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 25 March 2026 to Question 122525, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of click-throughs from (a) social media advertising and (b) DVSA job alert emails that resulted in (i) started and (ii) completed applications for driving examiner roles in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All driving examiner (DE) applications are made through Civil Service Jobs on GOV.UK. At the point of submitting an application on Civil Service Jobs no applicant source information is recorded.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, provides details of subsequent surveys that might be completed by applicants.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, also provided information on click through rates, but notes that it is not possible to say what number of these click throughs resulted in completed applications.
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 25 March 2026 to Question 122543 on Driving Tests: Recruitment, what data the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency collects on the source of applications for driving examiner roles at the point of application submission.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All driving examiner (DE) applications are made through Civil Service Jobs on GOV.UK. At the point of submitting an application on Civil Service Jobs no applicant source information is recorded.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, provides details of subsequent surveys that might be completed by applicants.
Answer to Question 122526, 20 March 2026, also provided information on click through rates, but notes that it is not possible to say what number of these click throughs resulted in completed applications.
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 25 March 2026 to Question 122545 on the Vehicle Certification Agency: Fees and Charges, whether her Department has produced internal estimates of the additional annual revenue expected from the proposed fee increases.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) recently consulted on changes to certain fees. As part of the fee setting process the government considers all the evidence provided as well as long standing principles included in Managing Public Money. Any fee changes require the consent of this House through a fee order. As is the standard practice, I will update the House in due course
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times has the Drone Task Force met since 4 July 2024, which Ministers in Government Departments and private sector companies constitute it, and which a) countries and b) companies are they engaged with in seeking guidance on best practice from regarding the use of drones.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Department does not recognise any body titled the “Drone Task Force”.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff are employed by the HS2 Ltd Helpdesk.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Twenty FTE (Full Time Equivalent) staff are employed on the HS2 Ltd helpdesk.
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 25 March 2026 to Question 121310 on Roads: Closures, what plans her Department to make a formal national assessment of the potential impact of long-term road and bridge closures on small businesses; and what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on this issue.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The impacts of long‑term road or bridge closures on small businesses vary significantly depending on local circumstances and the mitigation measures put in place. Responsibility for managing and mitigating these impacts sits with local highway authorities, which are best placed to understand local conditions.
The Department for Transport’s Structures Fund will inject cash into repairing run down bridges, decaying flyovers and worn out tunnels across England, mitigating the need for road and bridge closures in the future.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has held discussions with the Royal Aeronautical Society since July 2024.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My officials routinely engage with a broad range of aviation stakeholders, including the Royal Aeronautical Society, to support strong and effective collaboration between government and industry on aviation related matters.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she expects the procurement of the Washwood Heath Depot for HS2 to conclude.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is going through their governance approval to conclude the procurement for Washwood Heath Depot (WWH). We expect to award the contract 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, how many social and affordable homes are planned as part of the redevelopment of land at and around Euston associated with the HS2 programme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are working at pace with our Master Development Partner, Lendlease, on a Masterplan for Euston, with an emphasis on growth and delivering much needed housing, and will set out a clear plan in due course.
Further, the government has appointed Bek Seeley as the Chair to the Euston Housing Delivery Group, to understand the opportunities for thousands of new homes in the wider Euston area.
The Euston Housing Delivery Group is not pre-supposing the number of homes achievable but will robustly assess the scale of opportunity for housing around Euston.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the written ministerial statement of 23 March 2026 on Rail Infrastructure, HCWS1433, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of reducing the operating speed of HS2 on passenger capacity.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has requested that Mark Wild look at ways to remove gold plating and complexity from the HS2 project, and if a slightly reduced specification could save time and money. We will not make the same mistakes of the past of making changes to scope without understanding all of the impacts, including on passenger capacity. We will not take any decisions until this work is complete.