The Government expects motorists to be treated fairly when making insurance claims. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent regulator responsible for regulating insurers and certain claims management activities. The FCA’s rules require firms’ communications and financial promotions to be clear, fair, and not misleading.

Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), Parliament sets the regulators’ statutory objectives, duties and accountability mechanisms, providing clear roles for government, Parliament, independent regulators and firms. The Government considers that this model gives regulators the powers and flexibility to respond to market practices and take action where firms fall short.

Where claims management activity is carried out by solicitors of law firms, this is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The Ministry of Justice leads on matters relating to legal services regulation. The FCA works closely with other regulators, including the SRA, the Information Commissioner's Office and the Advertising Standards Authority, to tackle misleading advertising and poor practices where these fall within their respective remits.

The allocation of funding to roads is a devolved matter. It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to determine how it allocates its capital budget across devolved priorities, including local transport infrastructure.

The Executive has existing capital borrowing powers allowing it to borrow up to £225 million annually to support investment in infrastructure, including roads.

Vehicles used or kept on public roads pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). Cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 pay a variable first year VED rate according to the emissions of the vehicle, before moving to a standard annual rate after the first year.

From 1 April 2025, the VED first year rates have also changed to support the take-up of electric vehicles (EVs), with higher rates for higher emitting hybrid and petrol/diesel vehicles, and the lowest rate for zero emission cars being frozen until 2029/30.

The increasing weight of all road vehicles, both EVs and their petrol and diesel counterparts, is one of many factors affecting the condition of our roads. It is the much heavier commercial vehicles, rather than passenger vehicles, that cause the most wear and tear to road surfaces and other highway structures.

When making changes to the tax system, the Government considers a range of trade-offs, such as complexity in the tax system and administrative burdens.

The Government annually reviews the rates and thresholds of taxes and reliefs to ensure that they are appropriate and reflect the current state of the economy. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the public finances.

The Government recognises the pressures faced by households and businesses that rely on road transport, particularly during periods of global volatility which affect fuel prices. That is why the temporary 5p per litre cut to fuel duty has been extended to 31 December 2026, ensuring there will be no increases to fuel duty this year and providing universal support for motorists and other fuel users.

Compared to plans inherited from the previous Government, keeping fuel duty frozen means petrol and diesel will be around 11p per litre cheaper through the rest of 2026, saving the average driver around £120 by the end of the year, with larger savings for Vans (£250) and HGVs (£2,120).

Alongside this universal support, the Government is providing targeted support for sectors most exposed to higher fuel prices, including cutting red diesel by over a third from mid June to support farmers and providing hauliers transporting goods around the country with a 12-month holiday from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) from 1 July, worth £600 to the typical HGV.

The Treasury has not made a specific assessment of the contribution of motorcycles to road wear compared with other vehicle types.

There are no current plans to make changes to VED banding. The Chancellor makes decisions about taxation at fiscal events in the context of public finances.

The Consolidated Fund receives the proceeds of VED along with most other tax revenues to support public services and investment in infrastructure, including vehicle infrastructure and road maintenance.

To support motorists, by 2029/30, the government has committed over £2 billion annually for local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes on their roads – doubling funding since coming into office.

The Government has committed a record level of funding for local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes; totalling over £2 billion annually by 2029-30. This is double the amount provided by the previous government – and it ensures that we will exceed our manifesto commitment to fix an additional 1 million potholes in each year of this Parliament.

The Government has committed a record level of funding for local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes; totalling over £2 billion annually by 2029-30. This is double the amount provided by the previous government – and it ensures that we will exceed our manifesto commitment to fix an additional 1 million potholes in each year of this Parliament.

As my hon. Friend makes clear, we need to ensure that our extra funding for local roads maintenance is spent effectively, and that local residents can hold councils like Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to account. The Liberal Democrats have typically not been shy about mentioning potholes in their leaflets; now is their time to deliver.

The junction of Surrey Road and Prince of Wales Road; Wimborne Road, between Kinson library and Bear Cross; and Hankinson Road, around Winton rec—these are some of the more than 35 roads in Bournemouth West where residents have told me potholes are out of control. Lib Dem-led Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council has been given £7.5 million to maintain our roads and fix potholes. I will be writing to BCP council later today, but in the meantime, will the Minister join me in urging it to get its act together and finally fix our roads?

My hon. Friend is right that we need councils across the country to use the extra funding that the Government have made available for local road maintenance to fill those potholes. Councils will have to publish their data online, so that local people can monitor, through a traffic light system available on gov.uk, how their council is performing.

My constituents in Newcastle-under-Lyme are sick and tired of poor-quality, dangerous roads. The county council has resources from this Government, and must stop being missing in action. What message does the Minister have for Staffordshire county council?

The Government expects motorists to be treated fairly when making insurance claims. FCA rules require that insurer’s communications with consumers, including during the claims process, are clear, fair and not misleading. The process by which customers are referred outside their primary insurer—such as to accident management companies—is already subject to FCA regulation.

The FCA, working with other regulators, has taken coordinated action against misleading advertising and poor practices by some Claims Management Companies operating in this area. Treasury Ministers meet the FCA regularly to discuss issues across the full range of its responsibilities.

The Consolidated Fund receives the proceeds of Vehicle Excise Duty along with most other tax revenues to support public services and investment in infrastructure, including vehicle infrastructure and road maintenance.

The Government is going well beyond its promise to fix an additional one million potholes per year, by providing funding to fix the equivalent of more than seven million extra potholes in 2025/26 in England.

The Department for Transport received additional funding for highway maintenance at Spending Review 2025, and the Barnett formula was applied in the usual way in line with the funding arrangements set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. At Spending Reviews, because the Barnett formula is not applied to the individual programmes driving the change in a UK department’s DEL budget, the Barnett consequentials associated with highway maintenance funding cannot be identified.

The Block Grant Transparency publication includes a breakdown of changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding. The most recent report was published in October 2025.

The Consolidated Fund is a central funding account and does not track spending by individual service area. Spending by departments is managed and recorded through departmental budgets (using set budgeting rules) and published in Annual Reports and Accounts.

The Department for Transport regularly engages with road haulage industry associations and wider industry to understand the financial challenges faced by the sector.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned increase in line with inflation for 2025/26. The temporary 5p cut is scheduled to expire in March 2026. The Government carefully considers the impact of fuel duty on households and businesses across the country, with decisions on rates made at fiscal events.

Responsibility for policy decisions as regards Clean Air Zones (CAZs) lie with Local Authorities, who have the autonomy to decide whether to impose measures to address air quality in their local area. In London this power lies with the Mayor. This Government believes that decisions of this sort are for local authorities to make and that it is not for central government to dictate what is, or isn’t, right for their areas.

Local Authorities are required by statute to promote road safety, including undertaking collision/casualty data analysis and devising programmes, training and publicity that will improve road safety. Measures such as TfL's 'Direct Vision Standards' and other local road safety programmes are a matter devolved to the Mayor of London who is responsible for the safety of London's roads.

As announced by the Government at Autumn Statement 2022, from 1 April 2025 zero emission cars, vans, and motorcycles have started to pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) in a similar way to petrol and diesel vehicles.

The Consolidated Fund receives the proceeds of VED along with most other tax revenues to support public services and investment in infrastructure, including vehicle infrastructure and road maintenance.