Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 84701 on Roads: Accidents, whether her Department has requested data from (a) the Home Office and (b) the police on the number of roadside drug-driving tests carried out since 2020.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
While statistics on breath tests are published by the Home Office, the equivalent information on roadside drug-driving tests are not. Decisions relating to the collection and publication of this data would be a matter for the Home Office.
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) provide information to the Department on the Christmas Drink and Drug Driving campaign, Operation Limit. This includes the number of drink and drug tests administered during the winter period.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 82409 on Railways: Public Ownership, whether her Department plans to draw on best practice from (a) devolved operators such as Transport for London, Merseyrail, ScotRail and Transport for Wales and (b) private sector train operating companies in developing guidance for publicly-owned operators.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We expect DfT Operator Limited (DFTO) to draw on best practice from across the rail sector, and other relevant sectors, for its operators.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her timetable is for publishing the next Rail network enhancements pipeline.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government recognises the need to develop stable, long-term pipelines for investment and to give communities, investors and the supply chain visibility and certainty about those pipelines.
The Secretary of State set out the rail enhancement schemes across the country that are funded as part of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline over the Spending Review period in July. We continue to make announcements on schemes as they progress or are added to the pipeline, such as the recent announcement of the Cowley Branch Line Upgrade on 23 October. Rail enhancements schemes are also set out in the UK Infrastructure pipeline published by NISTA 11 July, which government has committed to update regularly. This provides a level of transparency on the rail enhancements portfolio that has not been seen since October 2019 and the last RNEP update.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 84700 on Road Traffic Control: Oxford, whether her Department holds information on the level of income the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has received from Oxfordshire County Council for access to vehicle registration data in each year since 2020.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has not directly provided vehicle keeper data to or received income directly from Oxfordshire County Council in the time frame specified.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 82745 on Roads: Freight, if she will publish all substantive written representations her Department has received from the road haulage industry on road user charges since 4 July 2024; and if she will publish her Department's responses to those representations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has received no written representations on road user charges from the road haulage industry since July 2024.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83382 on Railways: Safety, what proportion of the campaign’s (a) production and (b) promotion costs were borne by train operating companies (i) owned and (ii) controlled by her Department; and whether she has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of that rebrand once the operators’ expenditure is included.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The production costs, referenced in the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83382 on Railways: Safety, were all borne by the Department for Transport.
To minimise implementation costs, train operating companies (including those under public ownership) will gradually phase out the current See It. Say It. Sorted. campaign materials and are only required to introduce the new posters or announcements when these would usually be replaced through business-as-usual rotation of materials.
Campaign posters, both digital and physical, are required to be displayed only at locations which train operating companies already retain for public messaging campaigns or for their own content, and which are not otherwise used for commercial purposes, in order to avoid any loss of advertising revenue. We have not asked train operating companies to provide detailed production or implementation costs as we anticipate them being minimal on this basis.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83387 on Large Goods Vehicles: Electric Vehicles, how much underspend has been identified to date; and what the revised total forecast spend for the programme is in (a) 2024–25 and (b) 2025–26.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (R&D) programme had a total programme funding spend of approximately £106 million in the 2024-25 financial year. We are unable to confirm the spend for 2025-26 as the financial year is still in progress with projects placing orders for final zero emission HGVs and infrastructure sites.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the names of the (a) people and (b) organisations responsible for the (i) leadership and (ii) operational design of Great British Railways; and what proportion of those people are (A) civil servants, (B) secondees from private companies and (C) external appointees from the rail industry.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Richard Goodman, Director General, is the Department for Transport’s Senior Responsible Officer for the design of Great British Railways and Chair of the Rail Reform and Strategy Portfolio Board that includes the NR CEO and DfTO CEO.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83373 on DfT Operator, whether her Department has issued any (a) Notices to Improve or (b) written instructions to any DfT Operator train operating company in relation to (i) service performance or (ii) financial control since April 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has not issued any Notices to Improve to any of the DfT Operator train operating companies because none have been in breach of their formal contractual terms.
DfT regularly engages with all operators on service performance and financial management, aligned with this Government's priorities on improving performance and reducing subsidy.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the value for money of public funding for (a) commercial vehicle charging and (b) hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting the uptake of zero emission commercial vehicles, and their supporting charging and fuelling infrastructure, through initiatives such as the Plug-In Truck and Van Grants, which are reducing upfront costs for heavy goods vehicles and vans, and the £30 million Depot Charging Scheme and the up to £200 million Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID). The Department continually monitors and reviews grants to optimise delivery and value for money.