Written questions by Holden.

Whether the Passenger Watchdog will be (a) responsible for issuing passenger performance standards, (b) involved in drafting and publishing those standards before Great British Railways becomes operational; and when she expects the Passenger Watchdog to go live.

The Government consulted on proposals for a railways bill, including the creation of a new passenger watchdog, earlier in the year. The Government response to this consultation will be published in due course and we expect to introduce legislation to establish the watchdog later in this parliamentary session. The watchdog would then become operational as soon as possible after the legislation receives royal assent.

With reference to the press notice entitled New dawn for rail as South Western services return to public hands, published on 25 May 2025, on what evidential basis her Department calculated that public ownership of railways would save £150 million from the public purse; and if she will publish (a) the categories of fees that are no longer payable and (b) the estimated value of each fee category.

Private sector train operating companies are paid fixed and performance-based fees are set out in their National Rail Contracts with the Department. Operations are being transferred into public ownership as their National Rail Contract expire, meaning these fees will no longer be applicable once services have transferred. This saving is estimated to be up to £150million per annum once all franchised contracts have expired, with a proportion of these savings achieved each year in the interim as individual operators’ services transfer.

With reference to the press notice entitled Simpler train travel for the South East as contactless ticketing rolls out at 47 more stations, published on 20 January 2025, how many and what proportion of the 49 stations announced for rollout in 2025 had contactless introduced by 10 October 2025; what her Department's timetable is for introducing contactless in the remaining stations; and what plans her Department has to extend contactless ticketing (a) beyond the South East and (b) in (i) Greater Manchester and (ii) the West Midlands.

We have committed to expanding Pay As You Go (PAYG) with contactless ticketing to further stations in the Southeast, with an additional 49 stations to be rolled out by the end of this year. Ministers will be making an announcement on delivery soon. Additionally, we have announced plans to launch PAYG in both Manchester and the West Midlands, expanding PAYG to more than 90 additional rail stations in 2026. Any further announcement on wider expansion beyond this, as well as an update on delivery timings, will be provided in due course.

Pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled £120 million to roll-out more electric vans, taxis and motorbikes, published on 25 February 2025, what estimate she has made of the annual number of motorbikes manufactured in the UK; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of the £120 million that will support (a) UK-manufactured motorbikes and (b) motorbikes manufactured overseas.

The Department for Transport does not collect data on the number of motorbikes manufactured in the UK. The £120 million of funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2023 enabled the continuation of the Plug-in Motorcycle Grant, offering grants of £500 for qualifying zero emission motorcycles, with British brands such as Maeving continuing to be a popular choice under the scheme.

Whether her Department plans to introduce (a) a similar scheme to the Great British Rail Sale of April 2022 and (b) other national discounted ticketing initiatives when Great British Railways assumes full responsibility for timetabling and ticketing.

GBR will be empowered to deliver industry-wide modernisation and reform of the complex and fragmented fares landscape inherited from privatisation. This will enable GBR to simplify the ticketing system and make it easy for passengers to find the right fare. GBR will also continue to offer certain discounts, like railcards, with specific discount cards targeted at groups for which cost is more likely to be a barrier to rail travel – young people, older people and disabled people – being further safeguarded in legislation, as they have been since the Railways Act 1993. There have been two additional network-wide Rail Sales since April 2022, including our Rail Sale at the beginning of this year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of passenger rail. No decisions have been taken on future network-wide rail sales.

With reference to the press notice entitled East West Rail services planned to begin this year as Chiltern Railways named operator, published on 25 March 2025, when she expects (a) passenger services between Oxford and Milton Keynes to begin, (b) the new station at Winslow to open, (c) the works to upgrade Bletchley station to be completed and (d) services to (i) Bedford and (ii) Cambridge to be extended.

The Department is working closely with Chiltern Railways and other partners to confirm a start date for the service. We are looking forward to commencing services as soon as all necessary authorisations and agreements are in place. Passenger services, including services to Winslow, will commence once train testing and driver training have been completed. Work on an additional high-level platform at Bletchley is now complete. Services between Oxford to Bedford via the Marston Vale Line will commence from 2030 with the full Oxford to Cambridge services beginning in the mid 2030s.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of employment tribunals; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of delays on claimants aged over 50 seeking redress for unfair dismissal.

