Written questions by Holden.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to end the PSO route to Cornwall on the economy.

The decision not to proceed with the Public Service Obligation (PSO) was a matter for Cornwall Council. The Department continues to work with Cornwall Council to explore commercial options for the route. It is important to note that connectivity continues to be preserved with flights operating between Newquay to London Stansted with additional services to London Gatwick being introduced in June.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120628, whether any Government department or agency holds documents released to the media in March 2025 in relation to the employment tribunal involving the Drax whistleblower.

The Cabinet Office does not hold any documents released to the media in March 2025 in relation to the employment tribunal involving the Drax whistleblower. As this matter related to an employment tribunal at a private company, it is not a matter in which the Department was involved.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 117905 on Driving Tests: Vacancies, which DVSA driving test centres have had live Driving Examiner vacancies; what dates those vacancies were first listed; and how many Driving Examiner vacancies there were across all DVSA test centres in (a) July 2024 and (b) March 2026.

As stated in the answer to Question 117906 the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not hold centrally a snapshot of the total number of driving examiner vacancies by calendar month but continually reviews its workforce requirements in response to customer demand and operational need. Recruitment is managed through ongoing and periodic national and regional campaigns rather than fixed monthly vacancy totals.All driving examiner vacancies are publicly advertised on Civil Service Jobs on the GOV.UK website and DVSA also publishes information about available career opportunities through its “Working for DVSA” pages on GOV.UK. As part of this approach, DVSA has continued to run national recruitment campaigns for driving examiners, including a campaign launched in February 2026 advertising multiple driving examiner posts across the country. These campaigns are intended to address recruitment pressures and improve driving test capacity, particularly in areas with the greatest demand.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2026 to Question 120045 on British Business Bank, what the total monetary value is of support provided to funds, schemes and portfolio companies described as relating to (a) net zero, (b) decarbonisation, (c) sustainability, (d) climate transition and (e) the green economy in (i) 2024–25 and (ii) 2025–26 financial years; and if he will provide a breakdown by (A) programme and scheme, including but not limited to the Growth Guarantee Scheme, Start Up Loans, and the Green Growth Guarantee Scheme the (B) type of support, including direct investment, guarantees and co-investment and (C) the number of recipient businesses and funds supported under each category.

The British Business Bank does not centrally classify funds, schemes or portfolio companies under the categories of net zero, decarbonisation, sustainability, climate transition or the green economy in the form requested.The Bank’s approach is to embed support for the transition to net zero and sustainable growth across its full range of programmes, rather than through standalone business lines. As such, these objectives are reflected across its activities, including through direct co-investment, investment in venture and growth capital funds, and lending delivered through programmes such as Start Up Loans and the Growth Guarantee Scheme.As set out in the Answer of 17 March 2026 to Question 120045, the Bank has in both 2024-25 and 2025-26 invested in, capitalised, and supported through guarantees or co-investment a number of funds, schemes and portfolio companies with these characteristics.As these activities are embedded across programmes, a comprehensive breakdown of total monetary value by category, programme or scheme, type of support, and number of recipient businesses and funds is not held in a single reportable format.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 119491, if she will break down the £478 million whole-life cost of the NO2 Programme by (a) funding stream, including the Implementation Fund, Clean Air Fund and administrative costs, (b) local authority scheme and (c) individual project; and how much has been (i) allocated, (ii) committed and (iii) spent.

The Department for Transport provides all capital funding and a small amount of resource funding.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2026 to Question 117438 on Great British Railways: Finance, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing details of the modelling, business case development or analytical assessments underpinning the forecast £199 million net savings from corporate initiatives in 2028–29.

The Department has considered this and has no plans to publish the details of internal modelling or initial business case development which informed the savings from corporate initiatives in the Department’s Efficiency Plan.

What assessment she has made of trends in the number of potholes filled in (a) 2023–24, (b) 2024-25 (c) 2025-26.

As announced in March 2025, local highway authorities had to publish transparency reports about their highways maintenance activities to unlock their full share of the Government’s £500m uplift for local highways maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year. This included publishing an estimate of the number of potholes they have filled in each of the last five years. Reports are now available on local highway authorities’ websites.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2026 to Question 116584 on Aviation: Colour Vision Deficiency, what independent analysis reported that only the CAD test and anomaloscopes when used correctly have 100% sensitivity and specificity when assessing colour vision.

