Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to allow local authorities to sell spare seats on school-only transport services without triggering full Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations compliance requirements.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government strongly supports the aims of PSVAR and breaking down the barriers to opportunity. We believe that children and young people should be able to choose to travel to and from school with their classmates if they wish to. However, progress with PSVAR compliance has been slower than hoped in respect of home-to-school services.
Closed door home-to-school services serve pupils whose needs are known in advance. Many disabled pupils also either attend specialist education settings or are provided with door-to-door transport and would struggle to access mainstream services even if they were PSVAR compliant.
As current exemptions were due to cease in July 2026, and following careful consideration, I decided to introduce new four-year special authorisations for paid for, closed door home-to-school services.
On 5 June I wrote to the coach sector informing them of this decision noting that as with the current Medium-Term-Exemptions (MTE’s), exemptions will be offered subject to operators meeting specific conditions which will be laid out in full when eligible operators are invited to apply. The conditions, which place the needs of disabled children and young people at the core, include maintaining a minimum number of PSVAR compliant coaches and providing a compliant coach on request at no extra cost.
The sale of spare seats on school-only services is a matter for local authorities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Greater Anglia has made on (a) expanding its pay-as-you-go ticketing system in 2026 and (b) delivering the extra projected 11 million additional journeys of which three million were designated to be for contactless payment by the end of 2026.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On Sunday 8th March 2026, Pay As You Go (PAYG) with contactless went live at 20 stations at Greater Anglia stations including Stansted Airport. In the four weeks ending 30 May 2026, these additional 20 stations generated around 200,000 taps, this is a 15 per cent increase on the prior four-week period. Greater Anglia is currently on track to see over three million contactless journeys annually across the additional 20 stations which now have PAYG with contactless.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has assessed the potential merits of introducing a permanent exemption from Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations requirements for closed-door school transport services that do not carry members of the general public.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government strongly supports the aims of PSVAR and breaking down the barriers to opportunity. We believe that children and young people should be able to choose to travel to and from school with their classmates if they wish to. However, progress with PSVAR compliance has been slower than hoped in respect of home-to-school services.
Closed door home-to-school services serve pupils whose needs are known in advance. Many disabled pupils also either attend specialist education settings or are provided with door-to-door transport and would struggle to access mainstream services even if they were PSVAR compliant.
As current exemptions were due to cease in July 2026, and following careful consideration, I decided to introduce new four-year special authorisations for paid for, closed door home-to-school services.
On 5 June I wrote to the coach sector informing them of this decision noting that as with the current Medium-Term-Exemptions (MTE’s), exemptions will be offered subject to operators meeting specific conditions which will be laid out in full when eligible operators are invited to apply. The conditions, which place the needs of disabled children and young people at the core, include maintaining a minimum number of PSVAR compliant coaches and providing a compliant coach on request at no extra cost.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government's proposed socio-economic duty will apply to the operation of nationalised trains.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Section 1 of the Equality Act (Socio-Economic duty) is the responsibility of the Minister for Equalities.
The Office for Equality & Opportunity is working toward commencement of the duty. We will work with the Cabinet Office on progress towards enactment and the interaction with Rail Reform.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of how long-term system risks, net present social value, and construction cost impacts of the Lower Thames Crossing will be distributed between road users, taxpayers, and private equity investors under the proposed licensing regime.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A robust assessment of private investment options has been undertaken for Lower Thames Crossing (LTC). This has included on the distribution of costs and risks between the different parties, as well as on longer term system risks and economic/ social benefits. The Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model has been chosen as it enables the private sector to deliver the scheme efficiently, reduces financial burden on taxpayers through enabling users to contribute to the costs, harnesses the benefits of private investment, and promotes the interests of users.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to introduce a specific category within STATS19 road casualty data collection for collisions involving non-EAPC electric bikes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The STATS19 collection is overseen by the Standing Committee on Road Injury Collision Statistics (SCRICS) and changes are made via periodic reviews, the last of which was in 2018.
There are currently no plans to introduce a specific category for non-EAPC electric bikes; this will be considered as part of the next review of STATS19.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of East Midlands Railways trains from a) Sheffield to London and b) London to Sheffield have been i) on time, ii) less than fifteen minutes late, iii) 15-30 minutes late, iv) 30-59 minutes late, v) over 59 minutes late and vi) cancelled in each year between 2022 and 2026.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The tables below show the proportion of East Midlands Railway’s (EMR) trains from:
a) Sheffield to London trains that were i) on time, ii) less than fifteen minutes late, iii) 15-30 minutes late, iv) 30-59 minutes late, v) over 59 minutes late and vi) cancelled in each year between 2022 and 2026; and
b) London to Sheffield have been i) on time, ii) less than fifteen minutes late, iii) 15-30 minutes late, iv) 30-59 minutes late, v) over 59 minutes late and vi) cancelled in each year between 2022 and 2026.
(2026 has not been included as we do not have the comparable full year data)
From Sheffield
Year | On Time | <15 Late | 15-30 | 30-59 | >59 | Cancelled |
2022 | 40.4% | 90.8% | 7.4% | 1.4% | 0.4% | 2.5% |
2023 | 43.2% | 90.2% | 8.4% | 1.2% | 0.2% | 2.9% |
2024 | 38.1% | 88.5% | 9.3% | 1.8% | 0.3% | 2.6% |
2025 | 39.9% | 88.1% | 9.8% | 1.7% | 0.3% | 2.9% |
From London
Year | On Time | <15 Late | 15-30 | 30-59 | >59 | Cancelled |
2022 | 31.0% | 89.7% | 8.4% | 1.7% | 0.3% | 2.4% |
2023 | 29.1% | 88.7% | 9.9% | 1.3% | 0.1% | 2.6% |
2024 | 25.2% | 87.6% | 10.4% | 1.7% | 0.2% | 2.5% |
2025 | 30.2% | 89.5% | 8.7% | 1.5% | 0.2% | 2.9% |
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2026 to Question 1283 on Department for Transport: Official Cars, what assessment her Department has made of the compatibility of collecting anonymised data on the manufacturing origin of its rental fleet with World Trade Organisation rules.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not made an assessment on the compatibility of collecting anonymised data on the manufacturing origin of its rental fleet.
Our rental fleet data does include vehicle make and model but not where these were manufactured.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2026 to Question 2251 on Railways, what the intended date is for Great British Railways' day-one stand-up.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Great British Railways (GBR) design process is underway. We expect to stand up GBR within 12 months of the Railways Bill receiving Royal Assent.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an agreement has been made between her Department and Universal Destinations and Experiences on transport links for workers during the construction of the Universal Theme Park in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not entered a specific agreement with Universal Destinations and Experiences (UDX) regarding transport links for construction workers. The Department is, however, working closely with UDX, Bedford Borough Council and other local partners to support the transport arrangements associated with the development. This includes ongoing consideration of how construction workers can access the site safely and efficiently through the construction phase, including by public transport and other sustainable travel options where appropriate.