Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of available driving tests in Cheshire East.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
Cheshire East is served by a cluster of test centres including, Macclesfield, Buxton, Newcastle Cobridge and Crewe. DVSA also has a remote site at Northwich, which is resourced with driving examiners (DE) from Chester.
From recent recruitment campaigns, for the Macclesfield and Buxton cluster of test centres, two potential DEs are undertaking training with a further two awaiting confirmation of availability for a training course.
For the Crewe and Cobridge cluster of test centres, two potential DEs are ready to start training, with one starting on 14 July. DVSA has also made offers to two more potential DEs who will start their training at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to issuing a safeguarding direction to protect the alignment of the former Lewes to Uckfield line in order to enable its future use to relieve congestion on the London to Brighton line.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not intend to issue a safeguarding direction for the re-opening of the rail line between Lewes and Uckfield.
The Department is committed to improving rail services in the South East and we recognise the social and economic benefits this brings to communities. We will continue to work with stakeholders across the transport industry to identify investments that drive economic growth, deliver value for money for taxpayers, and are affordable.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given, or was given by the recent review of HS2 by James Stewart, to estimate the final additional cost of completing the HS2 project; and whether they have given any consideration to cancelling the project.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We recognise the scale of the challenges highlighted by James Stewart and we accept his findings on HS2 in full, including all the recommendations on cost control. This government is committed to implementing these recommendations.
On 18 June, the Transport Secretary made an oral statement to the House on the current status of HS2, explaining the cost and schedule pressures the project is facing and that she has tasked new HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild with resetting the programme
Mark Wild has delivered his initial assessment, which was published alongside the Transport Secretary's oral statement, and is currently undertaking a comprehensive reset of the programme which will provide a realistic budget and schedule to deliver the remaining works.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement on 18 June of a single leadership team for Southeastern and Network Rail’s Kent Route, what power they rely on to enable the formation of this single leadership team, and what governance processes will be in place to manage any potential conflicts of interest under current legislation.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
A single leadership team is achieved through contractual arrangements between Network Rail, the train operating company and DfT Operator Limited. The legal arrangements are based on those used in previous alliancing arrangements between Network Rail and train operators. These organisations will still be held to account for their respective accountabilities (including Network Rail under its network licence). Governance mechanisms being put in place include clear job descriptions for the single leadership team detailing the extent of their decision-making abilities and an escalation process for any perceived conflicts.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the New Economic Foundation's publication entitled Flying Fair: Modernising the air transport tax system, published in June 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Aviation taxation is a matter for the Treasury. The Chancellor announced changes to Aviation Passenger Duty (APD) in the October 2024 Budget to ensure the aviation industry continues to contribute its fair share to public finances. The Treasury also recently consulted on their proposal to extend the scope of the higher rate of APD to all private jets.
The rates of APD are the highest in Europe for a tax of its kind, and the revenue raised funds government priorities, including tackling climate change. More widely, the aviation sector is important for the whole of the UK economy in terms of connectivity, direct economic activity, trade, investment and jobs.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the route will be of the Transpennine Route Upgrade proposed in their UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, published on 19 June.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The TransPennine Route Upgrade is an £11 billion infrastructure programme which will increase capacity, improve reliability, and journey times on the rail route between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the alliance is planned to be procured to deliver the Midlands Rail Hub.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following the Chancellor's commitment to progress Midlands Rail Hub in the 2025 Spending Review the procurement of the alliance that will design and deliver Midlands Rail Hub is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many charging points for electric vehicles (1) are available, and (2) have been confirmed in each the next three years, at service stations on each motorway.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There has been strong progress from industry on the rollout of chargepoints on our Strategic Road Network (England’s motorways and major A-roads). There are now over 5,560 open-access rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (excluding Tesla-only superchargers) within one mile of the Strategic Road Network (Zapmap, April 2025), which includes over 1180 open-access rapid and ultra-rapid chargepoints specifically at motorway service areas in England, (industry data, April 2025). This means charger numbers on the Strategic Road Network, including at motorway services, have nearly quadrupled in the last three years (Zapmap and industry data, 2022 – 2025).
Government is continuing to work closely with industry to support their ambitious plans to continue rolling out chargepoints at sites to meet demand, and to address barriers to further roll-out.
Asked by: Lauren Sullivan (Labour - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance of the DVLA’s Drivers Medical Group in processing medical licence renewals; and what steps he is taking to improve service delivery for drivers with medical conditions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. However, driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.
In 2024/25 the average time to make a licensing decision in medical cases was 44 working days, a significant reduction from 54 working days in the previous financial year.
Drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, visual impairments, sleep conditions or heart conditions can renew their driving licence online.
The DVLA continues to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is introducing a new strategic system to process cases. This will provide better services for customers and allow straightforward applications to be processed more quickly.
Most applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online at: (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla)
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she plans to take to support integrated public transport in Huddersfield.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are committed to improving public transport and delivering a transport system that works better for people across the country, enables growth and provides access to opportunities.
To support this, we are providing significant investment to West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) including £2.1bn of Transport for City Regions (TCR) funding. This is in addition to the £830m allocated to WYCA through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS), some of which is expected to support the development of transport improvements in Huddersfield town centre, including enhancements to active travel routes and upgrades to Huddersfield Bus Station.
At the recent Spending Review, we provided further commitment to the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) which will deliver improvements to rail journeys between Manchester and York, via Huddersfield and Leeds and will provide significant investment at Huddersfield station.
We have also brought forward the Bus Services (No.2) Bill, which will put 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 Huddersfield.
In addition, we will be publishing an Integrated National Transport Strategy later this year, which will put people and the journeys they make at the heart of how we plan, build and operate transport.