Written questions by Holden.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the level of carbon emissions caused by (a) prescribed burns of vegetation and (b) wildfires during 2025.

The Government remains committed to improving air quality to deliver benefits for public health, the environment, and the economy. This includes reducing carbon emissions.

When she plans to publish a (a) draft licence for Great British Railways and (b) consultation on the licence terms.

Under the 1993 Railways Act, the Department is required to publish and consult on a draft licence, and this will not change with the Railways Bill. We intend to consult on the draft GBR licence during the Bill Passage. This will give interested parties the opportunity to share their views on the proposed contents. Further details will be made available in due course.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not incurred any expenditure on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities since 4th July 2024. Since 4th July 2024, the Department and its arm’s length bodies have spent £221,472.32 on the purchase of electric vehicles. These purchases were made for the Government Car Service (GCS) Ministerial fleet. The GCS services Ministers from across departments. The Department has not made an estimate of the difference in capital cost between the electric vehicles purchased and comparable petrol or diesel models.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

The requested information is not centrally collated by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

What recent estimate she has made of the potential impact of (a) her rail reform policies and (b) the establishment of Great British Railways on costs to the public purse.

The Impact Assessment presents an estimate of the set-up costs for Great British Railways and the Passenger Watchdog of approximately £200-400 million, with total transitional costs representing around 1-2% of the annual operational costs for DfT contracted operators and Network Rail combined. This investment will set GBR up on the right footing to achieve benefits for users and realise financial efficiencies once fully established.This builds on our continuing programme to bring all currently franchised services into public ownership. This will save the taxpayer up to £150 million a year in fees that would otherwise have been paid to private operators.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

The Treasury occupy three sites: Horse Guards Road in London, Feethams House in Darlington, and Rosebery Court in Norwich. These premises are managed by the Government Property Agency, who have responsibility for the facilities management across all locations. The Treasury does not own any vehicles. Information relating to arms-length-bodies is not held centrally.

What protections exist to protect land and operations afforded to rail freight from (a) the risks of redevelopment and (b) other legal and commercial challenges; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing protections.

The Government recognises that safeguarding strategically important sites for rail freight is vital to securing the growth of the sector and is committed to continuing to protect strategic freight sites. Currently, the consent of the Office of Rail and Road is required for any land disposals by Network Rail under its Licence Conditions 16 and 17. The Department is currently working through a range of options to ensure their continued protection as we reform the railway. Any consideration by Great British Railways when disposing of land would have to take into account the duty to promote rail freight and the Secretary of State’s growth target, together with its other duties set out in the Railways Bill.

What discussions (a) she and (b) the Minister for Rail has had with the rail freight industry on the Railways Bill.

Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations, including those with rail freight stakeholders, are published every quarter and this information can be accessed on the Gov.uk website via the following link: Transparency and freedom of information releases - GOV.UK

When she plans to publish a (a) draft access and usage policy for Great British Railways and (b) consultation for this policy.

It is our intention for a consultation on a draft Access and Use Policy to be launched during Bill passage to support implementation of rail reform.

How many civil servants are working on rail reform.

This information is already published as part of the Q2 Government Major Projects Portfolio Return.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

Currently, the electric vehicles available for use in the department are leased. The department has not purchased any electric vehicles in the period since July 2024. From 4 July 2024 to date, DWP has spent £263,176.93 to install electric vehicle chargers. By comparison, £2,001,388.61 was spent in the year 2023-24 No assessment has been made of the difference between the capital costs of electric vehicles and of petrol and diesel vehicles. We do not hold the Arms Length Bodies information being asked for.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 31540 on Entry Clearances: Overseas Students, whether her Department has considered using (a) Programme for International Student Assessment results and (b) other international benchmarking data when determining which applicants are required to take additional English language tests.

