Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce (a) noise and (b) pollution from (i) Heathrow Airport, (ii) Gatwick Airport and (iii) Farnborough Airport in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport sets noise controls at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, including night movement and night noise quota count limits. Under Environmental Noise Regulations, these airports are also obliged to produce noise action plans. For Farnborough, appropriate noise controls are a matter for Rushmoor Borough Council as the local authority responsible for planning.
The UK has legally binding targets to reduce emissions from damaging air pollutants which will lead to improvements in air pollution around airports. The UK has also played a leading role in the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop strict standards for pollution from aircraft. Airports may be subject to specific planning conditions and environmental obligations set by local authorities, such as Farnborough’s air quality and odour monitoring scheme.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve public transport infrastructure between Surrey Heath constituency and Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the vital role that surface access will play as part of any future expansion of Heathrow Airport. As part of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), launched on 22 October 2025, we will consider the transport infrastructure required to support a third runway. This will include considering the impacts for travellers from different regions and the surrounding communities.
While it would not be appropriate to pre-empt the outcome of the ANPS review at this stage, it will be the responsibility of any expansion promoter to set out a surface access strategy demonstrating how they will meet the requirements set out in the ANPS as part of any Development Consent Order (DCO) application.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to mitigate delays at (a) critical junctions and (b) motorways in the South East region during the Christmas period.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To mitigate delays, National Highways has suspended all non-essential works from 21 December to 2 January, lifting over 90% of roadworks across 1,700 miles of the network. At critical junctions, Operation Brock is in place from 16 to 23 December to manage traffic at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel, supported by real-time monitoring and rapid incident response from the Regional Operations Centre. On motorways, essential works remain where removal would be unsafe, including a full closure of the M27 between junctions 9 and 11 and limited restrictions on the M25, M27, A34 and A27. Traffic officers are deployed to keep vehicles moving.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with local authorities on (a) public awareness and (b) education on (i) drug and (ii) drink driving in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Transport routinely engages with local authorities to assist them with using and promoting our campaigns, and we work closely with Road Safety GB who help disseminate and coordinate our outreach to their network of road safety officers and professionals.
My department has recently engaged with contacts at Surrey Roadsafe who have helped promote our THINK! drink and drug driving campaigns through their channels. Surrey Roadsafe is a road safety partnership, comprising: Surrey Police, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, Surrey County Council, Surrey Fire and Rescue and National Highways.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of public awareness of road safety issues relating to (a) drug and (b) drink driving in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In respect of drug driving, as the THINK! campaign, launched on the 24th Novmeber is still running. The Department has not yet made an assessment of its reach and impact as this will be evaluated in full next year.
In respect of the 2025 THINK! summer drink driving campaign, at a national level 9 in 10 of those who saw or heard the campaign took action as a result. There was a significant increase in the proportion of young male drivers who said they are very likely to have a 0% alcohol alternative when driving, up from 31% pre- to 42% post-campaign.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing police officers with additional roadside powers in cases where a driver has tested positive for (a) drugs or (b) alcohol.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are considering a range of policies under the new Road Safety Strategy; the first for ten years. This includes the case for changing the motoring offences, such as drink and drug driving.
We will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of vehicle registration data captured by Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The British Standard for Retroreflective Number Plates (BS AU 145e) is published by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the BSI committee that has reviewed this standard and the committee has recently proposed a number of amendments. The proposed amendments are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters, often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025.
The DVLA is working to further reduce the number of vehicles that have no registered keeper or are unlicensed. There are long-standing and robust measures, including legislative requirements, in place to ensure that keepers notify the DVLA when they buy and sell a vehicle. It is an offence to use a vehicle that does not have a registered keeper. The DVLA also has processes in place to correct records when it is made aware of inaccuracies.
Based on the latest available data, more than 93 per cent of vehicle keepers are contactable and traceable based on the information held on the DVLA’s records. Of the remainder, around 6% are in the motor trade, where a vehicle may legitimately have no registered keeper.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken to improve (a) data quality and (b) error correction processes within vehicle-related databases relied upon by enforcement authorities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The British Standard for Retroreflective Number Plates (BS AU 145e) is published by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the BSI committee that has reviewed this standard and the committee has recently proposed a number of amendments. The proposed amendments are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters, often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025.
The DVLA is working to further reduce the number of vehicles that have no registered keeper or are unlicensed. There are long-standing and robust measures, including legislative requirements, in place to ensure that keepers notify the DVLA when they buy and sell a vehicle. It is an offence to use a vehicle that does not have a registered keeper. The DVLA also has processes in place to correct records when it is made aware of inaccuracies.
Based on the latest available data, more than 93 per cent of vehicle keepers are contactable and traceable based on the information held on the DVLA’s records. Of the remainder, around 6% are in the motor trade, where a vehicle may legitimately have no registered keeper.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to review the British Standard for number plates to ensure it remains fit for purpose in supporting (a) enforcement and (b) public safety.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The British Standard for Retroreflective Number Plates (BS AU 145e) is published by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the BSI committee that has reviewed this standard and the committee has recently proposed a number of amendments. The proposed amendments are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters, often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025.
The DVLA is working to further reduce the number of vehicles that have no registered keeper or are unlicensed. There are long-standing and robust measures, including legislative requirements, in place to ensure that keepers notify the DVLA when they buy and sell a vehicle. It is an offence to use a vehicle that does not have a registered keeper. The DVLA also has processes in place to correct records when it is made aware of inaccuracies.
Based on the latest available data, more than 93 per cent of vehicle keepers are contactable and traceable based on the information held on the DVLA’s records. Of the remainder, around 6% are in the motor trade, where a vehicle may legitimately have no registered keeper.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had recent discussions with Surrey County Council on the review of speed limits on arterial roads in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I have not held any recent discussions with Surrey County Council regarding a review of speed limits on arterial roads in the Surrey Heath constituency.
Local traffic authorities are responsible for making decisions about their own roads, based on their knowledge of the area and taking into account local needs and circumstances. This includes setting local speed limits.