Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120645 on Competition and Markets Authority: Costs, what expenditure the Competition and Markets Authority has incurred on (a) consultants, (b) research and (c) external contracts in support of the Sustainability Taskforce since its establishment.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has not incurred expenditure on (a) consultants, (b) research and (c) external contracts in support of the Sustainability Taskforce.

Since its establishment, the expenditure for the Sustainability Taskforce is as follows:

Non-staff costs cover other programme expenditure such as travel and subsistence.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118043, what steps the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is taking to improve its ability to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment activity for driving examiner roles.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) monitors the performance of recruitment campaigns, including:

• monitoring pass rates for each of the stages in the recruitment process and comparing these between campaigns

• average times between advert and job offers being made, and offers being made and start date.

The performance in these areas have improved in the past 12 months. For example, before November 2025, the average time DVSA took to advertise and onboard potential driving examiners (DE) into training was 16 weeks.

In December 2025, DVSA improved its recruitment process and the average time DVSA now takes to onboard potential DEs is 13 weeks. Further proposals should see this reduce by another 2-3 weeks for future campaigns.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will place in the Library a breakdown of NO2 Programme expenditure by project, including spend to date and forecast costs for each scheme.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A breakdown of the NO2 programme expenditure on local authority grants will be placed in the House of Commons library.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 119471 on the Vehicle Certification Agency: Fees and Charges, whether there is a timeline to eliminate the Agency’s financial deficit; and what steps her Department is taking to monitor the delivery of deficit reduction.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The VCA is currently analysing responses to the consultation on increasing certain fees, which closed earlier this month.

If taken forward, the fee increase would require secondary legislation before it can be implemented (subject to Parliamentary approval). We are therefore unable to set out a specific timeframe for elimination of the deficit at this stage.

Work on efficiencies is ongoing and reduction of the VCA’s deficit is regularly monitored and reported on via the VCA and Department for Transport’s internal governance processes.

It is also reported annually as part of the VCA’s Annual Reporting and Accounts, which are published on their website.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the maximum number of vehicles that could be subsidised under the Zero Emission Truck and Van, which her Department announced on 25 March 2026, at the highest grant rates, and the corresponding total cost to the Exchequer.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The schemes have been designed so that grant funding is sufficient to fully support businesses to transition to zero emission vehicles, consistent with the Government’s plan to meet legally binding carbon budget targets. By 2030, within the current funding envelope we estimate that the schemes could award 250,000 zero emission vans grants, 20,000 zero emission trucks grants, and nearly 25,000 chargers under the depot charging scheme, although projecting this is highly uncertain.

The total cost to the Exchequer is capped based on the announced budget of £877 million. Given the existence of the budget cap, we have not separately tried to estimate the maximum number of grants that could be delivered using the highest grant rates.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what forecast has been made of uptake rates for (a) zero emission trucks, (b) vans and (c) depot charging grants under the Zero Emission Truck and Van funding package, announced 25 March 2026.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The schemes have been designed so that grant funding is sufficient to fully support businesses to transition to zero emission vehicles, consistent with the Government’s plan to meet legally binding carbon budget targets. By 2030, within the current funding envelope we estimate that the schemes could award 250,000 zero emission vans grants, 20,000 zero emission trucks grants, and nearly 25,000 chargers under the depot charging scheme, although projecting this is highly uncertain.

The total cost to the Exchequer is capped based on the announced budget of £877 million. Given the existence of the budget cap, we have not separately tried to estimate the maximum number of grants that could be delivered using the highest grant rates.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure that legislation, funding and incentives actively enable HealthTech adoption at scale across the health system.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department, alongside NHS England, is working to improve the conditions for the adoption and scaling of healthcare technology (HealthTech) across the National Health Service.

The Department has developed a National HealthTech Access Programme to provide a clearer national route to funding and adoption for high impact technologies. This draws on existing evaluation and assurance processes, helping to reduce variation following pilot activity. The focus is on technologies with the potential to rapidly improve NHS services and patients' lives, nationwide. The first two technologies to be evaluated by this mechanism are already underway and have the potential to transform early diagnosis of oesophageal, prostate, and breast cancer.

In parallel, the Department and NHS England are supporting trusts to make more consistent procurement decisions through Value Based Procurement standard guidance for medical technology, which is currently at its pilot stage. This enables wider value considerations, alongside cost, to be taken into account during local procurement exercises.

The Department continues to work closely with partners, including NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS Supply Chain, and industry representative bodies to improve, scale, and embed adoption of HealthTech in the NHS.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that successful HealthTech pilots are scaled and adopted nationally.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department, alongside NHS England, is working to improve the conditions for the adoption and scaling of healthcare technology (HealthTech) across the National Health Service.

The Department has developed a National HealthTech Access Programme to provide a clearer national route to funding and adoption for high impact technologies. This draws on existing evaluation and assurance processes, helping to reduce variation following pilot activity. The focus is on technologies with the potential to rapidly improve NHS services and patients' lives, nationwide. The first two technologies to be evaluated by this mechanism are already underway and have the potential to transform early diagnosis of oesophageal, prostate, and breast cancer.

In parallel, the Department and NHS England are supporting trusts to make more consistent procurement decisions through Value Based Procurement standard guidance for medical technology, which is currently at its pilot stage. This enables wider value considerations, alongside cost, to be taken into account during local procurement exercises.

The Department continues to work closely with partners, including NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS Supply Chain, and industry representative bodies to improve, scale, and embed adoption of HealthTech in the NHS.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Transport Development Fund, if she will publish (a) the projects and programmes funded and (b) the amount allocated to each.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Transport Development Fund referred to in the 2015 Spending Review was a time-limited fund under the previous government.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120007 on High Speed 2 Line: Finance, whether the Department expects any reduction in the maximum speed of High Speed Two trains to contribute to meeting the Department’s capital expenditure limits set out in the Spending Review.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Spending Review settlement for the current period is not dependent on the outcome of the Strategic Speed Study.