The value of all contracts referred to in the answer to 13237 are published on Contracts Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search (contracts above £12,000 - including VAT and £25,000 in the wider public sector) and/or Find a Tender - Find a Tender.

ORR currently holds contracts with Field Consulting, the spend on these contracts since July 2024 would be £9000.

From July 2024 to 31 May 2026, National Highways spent £280,921 on its technical professional services’ public affairs contract.

Transport Focus have a Public Affairs monitoring contract with Randall’s Monitoring Ltd. They have spent £6,210 excluding VAT on this.

Network Rail holds a contract for stakeholder engagement services with Lexington Communications. The contract was awarded in September 2021. Spend on this contract amounts to £423,439.93 since July 2024. Network Rail also spent a total of £143,480 with Yonder. . A total of £33,660 has been spent on the Future Governance Forum project since July 2024.

HS2 Ltd identified 2 live contracts which fall into the scope of Public Affairs spending. From July 2024 to 30 April 2026, HS2 Ltd has spent £71,100 on live contracts.

Spend data for this category of cost is not held and the requested data could only be collated and verified at disproportionate cost. Senior managers are aware of the revised guidance and their responsibilities relating to branded goods and merchandise. The Department has implemented processes to ensure compliance and continues to review and adapt these as needed.

For the 2026 Government Communication Service annual data collection return, the central Department for Transport reported 80.83 full-time equivalent staff headcount who are members of the Government Communication Service.

All embedded communicators are members of the Government Communication Service.

The Department monitors Southwestern Railway’s performance through a range of operational measures covering punctuality, cancellations, passenger experience and service quality. The principal operational performance metrics are:

• Punctuality (Time to 3), measuring the percentage of recorded station stops made within three minutes of the planned time.

• Reliability (All Stations Cancellations), measuring the percentage of planned station stops cancelled; and

• Passenger experience, including overall customer satisfaction and satisfaction with disruption handling.

Customer satisfaction metrics are:

• Service Quality Regime (SQR) measuring the condition, performance, and availability of a range of assets at stations and on trains.

• Overall Satisfaction and Satisfaction with Disruption Handling using the Voice of Customer survey.

In the latest reporting period, Southwestern Railway did not meet its punctuality or cancellations targets. It also did not meet its customer experience targets for overall satisfaction and satisfaction during disruption. Whilst a number of Service Quality station measures remained below benchmark, performance in all train areas exceeded the benchmark.

Whilst SWR’s performance before and after public ownership has been below standard passengers deserve, particularly with rolling stock issues and driver shortages inherited from the previous owning group, progress is being made under public ownership. Since their transfer to public ownership, SWR have unlocked their Arterio programme, with fifty-two daily service diagrams compared to just six when SWR entered public ownership.

To improve performance, Southwestern Railway and Network Rail's integrated Wessex team are focused on reducing delays and cancellations caused by infrastructure, fleet and operational issues. This includes investment in more reliable infrastructure, deployment of technologies to improve monitoring of track conditions, improvements to service recovery and disruption management through the Major Disruption Taskforce, and delivery of customer information improvements. The Department monitors progress through regular performance reviews and engagement.

Information on punctuality and reliability and improvement activity can be found on the SWR website.

The department monitors short formations based on the passenger capacity of the trains rather than the number of carriages. Attached is data for the number of short - formed services and the percentage based on what is monitored for each operator. Please note that the percentages are not comparable and do not represent the total number of services for each operator.

The Class 810 Aurora fleet is being delivered and maintained under contractual arrangements involving East Midlands Railway (EMR), Hitachi Rail and Rock Rail. Those agreements include contractual obligations relating to train availability and performance, together with associated performance and remedy mechanisms where contractual requirements are not met. The detailed terms of those arrangements, including any compensation or liquidated damages provisions, are commercially confidential and are not publicly disclosed.

The Department has been clear to Hitachi Rail that its management of the Class 810 fleet programme has been unacceptable. Delivery of the new Aurora trains to EMR has been significantly delayed, with the first train entering passenger service around three years later than originally planned. The Department expects Hitachi Rail to improve both the rate of fleet introduction and the operational performance of the trains already in service.

Hitachi Rail is also responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of EMR’s existing Class 222 Meridian trains, which have experienced significant performance issues this summer. The Department expects Hitachi and EMR to work together to rapidly improve the reliability of these trains.

Alex Hynes, Chief Executive Officer of Department for Transport Operator, meets Hitachi Rail regularly and is pressing the company for urgent improvements to both the delivery pipeline and fleet performance so that EMR can realise the full benefits of the new Aurora fleet. The Department continues to monitor EMR's delivery of services and performance obligations under its National Rail Contract.

The Highways (Financing) Bill will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows. This House will have full opportunity to scrutinise this legislation in the usual way at that time. The Bill will be concerned with a new financing model for our largest road projects, not with utilities more generally.

The Department does not hold this information centrally. The Department expects all operators to plan and deliver services that respond to evolving passenger demand in a way that provides value for money for taxpayers. This may involve reduced services, or station calls where demand is expected to be lower but equally enhanced services at times and places that demand is higher.