We refer the honourable member to our answer of 24 February 2025 to PQ UIN 31540. Our position has not changed.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

Information on the amount spent on installing electric vehicle facilities on Ministry of Defence sites since 4 July 2024 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.Since 4 July 2024, the Department and its arm’s length bodies have spent £52,435 (VAT ex) on the purchase of electric vehicles.The Department has not made an estimate of the difference in capital cost between the electric vehicles purchased and comparable petrol or diesel models.

What assessment she has made of the relative operational cost increases for (a) rail freight and (b) road freight during the period from 2011 when fuel duty was first frozen for HGVs.

Fuel duty is a matter for His Majesty’s Treasury. The Government recognises the economic and environmental benefits of rail freight. The Railways Bill will place a duty on Great British Railways to grow rail freight, meaning freight operators will benefit from a longer-term strategic approach to planning, including a new capacity allocation and timetabling process. As part of continued support for the sector, the Department has operated the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2010. The scheme is designed to encourage modal shift by assisting with the operating costs associated with running rail or inland water freight transport instead of road, where rail or inland waterway transport is more expensive. The relative costs have been reviewed to ensure that the scheme continues to achieve its goal to support modal shift and are kept under review.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not purchased any electric vehicles, nor installed any electric vehicle charging facilities since 4 July 2024.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

The Wales Office has not incurred any expenditure on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities or purchased any electric vehicles since 4 July 2024.The Department does not have any arm’s length bodies.

Whether she plans to retain the rail freight growth target of 75% growth in freight carried by rail by 2050; and whether she plans to (a) put that target on a statutory footing, (b) introduce interim milestones and (c) adopt regional targets.

The Government recognises that the economic and environmental potential of rail freight is significant and is committed to the target of at least a 75% increase in freight moved by rail by 2050. The recently published draft Railways Bill sets out a duty on the Secretary of State to set a growth target and for GBR to have regard to it. The Secretary of State is currently considering whether to set interim targets for 2040 and what those targets will be. In addition, Network Rail has the target of a 7.5% increase in rail freight growth by the end of March 2029.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

Since 4 July 2024, the Department and its arm’s length bodies have spent £3,537 on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities.Since 4 July 2024, the Department and its arm's length bodies have spent £483,909 on the purchase of electric vehicles.The Department estimates that the capital cost of the electric vehicles purchased is approximately £11,545 higher than comparable petrol or diesel models.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 84309 on High Speed 2, what her Department’s latest estimate is of (a) the additional cost arising from the four-year deferral of works between Delta Junction and Handsacre Junction, (b) the revised total cost of the HS2 programme and (c) the expected date for completion of the final connection between High Speed 2 and the West Coast Main Line.

The previous Government paused works between Delta Junction and Handsacre Junction in March 2023. HS2 Ltd provided an estimate at the time in 2023 that the cost of demobilisation of these works was c.£35m (2019 prices). Further deferral will not incur demobilisation costs as the work has already been demobilised. Any additional costs are being considered as part of Mark Wild’s comprehensive review of HS2. As part of his reset work, he will advise on a revised cost estimate and schedule for HS2, including the scope between Delta Junction and Handsacre Junction.

How much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

Since 4 July 2024 neither the Department nor its arm’s length bodies have centrally purchased electric vehicles for their owned fleet. There has been no departmental investment in charging facilities for the central Government estate in this period, though arm’s length bodies have spent £100,000 on such assets.With regard to National Health Service budgets and estate, the Department has not allocated any national programme capital to the NHS for investment in electric vehicles or charging infrastructure. However, in line with the ambitions of the NHS’s Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy, NHS trusts continue to use their operational capital allocations for investment in electric vehicles, including ambulances, where this aligns with local priorities. This spend data is held locally.The Department is also working with NHS England and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles to support the rollout of charging infrastructure across the NHS estate through the £8 million NHS Chargepoint Accelerator Scheme, which is funded by the Department for Transport.The Department has not made an estimate of the difference in capital cost between electric vehicles and comparable petrol or diesel models. However, the NHS Travel and Transport Strategy has previously noted that transitioning to zero-emission vehicles in the NHS could deliver operational savings of £59 million per year through reduced fuel and maintenance costs.