Written questions by Holden.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 86751 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, what the value was of the remaining funding anticipated for that programme prior to its reallocation under the Spending Review process.

At the time of the cancellation, the schemes announced by the previous government as part of the programme had forecasts totalling c.£600m over the period to 2029/30. The chancellor stated that the decision to close the RYR scheme saved £85m of funding for the programme in 2025/26, ahead of the Spending Review, the remaining forecast was unfunded.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85911 on Railways: Fares, what estimate she has made of the percentage of passengers travelling from (a) London, (b) York, (c) Newcastle and (d) Edinburgh who would experience fare increases under the demand-based pricing model trialled by LNER.

The London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ‘Simpler Fares’ trial is running on routes from the London area to stations between and around Newcastle and Edinburgh. York is not a station in the trial. The trial aims to address the situation where some ‘peak’ trains run nearly empty while some ‘off-peak’ trains are overcrowded by adjusting pricing to reduce crowding, making travel more comfortable for passengers. The trial allows passengers to benefit from increased flexibility at lower prices than before, and LNER reports that, as of July 2025, around a third of the new Semi-Flexible (70 minutes Flex) fares sold in the preceding four weeks cost less than the old Super Off-Peak fare. The results of this trial will be carefully considered before taking any further decisions.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 86738 on Great British Railways: Finance, from which areas the Department expects to realise the over £1.2 billion reduction in the rail passenger services subsidy over the Spending Review period.

The reduction in the rail passenger services subsidy over the Spending Review period will be primarily driven by passenger ridership and revenue continuing to recover post COVID-19 and efficiencies and savings being made through public ownership.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 86324 on DfT Operator: Standards, if she will publish copies of all written instructions issued by her Department to DfT Operator train operating companies since April 2024.

The Department does not routinely publish instructions made to train operators.

What the (a) process and (b) indicative timeline is for changing the eligibility criteria for the Electric Car Grant scheme, including (i) consultation and (ii) implementation stages.

All government grants, including the Electric Car Grant, remain under constant review to ensure they provide best value for money for the taxpayer. As stated when the grant was launched, the grant can be closed early or elements of the scheme amended, including the eligibility criteria, without notice. This enables the Government to effectively manage budgets.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of track access charges for operators outside Great British Railways following the implementation of the Railways Bill on applications for (a) new and (b) renewed access rights.

The Government is fundamentally reforming the track access charging framework by transferring the responsibility for who sets charges from the ORR to GBR. This is so the body who maintains the infrastructure (GBR) will be able to set charges appropriately to recover those costs associated with running services on its network. Regarding existing rights, the charges already in place will be honoured for the current control period (until April 2029).

Whether it is her Department’s policy that airline and passenger charges should be central considerations in decision-making on Heathrow expansion.

The Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) provides the primary basis for decision making on development consent applications for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The ANPS is now under review following the Secretary of State's announcement in October. The Department is keen to see expansion happen in a manner that is efficient and maximises growth and economic opportunities for the whole country. Airline and passenger charges will be a key consideration within this; however, these are set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in its role as the independent regulator for the sector. When making decisions on these charges, the CAA must have primary regard to furthering the interests of users of air transport services, and controlling costs forms an integral part of this.

Whether she plans to publish guidance on the handling of existing (a) contracts, (b) liabilities and (c) pension arrangements for Network Rail staff after their transfer to Great British Railways.

The Bill will not include operational and contractual details about transfer of property, rights, liabilities and staff into GBR or GBR's corporate structure.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2025 to Question 86741 on Great British Railways, if she will publish the names of the (a) people and (b) organisations involved in the leadership and operational design of Great British Railways; and what proportion of those individuals are (i) civil servants, (ii) secondees from private companies and (iii) external appointees from the rail industry.

Richard Goodman, Director General, is the Department for Transport Senior Responsible Officer for the design of Great British Railways and Chair of the Rail Reform and Strategy Portfolio Board that includes the NR CEO and DfTO CEO.

What mechanisms will be put in place to ensure enforcement of service quality standards under Great British Railways.

Great British Railways (GBR) will be held to account for railway performance and customer experience including service quality, as will open access and devolved operators. We intend for minimum consumer standards to be set and monitored by the Passenger Watchdog and independently enforced by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).ORR will also have powers to independently monitor GBR's business performance and advise the Transport Secretary. Further details are set out in the Government's consultation response, A Railway Fit for Britain's Future.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2025 to Question 84310 on High Speed 2 Line, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the four-year deferral of work on the Handsacre link on (a) journey times and (b) the economy during the initial operating period of HS2.

