Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that the transport system supports economic growth in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the Spending Review of 2025 this government announced Local Transport funding of £38.19 million to Surrey County Council for the period from April 2026 to April 2030 for local transport improvements.
Surrey County Council has also been allocated £38.2 million of Local Authority Bus Grant for 2026/27 to 2028/29. Local authorities will have the flexibility to use this funding to meet local needs, which could include introducing local fares schemes to further reduce the cost of bus travel.
In respect of rail travel, the Chancellor and Transport Secretary have announced that regulated rail fares will be frozen for a year from March 2026, for the first time in 30 years. Over a billion journeys are going to be affected by this freeze with season tickets, anytime returns on commuter routes, and off-peak returns on longer-distance routes all subject to the freeze. Commuters in the Surrey Heath constituency could save over £200 on season tickets into London.
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 introducing mandatory security features for number plates to prevent (a) cloning and (b) unauthorised reproduction.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
Officials are considering options to ensure more robust application and audit processes which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
Officials are also considering potential options for making number plates more secure.
The DVLA is part of the British Standards Institute committee that has recently reviewed the existing number plate standard. The committee has proposed a number of amendments which 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.
Standards on the use of automated number plate reader technology are a matter for the Home Office which issues guidance on its use as part of the National ANPR Standards for Policing and Law Enforcement.
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 effectiveness of Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in detecting vehicles using (a) cloned or (b) ghost number plates.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
Officials are considering options to ensure more robust application and audit processes which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
Officials are also considering potential options for making number plates more secure.
The DVLA is part of the British Standards Institute committee that has recently reviewed the existing number plate standard. The committee has proposed a number of amendments which 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.
Standards on the use of automated number plate reader technology are a matter for the Home Office which issues guidance on its use as part of the National ANPR Standards for Policing and Law Enforcement.
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 trends in the misuse of number plates to evade enforcement.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of cloned and ghost number plates.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of vehicles on UK roads that are uninsured.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
My Department does not hold information in respect to how many and what proportion of vehicles on UK roads are uninsured.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of illegal or non-compliant vehicle number plates that have been (a) seized or (b) required to be replaced in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested. On-road enforcement of number plate offences is a matter for the police.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and others to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of cloned and ghost number plates.
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.