Written questions by Holden.

Whether she plans to review the rules for recognising overseas driving tests as equivalent to those in Great Britain.

My department does not have any current plans to review the rules for recognising overseas driving tests.

With reference to her Department’s guidance entitled Lane rental schemes: guidance for English highway authorities, updated on 3 April 2025, whether she has implemented the proposal to double the level of fixed penalty notice charges for offences under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.

Following consultation, the Government announced its intention to double fixed penalty notices, extend overrun charges to apply on bank holidays and weekends, and permit highway authorities to allocate 50% of surplus funds from lane rental schemes towards road maintenance. The relevant Statutory Instrument will be laid shortly to enable the necessary changes to come into force, with practical implementation in early 2026, the intervening period will help ensure the industry and Local Highway Authorities have time to adapt and be ready for them.

With reference to the Draft Road Investment Strategy 3, published on 26 August 2025, which enhancement projects included in the Draft Road Investment Strategy 2 have been (a) cancelled, (b) paused and (c) descoped; and if she will make an estimate of the costs incurred for each of those schemes.

In any portfolio of this size, there will always be schemes that have feasibility or value for money issues that appear through the course of development, and there will always be a need to spend money on schemes to develop them to a certain stage to make an informed decision on whether to proceed or not. National Highways reported the write-off costs associated with cancelled RIS2 schemes in its Annual Report and Accounts 2025.

With reference to her oral contribution of 26 June 2025, Official Report, column 1241, whether her Department plans to restrict the practice of drivers obtaining (a) taxi and (b) private hire licences in one local authority while operating predominantly in another; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of this practice on (i) passenger safety and (ii) local licensing standards.

All taxi and private hire vehicle licensing authorities in England have advised the Department that for drivers they require the highest level of vetting available, an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and a check of both the children’s and adults’ Barred Lists. The Department for Transport will legislate to tackle inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing more broadly. We are considering all options including out of area working, national standards and enforcement – seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety. In the interim the Department is reviewing licensing authorities’ compliance with existing guidance and determining how the statutory guidance on protecting children and vulnerable adults can be strengthened to further protect the public. Licensing authorities can already jointly authorise officers from other authorities so that compliance and enforcement action can be taken against licensees from outside their area. Such an agreement would set out the range of powers available, but these could include the ability to undertake compliance checks and immediately suspend a driver’s licence in the interests of public safety. This enables the use of the agreed powers regardless of which authority within the agreement the officer is employed by and which issued the licence. A consultation on making all local transport authorities responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, which would increase consistency in licensing and make better use of enforcement powers, will be launched shortly.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of judicial review challenges on the construction (a) timelines and (b) costs of nationally significant road infrastructure projects.

Judicial review is an important legal process that allows democratic challenge to the lawfulness of a decision. While it plays a vital role in upholding accountability and transparency, the Department has assessed that in some cases judicial reviews can have an impact on the delivery of nationally significant road infrastructure projects.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 71270 on Aviation: Fares, what her Department's policy is on airlines using (a) individualized and (b) surveillance pricing when setting air fares.

The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector. The cost of air fares is therefore determined by airlines, but airlines must always be compliant with competition and consumer protection laws when setting fares.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 September to Question 71269 on Train Operating Companies: Conditions of Employment and Trade Unions, whether this information is held by DfT Operator Limited.

DFTO currently has oversight of six Train Operating Companies (TOCs). The TOCs are subsidiaries of DFTO and trade union agreements are negotiated, held and managed at the subsidiary level rather than by DFTO itself. Similarly operating practices on employees rights are also administered and managed by the TOCs rather than DFTO.

With reference to her Department's press releases entitled (a) London to Essex c2c services return to public control in step towards Great British Railways, published on 18 July 2025 and (b) New dawn for rail as South Western services return to public hands, published on 25 May 2025, what the rigorous performance standards are that each of the public sector operators will have to meet; when she plans to publish details of those performance standards; and whether those standards are outlined to companies before nationalisation takes place.

The standards will be set out in due course.

What assessment she has made of the level of variation in the time taken to complete private hire vehicle licence applications across local authorities in England.

The Department for Transport’s best practice guidance to licensing authorities in England is clear that all authorities should consider how best to deliver the statutory function of taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Providing an efficient licensing system benefits both those in the trade and those wishing to enter it, and passengers through greater choice and availability of services.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of a licensing authority taking an extended period of time to accept or reject a private hire vehicle licence application.

The Department for Transport’s best practice guidance to licensing authorities in England is clear that all authorities should consider how best to deliver the statutory function of taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Providing an efficient licensing system benefits both those in the trade and those wishing to enter it, and passengers through greater choice and availability of services.

