Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason LNER has withdrawn its London to Sunderland services from the East Coast Main Line timetable.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been (a) allocated to and (b) spent by the Great British Railways Transition Team since it was established; and how many external consultants were employed by that team on 28 April 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) was set up as a temporary organisation under the previous government to design and transition towards Great British Railways, including building cross-industry capability. Total funding allocated to GBRTT was: £20.9m in the financial year 2021-22; £54.4m in financial year 2022-23; £50m in financial year 2023-24; and £29.3m in financial year 2024-25. Total funding spent by GBRTT was: £12.9m in the financial year 2021-22; £52.7m in the financial year 2022-23, £41.3m in the financial year 2023-24; and £27.6m in the financial year 2024-25. No external consultants were employed by GBRTT on 28 April 2025. No staff have been employed by GBRTT since 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with (a) Network Rail and (b) the Office of Rail and Road on the necessary provision of information by Network Rail to the Office of Rail and Road, so the Office of Rail and Road can take decisions on open access rail applications.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport works closely with both the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Network Rail to ensure that information to inform access decisions is provided in as timely a manner as possible. However, it is important that decisions are fully considered and potential impacts to taxpayers, the efficient and reliable operation of the network, and to other operators are properly assessed.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the costs to LNER of operating once-a-day train services to (a) Hull and (b) Bradford.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) already operates one service a day to Hull and two services a day, increasing to seven next month, to Bradford. The cost of these services are included within LNER's annual budget agreed by the Department.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the CBI Economics' report entitled The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Changes to BPR and APR, published in March 2025, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report’s finding on the impact of changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief on (a) trends in level of economic growth and (b) fiscal policy.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.
The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief are forecast to raise a combined £520 million in 2029-30. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) certified this costing at Autumn Budget 2024 and it does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact. The OBR published information about the costing in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 30 October 2024. The OBR published more detail on the costings on 22 January 2025. This material is all available on the OBR’s website.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made with the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail on (a) identifying unused track access rights and (b) making underused rail capacity available to open access operators.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Identification and address of unused track access rights is through the robust industry process for maintenance of rights in accordance with the Network Code, applied by the Operators and Network Rail as overseen by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Open access operators may apply to utilise available capacity alongside operators contracted by Government. It will then be a matter for Network Rail and the ORR to decide through the established systems and processes how capacity should ultimately be allocated.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the amount of (a) land and (b) property estate owned by Network Rail that is (i) unused, (ii) under-developed and (iii) available for commercial use.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail owns c.52,000 hectares of land. All of Network Rail’s land is deemed to be operational and required for the specific functioning of the railway network. Land can only be deemed surplus once it has gone through a regulatory process governed by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Network Rail regularly reviews whether land can be released from operational use and has a pipeline of potential sites that are at different stages of the business release and regulatory process. This is not a static list and information is released to potential purchasers and delivery partners at the appropriate time.
Significant sites that are in the pipeline for development, include:
Newcastle Forth Yards: a 100-acre regeneration opportunity which could deliver 5,000 new homes
Manchester Mayfield: opportunity for 1,500 new homes
Cambridge: a mixed-use development with 425 homes
Nottingham: 200 new homes following 348 successfully delivered homes at The Barnum, Nottingham
Network Rail also owns, and manages, other commercial uses on its estate principally within in its managed stations (retail and advertising for example) and within the retained arch portfolio.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the amount of land owned by Train Operating Companies that is (a) unused, (b) undeveloped and (c) available for commercial use.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold information on land owned by train operating companies as they do not typically own land; rather they lease stations and pay track and depot access charges to the relevant infrastructure owner.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes in the level of the employer National Insurance contributions on the economy in Wales.
Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales
The government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change. SMEs account for 99.3% of total enterprises in Wales.
The previous Conservative Government left us a £22bn black hole in public finances and the highest debt burden in 70 years – we are fixing the mess the party left to kickstart economic growth and put more money in people’s pockets.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the Terms of Reference for the appointment of Baroness Batters to lead a Farm Profitability Review.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Terms of Reference for Baroness Minette Batters’ review of farm profitability were published on 7 April 2025 - Farming Profitability Review: terms of reference - GOV.UK.