Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 119491 on Transport: Nitrogen Dioxide, how the £478 million whole-life cost of the NO2 Programme referenced by the National Audit Office relates to the total programme budget of approximately £880 million; and what proportion of the total programme cost this represents.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for Transport provides all capital funding and a small amount of resource funding.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of current and projected gigafactory battery production capacity in Europe; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of that capacity for UK automotive demand.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK collaborates with Government, automotive industry, and academia to produce quarterly forecasts. The latest insights show, based on nameplate capacity, European cell production is projected to surpass demand in 2027.
While EU trade remains vital to the sector, it is critical for UK economic resilience and competitiveness that we build domestic battery production capacity and diverse supply chains.
This Government is supporting our domestic battery ecosystem through Industrial Strategy commitments, where we announced the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D in the Battery Innovation Programme, and significant capital support through DRIVE35 funding.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to access Training Driver Level 3 apprenticeships.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is confident in the steps being taken by the rail industry to enable 16 and 17 year olds to access Train Driving Level 3 Apprenticeships. New legislation to lower the minimum age to be a train driver from 20 to 18 will remove the main legal obstacle preventing train operators from recruiting 16- and 17 year olds into the profession, including via apprenticeships. The industry is working with Skills England to reduce the apprenticeship entry age from 18 to 17½, which will allow young people to begin classroom learning and supervised training before becoming eligible for a licence at 18. For 16 and 17 year olds, the industry is also developing preparatory routes, including a new rail foundation apprenticeship from age 16 and access courses to build the non-technical skills needed for driver selection.
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 6 March 2026 to WPQ 116586, whether her Department plans to publish details of the savings in fees otherwise payable to former private sector owners used to offset the increase in staff costs for DfT Operator Limited.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Once all services currently delivered under contract with the Department have transferred, public ownership is expected to save taxpayers up to an estimated £110-150 million every year on fees currently paid to privately-owned train operating companies.
This is several orders of magnitude less than the costs of scaling up DfTO staffing in anticipation of establishing GBR – as part of which we will be tackling waste and inefficiency across the fragmented railway we inherited.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) adequacy of the independence and (b) effectiveness of private parking appeals services.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is aware of concerns amongst some motorists that second stage appeals services are not independent of parking operators because these are facilitated by the trade associations who represent their members. Last summer, my department consulted on this issue to better understand concerns around the current model and consider if change is needed. The Department is considering the findings of the consultation very carefully and will set out further details as soon as possible.
The 2025 consultation document can be found on gov.uk here.
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 5 March 2026 to Question 116791, what representations were made by organisations representing disabled people during engagement relating to the guidance entitled Floating Bus Stops: Provision and Design; and what advice she received from officials on those representations.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Three workshops were held on the floating bus stop guidance, facilitated by Transport for All (TfA). The participants included organisations representing disabled people and TfA members with lived experience of disability. The department also circulated the draft guidance for comment to a range of groups from 26 November to 2 December 2025. A list of those involved is included in the guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/floating-bus-stops-provision-and-design
A range of comments and representations were received from seven organisations representing the needs of disabled people. For example these included the need for consistent design approaches; the need to prioritise accessibility; the role of behaviour change and enforcement alongside design; concerns about shared-use bus boarders; and many comments on detailed design points.
This information was used to inform the final version of the guidance which was cleared through my office in the usual way.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2026 to Question 118863, what the annual estimated cost of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce is in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is not able to provide an estimated annual cost for the Sustainability Taskforce for 2025/26 before its accounts for the financial year are finalised. Its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025/26 will be laid before Parliament in the normal way.
The CMA does not allocate specific multi-year funding to individual workstreams such as the Sustainability Taskforce, which remain subject to wider prioritisation decisions. Budgets for 2026/27 and 2027/28 have not yet been formally delegated by HM Treasury or approved through the Main Estimate process. Estimated costs for these future years are therefore not available.
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 National Audit Office's report entitled Department for Transport 2024-25, published in November 2025, whether capital spending on the High Speed Two programme is on track to fall by 7.9% in real terms between 2025-26 and 2029-30.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The figures within the National Audit Office’s report reflect table 5.18 within the 2025 Spending Review document. The HS2 programme will be required to align with the Spending Review settlement which, based on the annual capital Departmental Expenditure Limits between the period FY 25/26 - FY 29/30, reflects an average annual real growth rate of -7.9%.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on implementing the statutory Private Parking Code of Practice provided for under the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department is considering the findings of the Private Parking Code of Practice consultation very carefully and will set out further details on the private parking code of practice as soon as possible.
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 10 March 2026 to Question 118263 on East West Rail Line, in which month will the first services operate from the new station at Winslow.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Chiltern is continuing to work closely with its partners and the Department to conclude the remaining train, infrastructure and staff issues. The start date for the first East West Rail (EWR) services at Winslow station will be announced as soon as it is possible to do so.