The analysis in question is a paper from a French research group that was published in a peer reviewed journal in 2018. The reference is: Marechal M, Delbarre M, Tesson J et al. Color vision tests in pilots’ medical assessments. Aerosp Med Hum Perform August 2018; 89(8): 737-743.

Pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 120007, whether any elements of the HS2 programme’s scope, specification or associated works are expected to change in order to align the programme with the Spending Review settlement for FY2025-26 to FY2029-30.

The Spending Review settlement profiles reflects the scope, specification and associated works that the HS2 programme plans to deliver over the period. The HS2 programme reset work that Mark Wild is currently undertaking is underpinned by the Spending Review settlement.

What oversight the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency exercises over the International Parking Community (IPC) as an accredited trade association whose members access DVLA vehicle keeper data; whether the DVLA requires accredited trade associations to maintain publicly available contact details, including an office address; whether the DVLA has made an assessment of the governance and ownership arrangements of the IPC, including any transfer of ownership or control; and what criteria the DVLA applies when determining whether an accredited trade association remains eligible to access DVLA vehicle keeper data on behalf of its members.

The law permits the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to disclose the contact details of registered keepers of UK vehicles for a number of lawful purposes. Information needed to manage parking on private land is provided only to private parking operators that are members of an appropriate Accredited Trade Association (ATA). The two ATAs for the private parking sector set and enforce their own codes of practice and private parking companies must meet these requirements to retain their membership. This helps ensure motorists are treated fairly. The DVLA meets regularly with both ATAs to discuss their effectiveness and relevant issues. Contact details for each ATA are available on their respective websites and there is no requirement for an office address. The Department for Transport does not regulate the private parking sector and is not responsible for determining the governance or ownership arrangements of the ATAs. The ATAs do not themselves request or receive vehicle keeper details from the DVLA.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2026 to Question 117436 on Buses: Electric Vehicles, when she expects officials to complete their investigation into reports on Chinese-manufactured electric buses; which month she expects to (a) publish the findings and (b) update the Transport Committee; and whether she has made an interim risk assessment in relation to ongoing and planned publicly funded zero-emission bus procurements.

The Transport Secretary remains committed to updating the Transport Select Committee on the reports on ‘Yutong’ electric buses.It would not be appropriate to disclose any information before first updating the Committee.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK ETS compliance costs on ferry fares for passengers and businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector using the Isle of Wight route.

The Impact Assessment does not identify significant consumer price impacts and finds that compliance costs for domestic maritime operators are modest relative to their overall operating costs, with fuel and carbon costs forming only one part of total running costs. These findings are consistent with international evidence showing changes to ferry ticket prices in the low single digit range under equivalent carbon pricing.The Government will review the maritime element of the United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme in 2028 to ensure that its impacts remain accurate, proportionate and fully assessed as the sector continues to decarbonise.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered amending section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 to permit equestrians to use rights of way currently designated as footpaths; what assessment she has made of the potential impact of such an amendment on access for horse riders to the countryside; and what assessment she has made of the level of the administrative workload associated with upgrading footpaths to bridleways through the existing rights of way modification process.

The Government has no plans to amend section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 to permit equestrian use of footpaths and as such, has not assessed the potential im-pact of this change.Defra has not made a specific assessment of the administrative workload associated with upgrading footpaths to bridleways through the definitive map modification order process. Applications are considered by local authorities in the first instance. Where orders are made and objections are received, they may be referred to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) for determination, which can extend the time taken to reach a de-cision. Timescales vary depending on factors such as complexity and the presence of objections, and local authorities and PINS may also have a backlog of applications.

What the projected savings from the removal of management and performance fees payable to private sector train operating companies are estimated to be; and over what time period those savings will be realised.

Public ownership is estimated to save taxpayers up to £110-150 million every year on fees currently paid to privately-owned train operating companies, once all services currently delivered under contract with the Department have transferred.

If he will make it his policy not to recognise overseas marriages that would be illegal under UK law.

There are no plans to change the law that an overseas marriage is normally recognised in England and Wales if it complied with the requirements for the form of the ceremony where it took place (meaning by whom, where, when and how it was conducted) and if both parties had capacity to marry according to the law of their domicile.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118273 on Railways: Government Assistance, if she will provide the annual estimated level of support per rail passenger journey for each financial year between 2024-25 and 2028-29.

