Every parliamentary written question tabled by Helen Whately this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 41–44 of 44 · Treasury
If she will increase fuel duty rates.
Revenue from motoring taxes and associated VAT ensures that the Government can continue to fund the vital public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect. Following the spending audit, the Chancellor has been clear that di...
With reference to Table 1 of her Department's document entitled Fixing the Foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, CP 1133, what the evidential basis is for saying there was an additional £1.3 billion cost for rail maintenance in the 2024-25 financial year.
Rail infrastructure is managed by Network Rail (NR). The Department for Transport (DfT) provides grant funding to NR for operations, maintenance, and renewals via five-year regulated ‘Control Periods’. Funding for each Control Period is established through a statutory process of Periodic Reviews, the timelines for which have not aligned with Spending Review periods. At Spending Review 2021, DfT’s budgets were set for a period (2021/22-2024/25) which extended beyond the end of the previous Control Period (Control Period 6, 2019/20-2023/24). The periodic review to determine Control Period 7 (2024/25-2028/29) concluded in October 2023, confirming the funding requirements for 2024/25. Therefore, the assumption for maintenance costs in 2024/25 had to be revised following the periodic review in 2023 as these costs were higher than budgeted at SR21.
With reference to page 11 of her Department's document entitled Fixing the Foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, CP 1133, how her Department evaluated which transport commitments were considered low value.
This government wants to ensure that public spending on transport infrastructure drives economic growth and delivers value for money for taxpayers.Transport schemes are assessed in accordance with the principles set out in the Green Book. The Green Book is the central government guidance on appraising policy options and ensuring that they represent good value for money. In this context, ‘low value’ means low value for money, taking account of the costs and benefits of these schemes.
With reference to paragraph 25 of her Department's document entitled Fixing the Foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, CP 1133, what the evidential basis is for saying there was an additional £1.6 billion cost to the rail system in the 2024-25 financial year.
The £1.6 billion cost referenced is an HMT assessment of the additional cost to run rail services in 2024/25 compared to SR21 plans. This assessment was made at the point at which this government entered office. The additional cost is primarily driven by the impact of weaker-than-expected passenger demand recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.