Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide extra funding to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to help tackle backlogs in driving tests.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
Measures in place to reduce waiting times include the recruitment of new driving examiners (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from DEs. DVSA also continues to deploy DEs from areas with lower waiting times into those where waiting times are longer.
DVSA is largely funded from the fees it charges for the delivery of its operational activities including driving tests.
DVSA keeps the fees it charges for all of its statutory services, including driving tests, under continuous review. Any proposals to change any fees would be subject to HM Treasury approval and public consultation.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to criminalise the practice of bots reselling driving tests at inflated prices.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests, often at significant profit. The agency encourages all customers to book a test through the official channel on GOV.UK where customers can book, change and cancel tests. The agency does not license any service to resell test slots.
DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for approved driving instructors (ADI) and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.
In January 2023, the DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit. Since then, the DVSA has issued 341 warnings, 785 suspensions, and closed 757 business accounts for misuse of its booking service.
DVSA is deploying enhanced bot protection to stop automated systems from buying up test slots unfairly.
DVSA’s work in this area is ongoing and will continue to take steps to address these practices.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to reverse fare increases introduced in 2024 on South Western Railway when it is brought into public ownership in 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Whilst it is our ambition through public ownership to deliver a more affordable railway, any long-term changes or concessions made to rail fares policy require balancing against the potential impacts on passengers, taxpayers and the railway.
Through future legislation, we will set out the role Great British Railways will have in fares, ticketing, and other operational aspects of the Railway. Fares and ticketing will continue to be the responsibility of train operators until Great British Railways is established.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to re-instate late night services at Worcester Park station.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
When adding or reinstating services, the Department needs to assess business cases and balance demand with value for the taxpayer in its considerations. There are currently no plans to reinstate a later train between Sunday and Thursday. However, a later Friday and Saturday service was reinstated from December 2020 departing from Waterloo at twenty-five minutes past midnight.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking through her policy of public ownership of the railways to (a) tackle last-minute train cancellations and (b) improve service reliability.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers have been clear that rail services have been failing passengers. Bringing train operations into public ownership is the first step in the Government’s plan to improve the railways for passengers and taxpayers. Great British Railways, when established, will take a whole rail system view, ensuring that all parts of the sector are working together, to deliver against Ministers’ priorities and improve reliability for passengers.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of bringing South Western Railway into public ownership.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The costs associated with the transfer of a train operating company into public ownership cannot be determined until engagement with the train operator has commenced.
Each train operator will have their own circumstances that need to be addressed to enable a successful transfer. These are identified during the due diligence phase and then the costs for addressing them can be agreed.
As an example, previously, the Department has paid fees to South Western Railway of £8.2 million between September 2020 to March 2021. These can be found in the following link:
Overall, transferring service operations to the public sector will result in a saving of fixed and performance-based management fees currently paid to private sector train operators. This saving is estimated to be £110 million to £150 million per annum once all franchised contracts had expired, with a proportion of these savings achieved each year in the interim as individual services transfer. Please see the following link:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0133/en/240133en.pdf
Whilst all services will transfer as their existing contracts end, there are costs associated with the transfer from a private sector operator to a public sector company (mobilisation and due diligence costs) estimated at £1 million to £1.5 million per transaction. This is consistent with costs associated with transition following any competed franchise award as shown in the following link:
https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/56108/documents/5037.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the quality of the service provided to passengers on South Western Railway.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State is committed to improving operational performance across the industry including at South Western Railway. The Government is also committed to bringing Operators into Public Ownership to deliver a better performing railway with South Western Railway announced as the first Operator into Public Ownership from 26th May 2025.
A significant development for South Western Railway will see the current rolling stock on all Suburban routes being replaced by brand new Class 701s which will help to improve the passenger experience.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve road safety for people (a) walking, (b) wheeling and (c) cycling.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of our roads is an absolute priority for this Government.
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 to improve road safety for cyclists and pedestrians, by strengthening pedestrian priority on pavements and at crossings and introducing the Hierarchy of Road Users, which places those road users most at risk in the event of a collision, at the top of the hierarchy.
The Highway Code makes it clear that those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to others and highlights the need to take care and be particularly aware of young cyclists and pedestrians.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on levels of noise pollution on the London Underground.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has not had discussions with the Mayor of London specifically on levels of noise pollution on the London Underground. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor, and TfL is responsible for the operation of London’s transport network.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to extend the HS2 terminus from Old Oak Common to London Euston.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is reviewing the position it has inherited on HS2 and will set out detailed plans in due course.