We recognise that there are significant demand pressures on the Employment Tribunals and are working with the judiciary, HMCTS and Department for Business and Trade on actions to alleviate pressures. For example, we are investing in tribunal productivity through the development of modern case management systems, encouraging the uptake of mediation, and the continued use of remote hearing technology, as well as the recruitment of additional judges and deployment of legal officers.In 2024, we had 21 more salaried judges in the Employment Tribunals than in 2023, and further recruitment for up to 36 salaried Employment Judges commenced in March 2025. 50 fee paid employment judges were appointed in 2024 and recruitment will commence for another 50 in early 2026. As a result, the previous Lord Chancellor was able to announce on 5 March a sitting day allocation for the Employment Tribunals of 33,900 in 2025/26, the maximum allocation they are able to sit.Of the complaints brought to the ET involving unfair dismissal, a small proportion are successful at hearing. The majority of ET complaints involving unfair dismissal are settled, withdrawn, dismissed or decided in favour of the respondent (usually the employer) at hearing. In addition, not all unfair dismissal cases are brought to the Employment Tribunal, with some cases being resolved through Acas. The latest data on the number of early conciliation notifications that are received by Acas for unfair dismissal is published annually, and can be found at: https://www.acas.org.uk/about-us/annual-report.The Ministry of Justice does not have a breakdown of Employment Tribunal statistics by age, however there is published data available on unfair dismissal, as well as age discrimination claims here: Tribunal Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK.

If she will make an estimate of the number of bus journeys for which passengers have paid a fare between £2 and £3 since 5 July 2024.

The Department for Transport does not routinely collect fare-level data for individual bus journeys.

What plans her Department has for the number of staff working for Great British Rail in each of the next 10 years; and over what time frame they will be hired.

GBR will be established as a new arms-length body bringing together responsibilities currently split over more than 17 different organisations. While details on exact roles are subject to further design work, GBR will rely on colleagues from across the railway to continue the important work they do each day in delivering for passengers. We will continue to engage with the industry on our plans for GBR.

With reference to the press notice entitled On track and online: landmark deal to end mobile dead zones, published on 25 June 2025, what progress her Department has made on Project Reach; and whether her Department plans to eliminate mobile signal blackspots on the rail network from spring 2026 through the rollout of Project Reach.

The initial scope of project Reach is for mobile coverage improvements in the major stations and a number of tunnels and cuttings on the main lines only. Internal team mobilisation has progressed, and Network Rail have also down selected the design and build contractors to undertake the physical works that are due to start early in 2026.Agreements are also progressing on finalising prioritisation order with the public mobile operators.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) mitigate the impact of repeated (i) over-running engineering works and (ii) cancellations on the c2c network and (b) ensure that passengers using (A) season tickets and (B) workplace travel schemes are able to access compensation when services are disrupted.

The Department expects c2c to collaborate closely with Network Rail to minimise the impact of any over-running engineering works. In relation to cancellations, the Department holds train operating companies, including c2c, to account on their performance against targets including through regular meetings and periodic reporting. Integration across track and train is being progressed in the Anglia region; this will ensure that all parts of the system are pulling together to deliver a better and more efficient service for customers. Where passengers purchase a season ticket and experience delays, they can claim delay repay from the relevant train operating company directly. If they are travelling as part of a workplace travel scheme, passengers will have to check with their employer what compensation they can claim for.

With reference to the announcement of 13 June 2025 on the installation of over 100,000 new local electric vehicle chargepoints in England, what her planned timetable is for this; and how many have been installed to date.

The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund has allocated capital and resource funding to local authorities across England, to ensure public chargepoint rollout improves significantly across the country. In total, the LEVI Fund will support the installation of at least 100,000 chargepoints across England. The majority of LEVI projects have now been approved to go to delivery, the first contracts have been signed between local authorities and chargepoint operators, and the first projects have now started to install chargepoints. Installation rates will increase as more projects enter delivery, with installation expected to continue over the coming years.

With reference to the press notice entitled Great British Railways in action – passengers benefit from track and train being united on South Eastern Railway, published on 18 June 2025, how many times the South Eastern Railway leadership team has met 17 June 2025.

In June this year, the South Eastern Railway - a single integrated leadership team with accountability for track and train – was formally launched. Since then, members of this team have met both formally and informally on a daily basis.

