Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Holden and Simon Lightwood

Thursday 8th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

Happy new year to you, Mr Speaker, and to the Government.

Yesterday, the Minister for nature, the hon. Member for Coventry East (Mary Creagh), told the House that there was no national bus fare cap under the last Conservative Government. That is not surprising, as the Prime Minister keeps gaslighting the public by saying exactly the same thing. Does the Minister accept that he must ensure that his colleagues correct the record, since there was a national £2 bus fare cap under the last Conservative Government? The Conservative manifesto committed to a £2 fare cap for the duration of this Parliament. This Government are taking the public for fools, as they increased the fare cap by 50%, which is hammering hard-working people up and down the country, costing them hundreds of pounds every single year.

[Simon Lightwood]

It takes real brass neck for the right hon. Gentleman to pipe up on this issue. It was his party that oversaw 300 million miles of bus cuts. In one year alone in which he was a Transport Minister, 2,000 routes were cut across England. This Government have introduced legislation to protect the lifeline routes that were cut on his party’s watch, preserved cheap bus travel for passengers, and legislated to bring back better buses.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

At oral questions in September, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) asked the Minister to apologise for failing to bring down the driving test backlog, which Labour had promised to do. The Minister told the House then that there were “early signs of improvement”. Can he tell the House now whether driving test times have increased or decreased since Labour came to power 18 months ago?

[Simon Lightwood]

The Secretary of State announced various new measures at the Transport Committee to continue to bring down the waiting times for learner drivers. [Interruption.] Look, what I would say to the right hon. Gentleman is that his party did virtually nothing to help the situation, and it is this Labour party that is making the structural changes and the real effort to bring down waiting times once and for all.

[Mr Holden]

The Minister has still not properly answered the question and, frankly, should be embarrassed by that answer. Labour promised to reduce average waiting times to seven weeks—[Interruption.] Wait for it. Instead, we are now seeing waits of up to 22 weeks—almost a month longer for a driving test than at the general election. The desperate headline-grabbing announcements about calling in the Army, which in reality will increase capacity by less than half of 1%, and for one year only, will simply not cut the mustard for the hundreds of thousands of people waiting for driving tests up and down the country. Can the Minister tell the House when he expects average test waiting times to fall below the levels that Labour inherited at the general election?

[Simon Lightwood]

Once again we see the brass neck of the right hon. Gentleman. The National Audit Office, in a report published in December, was very clear that

“DfT had limited involvement in helping DVSA tackle driving test waiting times up to mid-2024”—

I wonder what happened in 2024. Prior to that, the Department for Transport largely left the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to try to resolve the matter itself—

[Mr Holden]

And they’ve gone up!

Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Richard Holden and Simon Lightwood

Report stage
Wednesday 10th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

The Minister should see how committed we were in office, because I gave more than a billion pounds to Manchester for that scheme and for setting it up. Indeed, the National Audit Office recently praised our £2 bus fare scheme, saying it

“achieved its aims to make bus journeys more affordable for lower-income households and to increase bus usage.”

[Simon Lightwood]

I would not stand there so proud of overseeing 300,000 miles fewer travelled by buses under the Conservative party.

Moving to the matter of concessionary travel, let me begin by recognising the strength of support for new clause 2 in the party of the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon). Although the intention of that amendment and others on concessionary travel is understandable, the ENCTS costs around £700 million annually, so any extension of statutory entitlements must be carefully considered to ensure financial sustainability.

Having received a good outcome from the bus funding in this spending round, we will shortly make a multi-year allocation to local authorities to support bus services locally. The multi-year nature of these allocations will enable local authorities to plan their bus services with greater certainty and negotiate the best value provision from bus operators. Local authorities already have the power to offer additional concessions beyond the statutory scheme funded locally. For example, in the year ending March 2025, 66% of travel concession authorities offered concessionary travel to companions of disabled people. I would also note that a review of the ENCTS was conducted under the previous Government in 2024, including consideration of travel times, and we are currently reviewing this for next steps.

On the matter of travel for police officers, many operators already offer free travel to police officers. We are discussing with the industry how we can build on that offer and increase awareness, given the importance of safety on buses. This work is being led by the Confederation of Passenger Transport, and I would be more than happy to meet the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) to discuss that further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Holden and Simon Lightwood

Thursday 10th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Simon Lightwood)]

We are aware of concerns about the current legislative and regulatory framework and would be delighted to meet her to discuss that further.

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

The previous Government introduced the “get around for £2” bus fare, which was committed to for five years in the Conservative manifesto. Given that—

Bus Franchising

Debate between Richard Holden and Simon Lightwood

Monday 9th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Simon Lightwood]

There was a host—a plethora—of different funding pots relating to buses, and we are keen to amalgamate and consolidate them, but also, importantly, to devolve them to local areas so that they have the funding flexibility they need to deliver better buses across their areas.

[Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

It is great to hear of the success the previous Government’s £1.1 billion investment into Greater Manchester’s Bee Network is helping to deliver. I was delighted to launch it with the Mayor of Greater Manchester. As the Minister mentioned, one of the key things about the postcode lottery is the cost of using the bus. It can really put people off, particularly in rural areas where bus costs have traditionally been a lot higher. Is the Minister going to look at extending the Get Around for £2 scheme, which has been a real success, particularly for access to education opportunities and for those in lower paid work in rural areas? It has really helped to drive bus passenger numbers upwards since the end of the pandemic.

[Simon Lightwood]

Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services for passengers is one of the Government’s top priorities, and we know how important it is for passengers and for local growth. We are looking at the future of the £2 fare cap as a matter of urgency. We are considering the most appropriate and affordable approach, and we will update the House in due course.