Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average grant-supported cost per bus was under each bus procurement scheme in each of the last five years; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of social value weightings on tendered prices.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
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 low levels of rail enhancement funding for railways in Wales on passenger numbers in Wales.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The 2025 Spending Review and Infrastructure Strategy acknowledged Wales’s ongoing infrastructure requirements, pledging at least £445 million towards rail improvements to meet these needs. These upgrades will deliver further passenger growth on rail routes across Wales, unlocking economic growth, better jobs, and housing.
The government's collaborative approach to planning and investment alongside the Welsh Government is generating substantial passenger / patronage growth in Wales. Transport for Wales has recorded 31.7 million train journeys during the 2024/25 period, an increase of 17.8% on the previous year.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on supporting improved access to transport for disabled people across Wales.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to improving public transport services, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. As part of this Government’s broader mission to break down barriers to opportunity, we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure transport is accessible to all right across Great Britain. The Department for Transport has discussions with counterparts in the Welsh Government on a variety of issues, including the accessibility of local transport.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what percentage of UK Government rail (a) Enhancement and (b) Operations, Maintenance and Renewal spending does Wales receive.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
For Control Period 7 (2024-2029) planned Operations, Maintenance, and Renewal spending in Wales comprises 5.5% of the UK total.
For the Spending Review period from 2026 to 2030 planned Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP) spending in Wales comprises 3.6% of the UK total.
The majority of RNEP funding is allocated to delivery of pre-committed schemes. The government has recognised that for too long Wales’s long-term infrastructure needs have been overlooked, and within this Spending Review, Wales has received a larger commitment of rail enhancement funding for new schemes than England.
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 2 February 2026 to Question 108459 on Department for Transport: Artificial Intelligence, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of AI-enabled initiatives operating on a test-and-learn basis not delivering the expected benefits on the corporate initiatives efficiency target.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Please see the previous response to Question 108459 which answers this question.
Asked by: Jeevun Sandher (Labour - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help improve local bus services.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to provide better bus services for communities across the country. Our Bus Services Act will empower local authorities to improve services, and its backed by over £3 billion in funding to support local leaders and bus operators. This includes multi-year allocations, giving them the certainty they need to plan for the future.
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 19 January 2026 to Question 105895 on National Highways and Network Rail: Finance, what estimate he has made of the net efficiency savings attributable to Network Rail after accounting for the up-front and ongoing costs of the technology and systems investments cited.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Bus Service Improvement Plan funding on school travel costs.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are providing nearly £700 million per year to help local transport authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans, including more than £29 million allocated to East Sussex County Council over the next three years. This funding can be used to help reduce the cost of bus travel to education.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of safety measures on the A34 including (a) signage, (b) road markings, (c) LED road studs and (d) speed management protocols; and if she will publish analysis of collisions and casualties that has informed her Department's policies on the use of (i) speed cameras, (ii) spacing chevrons and (iii) any other safety interventions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways undertook a road safety review of the A34 in 2017 and subsequently delivered works including upgrading laybys, enhancing road signs and markings, installing LED studs and clearing vegetation. National Highways continues to monitor traffic and incident data along the route. Road casualty statistics and the underlying data are published annually by the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many ports have operational shore power infrastructure capable of supporting zero-emission operations; and how this compares with the number of ports affected by the inclusion of emissions at berth in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government does not centrally record the level of live shore power infrastructure at ports, harbours, marinas, terminals or wharves, including whether they offer low voltage or high voltage shore power connections.
We are aware of at least nine ports, harbours, marinas, terminals and wharves that have live operational shore power units that allows some vessels to run on shore power today. At least another two locations are currently installing shore power. Of these eleven locations, six of them received R&D funding through the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme.
The policies in the Government’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy will encourage more investment in maritime decarbonisation, including shore power rollout at more ports.