Written questions by Holden.

What discussions her Department has had with Basildon Borough Council on the (a) proposed 27,000 home increase in the Borough and (b) potential impact of that increase on demand for C2C and Greater Anglia services.

We expect operators to work with local stakeholders, including local councils such as Basildon Borough Council, in relation to housing developments and their potential increase on demand for rail services. Estimates of future demand are being used to inform strategic planning across the Essex Thameside area, with collaboration across operators, Network Rail and local stakeholders such as councils.

How many Northern trains have had sanding systems upgraded in each month since January 2024.

The number of Northern trains that have had sanding systems upgraded in each month since January 2024 is set out in the table below. Jan-247Feb-2421Mar-2465Apr-24116May-2420Jun-245Jul-247Aug-2474Sep-2468Oct-2421Nov-241Dec-241Jan-250Feb-251Mar-253Apr-250May-258Jun-2514Jul-2543Aug-2558Sep-2559Oct-2540Nov-2540Dec-2523 Figures up to 31 December 2025

Whether contracts for new rolling stock for Northern are expected to be signed in 2027.

It is anticipated that Northern’s new rolling stock contract could be signed in 2027, subject to the completion of Northern’s current live procurement.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the British Transport Police’s crime-screening policy for pedal-cycle theft at railway stations on (a) public confidence in policing and (b) the delivery of a joined-up national transport network.

Ensuring the railway remains safe for passengers and staff, and creating a hostile environment for criminals on the network is a priority for both the Department for Transport and the British Transport Police (BTP). Decisions on the use of resource and deployment of officers across the railway are for the BTP, as an operationally independent police service. The BTP’s screening policy, introduced in August 2024, takes into account factors including the possible time window an incident could have taken place in, but also the availability of witnesses and CCTV, the realistic prospect of a successful outcome, and a range of other factors. In some instances this may mean that an investigation is not progressed, but there is no blanket ruling and each case is assessed individually. BTP have not taken the decision to stop investigating bike theft that cannot be narrowed to a two-hour window. BTP work closely with train operating companies and their counterparts in Home Office forces to run events at stations across the network, which provide practical crime prevention advice and services such as free bike marking to passengers. There was a 23% decrease in cycle theft recorded between 2022/23 and 2024/25.

How much of the funding for the infrastructure upgrade programme on South Western Railway has been spent to date.

The most recent infrastructure upgrade programme for South Western Railway was completed in 2020. The Government keeps future investment requirements under review.

What the planned completion date is for the Barking station upgrade being delivered by c2c.

The estimated completion date for the Barking station upgrade is autumn 2026. The right-hand side gateline and lift are now complete and open to the public.

As of 15 December 2025, what the total amount of public funding committed to electric vehicle charging infrastructure to date is; and what estimate her Department has made of the average cost per operational public chargepoint delivered.

At the Autumn Budget we announced that we will invest an additional £200 million in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, building on the £400 million of funding announced at Spending Review 2025. The cost of deploying public chargepoints varies widely due to a range of factors including location, speed, anticipated utilisation, and grid connection costs, with many chargepoints delivered without any public funding. Where funding is provided, we monitor average public chargepoint costs via data from DfT grants to ensure value for money for the taxpayer. The Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund has been designed to minimise cost to the public by encouraging local authorities to leverage significant private investment.

What estimate she has made of the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion in each month since 4 July 2024.

Deliberate fare dodging undermines our railway. It drains much needed revenue and undercuts the trust of passengers who play by the rules. It has no place on our railways. Although we do not hold data for the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion per month, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has estimated annual revenue lost to fraud and ticketless travel is at least £350-£400 million. The Office for Rail and Road have carried out a review of train operator revenue protection practices which was published in June. It set out five recommendations which include introducing greater consistency and fairness in the use of prosecutions as well as greater coordination, oversight and transparency of revenue protection. The Department has accepted all five recommendations and will publish its formal response to this review in due course.

What engagement her Department has had with the British Standards Institute’s review of BS AU 145e; and what assessment she has made of proposals to ban raised 3D and 4D number plates.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is part of the British Standard Institute committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The committee has put forward proposed amendments which are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters often referred to as 3D or 4D number plates and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025. The Government has set out its intention in the Road Safety Strategy to consult on addressing the growing problem of illegal number plates, including ‘ghost’ number plates.

For each month since July 2024, how many driving test centres recorded the maximum waiting time of 24 weeks for a practical car test; and if she will publish a list of those test centres for each month since.

