Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to raise the retirement age for commercial pilots.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Age limits for commercial pilots are set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in standards and recommended practices, which the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) apply. These are under review by ICAO and the CAA remain engaged with them on reviewing the evidence base for future changes to age limits and making progress in this area when we can safely do so.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to make it an offence for non-electric vehicles to park in an electric vehicle charging space.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Parking enforcement on local highways is a local authority matter. Local authorities can use traffic regulation orders to designate and enforce electric vehicle (EV) only bays. For private land, enforcement falls to the landowner.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) Kingswood and (b) other villages benefit from a local bus service.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December as part of its ambitious plan for bus reform. The Bill puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them, including in Kingswood and villages right across England.
In addition, the Government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Surrey County Council has been allocated over £12 million of this funding. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2025 to Question 32060 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to publish a cross-departmental consultation on measures to help tackle delays facing (a) transport and (b) other infrastructure organisations in securing permission to install a distribution network operator connection from highways authorities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We continue to work with other government departments, such as MHCLG and DESNZ, to understand what changes are required to remove barriers to installing chargepoints and obtaining grid connections.
In December 2024, we announced further changes to planning permission for off-street locations and published a grid connections review specifically focused on electric vehicle charging. We continue to work with industry stakeholders to streamline relevant processes.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the transition to an online- only application process for the Blue Badge scheme has made on (a) neurodiverse people and (b) people with disabilities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has no current plans to make Blue Badge applications online-only. For online applications, the Department for Transport works continuously to improve online badge applications so they are quicker and easier for applicants. This includes undertaking specific research and testing to identify innovative improvements to the online application process. The service also undergoes regular accessibility and assurance testing to guarantee compliance with the Government’s digital standards.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her Department's original budget for the Great Western Railway modernisation project was; how much her Department has spent since that project started; and what the estimated final cost is in (a) real and (b) current terms.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Great Western Route Modernisation Programme was estimated to cost £2,967m at the time of the 2015 Business Case. The outturn cost for the Programme in 2021/22 was £3,863m.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the recent £2 million Bus Service Improvement Plan funding allocated to Dorset Council is effectively utilised to enhance bus services in underserved rural communities within West Dorset.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to seeing better, more reliable bus services delivered right across England, including in West Dorset and other rural communities.
Local transport authorities are encouraged to use funding for Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) on schemes that they, and local operators, believe will deliver the best overall outcomes in growing long term patronage, revenues and therefore maintaining service levels, whilst ensuring essential social and economic connectivity for local communities.
This will be different for each area. We believe local leaders know their areas best and so are best placed to make decisions about how to improve services to ensure they meet the needs of local communities.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with farming communities on the potential impact of rural road infrastructure on farming operations.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities are responsible for their local roads, in both rural and urban areas. It is up to them to engage as necessary with relevant stakeholders, including farming communities, on matters of this sort.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department will make an assessment of the impact of (a) unfilled station staff vacancies and (b) use of fixed-term contracts at Avanti West Coast-managed railway stations on (i) trends in the length of delays at ticket offices and (ii) trends in the number of unscheduled closures of ticket offices.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department expects all train operating companies to use reasonable endeavours to meet their obligations for regulated staffed ticket office opening hours under Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement. As such, we regularly review ticket office opening hours compliance and the causes of any negative trends, including staff vacancies.
Train operating companies are also required to achieve challenging customer experience targets across a range of measures, including ticket offices being open at advertised times. These standards are regularly and independently inspected via the Service Quality Regime and there are accountability and financial consequences for failure.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support the expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in (a) London and (b) Romford constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of affordable charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). As of April 2025, the Government and industry have supported the installation of 76,507 publicly available charging devices, up 28% on this time last year.
London, which includes Romford constituency, was allocated over £41m capital and resource funding through the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to increase the number of local public chargepoints across the area. The £381m LEVI Fund will support the installation of at least 100,000 on-street chargepoints across the country.
As of 1 January 2025, there were 22,200 public electric vehicle charging devices in London, 1,341 of which had a power rating of 50kW or above. 48 of these devices were in the constituency of Romford, of which 33 had a power rating of 50kW or above.