Written questions by Holden.

Pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled £120 million to roll-out more electric vans, taxis and motorbikes, published on 25 February 2025, what estimate she has made of the annual number of motorbikes manufactured in the UK; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of the £120 million that will support (a) UK-manufactured motorbikes and (b) motorbikes manufactured overseas.

The Department for Transport does not collect data on the number of motorbikes manufactured in the UK. The £120 million of funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2023 enabled the continuation of the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant, offering grants of £500 for qualifying zero emission motorcycles, with British brands such as Maeving continuing to be a popular choice under the scheme.

With reference to the press notice entitled Simpler train travel for the South East as contactless ticketing rolls out at 47 more stations, published on 20 January 2025, how many and what proportion of the 49 stations announced for rollout in 2025 had contactless introduced by 10 October 2025; what her Department's timetable is for introducing contactless in the remaining stations; and what plans her Department has to extend contactless ticketing (a) beyond the South East and (b) in (i) Greater Manchester and (ii) the West Midlands.

We have committed to expanding Pay As You Go (PAYG) with contactless ticketing to further stations in the Southeast, with an additional 49 stations to be rolled out by the end of this year. Ministers will be making an announcement on delivery soon. Additionally, we have announced plans to launch PAYG in both Manchester and the West Midlands, expanding PAYG to more than 90 additional rail stations in 2026. Any further announcement on wider expansion beyond this, as well as an update on delivery timings, will be provided in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) mitigate the impact of repeated (i) over-running engineering works and (ii) cancellations on the c2c network and (b) ensure that passengers using (A) season tickets and (B) workplace travel schemes are able to access compensation when services are disrupted.

The Department expects c2c to collaborate closely with Network Rail to minimise the impact of any over-running engineering works. In relation to cancellations, the Department holds train operating companies, including c2c, to account on their performance against targets including through regular meetings and periodic reporting. Integration across track and train is being progressed in the Anglia region; this will ensure that all parts of the system are pulling together to deliver a better and more efficient service for customers. Where passengers purchase a season ticket and experience delays, they can claim delay repay from the relevant train operating company directly. If they are travelling as part of a workplace travel scheme, passengers will have to check with their employer what compensation they can claim for.

With reference to the press notice entitled New dawn for rail as South Western services return to public hands, published on 25 May 2025, on what evidential basis her Department calculated that public ownership of railways would save £150 million from the public purse; and if she will publish (a) the categories of fees that are no longer payable and (b) the estimated value of each fee category.

Private sector train operating companies are paid fixed and performance-based fees are set out in their National Rail Contracts with the Department. Operations are being transferred into public ownership as their National Rail Contract expire, meaning these fees will no longer be applicable once services have transferred. This saving is estimated to be up to £150million per annum once all franchised contracts have expired, with a proportion of these savings achieved each year in the interim as individual operators’ services transfer.

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

With reference to the announcement of 13 June 2025 on the installation of over 100,000 new local electric vehicle chargepoints in England, what her planned timetable is for this; and how many have been installed to date.

The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund has allocated capital and resource funding to local authorities across England, to ensure public chargepoint rollout improves significantly across the country. In total, the LEVI Fund will support the installation of at least 100,000 chargepoints across England. The majority of LEVI projects have now been approved to go to delivery, the first contracts have been signed between local authorities and chargepoint operators, and the first projects have now started to install chargepoints. Installation rates will increase as more projects enter delivery, with installation expected to continue over the coming years.

With reference to the press notice entitled Great British Railways in action – passengers benefit from track and train being united on South Eastern Railway, published on 18 June 2025, how many times the South Eastern Railway leadership team has met 17 June 2025.

In June this year, the South Eastern Railway - a single integrated leadership team with accountability for track and train – was formally launched. Since then, members of this team have met both formally and informally on a daily basis.

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.

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.

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 the Office for National Statistics classifies rolling stock leasing liabilities as part of the public sector balance sheet.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th October is attached.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing legislation to ensure that foals are not entered into competitive races.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act), it is an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for its welfare. Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare, may be banned from owning animals. They may also face an unlimited fine, be sent to prison, or both. The 2006 Act is backed up by the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids which provides guidance on how to meet the welfare needs of equines. The Code states that any training should be appropriate to the age, experience and condition of the animal, which includes training for races.

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

What steps the Government is taking to ensure that defibrillators are routinely procured and installed in (a) police cars and (b) other frontline public service vehicles.

Provision of defibrillators in police and fire vehicles is an operational matter for either the individual police force or fire and rescue service to determine at local level.The Home Office has been working to provide more defibrillators to all 43 forces across the country and recently purchased over 500 defibrillators to distribute to police forces free of charge, for them to deploy according to their local knowledge. We continue to work to explore what more could be done to increase availability of defibrillators more generally where this is within the remit of the Home Office, including through our ongoing engagement with the OurJay Foundation.The Department for Health and Social Care has confirmed that all ambulances carry defibrillators.

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.