The deferral of work at Handsacre is not expected to have any impact on journey times once the delivery of HS2 is complete.The economic benefits of the government's delivery plans for HS2 will be considered as part of the updated business case being developed in line with the work on the programme reset.

What estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the rail network in each of the next five years.

For the next three financial years (2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive) the Department estimates the net cost to the public purse could be c£9bn a year on average, including passenger services, Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewal (OMR) and enhancements investment. This net cost is a reduction when compared to previous financial years. OMR CDEL and RDEL for 2029/30 to 2033/34 will be finalised through the next Periodic Review (PR28), with funding for enhancements and passenger services agreed during future Spending Reviews.

Whether through the (a) Railways Bill and (b) the associated policy framework she plans to ensure that (i) regulatory oversight of the infrastructure manager’s periodic review and (ii) the setting of its performance targets for each control period will be maintained at an adequate level.

The Railways Bill will create a new Periodic Review process in legislation. The key role that the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) plays in ensuring a robust and well evidenced plan for delivery, including performance targets, will be carried across. ORR will provide expert, independent, and public advice across Great British Railway’s (GBR) proposed plan for the 5-year period which the Secretary of State, and Scottish Ministers, will need to consider before approving GBR’s plan for delivery. ORR will continue providing scrutiny throughout the 5-year period and will be involved when GBR’s plan is updated and changed.

Whether powers given to Great British Railways to (a) design and (b) implement the (i) access, (ii) contracting and (iii) pricing regime would be subject to (A) regulatory oversight equivalent to the current framework and (B) a continued presumption in favour of access growth.

The new framework will allow GBR to strategically plan the best use of the network.  This will include working with operators like freight and open access to identify services vital to growing the economy. GBR will be required to design and consult on its access and use policy which will include how it will take capacity allocation, access and charging decisions. The ORR will be a statutory consultee on GBR’s access and use policies, able to hold GBR to account, ensuring decisions are fair and consistent with its duties, and through its new and robust appeals function will be able to hold GBR to account, ensuring decisions are fair and consistent with its duties. The ORR will be able apply remedies including to direct GBR to change a decision or substitute a GBR decision with its own.

Whether she plans to maintain the schedule 4 compensation mechanism for planned service disruption for operators outside Great British Railways.

GBR will be required to have a performance and incentives scheme that covers planned and unplanned disruption to protect all users operating services on the network.

Whether she plans to maintain the schedule 8 compensation mechanism for unplanned service disruption for operators outside Great British Railways.

GBR will be required to have a performance and incentives scheme that covers planned and unplanned disruption to protect all users operating services on the network.

Whether she plans to take steps to require that (a) Great British Railways and (b) any operator within Great British Railways cannot operate commercial freight services.

The Government is committed to supporting rail freight growth, recognising its significant economic and environmental potential and critical role in the UK’s resilience.Under GBR, freight will remain a private industry and continue to be an integral part of the railway. There are no plans for GBR to run commercial freight services. GBR will retain Network Rail’s ability to run services which are required to support the operation of the network.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of track access charges by operators within Great British Railways on the (a) pricing, (b) access and (c) general operations of (i) non-nationalised passenger and (ii) freight operators.

The Government is fundamentally reforming the track access charging framework to remove complexities and the complicated ‘money go round’ that would have required GBR to charge itself for using its own infrastructure. To ensure transparency GBR will need to carry out cost apportionment process which will account for the cost of providing rail infrastructure and the costs of its own passenger services using GBR managed infrastructure had they been subject to charges.

How much funding the DVLA has received by providing vehicle registered keeper details in each of the last 10 years.

The table below shows the income collected by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency by providing vehicle registered keeper details in each of the last ten years. The law allows the DVLA to provide information from the vehicle record (including keeper information) where the requester can demonstrate reasonable cause to receive it. The fee payable by private sector organisations seeking the contact details of the registered keeper of a vehicle is £2.50 per request. The fee is set to recover the cost of providing the information and ensures that the cost is borne by the requester, not passed on to the general taxpayer. Financial yearIncome collected from the release of keeper details (£)2015-1611,887,2772016-1714,583,3862017-1817,024,7372018-1920,231,8472019-2023,697,3872020-2113,601,6572021-2224,412,3332022-2330,619,6062023-2434,544,2762024-2538,113,498

When she plans to publish Great British Railway’s (a) Access and Use Policy and (b) Draft Licence.

A consultation on a draft Access and Use Policy is to be launched during Bill passage to support implementation of rail reform. Under the Railways Act 1993, the Department is required to publish and consult on a draft licence, and this will not change with the Railways Bill. We intend to consult on the draft GBR licence during the Bill Passage.