Every parliamentary written question tabled by Joe Robertson this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 81–100 of 920 · this parliament
What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of social media, email alerts and in-centre advertising for driving examiner roles by conversion to (a) completed applications and (b) successful hires.
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer to Question 122595, 30 March 2026.
Pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 122545 on the Vehicle Certification Agency, whether her Department has set a target date for the Vehicle Certification Agency to eliminate its deficit.
The VCA is currently analysing responses to its recent consultation on increasing certain fees, which would support deficit reduction. If taken forward, any fee changes require the consent of this House through a fee order. We are therefore unable to set out a specific timeframe for elimination of the deficit at this stage. As is the standard practice, I will update the House in due course.
What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to help facilitate the installation of pavement gullies for at home EV charging.
The Department ran a consultation between November 2025 and January 2026, seeking views on changes to permitted development rights for cross-pavement charging solutions. The Department will publish its response shortly. This expands on the £25m grant funding for local authorities, supporting the installation of cross-pavement channels.
What the total duration in hours was of (a) partial and (b) full closures as a result of the M6 Lune Gorge project.
Between 1 September 2025 and 14 April 2026, all recorded closures associated with preparatory works were partial closures only, affecting a single northbound or southbound carriageway, or lane closures. There were 18 overnight carriageway closures, each operating within a standard nine hour window (8pm – 5am), giving up to 162 hours of partial closures. In addition, lane closures from January 2026 total up to 270 hours. There were no full closures affecting both directions simultaneously during this period.
What steps are being taken to ensure that legislation, funding and incentives actively enable HealthTech adoption at scale across the health system.
The Department, alongside NHS England, is working to improve the conditions for the adoption and scaling of healthcare technology (HealthTech) across the National Health Service.The Department has developed a National HealthTech Access Programme to provide a clearer national route to funding and adoption for high impact technologies. This draws on existing evaluation and assurance processes, helping to reduce variation following pilot activity. The focus is on technologies with the potential to rapidly improve NHS services and patients' lives, nationwide. The first two technologies to be evaluated by this mechanism are already underway and have the potential to transform early diagnosis of oesophageal, prostate, and breast cancer.In parallel, the Department and NHS England are supporting trusts to make more consistent procurement decisions through Value Based Procurement standard guidance for medical technology, which is currently at its pilot stage. This enables wider value considerations, alongside cost, to be taken into account during local procurement exercises.The Department continues to work closely with partners, including NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS Supply Chain, and industry representative bodies to improve, scale, and embed adoption of HealthTech in the NHS.
What forecast has been made of uptake rates for (a) zero emission trucks, (b) vans and (c) depot charging grants under the Zero Emission Truck and Van funding package, announced 25 March 2026.
The schemes have been designed so that grant funding is sufficient to fully support businesses to transition to zero emission vehicles, consistent with the Government’s plan to meet legally binding carbon budget targets. By 2030, within the current funding envelope we estimate that the schemes could award 250,000 zero emission vans grants, 20,000 zero emission trucks grants, and nearly 25,000 chargers under the depot charging scheme, although projecting this is highly uncertain. The total cost to the Exchequer is capped based on the announced budget of £877 million. Given the existence of the budget cap, we have not separately tried to estimate the maximum number of grants that could be delivered using the highest grant rates.
What estimate she has made of the maximum number of vehicles that could be subsidised under the Zero Emission Truck and Van, which her Department announced on 25 March 2026, at the highest grant rates, and the corresponding total cost to the Exchequer.
The schemes have been designed so that grant funding is sufficient to fully support businesses to transition to zero emission vehicles, consistent with the Government’s plan to meet legally binding carbon budget targets. By 2030, within the current funding envelope we estimate that the schemes could award 250,000 zero emission vans grants, 20,000 zero emission trucks grants, and nearly 25,000 chargers under the depot charging scheme, although projecting this is highly uncertain. The total cost to the Exchequer is capped based on the announced budget of £877 million. Given the existence of the budget cap, we have not separately tried to estimate the maximum number of grants that could be delivered using the highest grant rates.
What mechanisms are in place to ensure that successful HealthTech pilots are scaled and adopted nationally.
The Department, alongside NHS England, is working to improve the conditions for the adoption and scaling of healthcare technology (HealthTech) across the National Health Service.The Department has developed a National HealthTech Access Programme to provide a clearer national route to funding and adoption for high impact technologies. This draws on existing evaluation and assurance processes, helping to reduce variation following pilot activity. The focus is on technologies with the potential to rapidly improve NHS services and patients' lives, nationwide. The first two technologies to be evaluated by this mechanism are already underway and have the potential to transform early diagnosis of oesophageal, prostate, and breast cancer.In parallel, the Department and NHS England are supporting trusts to make more consistent procurement decisions through Value Based Procurement standard guidance for medical technology, which is currently at its pilot stage. This enables wider value considerations, alongside cost, to be taken into account during local procurement exercises.The Department continues to work closely with partners, including NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the NHS Supply Chain, and industry representative bodies to improve, scale, and embed adoption of HealthTech in the NHS.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will place in the Library a breakdown of NO2 Programme expenditure by project, including spend to date and forecast costs for each scheme.
A breakdown of the NO2 programme expenditure on local authority grants will be placed in the House of Commons library.
Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120645 on Competition and Markets Authority: Costs, what expenditure the Competition and Markets Authority has incurred on (a) consultants, (b) research and (c) external contracts in support of the Sustainability Taskforce since its establishment.
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has not incurred expenditure on (a) consultants, (b) research and (c) external contracts in support of the Sustainability Taskforce.Since its establishment, the expenditure for the Sustainability Taskforce is as follows: FYStaff CostsNon-Staff CostsTotal CostFull-Time Equivalent2023-24£418,715.01£3,335.36£422,050.375.42024-25£342,306.01£677.18£342,983.193.9 Non-staff costs cover other programme expenditure such as travel and subsistence.
Pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118043, what steps the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is taking to improve its ability to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment activity for driving examiner roles.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) monitors the performance of recruitment campaigns, including: monitoring pass rates for each of the stages in the recruitment process and comparing these between campaignsaverage times between advert and job offers being made, and offers being made and start date. The performance in these areas have improved in the past 12 months. For example, before November 2025, the average time DVSA took to advertise and onboard potential driving examiners (DE) into training was 16 weeks. In December 2025, DVSA improved its recruitment process and the average time DVSA now takes to onboard potential DEs is 13 weeks. Further proposals should see this reduce by another 2-3 weeks for future campaigns.
Pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 119471 on the Vehicle Certification Agency: Fees and Charges, whether there is a timeline to eliminate the Agency’s financial deficit; and what steps her Department is taking to monitor the delivery of deficit reduction.
The VCA is currently analysing responses to the consultation on increasing certain fees, which closed earlier this month. If taken forward, the fee increase would require secondary legislation before it can be implemented (subject to Parliamentary approval). We are therefore unable to set out a specific timeframe for elimination of the deficit at this stage. Work on efficiencies is ongoing and reduction of the VCA’s deficit is regularly monitored and reported on via the VCA and Department for Transport’s internal governance processes. It is also reported annually as part of the VCA’s Annual Reporting and Accounts, which are published on their website.
Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120007 on High Speed 2 Line: Finance, whether the Department expects any reduction in the maximum speed of High Speed Two trains to contribute to meeting the Department’s capital expenditure limits set out in the Spending Review.
The Spending Review settlement for the current period is not dependent on the outcome of the Strategic Speed Study.
Whether the professional overview board of the National Inclusion Standards will include (a) speech and language therapists and (b) other experts on speech, language and communication.
I refer the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East to the answer of 23 March 2026 to Question 121270.
Whether SEND practitioners will be provided with training on how to support children with speech, language and communication.
I refer the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East to the answer of 23 March 2026 to Question 121271.
Whether she has made an assessment of the comparative costs of greenhouse gas emissions reporting across the Government estate relative to the emissions reductions achieved as a result of those activities.
This information is not available. GPA do not manage the greenhouse gas emissions data and reporting across all of the government estate.
In which month she expects East West Rail services to commence from Oxford Parkway to Bicester.
The Department continues to work closely with Chiltern Railways and other partners to confirm a start date for the first EWR services between Oxford and Milton Keynes. For passenger services to commence, trains will need to have been modified and fully tested, and driver training will need to have been completed. Winslow station also needs to be fully handed over, and future staffing arrangements also remain to be agreed. Appointment of Chiltern Railways as operator was delayed by the General Election in July 2024, and consequently they were not appointed until March 2025.
What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government Fleet Commitment in increasing the proportion of zero emission vehicles in departmental vehicle hire fleets, in the context of the proportion of electric vehicles rented by departments.
Data on vehicles used by Government departments, including vehicles hired for 6 days or more, can be found online at Greening Government Commitments April 2021 to March 2024 report - GOV.UK. However, the data does not break down owned fleet and hired vehicles. The Government Fleet Commitment was included in the Greening Government Commitments (GGCs) framework for the period between April 2021 to March 2025. The GGCs are currently under review to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities. Departments are expected to continue to take action to reduce their impact on the environment, including for example working with lease operators and hire companies to minimise the carbon intensity of their fleets and rental vehicles.
Pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118043, what assessment the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has made of the effectiveness of different recruitment channels used to attract applicants for driving examiner vacancies.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) uses the Government Recruitment Service's applicant tracking system, but this does not provide information on how applicants learned about vacancies.DVSA advertises all driving examiner vacancies on Civil Service Jobs(opens in a new tab) on GOV.UK. DVSA also uses posters in driving test centres and external online job sites to reach a wider pool of applicants.For campaigns up to November 2025, DVSA used the data available from the Civil Service recruitment standard applicants survey. This shows which advertising routes generate candidates, however the information is limited and does not give 100% coverage.In December 2025, DVSA introduced a DVSA specific survey. This is sent to everyone who is offered an interview. This is then followed by another survey sent to anyone who successfully moves onto training. The data will be crossed referenced, however DVSA currently only has data for one complete and one ongoing campaign. For DVSA social media advertising, the current click through rate as of February 2026 was 1.4%. For DVSA direct communications that have been sent to subscribers of jobs at DVSA over the last 12 months, the average click through rate was 4%. It is not possible to say what number of these click throughs resulted in completed applications.
Pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118042, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government Recruitment Service applicant tracking system on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's ability to access applicant referral source data.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) uses the Government Recruitment Service's applicant tracking system, but this does not provide information on how applicants learned about vacancies.DVSA advertises all driving examiner vacancies on Civil Service Jobs(opens in a new tab) on GOV.UK. DVSA also uses posters in driving test centres and external online job sites to reach a wider pool of applicants.For campaigns up to November 2025, DVSA used the data available from the Civil Service recruitment standard applicants survey. This shows which advertising routes generate candidates, however the information is limited and does not give 100% coverage.In December 2025, DVSA introduced a DVSA specific survey. This is sent to everyone who is offered an interview. This is then followed by another survey sent to anyone who successfully moves onto training. The data will be crossed referenced, however DVSA currently only has data for one complete and one ongoing campaign. For DVSA social media advertising, the current click through rate as of February 2026 was 1.4%. For DVSA direct communications that have been sent to subscribers of jobs at DVSA over the last 12 months, the average click through rate was 4%. It is not possible to say what number of these click throughs resulted in completed applications.