The Department does not intend to publish further details on the estimates on level of support per rail passenger journey. Data on the previous levels of support per rail passenger kilometre are available here: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/ptafpcco/uk-rail-industry-finance-2425.pdf.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of a full-time employee of the Crown Prosecution Service serving in the role of Lead Adjudicator for the Independent Appeals Service; and whether the CPS has undertaken any assessment of potential conflicts of interest, reputational risk, or due diligence requirements associated with CPS staff holding external roles.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has established policies and procedures in place to identify, declare and manage actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest, including where members of staff hold external roles or appointments.The CPS Code of Conduct requires employees to seek written permission from their Head of Area Operations/HQ Business Manager before taking up any second employment or other engagement, whether paid or unpaid, and to ensure that any such work does not conflict with the performance of their duties, create a conflict of loyalty or interest, or damage (or potentially damage) public confidence in the CPS.The CPS Conflicts of Interest Policy and Procedure requires staff to declare relevant outside interests as they arise and to keep declarations under review. Declarations are assessed by management, and decisions (including any mitigations required to address any real or perceived risks) are recorded to ensure an appropriate audit trail.Where a declared interest raises particular reputational or propriety concerns, the policy provides for advice to be sought as appropriate, and for steps to be taken to remove or mitigate any conflict. Failures to declare relevant interests, or breaches of the Code of Conduct or Conflicts of Interest policy, may be considered under the CPS disciplinary procedures.As a matter of longstanding practice, it is not appropriate to comment on the employment details of individual members of staff. Any external role or appointment is considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the CPS policies set out above.

What guidance her Department provides to Northern Trains Ltd on the allocation of rolling stock between routes; whether the Clitheroe–Manchester line receives comparable peak-time capacity to commuter routes in Greater Manchester; and whether she has had discussions with Northern Trains Ltd on increasing the minimum number of carriages operating on peak-time services on the Clitheroe–Manchester line.

Rail North Partnership reviews Northern’s Train Formation Capacity Plans twice a year, in line with preparations for the May and December timetable change dates, with Northern required to prepare a plan that best matches available capacity to forecast passenger demand. It is then Northern’s responsibility to manage capacity on a day-to-day basis across its entire network.

What progress has been made on the development and implementation timetable of PAS 2161, the proposed national data standard for road condition monitoring, and what assessment her Department has made of its potential to support more proactive identification of potholes and other road defects by local highway authorities.

DfT worked with local authorities and the wider highways industry to develop the PAS 2161:2024 Road condition monitoring (RCM) data specification which was published in September 2024, and is available online, at: https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/road-condition-monitoring-rcm-data-specification. In 2025 DfT carried out the process to approve road condition monitoring technologies for use against PAS 2161 for reporting the condition of the local classified road network in England to DfT. The list of PAS 2161 approved technologies was announced in September 2025 and can be found online, at: https://ukrlg.ciht.org.uk/ukrlg-home/guidance/road-condition-information/data-collection/pas-2161/. The report on the approval process can be found at: https://www.trl.co.uk/publications/pas-2161-road-condition-monitoring-trials-2025-report. As of April 2026, local authorities will be required to use a PAS 2161 approved technology on their classified road. PAS 2161 compliant data will be collected by DfT for the first time in Spring 2027, upon completion of the surveys for the financial year ending March 2027. Further details of the timeline can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-condition-monitoring-standard-pas-2161/road-condition-monitoring-standard-pas-2161 PAS 2161 will enable local authorities to collect more comparable and consistent condition data on their classified road network. A range of technology types have been approved for use against PAS 2161. Local authorities will be able to choose any PAS 2161 approved technology allowing them to collect the evidence they need to effectively maintain their roads and meet national reporting requirements.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her long-term strategy is for reducing sewage discharges from storm overflows; and what targets, timelines and investment requirements have been set for water companies to deliver those reductions.

To deliver on the Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we are expecting £60 billion of investment to be delivered across England by 2050. Water companies are investing over £11 billion in PR24, a record amount, to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales over the next five years. This investment will be targeted at those affecting the most sensitive sites for ecological and human health. We want to better address the root causes of pollution head on, by shifting the focus towards ‘pre-pipe’ solutions, such as rainwater management and tackling sewer misuse. These changes are more sustainable and will deliver wider benefits such as reducing flood risk and increasing biodiversity. To enable this shift, we will ensure legislation, funding streams and regulatory mechanisms support the delivery of pre-pipe solutions.