With reference to her Department’s press release entitled More than £1.1 billion investment to boost growth, jobs and skills in UK’s coastal towns and cities, published on 15 September 2025, how much and what proportion of £448 million will be spent on (a) research and development, (b) demonstration projects, (c) infrastructure deployment and (d) other areas.

On 15 September 2025, we announced £448m for the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the Department for Transport. All the funding is to support clean maritime research and development from 2026 to 2030. Allocation of funds is subject to competition, with competition scopes, assessment criteria, and budgets to be published alongside competition announcements. The Government laid a Written Ministerial Statement in Parliament alongside the announcement providing an outline of the future UK SHORE programme. This includes a second round of the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI2) competition aimed at the building of clean vessels and port infrastructure followed by commercial trials, and three further rounds of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) aimed at demonstrations, pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies.

What the average waiting time for a practical car driving test was in (a) each of the 12 months before 5 July 2024 and (b) each month since that date.

The table below shows the national average car driving test waiting time in weeks, for the months July 2023 to September 2025.MonthNational average car driving test waiting time in weeksJul-2319.1Aug-2320.2Sep-2320.4Oct-2318.9Nov-2318.4Dec-2317.4Jan-2415.3Feb-2416.2Mar-2417.1Apr-2417.8May-2418.6Jun-2418.4Jul-2418.1Aug-2418.5Sep-2419Oct-2419.5Nov-2419.7Dec-2420.8Jan-2520.8Feb-2521.3Mar-2521.7Apr-2522.3May-2522.5Jun-2522.3Jul-2522.2Aug-2522.5Sep-2521.8

How many public electric vehicle chargepoints have been installed in each local authority area in England; and what assessment she has made of the level of regional difference in access to charging infrastructure.

The latest data available regarding the number of public charging devices for electric vehicles in each local authority area in England, as of 1 July 2025, can be found in table 1a of the attached document. Government monitors public charging device roll out on a regional basis through our official statistics. Allocations for the Government’s £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund were designed to address regional differences in public charging infrastructure by accounting for existing levels of public charging infrastructure available across England. This will ensure charging provision develops across the country. Government also recently announced a £25m grant for local authorities in England to install EV pavement channels. This investment is designed to be an extra tool for local authorities to use in their local charging solutions to support residents to charge. The below table shows the number of public charging devices and the number per 100,000 of the population in each region of England. RegionPublic charging devicesPublic charging devices per 100,000 of the populationNorth East2,703100.7North West5,66975.4Yorkshire and the Humber4,14174.7East Midlands3,79276.8West Midlands7,658127.2East of England6,24997.7London24,419275.4South East10,212108.9South West5,829101.1

With reference to the press notice entitled New tech to make rail replacement travel more accessible, published on 13 May 2025, what information her Department holds on the number of times the 3D animated avatar for rail replacement coaches has been used by passengers since its introduction.

The products referenced are not yet in use as the competition (Contracts for Innovation: Accessible Information on Coaches) is still underway, and these projects are currently going through development, trials with disabled people and coach operators, and manufacturing scale-up. The competition is due to finish in March 2026.

If she will publish (a) the benefit–cost ratio assessments undertaken for the proposed Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station options and (b) any associated operational assessments commissioned by (i) HS2 Ltd and (ii) her Department on the comparative performance of surface and underground designs.

The Department is carefully reviewing proposals for an underground station at Manchester Piccadilly. However, no decision has yet been made, and the Department has not published any benefit–cost ratio assessments for the proposed station options. Similarly, no operational assessments comparing surface and underground designs commissioned by either HS2 Ltd or the Department have been published. Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with local leaders to establish shared priorities.

How many planning permissions for new homes on surplus railway land have been granted since 5 July 2024.

Since July 2024, planning permission has been granted for more than 2,800 new homes on surplus railway land.

How many (a) stations, (b) tracks, (c) passengers and (d) fareboxes will not be run by Great British Rail.

GBR will be responsible for all stations, infrastructure and services that are currently run by Network Rail or operators contracted by government. It will be empowered to deliver industry-wide modernisation and reform of the complex and fragmented fares landscape inherited from privatisation. This will enable GBR to simplify the ticketing system and make it easy for passengers to find the right fare.