The attached Excel document (Table for UIN 101472) shows which driving test centres had a waiting time of 24 weeks in each month from July 2024 to November 2025.

What the expected completion date is for the redevelopment of Wickford station; and if local taxis licenced by Basildon Council have been included in any consultations about the citing of the taxi rank as part of the redevelopment.

Greater Anglia has commenced the redevelopment works at Wickford station and this is expected to be completed in autumn 2026. Greater Anglia has confirmed that the project scope does not include any changes to the current location of the taxi rank.

If if she will set out the minimum length of hire in days at which a rental vehicle is included within central government departments are counted towards the Government Fleet Commitment for the owned and leased fleet to be 100% zero emission by 2027.

Information on the minimum length of hire at which a rental vehicle included within central government departments are counted towards the Government Fleet Commitment can be found on Gov.UK.

How many full-time equivalent driving examiners employed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests in (i) July 2024 and (ii) each month thereafter up to the most recent month for which data is available.

The table below shows how many full-time equivalent (FTE) driving examiners (DE) employed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests for each month from July 2024 to November 2025. MonthNo of FTE DEs in postNo of FTE DEs delivering car practical driving testsJuly-20241,4421,439August-20241,4471,436September-20241,4641,450October-20241,4461,439November-20241,4491,423December-20241,4561,421January-20251,4881,438February-20251,4811,448March-20251,4561,415April-20251,4481,416May-20251,4541,430June-20251,4911,424July-20251,5131,438August-20251,5471,445September-20251,5441,464October-20251,5841,485November-20251,6081,539 A DE is a paid Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency employee from the point at which they start their training and therefore considered to be in post.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 86751 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, whether any expenditure incurred on feasibility, development or preparatory work for Restoring Your Railway schemes that did not proceed following the programme’s cancellation has been subject to impairment or write-down in the Department’s accounts.

In line with our previous answers, there has been no write-down or impairment in the Department’s accounts from the decision to cancel the Restoring Your Railway programme.

What steps she has taken to help reduce the risk of a rolling stock shortage in 2025.

There are regular conversations with train operators who are responsible for operating and delivering the passenger timetable and ensuring they have enough rolling stock to meet their requirements. In 2026 there will be introduction of new modern fleets on South Western Railway and East Midlands Railway which have more passenger carrying capacity than the existing fleets.

Whether it is the policy of DVLA to provide registered keeper data to enforcement authorities under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004, or their commercial intermediaries, who wish to introduce traffic filters.

Regulation 27(1)(a)(iii) of the Vehicle Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to provide registered keeper information to local authorities in England and Wales for any purpose connected with its activities as an enforcement authority within the meaning of Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 96704 on Great British Railways, if she will publish any internal implementation plans, programme plans, timelines, milestone documents or transition frameworks for the establishment of Great British Railways.

As set out in previous answers, the Great British Railways (GBR) design process is underway. We expect to stand up GBR within 12 months of the Railways Bill receiving Royal Assent. We are developing our implementation plans as part of the GBR design process now and will share those in due course.

How many used electric vehicles were sold in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.

The Department for Transport does not hold this information.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2025 to Question 94913 on Great British Railways, whether (a) growing revenue or (b) delivering value for money for passengers takes priority in the rollout of Great British Railways branding.

Both growing revenue and delivering value for money for passengers will be a priority.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 93777 on London Underground: Strikes, what discussions Ministers and officials in her Department have had with other transport operators regarding continuing industrial action since 4 July 2024, and which operators were involved in those discussions.

Under the Conservative Government, we saw national rail disputes that caused two years of widespread strikes and disruption to millions of passengers. On coming into office, this Government acted quickly to reset industrial relations and resolve the national disputes. Since 4 July 2024, there has been limited, local industrial action, involving four of the fourteen Department for Transport (DfT) contracted Train Operating Companies (TOCs); Avanti West Coast, Cross Country, Southeastern and Transpennine Trains. Also, while no industrial action has been taken since July 2024, the RMT has been in dispute with Northern Trains since 2017 regarding who opens and closes the train doors. Northern are in detailed discussions with the RMT to try and resolve this long running dispute. DfT officials routinely and regularly have discussions with TOCs on operational and other matters. In the case of the TOCs affected by industrial action, discussions include operators’ plans to resolve disputes and where relevant, their preparedness for industrial action. Dispute resolution is a matter for train operators, as the employers, to resolve with trade unions.