Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June to Question 9167 on Department for Transport: Departmental Responsibilities, whether she plans to publish the internal plan.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The decision to publish internal Strategic Plans sits with the Cabinet Office who are currently considering whether they will be published.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance her Department issues to National Highways on ensuring that expenditure on external affairs and public affairs activities complies with Cabinet Office guidance on the use of public funds for lobbying.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Accounting Officers of DfT public bodies, including National Highways, are bound by Managing Public Money and Cabinet Office guidance. The Department reminds individual bodies, as necessary, of these rules and the expectations set out in section 4.1 of the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies (2019), which states, 'it will always be an improper use of public funds for public bodies to employ consultants or other companies to lobby Parliament, Government or political parties'.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 24 March 2026 to Question 120039, what the purpose was of each flight to Bangladesh; which Ministers and senior officials approved each visit; how many officials travelled on each occasion and at what grade; what the cost was of each visit; and whether an assessment was made of whether those engagements could be (a) conducted remotely and (b) combined with other travel.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport (DfT) works with international partners to support and strengthen aviation security standards at last points of departure to the UK. This includes technical cooperation and, where necessary, in‑country activity to provide assurance and support effective delivery at airports. Where possible, visits were combined with other engagements to minimise costs and reduce the need for multiple journeys.
All visits were approved by a Deputy Director (Senior Civil Servant) in DfT’s Transport Security Division in line with departmental policy.
The visits to Bangladesh were undertaken to support ongoing aviation security activity. While a significant proportion of DfT’s international aviation security activity is conducted remotely, certain elements of technical engagement and training require presence on the ground, particularly where activity is focused on operational environments such as airports.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the answer of 24 March 2026 to WPQ 120039, what the purpose was of each flight to Vietnam; which Ministers and senior officials approved each visit; how many officials travelled on each occasion and at what grade; what the cost was of each visit; and whether an assessment was made of whether those engagements could be (a) conducted remotely and (b) combined with other travel.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Vietnam flights undertaken in May 2025 were an additional journey. This is to enable DfT staff, and accompanying dependents, posted overseas at qualifying hardship posts to take a break away from local conditions during their posting. This was for an SEO plus partner as an additional journey from their posting in New Delhi. Total costs are only the flight costs totalling £1326.80. This is in line with DfT policy and agreed at senior civil service level.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the planned timetable is for the Liverpool Street Station redevelopment scheme from planning consent to commencement of construction; and what the timescales required are for (a) completion of Section 106 agreements, (b) agreement of compensation arrangements with affected third parties and (c) completion of other statutory approvals.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A scheme of this scale requires a large amount of work to mobilise. Network Rail and Platform4 are working on the completion of the Section 106 following resolution to grant consent in February. The appropriate work on public sector procurement and market engagement with respect to consultants and construction will commence once a consent is formally secured. The station transformation takes four years across two phases (Bishopsgate and Sun Street Passage). This is programmed to minimise disruption and maintain train access throughout. The office then takes 3.5 years with total construction approximately 7.5 years.
The plans have been designed to keep the station open and operational. The detailed and careful phasing of the works means that compensation payments are not a material consideration and have been accounted for as part of the works. It is not a hidden cost.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many assaults against railway staff were recorded in each of the last five years; and how many resulted in a prosecution.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police have provided the following information on assaults against railway staff:
Year (April to March) | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
Offences | 2430 | 2711 | 3353 | 3641 | 4083 |
Prosecutions | 542 | 465 | 621 | 559 | 320 |
The British Transport Police have said that the likely reason for drops in prosecution numbers in the past two years is due to court backlogs.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many motorists were convicted of driving without valid insurance in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fixed penalty notices were issued for failure to wear a seat belt 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.
The Home Office collects and publishes the relevant data on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences, including seat belt offences, for police forces in England and Wales.
The latest data can be found here: Police powers and procedures: Roads policing, to December 2024.
Data on fixed penalty notices issued for seat belt offences by year are published in table FPN_03 of the accompanying data tables.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many rail infrastructure projects in England with a capital value below £50 million are behind schedule.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail is delivering hundreds of projects across the country to maintain and upgrade the rail network. Of the projects currently delivering on site with an anticipated cost of less than £50 million, 144 are currently forecasting to complete after their original baseline completion date. Projects can be delayed for various reasons including scope and design changes, supply chain and resource constraints, and the need to work within limited access windows on a live operational railway.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Euston Delivery Company will be stood up as a public body.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In April 2026, the Euston Delivery Company (EDC) became the single directing mind for the Euston programme.
Currently the EDC sits as a business unit within the Department for Transport as its capability is built. We expect the EDC to be stood up as a public body in the Autumn.