The Department expects operators to publish such changes in the planned timetable. Such changes may be part of a package of wider changes to improve the overall service provided, for example London Northeastern Railway’s December 2025 timetable changes, or in response to expected seasonal demand reductions for example the temporary reductions to some Avanti West Coast services during the summer holidays when fewer people are expected to be travelling on those trains. Changes to train services may also be driven through the Network Rail-managed industry timetable development process, where Network Rail may need to amend train operator plans to best meet the service aspirations of all operators. This process is independent of Government.

Since July 2024, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have spent £15,940 on external public affairs firms or for supporting its public affairs work with external expertise. The details are:

£1,660 to Field Consulting

£14,280 to Savanta

The ORR Board keeps the use of external support under review to ensure it provides appropriate value for money, follows civil service procurement rules, and aligns with ORR’s priorities.

Two surveys were circulated to Coastguard Rescue Officers in relation to the Court of Appeal Judgment. Plans to move the Coastguard Rescue Service to an expenses-only volunteer model in September will not go ahead, and current arrangements will remain in place. We will now take time to gather the robust information required to understand the full operational implications of future decisions, as well as the impact on individual Coastguard Rescue Officers and the choices they will make. This will involve engaging with CROs directly and ensuring that their views inform the decisions that we will take on the shape of the Coastguard Rescue Service.

The Great British Railways (GBR) brand represents putting railway passengers and the public interest firmly in the driving seat. The GBR brand will support a unified rail network across Great Britian by providing passengers with a simpler railway with a consistent identity. Well-known names like Great Western Railway and London Northeastern Railway will be preserved as regional identifiers under the GBR brand. ScotRail, Transport for Wales, Caledonian Sleeper, Open Access Operators, and some services in places like Liverpool and London have different arrangements and will not be branded as GBR.

Nearly £17 million has been allocated to this project up until 2029/30. The project is currently in its early stages, with Network Rail developing a Full Business Case for the entire programme which, once complete, may indicate that further funding is required in future years.

Plans to move the Coastguard Rescue Service to an expenses-only volunteer model in September will not go ahead, and current arrangements will remain in place. We will now take time to gather the robust information required to understand the full operational implications of future decisions, as well as the impact on individual Coastguard Rescue Officers and the choices they will make. This will involve engaging with CROs directly and ensuring that their views inform the decisions that we will take on the shape of the Coastguard Rescue Service.

The DFTO has developed the Business Case in accordance with Transport Appraisal Guidance, assessing the economic benefits that arise through improvements in rail passenger productivity and the likelihood of additional rail journeys. The DFTO’s assessment has been undertaken on an individual train operating company level.

The government has not made a formal assessment of the impact of the EU Entry/Exit System on freight movements through the short straits as this is an EU system. Hauliers have completed EES checks since October at the short straits portals of Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover. We continue to encourage road transport operators to take the necessary steps to ensure their UK national drivers remain within the Schengen area’s short stay limit for days spent in Europe.

The government knows the importance of freight to our supply chains and to people across the UK. That is why we have supported the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel with £3.5m each in preparing for EES. And earlier this week we announced £20m in funding to further support border infrastructure at the Port of Dover, while continuing to urge pragmatism from our EU partners, while the system beds in.

The Entry/Exit System has been introduced by the European Union to increase border security and we have consistently sought to urge pragmatism to ensure that British travellers do not face disruption, The Transport Secretary has spoken with the EU Commissioner for Sustainable Travel and Tourism on the matter.

It is, however, inevitable that any new system faces challenges and passengers should not be inconvenienced as this system settles into operation. In July, I met with cross channel ferry operators and reminded them of their obligations to passengers should disruption occur and would encourage any passengers affected by delays at the border to speak with their operators.

The Government expects train operators to support passengers during disruption. Under the National Rail Conditions of Travel, operators must, where reasonably practicable, provide appropriate assistance, which may include refreshments.

The Secretary of State met with the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas on 13 July. This was a productive call where both agreed on the need to work together to aim for smooth EES checks over the peak summer period to support holidaymakers.

This follows previous engagement with both the Commissioner and the French Transport Minister seeking agreement on increasing staffing levels to support the implementation of EES.

Ten of the fourteen Department for Transport operators now offer delay repay schemes that provide automated, one-click delay repay, and we are also developing plans to make it even easier and more convenient to claim Delay Repay. Earlier this year, we announced that the compensation claim systems for delayed trains will be merged into one easy-to-use service under Great British Railways. This will also enable passenger to claim Delay Repay directly from third-party retailers for the first time. The Department does not hold data on the proportion of services that receive automatic delay repay.

The draft Heathrow Expansion Policy Statement, published on the 18th June, requires any future applicant for expansion to assess the scheme's economic impacts, including labour supply effects. This would include consideration of workforce requirements during construction and operation. The Secretary of State for Transport would consider this evidence as part of any future application and decision for development consent.