Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the net savings are expected to be from rationalising the Department’s London estate and expanding its presence in Leeds and Birmingham, after accounting for relocation, refurbishment and dual-running costs.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the net financial impact of its AI programme, including implementation costs, staff training, data preparation and ongoing system support, relative to the efficiency savings outlined in the efficiency delivery plan.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As set out in the Department’s efficiency delivery plan, we expect a contribution to come from greater use of AI and digital tools. These tools can be used to automate and speed up routine processes that reduce system duplications and drive back-office efficiencies. As part of taking a test and learn approach, we are assessing impact and benefits on a case-by-case basis as appropriate in the life cycle of the project, as we develop our alignment across the DfT family on AI initiatives, and regularly add new use cases and applications.
A recent example of assessing impact is the published evaluation of our piloted Consultation Analysis Tool (CAT)1. This sets out a range of potential benefits, including net savings, which we will monitor as and when the tool is implemented as a standard process.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-consultation-analysis-tool-evaluation.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the £663 million per year efficiency saving projected for 2028–29 has already been delivered; and what proportion remains uncontracted, unimplemented or subject to future business cases.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what volume of rail freight in tonne-kilometres was moved in December 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The data for December 2025 has not yet been published. The most recent published data is for July to September 2025 and shows a total of 4,105 million net tonne-kilometres of freight were moved by rail.
The net tonne-kilometres of rail freight moved each quarter is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and can be found at:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/gagdrt3h/freight-rail-usage-and-performance-jul-sep-2025.pdf
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of rail journeys used fully digital tickets in December 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The approximate proportion of tickets fulfilled as Digital Tickets for December 2025 are:
| Dec-25 |
Digital | 85% |
Non Digital | 15% |
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the level of net Government support to the rail sector per passenger journey in December 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Many rail industry processes, including payments under contracts with train operators, occur once each rail period, rather than by calendar month. Support given to operators is also subject to an adjustment process, as actual values for costs, capital expenditure and revenues can be higher or lower than the initial values upon which support is provided. It is therefore not yet possible to provide a value for December 2025, and it may also not be meaningful, given seasonality.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are sufficient replacement trains in operation following the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the withdrawal of the Class 43 HST trains from services in the South West does not result in severe disruption and cancellations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The remaining High Speed Train (HST) fleet, including Class 43 power cars, were withdrawn at the end of the Summer 2025 timetable and have been replaced with existing fleet, including the recently introduced Class 175s, the first of which entered passenger services on Monday 15 December.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the identified in the Government’s October 2023 cost-benefit analysis of the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate represents costs to the public purse; and if she will publish a breakdown of those Government costs.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is the largest single carbon saving measure across Government and fundamental to the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. The cost-benefit analysis for the ZEV Mandate and CO2 regulations estimated the net value to society of the regulations. This was estimated at a benefit of £39 billion (2022 prices) over the full appraisal period, between 2021 and 2071.
There are three main sources of Government costs:
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many compensation claims were submitted for train operating companies for which her Department is the operator of last resort in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish quarterly statistics on the volume of compensation claims submitted and closed by train operating companies. Table 4410 (https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/passenger-experience/delay-compensation-claims/table-4410-delay-compensation-claims/) provides the number of delay compensation claims submitted from July 2024 to July 2025. The data for the next quarter of 2025 is due to be published in January.