cost Benefit Analysis sets out our analysis of the potential costs and benefits of the policy. Any impact on ticket prices is expected to be within the range of normal year to year changes in air fares. We continually monitor the market to update our assumptions where necessary. The Mandate has been designed to protect against excessive costs with a built-in review process so the Government can take action if necessary.

With reference to her Department press release entitled Boost for British green aviation fuel production to support jobs and lift off emerging industry, published on 14 May 2025, how much of the (a) £400,000 and (b) £60 million will be allocated to (i) UK-headquartered companies and (ii) companies headquartered overseas; and how many jobs have been (A) created and (B) safeguarded, broken down by company receiving funding.

The press release concerns £63 million which was made available for the third competition window of the Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF). The AFF aims to grow the UK supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by supporting first-of-a-kind production plants achieve commercial scale. The £400,000 is related to grant funding made available this financial year for the UK SAF Clearing House. The Clearing House provides services to potential UK SAF producers to help them navigate the testing and approval requirements for non-fossil-based jet fuel. In respect of the AFF funding, £63 million has been allocated across 17 UK projects for this financial year. On points (i) and (ii), this funding can only be allocated to companies with a UK registered office for UK based projects. In respect of Clearing House grant funding, the assessment process to allocate the £400,000 is still ongoing, however all recipients will have to be either a UK registered company or charity with a UK footprint. Low carbon fuels production can support up to 15,000 jobs in the UK by 2050. In respect of job creation, information that is provided by AFF bidders and our Clearing House is commercially sensitive.

What proportion of the government’s target to deliver 300,000 public electric vehicle chargepoints by 2030 is dependent on private sector investment.

An estimate of potential future demand for chargepoints was originally published in the 2022 “Taking Charge: the National Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy” and ranged from 280,000 to 720,000 in 2030. This analysis was updated in 2024 resulting in a range of 250,000 to 550,000 in 2030. While the precise number of public chargepoints needed is uncertain, the majority of these will be delivered by industry, who have already committed £6 billion of private sector investment in UK charging infrastructure before 2030.

Whether the Passenger Watchdog will be (a) responsible for issuing passenger performance standards, (b) involved in drafting and publishing those standards before Great British Railways becomes operational; and when she expects the Passenger Watchdog to go live.

The Government consulted on proposals for a railways bill, including the creation of a new passenger watchdog, earlier in the year. The Government response to this consultation will be published in due course and we expect to introduce legislation to establish the watchdog later in this parliamentary session. The watchdog would then become operational as soon as possible after the legislation receives royal assent.

With reference to the press relase entitled New era of rail accountability for passengers as performance data goes live at stations, published on 6 March 2025, when she expects performance data to go live on-screen at all stations across the rail network.

For the first time, we have made station-specific performance information available at over 1,700 stations. Where possible, this information is displayed digitally. Otherwise, passengers are able to scan a QR code which will direct them to the relevant information online. In addition, data for all stations in Great Britain is available on the Office for Rail and Road website.

With reference to the press notice entitled Your chance to try simpler train tickets in Yorkshire and the East Midlands this September, published on 6 June 2025, how many passengers have volunteered to participate in the digital ticketing trials in (a) Yorkshire and (b) the East Midlands.

The Digital Pay As You Go (DPAYG) trials are an opportunity for passengers to test cutting-edge technology and benefit from a simpler, more flexible tickets. We have had good engagement from passengers across the trial routes so far, with 968 users on Trial 1 and 532 users on Trial 2. The Department and delivery partners are pushing for as close to 1000 participants per trial as possible to gather passenger views and effectively evaluate this innovative technology.

Whether his Department plans to use discounted ticketing initiatives to (a) increase passenger utilisation on lightly used services and (b) reduce the volume of trains operating with significant spare capacity for Great British Railways services.

Great British Railways (GBR) will be empowered to deliver industry-wide modernisation and reform of the complex and fragmented fares landscape inherited from privatisation. This will enable GBR to simplify the ticketing system and make it easy for passengers to find the right fare. GBR will offer us the opportunity to go further with optimising train services and driving up utilisation. Through GBR’s directing mind function, services and timetables will be developed in a coherent fashion that drives up network performance and improves the journey experience.We are also already driving forward improvements in advance of GBR. For example, we are supporting LNER to deliver their ‘Simpler Fares’ trial, which is testing an easier to understand fares structure and demand-based pricing on parts of their long-distance network. The aim is to improve the passenger experience by reducing crowding, making better use of capacity and making travel more comfortable for passengers.