If she will take steps to improve transparency in the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s decision‑making process for over‑70s driving licence renewals; and what weightings are given to recent eyesight tests conducted by qualified opticians when assessing over-70s driving licence renewals.

Information about renewing a driving licence at the age of 70 and over and eyesight tests for driver licensing is available online at:https://www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-ruleshttps://www.gov.uk/eye-conditions-and-drivingRenew your driving licence if you're 70 or over - GOV.UK.

If she could publish a breakdown of the Government's £4.5 billion spend on the transition to electric vehicles by (a) scheme and (b) year.

The Government is investing over £4.5 billion to help industry and consumers transition to zero emission vehicles. Following the Spending Review, the Government committed £1.8 billion in investment to decarbonise road transport from 2026-27 to 2029-30.  This includes £1.4 billion to support the continued uptake of zero emission vehicles, including vans and HGVs, and £400 million to support the rollout of charging infrastructure. The £400m includes funding for charging along the strategic road network in England, charging infrastructure to facilitate the deployment of zero emission vans and HGVs, and existing grants.In financial year 2025/26, £320m was made available at the Autumn Statement in 2024 to support investment in charging infrastructure and the uptake of zero emission vehicles. A further £2.5 billion has been made available to industry through the DRIVE35 programme.

Whether her Department has a policy on airlines using (a) individualized and (b) surveillance pricing when setting air fares.

The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector with the cost of flights determined by airlines according to a range of factors. The Minister for Aviation and officials from the Department for Transport meet regularly with airlines to discuss a range of topics, including pricing. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has statutory competition functions in relation to airline markets. In addition, the CMA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) both have responsibilities for enforcing consumer protections relating to price transparency, contract terms and passenger rights, including those during flight disruption.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question HL9412 on Heathrow Airport: Planning Permission, what the provisional timetable is for the review of the Airports National Policy Statement; and what her planned target date is for (a) publication for consultation and (b) ratification by Parliament of a revised National Policy Statement.

The Government published a letter to potential promoters inviting proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. The Government is now assessing the proposals against the criteria set out in the letter. Once this is complete the Government will move quickly to review the Airports National Policy Statement. We cannot speculate on the timings of the review at this stage, however when conducting the review, the Secretary of State will comply with the requirements in the Planning Act 2008, including consultation, publicity and parliamentary requirements.

What guidance (a) Network Rail, (b) her Department and its agencies and (c) Great British Railways have produced on trade union facility time for railways staff.

Facility time arrangements are matters for individual rail employers and the trade unions to agree, in accordance with trade union and labour relations legislation.

What role (a) her Department and (b) its agencies will play in making agreements with trade unions on the nationalised railways.

As the employers, Network Rail and individual train operators, including those owned by DfT Operator Ltd, are responsible for negotiating agreements with the trade unions, under established collective bargaining arrangements. The future role of Great British Railways in this process has still to be determined.

What steps her Department has taken to strengthen guidance to help ensure bus lanes operate only (a) when buses are running and (b) when traffic is heavy enough to cause delay to buses.

It is for local authorities to decide whether bus lanes are appropriate on their network, and to set the times of operation. The Department published Local Transport Note 1/24: Bus User Priority in March 2024 which includes advice on all aspects of bus priority including the design of bus lanes and their times of operation. LTN 1/24 is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-user-priority-ltn-124.

Whether she plans to adopt working parking taxes.

The power to introduce a workplace parking levy sits with the local traffic authority.

With reference to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority's Annual Report 2024–25, published on 11 August 2025, for what reason no evaluation was completed for the East Coast Mainline programme.

The Department has continued to work closely with Network Rail and industry stakeholders on development of the recast East Coast Main Line timetable, planned for introduction this December. This timetable will realise the benefits of the investment made through the Enhancements Programme, and so discussions are ongoing with the Department’s Research and Evaluation team, and NISTA, to develop a suitable Evaluation Plan for the Programme once the final details of the timetable have been formally confirmed.

What substantive proposals her Department received relating to the construction of a third runway at Heathrow, other than from (a) Heathrow Airport Limited and (b) the Arora Group; and from which organisations.

The Department received seven proposals for consideration through a structured internal assessment process.The assessment process is designed to ensure that each proposal is examined carefully and consistently against the criteria set out in the Secretary of State’s 30 June letter. This includes a review of the proposals’ overall feasibility, their timelines, the costs and revenues associated with the scheme, details of the scheme’s financing and funding, the environmental impacts and mitigations, and deliverability of the scheme.While we are not disclosing the names of promoters or details of their proposals at this stage, a further update will be provided in due course.