Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for bringing into force the remaining provisions of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s programme to enable the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles on GB roads continues to make strong progress. We are working towards implementation of the full regulatory framework in the second half of 2027.
The launch of an innovative permitting scheme for Automated Passenger Services pilots in May was a major milestone, and new rules from January will prevent misleading marketing of automated vehicles and ensure the public can use the technology with confidence.
The programme of work is designed to prioritise the development of a regulatory framework that maximises innovation, improves public safety and strengthens public confidence.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to WPQ 34819, if she will publish analysis on the journey time savings and impacts of the interventions on road safety which the department has made to date regarding the proposed Growth Corridor scheme for the A127.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Major Road Network/Large Local Majors (MRN/LLM) Programme Review considered those 40 or so schemes that had not reached the Outline Business Case stage, despite being in the Programme for over six years. This included the A127 Corridor for Growth scheme, promoted by Essex County Council.
The A127 scheme is at an early stage of development and the Outline Business Case for this scheme was not due to be submitted to the department for consideration until spring 2028. As a result, the detailed modelling and analysis which would normally support an Outline Business Case and would help identify journey time savings and potential impacts of proposed interventions on road safety have not been shared with the department.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her department has had with TfL regarding airport drop off charges.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with TfL on a range of transport related priorities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to her Written Ministerial Statement of 26 March 2026, HCWS1466, if she will publish a list of all schemes in the Major Road Network and Large Local Majors programme that have been withdrawn, removed from the programme or will no longer progress following her Department's review of 41 schemes, including the name of each scheme, the relevant local authority and the reason for the decision.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on the MRN/LLM Programme can be found at: Major Road Network and Large Local Majors programme.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many corrections her Department has made to answers to written parliamentary questions since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has made 19 Ministerial corrections via the Written Questions and Answers system since 4 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 to of 16 October 2026 to Question 34459, if the review into aiport drop-off charges will include i.) the impact on business rate increases on airports ii.) the increase in national insurance tax costs and the decrease in the earnings threshold which they are paid from on airports iii.) the impact of government policy, such as surface access requirements on airports.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to undertake a review into the impact of airport drop off charges on users. While the detailed scope of the review will be developed in due course, it could include consideration of issues such as affordability, accessibility, travel behaviour and the experiences of different groups of passengers. The review could also examine wider industry costs and how airports use revenue generated from drop-off charges to support airport operations and investment.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of passenger journeys on South Western Railways that were affected by services that were cancelled in every four week rail period since the start of 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold data on the number of passenger journeys that were affected by cancelled services.
We recognise that South Western Railways (SWR) performance before and after public ownership has been below the standard passengers deserve. Public ownership is not a silver bullet, and SWR entered public ownership with rolling stock issues and driver shortages inherited from the previous owning group, which will take time to address.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to WPQ 34893, by when does the DfT expect work associated with the independent review into the technical anomaly that has led to the national outage of all smart motorway speed cameras to be concluded.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Terms of Reference for the independent review were set out in January this year, with work on the review formally commencing in March.
We have committed to publishing the review report in full once all work associated with it is concluded. The majority of this work is complete and therefore we expect to be able to provide an update in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the operating deficit for London buses has been i.) in each year since 2019/20 ii.) what it is expected to be in each year up to 2029/30 iii.) how much DfT has and is planning to support TfL in each year from 2019/20-2029/30.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department does not hold this information regarding London buses.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on (a) reducing and (b) withdrawing fuel duty rebates available through the Bus Service Operators Grant.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport engage regularly with HM Treasury on bus funding, and the Government keeps the operation of the grant under review.