How many (a) stations, (b) tracks, (c) passengers and (d) fareboxes will not be run by Great British Rail.

GBR will be responsible for all stations, infrastructure and services that are currently run by Network Rail or operators contracted by government. It will be empowered to deliver industry-wide modernisation and reform of the complex and fragmented fares landscape inherited from privatisation. This will enable GBR to simplify the ticketing system and make it easy for passengers to find the right fare.

How many planning permissions for new homes on surplus railway land have been granted since 5 July 2024.

Since July 2024, planning permission has been granted for more than 2,800 new homes on surplus railway land.

If she will publish (a) the benefit–cost ratio assessments undertaken for the proposed Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station options and (b) any associated operational assessments commissioned by (i) HS2 Ltd and (ii) her Department on the comparative performance of surface and underground designs.

The Department is carefully reviewing proposals for an underground station at Manchester Piccadilly. However, no decision has yet been made, and the Department has not published any benefit–cost ratio assessments for the proposed station options. Similarly, no operational assessments comparing surface and underground designs commissioned by either HS2 Ltd or the Department have been published. Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with local leaders to establish shared priorities.

With reference to the press notice entitled New tech to make rail replacement travel more accessible, published on 13 May 2025, what information her Department holds on the number of times the 3D animated avatar for rail replacement coaches has been used by passengers since its introduction.

The products referenced are not yet in use as the competition (Contracts for Innovation: Accessible Information on Coaches) is still underway, and these projects are currently going through development, trials with disabled people and coach operators, and manufacturing scale-up. The competition is due to finish in March 2026.

How many public electric vehicle chargepoints have been installed in each local authority area in England; and what assessment she has made of the level of regional difference in access to charging infrastructure.

The latest data available regarding the number of public charging devices for electric vehicles in each local authority area in England, as of 1 July 2025, can be found in table 1a of the attached document. Government monitors public charging device roll out on a regional basis through our official statistics. Allocations for the Government’s £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund were designed to address regional differences in public charging infrastructure by accounting for existing levels of public charging infrastructure available across England. This will ensure charging provision develops across the country. Government also recently announced a £25m grant for local authorities in England to install EV pavement channels. This investment is designed to be an extra tool for local authorities to use in their local charging solutions to support residents to charge. The below table shows the number of public charging devices and the number per 100,000 of the population in each region of England. RegionPublic charging devicesPublic charging devices per 100,000 of the populationNorth East2,703100.7North West5,66975.4Yorkshire and the Humber4,14174.7East Midlands3,79276.8West Midlands7,658127.2East of England6,24997.7London24,419275.4South East10,212108.9South West5,829101.1

What the average waiting time for a practical car driving test was in (a) each of the 12 months before 5 July 2024 and (b) each month since that date.

The table below shows the national average car driving test waiting time in weeks, for the months July 2023 to September 2025.MonthNational average car driving test waiting time in weeksJul-2319.1Aug-2320.2Sep-2320.4Oct-2318.9Nov-2318.4Dec-2317.4Jan-2415.3Feb-2416.2Mar-2417.1Apr-2417.8May-2418.6Jun-2418.4Jul-2418.1Aug-2418.5Sep-2419Oct-2419.5Nov-2419.7Dec-2420.8Jan-2520.8Feb-2521.3Mar-2521.7Apr-2522.3May-2522.5Jun-2522.3Jul-2522.2Aug-2522.5Sep-2521.8

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled More than £1.1 billion investment to boost growth, jobs and skills in UK’s coastal towns and cities, published on 15 September 2025, how much and what proportion of £448 million will be spent on (a) research and development, (b) demonstration projects, (c) infrastructure deployment and (d) other areas.

On 15 September 2025, we announced £448m for the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the Department for Transport. All the funding is to support clean maritime research and development from 2026 to 2030. Allocation of funds is subject to competition, with competition scopes, assessment criteria, and budgets to be published alongside competition announcements. The Government laid a Written Ministerial Statement in Parliament alongside the announcement providing an outline of the future UK SHORE programme. This includes a second round of the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI2) competition aimed at the building of clean vessels and port infrastructure followed by commercial trials, and three further rounds of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) aimed at demonstrations, pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies.