Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the 19.05 train from Waterloo to Christchurch not arrive until 22.30 on Monday 14 July; what estimate she has made of the number of passengers affected; and what compensation is available.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A signal cable failure at Woking delayed the 19.05 from London Waterloo to Christchurch on the 14 July. Passengers are entitled to compensation under the national Delay Repay scheme. As the 19.05 was delayed for 120 minutes or more, passengers can claim compensation for 100 percent of the cost of their journey. Industry data doesn’t enable a reliable estimate on the number of impacted passengers to be made.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains between Waterloo and Christchurch have been (a) cancelled and (b) delayed for more than 15 minutes since South Western Railway was brought into public ownership.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
South Western Railway (SWR) were brought into public ownership on 25 May 2025. Since this date, 9.5 per cent of trains have been cancelled and 12.9 per cent of trains have been delayed by more than 15 minutes between London Waterloo and Christchurch. These cancellations and delays were not a result of the move to public ownership and could have equally occurred under private ownership. The new Managing Director for SWR, Lawrence Bowman, has been tasked with developing a detailed plan to improve SWR performance.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy that local authorities issuing Blue Badges within her Department's guideline timescale of 12 weeks will be able to recover the full costs of delivering that service.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge scheme is administered, funded and operated at local level by individual local authorities. There are no timescales set for administering applications other than a suggested guideline that issuing authorities should aim to complete end to end applications within 12 weeks.
In England local authorities are legally entitled to charge a fee of up to £10 for each badge issued which allows them to recover some of the costs involved in administering the scheme. The Department has no plans to amend legislation.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled E-scooter trials: guidance for local authorities and rental operators, updated on 17 January 2024, how many applications for changes to trials her Department has received from local authorities; and how many such applications have been (a) granted and (b) not granted.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department received 13 applications from local authorities, requesting geographic and fleet size changes to their e-scooter trials. All 13 applications were approved as of 8 October 2024.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to require local highway authorities to remove (a) racist and (b) other offensive graffiti from structures adjacent to the public highway without the authority of the owner.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining the highway. This includes the removal of graffiti from publicly owned highway assets, such as bridges, traffic signs, and street furniture, as well as council-owned and other public buildings. The Department has no plans to extend this requirement to privately owned structures adjacent to the highway.
However, we do expect private owners of structures to act to remove offensive graffiti. If graffiti or flyposting is on private property, councils can issue a Defacement Removal Notice to the property owner, which requires them to remove the graffiti within 28 days.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on (a) the number of pedicabs outside Greater London that are licensed as (i) taxis and (ii) private hire vehicles and (b) the number and proportion of those pedicabs that are in (A) Oxford, (B) Salisbury, (C) Bristol and (D) Cambridge; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on the number of licensed pedicabs of paragraph 8.3 of his Department's guidance entitled Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing best practice guidance for licensing authorities in England, updated on 17 November 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Outside London pedicabs can be licensed as taxis. Pedicabs cannot be licensed as a private hire vehicle as legislation defines a private hire vehicle as a motor vehicle. The Department for Transport issues guidance on licensing taxis and private hire vehicles to authorities who should consider the recommendations made and their obligation under the Regulators’ Code to carry out their activities in a way that supports those they regulate to comply and grow. The Best Practice Guidance to licensing authorities in England sets out that where there is local interest in providing pedicab services, licensing authorities should make appropriate adjustments to their licensing requirements for drivers and vehicles to accommodate these requests. Subject to the legal requirements, it is for licensing authorities to consider the appropriate licensing requirements to operate a pedicab under a taxi and taxi driver licence.
The Department does not hold data on the number of pedicabs licensed as taxis in England.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 8.3 of his Department's publication entitled Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing best practice guidance for licensing authorities in England, updated on 17 November 2023, what guidance his Department plans to provide on the appropriate adjustments that licensing authorities should make to their licensing requirements for drivers and vehicles to provide pedicab services outside Greater London.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Outside London pedicabs can be licensed as taxis. Pedicabs cannot be licensed as a private hire vehicle as legislation defines a private hire vehicle as a motor vehicle. The Department for Transport issues guidance on licensing taxis and private hire vehicles to authorities who should consider the recommendations made and their obligation under the Regulators’ Code to carry out their activities in a way that supports those they regulate to comply and grow. The Best Practice Guidance to licensing authorities in England sets out that where there is local interest in providing pedicab services, licensing authorities should make appropriate adjustments to their licensing requirements for drivers and vehicles to accommodate these requests. Subject to the legal requirements, it is for licensing authorities to consider the appropriate licensing requirements to operate a pedicab under a taxi and taxi driver licence.
The Department does not hold data on the number of pedicabs licensed as taxis in England.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the gross income of the DVLA was from fees for providing information about the personal details of the keepers of vehicles registered on the DVLA database in each of the last four years for which information is available; and how much of that income came from commercial parking companies.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The income from fees for providing information about keepers of vehicles registered on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database is shown in the table below:
Financial Year | £m |
| 2019 – 20 | 23.29 |
| 2020 – 21 | 13.18 |
| 2021 – 22 | 23.90 |
| 2022 – 23 | 30.18 |
These fees are set to cover the costs of providing services to its customers.
The specific information requested about commercial parking companies is not held. The DVLA does publish information about who it shares its data with on GOV.UK. This includes volumes for enquiries made through the keeper at date of event (KADOE) service which provides details of the registered vehicle keeper on a specified date. This report includes electronic enquiries made by parking companies and can be viewed using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/who-dvla-shares-data-with.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport during the Second Reading of the Pedicabs (London) Bill [Lords] of 28 February 2024, Official Report, column 398, if he will publish the outline of a potential licencing framework for pedicabs provided by Transport for London in January 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Subject to its parliamentary passage, the Pedicabs (London) Bill will confer powers onto Transport for London (TfL) to regulate London’s pedicab industry.
It will be the responsibility of TfL to design and implement a regulatory regime. However, TfL will be required to conduct a consultation prior to bringing regulations forward, and Government expects this consultation would include details of the proposed licensing framework.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to regulate the use of autonomous vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government paper “Connected & Automated Mobility 2025: realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK” sets out government’s plans to support the development and deployment of safe self-driving vehicles in the UK. This includes proposals for a comprehensive regulatory, legislative and safety framework.
The Department is committed to these plans and will introduce primary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.