Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of moving to a ten-year rail funding settlement to support long-term planning, value for money, and whole-life asset management.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have considered the appropriate length of rail funding settlements as part of rail reform and the establishment of Great British Railways. Five-years of infrastructure funding, resulting in a five-year delivery plan, has been established as the appropriate balance between supporting long-term planning and reflecting the realities of a changing operational environment. Five-year funding will be informed by the Long-Term Rail Strategy to ensure there is long-term planning that supports the funding settlement.
Whilst we will continue to fund passenger services through the Spending Review process and timelines, legislation does retain future flexibility for passenger services budgets to be set over a five-year period.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what consideration her Department has given to the potential impact of wage inflation on the availability of skilled labour in rail infrastructure, maintenance, and engineering roles.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The railway depends on a thriving and competitive supply chain that supports economic growth and invests in its workforce and the skills required to enable a functioning railway. The Department for Transport monitors capacity within the rail sector through the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) Periodic Review process, which assesses the resources and capability required for Network Rail to deliver its obligations safely and efficiently across each five year control period.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of rail decarbonisation policies on costs to consumers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The impact of rail decarbonisation policies on consumers is very minimal, as measures such as electrification of track and train are implemented over multi-year infrastructure investment cycles, and are not passed through to consumers in full via ticket prices. As such, the department has not made an estimate. Rail is also already a comparatively low-carbon mode of travel.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of emergency track and asset renewals on the rail network over the last ten years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Analysis of trends in asset failures form part of Network Rail’s assurance processes. Whilst it has identified that track asset ‘used life’ has been increasing over ten years, its data shows that the ‘performance risk’ for rail and track geometry defects is less than 40 per cent of the levels seen 25 years ago.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her department has made of the effectiveness of the Independent Fostering Agencies at improving the retention of experienced foster carers; and what steps she is taking to ensure that Regional Care Cooperatives and Local Authorities prioritise (a) adequate and transparent financial support (b) high‑quality training and (c) responsive post‑approval support.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s fostering plan, published on 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. At the same time, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be spread across the system. Our call for evidence explores options to improve financial transparency across local authorities and independent fostering agencies (IFAs).
Wider reforms will also mean that local authorities, working together as regional care co-operatives, can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from IFAs, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets the needs of children.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that Regional Care Cooperatives work in structured collaboration with Independent Fostering Agencies to (a) facilitate shared sufficiency planning (b) maximise the use of existing foster homes and (c) secure quicker access to the most appropriate foster carers for children in care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s fostering plan, published on 4 February, focuses predominantly on strengthening local authority fostering provision, which has seen the biggest decrease in foster carers in recent years. At the same time, we want to see an expansion of third sector provision, as well as learning from private providers who achieve good outcomes for children and how their best practice can be spread across the system. Our call for evidence explores options to improve financial transparency across local authorities and independent fostering agencies (IFAs).
Wider reforms will also mean that local authorities, working together as regional care co-operatives, can co-ordinate their approach to private provision more effectively. This will mean they can plan and purchase support from IFAs, using collective negotiation to improve value for local government, and ensure that care meets the needs of children.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussion he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the proposed application of electric vehicle pay-per-mile taxation on people living in rural communities in Scotland.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
At the Budget, the Chancellor confirmed the introduction of Electric Vehicle Excise Duty from April 2028 - recognising that electric vehicles contribute to congestion and wear-and-tear on our roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
While those living in rural areas tend to drive more than those living in urban areas, they are also more likely to have a dedicated home charger for their electric vehicle - with the lowest charging costs.
Our electric vehicles consultation provides further detail on how the duty will work and seeks views on its implementation from stakeholders across the UK.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of returning the Railway Inspectorate to the Health and Safety Executive.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
His Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) was transferred from the Health and Safety Executive to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in 2006 to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of railway safety regulation. Housing HMRI within ORR allows safety oversight to sit alongside the wider regulatory and economic functions for the rail industry, supporting a more integrated and streamlined approach to enforcing railway safety legislation.
The Government considers the current framework to be effective. As such, no assessment has been made of returning HMRI to the Health and Safety Executive, and there are no plans to do so.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent evaluation of the effectiveness of the under-occupation deduction policy for social rented housing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy.
Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will publish (a) national and (b) regional breakdowns of under-occupied social rented housing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy.
Information on the number of households subjected to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy, by nations and regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Households on Universal Credit dataset, and the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset, and are currently available to August 2025.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.